Shifting Allegiances: Networks of Kinship and of Faith

"It is almost unbearably poignant to read Moyra Dale's description of a vibrant Muslim women's group in Damascus at a time when Syria's tensions pervade the media, and the people she describes have scattered. The vivid and loving description of the women is an important record of imperiled humanity, and the analysis in terms of changing allegiances offers a tool for understanding some of the communal and family dynamics of today's world." 

--Ida Glaser, Director of The Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford; Co-author of Thinking Biblically about Islam: Genesis, Transfiguration, Transformation



"This unique case study describes a new memetic ideal as women in a mosque sorority shifted their allegiance from kinship to the mosque as a major locus of identity. That change occurred as they embodied practices and developed their voices as women 'seeking connection with the prophet Muhammad.' Of interest to Islamic scholars and women's studies researchers on communal identity and performative practices, this book makes a timely contribution to a world that needs more nuanced views of Islam."

--Frances S. Adeney, William A. Benfield Professor Emerita of Evangelism and Global Mission, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary