Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza: Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety

KAREN BAUER AND FERAS HAMZA: Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the

Qur’an: A Patronage of Piety. Oxford: Oxford University Press and Institute of Ismaili

Studies, 2024; pp. vii + 445.

1. Structure and Core Arguments

Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an: A Patronage of Piety by Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza presents a comprehensive analysis of how gendered social relations in seventh-century Arabia inform the Qur’anic moral universe. Though ostensibly focused on women, the book makes a substantial contribution to understanding Qur’anic masculinity as well. The authors organize their exploration around the domestic space as a site where piety is fostered, combining intratextual exegesis with historical inquiry into social power dynamics. Central to their analysis is the identification of the paterfamilias figure—the male patron of the extended household—as the primary addressee of Qur'anic verses on social equity. This structural choice allows the authors to demonstrate that this figure's prominence stems not from spiritual superiority but from his social capital in a society dominated by similarly positioned men. Throughout the chapters, Bauer and Hamza systematically build the case that the Qur'anic message (kerygma) is fundamentally spiritually egalitarian, even as specific verses take as their starting point existing social hierarchies of early seventh-century Arabia. The book's structure reveals how certain Qur'anic passages reconfigure gender relations in Arabian socio-political hierarchies by emphasizing causes like infant rights and female socioeconomic advancement. This approach effectively illuminates the tension between descriptive historical analysis and prescriptive religious interpretation, raising important questions about the intended universality of the male-headed household model.

2. Methodological and Theoretical Contributions

The book's most significant methodological contribution lies in its seamless integration of intratextual exegesis with historical inquiry attuned to questions of social power. By emphasizing Qur'anic coherence over atomistic approaches, Bauer and Hamza build upon prior gender-informed Qur'anic scholarship while establishing new theoretical ground. Their approach demonstrates how Qur’anic verses that might appear to control women's bodies from a contemporary perspective would, in seventh-century Arabia, function to safeguard female dignity or impose parallel moral expectations on males. This nuanced methodology reveals how “maintaining an ethic of modesty, decorum, and humility” enables any person to cultivate divine favor regardless of gender. Theoretically, the work innovates by simultaneously analyzing gender and class in the tribal societies of Arabian late antiquity as reflected in the Qur’an. The authors’ stress the “solidarity among believers” to explain how duties derived from both literal and spiritual kinship are incumbent upon believers—but especially upon those with status and privilege. Drawing upon historical studies of late antiquity, Sunni exegetical works spanning the eighth to fifteenth centuries CE, and modern Arabic scholarship, the authors offer compelling evidence for the Qur’an’s “pragmatic and nuanced approach to morality in a patronage society,” therein contributing richly to our understanding of Qur’anic ethics.

3. Key Questions Raised

The work raises questions about whether the male-headed household is merely descriptive of late antiquity or prescriptive of an ideal Islamic social order—addressing issues of religious

authority, culture, and tradition. The authors’ analysis of Qur’anic ethics, free will, and moral

agency raises critical questions about how Qur’anic social frameworks might adapt across

different geographies and temporalities. Building on my work on female figures, the book further prompts us to examine scriptural depictions of female agency. From a constructive Muslim feminist perspective, the work invites us to consider how the core Qur’anic ethos of solidarity with the socially marginalized is mobilized effectively in grassroots organizing.

4. Advancing the Field and Personal Research 

Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur’an represents a significant advancement in

Qur’anic studies of thematic coherence. By explicating the Qur’an through historical studies of gender and social relations in late antique Arabia, it pushes the field beyond simplistic readings that either uncritically accept patriarchal interpretations or impose anachronistic feminist frameworks. The work’s emphasis on novel Qur’anic contributions to humanistic virtue ethics redirects scholarly attention away from merely focusing on cross-religious convergences toward appreciating the Qur’an’s unique moral vision—a vision that is in conversation with preceding scriptures but that is most immediately a reflection of the social milieu of Arabian late antiquity. This reorientation informs my ongoing research on gender dynamics in Islamic interpretive contexts by inspiring me to stress the importance of historical studies into the societies that interacted with and influenced the Hijaz region. Bauer and Hamza’s contributions to discussions of Qur’anic morality and gender synthesize prior scholarship while making substantial novel contributions. The work is an essential reference point for future studies of gender in the Qur’an and within Islamic studies more broadly.