Kecia Ali
“Gender, Tradition, and Authority in American Islam”
Debates about the roles and status of women connect and divide Muslims worldwide. Among American Muslims—the most racially and ethnically diverse religious group in the United States—questions of gender and authority are also questions about Americanness and identity. Widespread anti-Muslim bias, rhetoric, and violence, in which stereotypes about Muslim women often figure heavily, makes intra-Muslim debates about how to live religiously correct and ethically meaningful lives especially fraught. Gender takes center stage in contentious conversations including over who is qualified to interpret scripture, lead prayer, and speak publicly about Islam. Exploring these debates illustrates diversity within Muslim communities and broader patterns in American religious and social life.
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Kecia Ali is Professor of Religion at Boston University. Her research ranges from Islam’s formative period to the present, and focuses on Islamic law; gender and sexuality; and religious biography. She is the author of several books. The Lives of Muhammad (Harvard 2014) and Sexual Ethics and Islam (Oneworld, 2nd ed., 2016) explore, among other subjects, the complex intertwining of Muslim and Western norms about gender, sexuality, and marriage. Her publications on early Islamic law include the monograph Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam (Harvard 2010) and the biography Imam Shafi‘i: Scholar and Saint (Oneworld 2011). She also writes about on gender, ethics, and popular fiction. In addition to articles, she has published a book on the subject: Human in Death: Morality and Mortality in J. D. Robb’s Novels (Baylor 2017). Her current projects include an introductory book on Women in Muslim Traditions as well as a study of the gender politics of academic Islamic Studies.
Ali, who currently serves as chair of Boston University’s Department of Religion, has held a variety of service and leadership roles in professional organizations. At the American Academy of Religion, where she has been a member for two decades, she has served on task forces, steering committees, and on the Board of Directors (2016-2018). From 2014-2016, she was president of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics.
Before joining the Boston University faculty in 2006, she held research and teaching fellowships at Harvard Divinity School (2003-2004) and Brandeis University (2004-2006). From 2001-2003, she worked part time as a Senior Research Analyst for the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project.
Ali received her PhD in Religion from Duke University in 2002. She earned an undergraduate degree in History, with honors in Feminist Studies, from Stanford University in 1993.