Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a legal anthropologist. A professorial research associate at the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, SOAS, University of London, she is founding member of Musawah: Global Movement for Equality in Muslim Family Laws, and the convenor of its knowledge-building initiative to rethink the notion of male authority in Muslim family laws.Mulki Al-Sharmani is Academy of Finland research fellow and lecturer, Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki, and research coordinator of the Musawah knowledge-building initiative to rethink the notion of male authority in Muslim family laws.Jana Rumminger is currently based in Southeast Asia and works with Musawah, the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family. Her focus is on issues related to reform of Muslim family laws and implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

• Foreword | Zainah AnwarAcknowledgementsNote on Translation and Transliteration Introduction | Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana Rumminger Muslim Legal Tradition and the Challenge of Gender Equality | Ziba Mir-Hosseini The Interpretive Legacy of Qiwamah as an Exegetical Construct | Omaima Abou-Bakr An Egalitarian Reading of the Concepts of Khilafah, Wilayah and Qiwamah | Asma LamrabetProducing Gender-Egalitarian Islamic Law: A Case Study of Guardianship (Wilayah) in Prophetic Practice | Ayesha S. ChaudhryIslamic Law, Sufism and Gender: Rethinking the Terms of the Debate | Sa’diyya ShaikhQiwamah and Wilayah as Legal Postulates in Muslim Family Laws | Lynn WelchmanIslamic Law Meets Human Rights: Reformulating Qiwamah and Wilayah for Personal Status Law Reform Advocacy in Egypt | Marwa Sharafeldin‘Men are the Protectors and Maintainers of Women…’: Three Fatwas on Spousal Roles and Rights | Lena LarsenUnderstanding Qiwamah and Wilayah through Life Stories | Mulki Al-Sharmani and Jana RummingerThe Ethics of Tawhid over the Ethics of Qiwamah | Amina Wadud About the ContributorsIndex

'Men in Charge? is bound to be a key scholarly text for anyone researching or studying law or Islam in general. It is a necessary book, one which is carefully designed to combat misconceptions and prejudice, and one which, most importantly, has a practical focus: all of the book’s contributors are writing for change. In reminding us that there is a difference between the Qur’an and the subsequent misogynist interpretations at the hands of certain actors (“Shari’ah court judges, community leaders, imams, women in leadership positions who perpetuate patriarchal structures of power, etc”), these authors pave the way for a brighter and fairer future for Muslim women.'