NYTimes: Reviving the She-Scholar Tradition

The erosion of women’s religious education in recent times, Akram says,
reflects “decline in every aspect of Islam.” Flabby leadership and a focus on
politics rather than scholarship has left Muslims ignorant of their own history.
Islam’s current cultural insecurity has been bad for both its scholarship and its women, Akram says. “Our traditions have grown weak, and when people are weak, they grow cautious. When they’re cautious, they don’t give their women
freedoms.”