This book is a detailed and sensitive ethnographic study of the Al-Huda movement in Pakistan, an Islamic “school turned social movement” (p. 1) that is drawing urban women to its classrooms and lectures. Sadaf Ahmad's motivation for doing this research was to understand why women, especially from the middle and upper-middle classes, are flocking to Al-Huda schools and centers. She was both curious and troubled by the expansion and influence of Al-Huda's religious teachings since the early 1990s. In order to understand why these women are engaging with Islam through Al-Huda and also their journey into “piety,” Ahmad spent almost a year with women who attended classes at the main Al-Huda school in Islamabad. She also visited different dars (regular gatherings to read and discuss the Qur'an) held by various women.
Ahmad discusses her position as a Pakistani woman studying other Pakistani women in her home city of Islamabad. She...
