College of Arts and Sciences — Asian Studies — Middle Eastern Studies — Theology and Religious Studies

Aysha Hidayatullah

Assistant Professor

Aysha Hidayatullah is Assistant Professor of Islamic studies and teaches undergraduate courses on Islam, gender, race, and ethics. She received her M.A. (2005) and Ph.D. (2009) in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned her B.A. in Women's Studies in 2001 from Emory University, where she also served as the university's first Muslim Religious Advisor to the Office of the Dean of the Chapel & Religious Life from 2006 to 2008. She began teaching at the University of San Francisco in 2008.

Her research interests include feminist exegesis of the Qur'an; representations of women in early Islamic history; constructions of femininity and masculinity in various aspects of the Islamic tradition; feminist methodologies in the study of Islam; racial imaginaries of U.S. Islam; popular discourse on Muslim women in the U.S.; and the pedagogy of Islamic studies.

Her forthcoming book, Qur'an, Women, and the Unspoken: Beginnings and Critiques of Feminist Interpretation of the Qur'an, examines the emerging body of Muslim feminist scholarship on the Qur'an in North America.

Education

Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2009
M.A., Religious Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2005
B.A., Emory University, 2001

Research Areas

Gender and sexuality in Islam
Feminist exegesis of the Qur'an
Islam and race in America

Teaching
  • THRS 373: Introduction to Islam
  • THRS 210: Introduction to the Qur'an
  • THRS 280: Migrant & Diaspora Religions-Islam in America
  • THRS 390: Religious Ethics-Islamic Feminist Ethics
Publications

Forthcoming:

Qur'an, Women, and the Unspoken: Beginnings and Critiques of Feminist Interpretation of the Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2014

"I Speak for Myself: Pop Feminism and the Lures of Self-Representation in Muslim Women's Monologues" (co-authored with Taymiya Zaman)

"The Qur'anic Rib-ectomy: Scriptural Purity, Imperial Dangers, and Other Obstacles to the Interfaith Engagement of Muslim Feminist Hermeneutics," Women and Interreligious Dialogue, eds. Catherine Cornille and Jillian Maxey

"Behind Every Good (or Bad) Muslim Man: Representations of Muhammad's Wives after 9/11," Muhammad in the Digital Age, ed. Ruqayya Khan

Research Guide to "Gender and Sexuality," Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies

Recently published:

"Our Living Hagar,"A Jihad for Justice: Honoring the Work and Life of Amina Wadud, eds. Kecia Ali, Juliane Hammer, and Laury Silvers

Free access available at (appears on book pages 217-224): http://www.bu.edu/religion/files/2010/03/A-Jihad-for-Justice-for-Amina-Wadud-2012-1.pdf

"Beyond Sarah and Hagar: Jewish and Muslim Reflections on Feminist Theology" with Judith Plaskow, Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities, eds. Reza Aslan and Aaron Hahn Tapper

Free excerpt available at (appears on book pages 159-172): http://www.amazon.com/Muslims-Jews-America-Commonalities-Complexities/dp/023010861X#reader_023010861X

"Muslim Feminist Birthdays," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 27.1

Free preview available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_feminist_studies_in_religion/v027/27.1.hidayatullah.html

"Mariyya the Copt: Gender, Sex and Heritage in the Legacy of Muhammad's umm walad," Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 21.3

Free preview available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09596410.2010.500475#preview

"Inspiration and Struggle: Muslim Feminist Theology and the Work of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 25.1

"Islamic Conceptions of Sexuality," Sexuality and the World's Religions, eds. David Machacek and Melissa Wilcox, ABC-CLIO