Women and the Fatimids in the world of Islam

The first full-length study on women and the Fatimids is a ground breaking work investigating an unexplored area in the field of Islamic and medieval studies. The authors have unearthed a wealth of references to women, thus reinscribing females' role in the history of one of the most facinating Islamic dynasties - the only one to be named after a woman. Basing their research on a variety of sources from historical works to chronicles, official correspondence, documentary sources and archaeological findings, the authors have provided a richly informative analysis of the status and influence of women in this period. Throughout the book comparison is drawn with the status and roles of women in earlier, contemporary and seubsequent Islamic and non-Islamic courts.