My point is simply you are focusing so much on gender/empowerment, that you neglect the fact they are muhaddiths. Reading this review, you might as well be writing about Muslim women who were wealthy or painters or great at sewing or supermodels for all I know. Might as well, since you make all women equal which isn’t empowering. A female muhaddith has a certain rank greater than normal women and men and even greater than male muhaditheen.

If the author is a Muslim, they should be GRATEFUL. As a man, I make shukr for this book because it is about hadith. There was a time when people would read these books in order to come closer to God and His Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam). They didn’t read these books in order to feel better about their gender. If you read the book to appease yourself, as a critic, then its dangerous. Change your attitude and niyya. Please.

“Similarly, his own purpose to bring out women’s contributions to Islamic scholarship is very much a subject of gender analyses.”

No no no. This is the problem of cognitive frames. You come to this book thinking, “Ohh imma analyze the shiz out of this!” and I come to this book thinking, “I want to read about this women, send Fatiha on them and pray for them. They are my teachers. They sacrificed so much for me to hear the words of the Beloved of God. And my Fatiha to this author too. I should memorize the life stories of some of these women.” Come to a book like this like you are meeting a great teacher, not a female colleague in the hallway whose clothing you are checking out and nexting. Because I will remember the names of these women and so will believing Muslims, and honour them, but they will not remember feminist spinsters.

“While I expected this after the first ten pages, I cannot help but wonder, when will Islamic scholars look at the usefulness of using other approaches, and when will they recognize that feminism (in its many forms) and “Westernized approaches” may enrich Islamic knowledge instead of undermining it?”

No, it won’t enrich it. I guarantee you that. It has no roots in the sacred and simply because of that loses all right to be part of Islamic tradition. It is a xenotransplant. If you think it needs enriching I guarantee you do not know Islamic knowledge. The only thing that will is a better understanding of true Islamic tradition. That will ‘empower’ Muslim women.

Most Muslims don’t know the names of great females scholars, granted, but they don’t know the name of Muslim male scholars either. Most of the greats have been forgotten. And being further engrossed in this feminist angst will not help either.

I’m reading this article and thinking, this was probably meant to pander to some Patheos agenda of problematizing women in Islam. Here you have one of the few orthodox scholars willing to write about this publish a book on it…and the response? Nuh uh, not good enough. For crying out loud, have a little adab!

Why not talk about what other books like this could be written? What’s the next step?