Rahina Muazu

Visiting Lecturer on Women's Studies and Islam 2021–23
WSRP Research Associate 2021–23
Rahina Muazu

Research project

The Female Voice in the Qur'an and Qur'an Commentary: Rereading verse 33:32 from a Gender Perspective

Is the voice of a Muslim woman part of her nudity (‘awra)? Using gender as an analytical category, this research plans an exegetical hermeneutical study of the Qur’anic verse 33:32 to find out the position of the female voice and how it is interpreted in the West African Hausa society. Drawing on extensive field work, this project makes a valuable and new contribution to women’s studies by both engaging the lived experiences of Black West African Muslims and by contributing to debates on women’s vocal nudity and women’s perception.

Profile

Rahina Muazu is a scholar of Islam and formerly a research associate at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin. She received her PhD in Islamic Studies from Freie Universität Berlin and an MA in Muslim Cultures from Agha Khan University in London. She spent years with the WSRP.

Dr. Muazu works on Muslim Women and Qur’an in Muslim West Africa. Her forthcoming book, Qur’an Recitation and the Nudity of the Female Voice in Nigeria, looks at the debates surrounding the female voice, vocal nudity and public space in Nigeria. She has published articles in al-Maher Journal of Qur’anic Studies and the Journal of African Religion and Culture.

Courses

  • HDS 3058: Gender, Islam and Debates surrounding Female Vocal Nudity in West Africa (Nigeria and Niger) (spring 2022)
  • HDS 3069: Qur’an Recitation: Theory and Practice (fall 2023)