Elizabeth Urban is Assistant Professor of the Islamic World in the Department of History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles in Interdisciplinary Humanities and Journal of Qur’anic Studies and peer-reviewed chapters in edited volumes published by Peeters, OUP and Brill. This is her first book.

'Incisively critical and refreshingly good humored, this is highly recommended for students and scholars of all levels.' - R. A. Miller, emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston, CHOICE

• List of Tables and Figures AcknowledgementsNotes on the Text1. Introduction: Why Muslims of Slave Origins Matter2. Insiders with an Asterisk: Mawālī and Enslaved Women in the Quran3. Abū Bakra, Freedman of God4. Enslaved Prostitutes in Early Islamic History5. Concubines & Their Sons: The Changing Political Notion of Arabness6. Singers & Scribes: The Limits of Language and Power7. ConclusionsBibliographyIndex

Elizabeth Urban is Assistant Professor of the Islamic World in the Department of History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles in Interdisciplinary Humanities and Journal of Qur’anic Studies and peer-reviewed chapters in edited volumes published by Peeters, OUP and Brill. This is her first book.

'Incisively critical and refreshingly good humored, this is highly recommended for students and scholars of all levels.' - R. A. Miller, emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston, CHOICE

• List of Tables and Figures AcknowledgementsNotes on the Text1. Introduction: Why Muslims of Slave Origins Matter2. Insiders with an Asterisk: Mawālī and Enslaved Women in the Quran3. Abū Bakra, Freedman of God4. Enslaved Prostitutes in Early Islamic History5. Concubines & Their Sons: The Changing Political Notion of Arabness6. Singers & Scribes: The Limits of Language and Power7. ConclusionsBibliographyIndex

Elizabeth Urban is Assistant Professor of the Islamic World in the Department of History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has published articles in Interdisciplinary Humanities and Journal of Qur’anic Studies and peer-reviewed chapters in edited volumes published by Peeters, OUP and Brill. This is her first book.

'Incisively critical and refreshingly good humored, this is highly recommended for students and scholars of all levels.' - R. A. Miller, emerita, University of Massachusetts Boston, CHOICE

• List of Tables and Figures AcknowledgementsNotes on the Text1. Introduction: Why Muslims of Slave Origins Matter2. Insiders with an Asterisk: Mawālī and Enslaved Women in the Quran3. Abū Bakra, Freedman of God4. Enslaved Prostitutes in Early Islamic History5. Concubines & Their Sons: The Changing Political Notion of Arabness6. Singers & Scribes: The Limits of Language and Power7. ConclusionsBibliographyIndex