..". a most welcome addition to the body of scholarship on the Sokoto Jihad and Caliphate." Religious Studies Review

The fascinating life and times of Nana Asma'u (1793 - 1864), a West African woman who was a Muslim scholar and poet. As the daughter of the spiritual and political leader of the Sokoto community, Asma'u was a role model and teacher for other Muslim women as well as a scholar of Islam and a key advisor to her father as he waged a jihad to bring Islam to the population of what is now northwestern Nigeria.

In Muslim Women Sing, Beverly B. Mack shows Muslim women in northern Nigeria actively involved in creative activity. Although most of the songs and oral poetry are performed for female audiences only, some are performed for mixed groups, and typically men of the household are permitted to listen as women sing and recite songs and poems that reflect their contemporary social and cultural concerns. Themes such as women s roles in society, women and Islam, history, politics, AIDS prevention, child care, and hygiene form an integral part of their repertoire. Descriptive portraits of the...