Why read Muslim Midwives?

Book cover of Muslim Midwives: The Craft of Birthing in the Premodern Middle East

Book description

This book reconstructs the role of midwives in medieval to early modern Islamic history through a careful reading of a wide range of classical and medieval Arabic sources. The author casts the midwife's social status in premodern Islam as a privileged position from which she could mediate between male authority…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Muslim Midwives as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Uriel Simonsohn

Author

Giladi's Muslim Midwives takes the reader into the hidden layers of the domicile; an intimate space, where only few could participate in one of the most dramatic moments, if not the most of them, in a human's life – birth.

Midwives, although biologically apart, were assigned with a crucial place within the household, thus assuming capacities that by far exceeded their formal tasks within their respective communities.

From Uriel's list on The best books about women in medieval Near Eastern history.