Roots
The scholarship is already there. It always was.
Muslim women have been thinking, writing, teaching, and arguing for women's dignity from within the Islamic tradition for decades. Roots brings that scholarship here — accessible, engaging, and relevant to the questions women are asking today. Profiles of contemporary Islamic feminist scholars. Introductions to their key ideas. Reflections on their work. Reading recommendations for those who want to go deeper. Many Muslim women grow up never encountering this body of thought. Roots exists to change that — one scholar, one idea, one conversation at a time.
Aisha bint Abu Bakr
She was one of the most important early transmitters of Prophetic knowledge and is widely remembered for teaching law, ethics, and hadith. Her legacy shows that women were active authorities in the earliest Muslim community, not just passive recipients of knowledge.
Umm al-Darda
She was a respected scholar in the early Islamic period, known for teaching both men and women. She represents the strong presence of women in the transmission of religious learning across the first centuries of Islam.
Rabi’a al-Basri
She is famous as a major early female Sufi figure whose life emphasized devotion, sincerity, and love of God. Her spiritual legacy remains important in Muslim devotional literature and ethics.
Karima al-Marwaziyya
She was a notable scholar of hadith in the medieval period. She is often cited as proof that women played a serious role in preserving and transmitting scholarly authority.
Aisha al-Ba’uniyya
She was a 15th–16th century scholar, poet, and Sufi writer from Damascus. She wrote extensively on praise of the Prophet and spiritual life, showing that women contributed to both scholarship and literary culture.
Amina Wadud
b. 1952, United States
Amina Wadud is a contemporary Qur’anic scholar known for gender-just interpretation and for arguing that patriarchal readings are human interpretations, not divine commands. Her work helped make Islamic feminism a visible and debated field.
Zainab Alwani
b. 1962, Iraq
She is a contemporary scholar associated with women’s scholarship, legal reasoning, and community leadership. She belongs to the broader current of Muslim women working in Qur’anic studies and jurisprudence today.
A good word is like a good tree —
its root is firmly fixed,
and its branches reach the sky.
Surah Ibrahim, 14:24