Zainab Alwani

Zainab Alwani is an American activist and Islamic scholar. She is Founding Director and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Howard University School of Divinity.^[1]

Zainab Alwani
Born	1962 Baghdad, Iraq
Nationality	Iraqi-American
Alma mater	International Islamic University Malaysia
Occupation	Islamic scholar
Known for	First woman to serve on Fiqh Council of North America
Parent	Taha Jabir Alawani
Relatives	Ruqaia Al-Alwani

Biography

Zainab Alwani was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1962.^[2][3] She is the daughter of Taha Jabir Alalwani.^[4] Alwani and her family were forced to flee Iraq when she was 7. The family went to Egypt and later Saudi Arabia.^[3]

As a young woman, Alwani studied at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University.^[5][3] She received her PhD in Islamic jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh) from the International Islamic University in Malaysia.^[6][5] Alwani is also the first female jurist to sit on the board of the Fiqh Council of North America.^[7][2][6][8]

Alwani is an activist for the rights of Muslim women and children.^[2] She is active in continuing her father's thought and approach to minority fiqh.^[9] She specializes in Islamic jurisprudence, Quranic studies, the relationship between Islamic and civil law, and women and the family in Islam.^[1][3][9] Her sister is the Islamic scholar Ruqaia Al-Alwani.^[10] Hadia Mubarak identifies Zainab and Ruqaia as part of a growing body of female Muslim Qur'anic commentators.^[11]

Publications

Books

• Alusra fi Maqasid al sharia: Qira’ fi Qadaya al zawaj waltalaq fi Amrika (The Objectives of Sharia and the family: Critical Reading in Marriage and Divorce in American Muslim Family). Herndon, Virginia: The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), 2013.
• Muslim Women and Global Challenges: Seeking Change Through a Quranic Textual Approach and the Prophetic Model. Institute of Objective Studies, 2012.
• What Islam Says about Domestic Violence: A Guide for Helping Muslim Families, 2008.^[12]

Articles

• "With Aisha in Mind: Reading Surat al-Nur through the Qur’an’s structural unity in Muslim Women and Gender Justice: Concepts, Sources, and Histories" edited by Dina El Omari, Juliane Hammer, and Mouhanad Khorchide. Routledge, 2020.
• "Kafāla: The Qur'anic-Prophetic Model of Orphan Care" in Journal of Islamic Faith & Practice. 2020.
• "Transformational Teaching: Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a Teacher and Murabbī" in Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice, 2019.
• "Al-wahda al-binaʾiyya li-l-Qurʾan: A Methodology for Understanding the Qur'an in the Modern Day" in Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice, 2018.
• "Muslim Women as Religious Scholars: A Historical Survey" in Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians edited by Ednan Aslan, Marcia Hermansen, and Elif Medeni. Peter Lang (Peter-Lang-Verlagsgruppe), 2013.
• "The Qur'anic Model for Harmony in Family Relations" in Change From Within: Diverse Perspectives on Domestic Violence in Muslim Community edited by Maha Alkhateeb and Salma Elkadi Abugideirii. Peaceful Families, 2007.

References

1. "People Profile |". profiles.howard.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
2. Callahan, Sharon Henderson (2013-06-20). Religious Leadership. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-9908-3.
3. Shahid, Omar (10 October 2014). "Scholar Spotlight: Dr. Zainab Alwani, Reclaiming Gender Equality in Islamic Scholarship: This prominent American scholar, academic and activist often finds herself to be the only Muslim female scholar on stage at conferences". Campus Watch. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
4. Alwani, Zainab (2020). "From Baghdad to Leesburg". In Jones, Richard J. (ed.). From Baghdad to Leesburg: A Leader of al-Ta'āruf. The Al-Alwani Muslim-Christian Lectures 2010-2017. International Institute of Islamic Thought. pp. 1–9. doi:10.2307/j.ctv19prr4t.5. ISBN 978-1-56564-955-2. JSTOR j.ctv19prr4t.5. S2CID 229533034. Retrieved 2021-12-17. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. "Zainab Al-Alwani". About Islam. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
6. Yakar, Emine Enise (2021-09-30). Islamic Law and Society: The Practice Of Iftā' And Religious Institutions. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-45637-0.
7. "Dr. Zainab Alwani | WISE Muslim Women Zainab Alwani". WISE Muslim Women. 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
8. Azid, Toseef; Ward-batts, Jennifer L. (2020-06-22). Economic Empowerment Of Women In The Islamic World: Theory And Practice. World Scientific. ISBN 978-981-12-1216-1.
9. Albrecht, Sarah (2018-04-24). Dār al-Islām Revisited: Territoriality in Contemporary Islamic Legal Discourse on Muslims in the West. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-36457-8.
10. "Dr. Ruqaia Al-Alwani | CILE - Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics". admin.cilecenter.org. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
11. Mubarak, Hadia (2022-04-15). Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qur'anic Commentaries. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-755332-9.
12. Abugideiri, Salma; Alwani, Zainab (2008). What Islam Says about Domestic Violence: A Guide for Helping Muslim Families. Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help.