One of the more interesting stories to emerge out of the Cairo International Book Fair held in January and early February this year was the controversy that surrounded Asmāʾ al-Sharqāwī’s new book, Kāmilāt ʿAql wa-Dīn (Perfect in Mind and Religion), the title of which seemed to contradict a saying (ḥadīth) of the Prophet Muḥammad. In her book, al-Sharqāwī scrutinizes several sayings attribuuted to the Prophet Muḥammad that she believes have been misued over the centuries to subordinate Muslim women. The public controversy around the book was significant enough that it was withdrawn from the book fair although it is not entirely clear who was responsible for this decision. 

(The book was published in Egypt by al-Sīraj Publishing House.) 

Dialogue Across Borders is pleased to publish an insightful review of Kāmilāt ʿAql wa-Dīn by Sara ʿAllām Shaltouut. Our readers may recall that we published an interview with Sara on church-building controversies in Egypt earlier this year. From 2015-2020, Sara worked as the Christian affairs editor for the newspaper al-Yawm al-Sābiʿ, a position usually reserved for Egyptian Christians. The fact that she was entrusted with this position as a Muslim is a testament to her independence and objectivity. In 2022, she completed an M.A. thesis at the American University in Cairo on church-building controversies in the Egyptian governorate of Minya. After completing a second M.A. at the University of Edinburgh, Sara is now pursuing doctoral studies in Christian-Muslim relations at St. Andrews University in Scotland.

In concluding her review, Sara offers this valuable assessment of al-Sharqāwī’s book: “One of the key challenges facing books like Kāmilāt ʿAql wa-Dīn in the Egyptian context is their reception across sharply divided intellectual audiences. Secular readers often expect a more radical departure from Islamic tradition — a revolutionary critique that directly confronts foundational texts and institutions. Conversely, religious readers may view such interventions as dangerously subversive, interpreting them as an attack on the ḥadīth radition or on the Sunnah more broadly. Al-Sharqāwī, however, positions herselfin between these poles, seeking neither to dismantle the tradition nor to submit uncritically to it. Instead, she attempts to carve out a new path, one that blends theological commitment with a call for rethinking the role of women in Islamic thought. Her work thus reflects the broader tensions faced by Muslim women thinkers who are striving to reconcile religious authority with ethical critique — a project that is as politically fraught as it is intellectually urgent. In the end, Kāmilāt ʿAql wa-Dīn should be seen as an insightful and courageous intervention — not because it breaks completely with tradition, but because it dares to question entrenched interpretations from within. Al-Sharqāwī belongs to a new generation of Muslim female scholars who are attempting to navigate a path between reverence for Islamic tradition and a commitment to gender justice. Her work reflects both the possibilities and the limitations of such a position: it challenges patriarchal readings while remaining grounded in inherited theological structures. Whether or not one agrees with her conclusions, the significance of her attempt to speak as a believer, a scholar, and a woman within Islam cannot be ignored. In this sense, the book is not only a contribution to debates about women and religion, but also a reflection of wider struggles over authority, voice, and reform in contemporary Muslim societies.”

Additional information and exceprts from Sara’s review can be found here.

Matthew Anderson

Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding

Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (Brill)

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August 17, 2025