Women have played a relatively minor role in the history and development of commentary on the Qur'an. This is unfortunate for many reasons, including the facts that the sacred text of Islam mentions several dozen females and some 300 of its approximately 6,300 verses directly involve women or girls. Because exegesis has primarily been a male activity, many of these texts have been ignored or not given the careful attention they deserve. Barriers to their full participation still remain, but in recent decades more and more women have been engaged in the work of qur'anic exegesis. Celene Ibrahim's book is a recent example of this emerging trend, and it demonstrates the many benefits that will accrue as the field becomes more diverse and the Qur'an is approached from new perspectives like the one she employs and labels “female-centric.”

Ibrahim examines how the Qur'an's rhetoric, themes, linguistic features, and literary qualities contribute to the text's perspective on gender, sexuality, kinship, and virtue, and the results of her study are quite illuminating. She demonstrates that women are not secondary figures in the Qur'an, but are central to it as they reiterate and personify the messages of their male prophetic companions in the text. Females are a heterogeneous group when it comes to matters like faith, knowledge, personality, and age, but there is a commonality among them in that the Qur'an presents them as free agents who shape their own destinies. Although most of them express or demonstrate wisdom and are models of piety, a few are corrupt or damned and therefore serve as negative examples. In this way, Ibrahim maps out how its female figures advance the didactic aims of the Qur'an by highlighting the relationships that exist between the prophets mentioned in the book and their mothers, wives, daughters, supporters, and adversaries.

Each of the book's four main chapters sheds light on a key aspect of Ibrahim's topic: “Female Sex and Sexuality,” “Female Kin, Procreation, and Parenting,” “Women Speakers and Interlocutors,” and “Women Exemplars for an Emerging Polity.” The last one is a particularly fascinating exploration of how qur'anic narratives define female virtue and vice against the backdrop of the emerging Muslim community of the first half of the seventh century ce. Ibrahim deftly explains how some stories that feature women serve as case studies meant to express the new social and communal standards that were taking shape among the prophet Muhammad's followers. Even those who are evaluated negatively, like the wife of Abu Lahab in chapter 111 of the Qur'an, serve critical roles in that they personify the early persecutors of Muslims and teach the text's audience how not to behave.

The following represent just a sampling from the treasure trove of facts about women in the Qur'an that Ibrahim's book contains:

• • Almost every female figure in the Qur'an appears in conjunction with one or more family members.

• • At least one female figure is associated with all of the male messengers mentioned in the text.

• • No mother figure is depicted negatively in the Qur'an, but fathers are presented both positively and negatively. For example, Abraham's father rejects him and threatens to kill him (see Qu'ran 19:41-50).

• • There are no corrupt daughter figures in the Qur'an, nor does it depict a parent who has a bad relationship with a daughter.

• • The Qur'an shows only immoral brothers, not sisters.

• • Aside from Muhammad, Jesus’ mother Mary has the most extensive conversations with divine messengers.

The five appendices are a very nice feature of the book that illustrate Ibrahim's contention that women play essential roles in the Qur'an by providing comprehensive summaries of the following: a list and descriptions of female figures mentioned in the Qur'an; the Qur'an's female figures in approximate order of salvation history; Qur'an verses that contain female speech or a message from God to women; female figures and their families listed by chapter; and a list of select female relatives of Muhammad, most of whom are not mentioned in the Qur'an.

The role of women continues to be one of the most debated and controversial topics related to Islam, and it is one about which there is much misinformation. Ibrahim's very fine work is an invaluable resource that provides an accurate and accessible overview of what the Qur'an has to say on the matter.