Barren Women: Biology, Medicine and Religion in the Medieval Middle East (Islam – Thought, Culture, and Society, 2)

About the Author
Sara Verskin, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI, USA.

Drawing on legal, medical and theological texts, Barren Women explores the ramifications of being infertile in the medieval Arab-Islamic world. In so doing, Verskin’s study highlights underappreciated areas of women’s agency within the Islamic legal system, and also explores the diverse marketplace of medical ideas in the medieval world and the perceived connection between women’s health practices and religious heterodoxy.

The new series Islam – Thought, Culture, and Society brings together innovative research dealing with any aspect of Islamic religion, civilization, and thought. It also takes into consideration non-Muslim majority societies as well as non-Muslim groups within Islamic contexts. The series is intentionally interdisciplinary with a broad regional scope, covering all eras from early Islam to the 21st century.

This peer reviewed series is a joint project with the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS); the winning manuscript of the annual De Gruyter-BRAIS prize will be published in the series.