Shahla Haeri – författare

Six candid interviews introduce readers to a class of Muslim women rarely acknowledged in the West. The book aims to shed light on the status, conflicts and social realities of educated Muslim women in Pakistan. They tell of the conflicts and compromises with family and community, while facing violence, archaic marriage rules and locally entrenched codes of conduct. They speak of human dignity and gender equality, economic deprivation and social justice, and of feminism and fundamentalism. Challenging prevalent stereotypes, the book aims to reveal the uniqueness of each woman and the diversity of Pakistani women's life experiences, their world views and the struggles to change their society. Each chapter explores a particular woman's life experiences and her attempts to reconcile her career with her personal life, providing examples of ways of resolving religious, cultural and political conflicts. Through their struggles, professional Pakistani women have become conscious of their own and other women's situations within their society. Because they exercise power and authority in their chose fields, they risk losing their family's support and antagonizing their community. The book offers a perspective to reflect on the changing circumstances of professional Pakistani women, as well as on the established patterns and structural constraints within Pakistan. On a broader level, it examines western misconceptions regarding Islam, a religion that crosses many borders and impacts differently on many cultures.

This revised edition includes a postscript contextualizing this classic work within contemporary Iranian society."Law of Desire contains some very interesting, often heartbreaking, life stories of women. . . . It is the first of its kind to deal with a taboo issue which, despite its social and political importance, has been neglected and overlooked by a wide range of political opinion in Iran." - Feminist Review

In this landmark study, Shahla Haeri offers the extraordinary biographies of several Muslim women rulers and leaders who reached the apex of political systems of their times. Their stories illuminate the complex and challenging imperatives of dynastic succession, electoral competition and the stunning success they achieved in medieval Yemen and India, and modern Pakistan and Indonesia. The written history of Islam and the Muslim world is overwhelmingly masculine, having largely ignored women and their contributions until well into the 20th century. Religious and legal justifications have been systematically invoked to justify Muslim women's banishment from politics and public domains. Yet this patriarchal domination has not gone on without serious challenges by women - sporadic and exceptional though their participation in the battle of succession has been. The Unforgettable Queens of Islam highlights lives and legacies of a number of charismatic women engaged in fierce battles of succession, and their stories offer striking insights into the workings of political power in the Muslim world.