Female Religiosity in Central Asia

Aziza Shanazarova is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, where she specializes on the religious history of Islamic Central Asia and the broader Persianate world with an emphasis on the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.

• Introduction. The intersection of gender and age within Muslim discourse; 1. Religion and politics in post-Timurid central Asia; 2. The centrality of ʿAlidism in the Maẓhar al-ʿAjāʾib; 3. Locating the Great Lady within the Sufi milieu of sixteenth-century central Asia; 4. The Chaghatay Book of Guidance: The categories of Qiz, Khatun, and Qari Khatun; 5. The portrayal of the Great Lady in the Maẓhar al-ʿAjāʾib; 6. The Great Lady and her hagiographers; 7. The Great Lady in shrine traditions; Conclusion.

'This ground-breaking study, well documented and well written, adds new and surprising facets to the history of Islam in Central Asia: unexpected insight into the gender aspects of Sufism in the region. An important contribution, central for students of Islam and also for those interested in gender studies.' Jürgen Paul, Universität Hamburg