It has been argued that Islam liberated Muslim women by granting them full rights as citizens. Yet in reality we see that in much of the Muslim world women have been subjected to both cultural and political oppression. Instances such as forced marriages, arbitrary divorce, female mutilation and other abuses are sadly common, as are restrictions on women's education and on their role in the labor force. This book explores these problems and highlights the contrast with what Islam--through the Quran and the Sunnah--in fact prescribes. The causes of such contradictions are shown to lie in other sociocultural and political dynamics, quite outside the realm of the revealed religion.