(RNS) — In “Queens of Islam: The Muslim World’s Historic Women Rulers,” journalist Tom Verde shares stories of 15 Muslim women rulers, dating back to the early Islamic era through the 17th century.
The book, which comes out on July 22 and is published by Olive Branch Press, pushes back on stereotypes of Muslim women being oppressed and subservient. It instead highlights prominent rulers who influenced Islamic civilization from Morocco to Nigeria and Iran, while their palace intrigues and stratagems made for gripping stories.
Images viewed among Westerners of women forced to cover up in Taliban-run Afghanistan or Iran’s Islamic Republic have created a warped perception of Islam being inherently hostile to women, Verde told RNS in a May 28 interview. In “Queens of Islam,” he hopes to add nuance to their experiences and show that the Islamic world isn’t a monolith. The book, which has an epigraph quoting a Quran verse, “the believers, both men and women, are allies of one another,” also serves to debunk misconceptions about Islamic culture.
“I knew that there was a disconnect here,” said Verde, who resides in Pawcatuck, CT. “I think that the common conception we have is that women in the Muslim world are hardly let out of the house, let alone into the halls of government. I thought people should really know that this is just not the case.”
Verde has written about religion, history and culture for news outlets such as The New York Times, Politico and National Public Radio. His fascination with the 15 rulers dates back to 2011, when he reviewed a book on the architectural history of Cairo and came across Shajarat al-Durr, a ruler of Egypt. The 13th-century queen known for halting European crusades inspired him to write an article series, and then his book. “Queens of Islam” intends to introduce the leaders’ stories to an audience beyond Islamic studies academics.
Though he learned about Islamic theology and culture while pursuing a degree in Islamic studies and Christian and Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary (now Hartford International University for Religion and Peace) in Connecticut, Verde said he knew little about the women rulers of the Muslim world.
“The history of both Christianity and Islam and other faiths has sometimes been too overshadowed by the male perspective. Men write the books, tell the stories, and they sometimes tend to leave out the women, or the women are kind of sidelined or briefly mentioned,” he said.
In 2023, the author started going through academic research and accounts of contemporary chroniclers to unearth the women’s stories. For the profile of Sayidda Al Hurra, a 16th-century Moroccan ruler, Verde also interviewed experts.
The author was also struck by the tumultuous life stories of the women. To gain power, many relied on elaborate strategies and schemes. Their efforts to maintain control and exert influence in their courts amazed Verde, he said.
“I like to tell stories — they were just great stories,” Verde said.
The book includes many historical reconstructions and scenes, to bring these stories to life, he said. One chapter dedicated to Al-Khayzuran, a Yemeni slave who rose to power in the 700s and reigned from Baghdad over the Abbasid Caliphate, explains how she became influential in her husband’s and son’s courts, granting favors and advising them. The book also profiles Roxelana, who was born in Ukraine in 1505 and is considered one of the most powerful women rulers of the Ottoman Empire.
Throughout the book, short sections also debunk misconceptions about Islamic culture.
One part details how Safavid women in Iran, a dynasty that descended from Central Asian nomadic tribes, exerted power in Persian society. Another focuses on harems, or domestic spaces reserved for women and prohibited to men, often rumored as places where “women are lounging around, semi-clothed, waiting to have sex with the Sultan,” said Verde.
In reality, women living in harems learned poetry, music, mathematics, history and more, as he explains in the book. Some have run businesses and cultivated contacts from inside through intermediaries. Modern ideas of harems come from inaccurate accounts of Western diplomats and feed into Orientalist fantasies, Verde said.
“Western chroniclers, because they were denied access to this, all they could do was imagine,” Verde said.
