Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression Ida Lichter This inspiring compilation of Muslim women's stories from around the world focuses on the voices of reformers who battle fiercely against barbarisms as stonings, acid attacks, gang rapes, and "honor killings" that go largely unpunished due to discriminatory religious laws and an entrenched patriarchal culture. Each chapter provides an in-depth and up-to-date look at the status of women in Muslim countries, and in compact and often poignant biographies, reformers speak out with passion, humanity, and sometimes humor to expose to the whole world the harsh realities many women experience on a daily basis in many parts of the globe. While demanding the human, Political, and social rights that vast numbers of women lack in many Muslim countries, these heroic women expose political Islam, characterized by a malevolent intent toward progressive Muslim states and the West that manifests itself in violence, misogyny, and theocratic ambition. Many who have fled oppressive societies in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan alert the West to the gathering dangers of this ideology, yet their stories still offer hope and guidance for a better future so long as the struggle for equality persists. This wide-ranging survey of Muslim women reformers not only concentrates on the Middle East but also on Europe and North America, and author Ida Lichter uncovers some significant emerging trends. For example, she notes that the majority of Muslim feminists would like to see reform contained within Islam. Many criticize their patriarchal culture for suppressing egalitarian views that they believe the Koran expresses and so they advocate a reinterpretation of the holy text. Some demand changes to insidious Sharia-based laws. Others say that women will never achieve equal treatment under religiously inspired authoritarian ordinance and so they campaign openly for major political and educational reforms. Extensively documented and deeply absorbing, this vibrant collection of inspiring women demonstrates a groundswell of grassroots change bubbling up from every corner of the Muslim world with the potential of bring even the most conservative sectors of Islam into the twenty-first century. Ida Lichter, MD is a psychiatrist who lives in Sydney, Australia.