Publications
Books and Essays Written by
Dr Sofia Rehman
My writings explore a wide range of topics, including climate change, gender justice in Islam, Islamophobia, and theologies of migration, all deeply rooted in Qur’anic studies, Hadith, and Islamic tradition.
As a Muslim author, educator, and scholar of Islam, my work has been featured in Refinery29, Vogue Arabia, and The Independent.
If you're seeking in-depth insights into Islamic scholarship and contemporary issues, explore my publications below.
To deepen your understanding, check out my courses for guided learning experiences.
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
A Treasury of ‘A'ishah
“Simply beautiful. It’s a treasure to return to again and again.”
Goodreads Review
Aisha bint Abu Bakr (RA) has been an inspiration and paragon for Muslims since the first generation of Believers emerged. Hailed as a guiding light, a fount of wisdom and a purveyor of the Prophetic mission, Aisha’s words have illuminated Islamic thought in all its branches.
This book compiles 40 of her insights and statements in the categories of Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr), Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Theology (ʿaqīdah), Politics (siyāsah) and Heart Softeners (al-raqā’iq) with commentary for the contemporary Muslim seeking spiritual and moral direction as they traverse through daily life and its challenges and possibilities.
Gendering the Hadith Tradition
“A powerful book that reimagines the Islamic tradition by centring the luminous scholar, teacher and leader A’isha bint Abi Bakr. A brilliant, patient and thoughtful work of scholarship that is as compelling as it is caring.”
Ayesha S. Chaudhry, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of British Columbia
This book presents for the first time a partial translation and study of Imam Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi’s work, al-Ijaba li-Iradi ma Istadraktahu Aisha Ala al-Sahabah—The Corrective: Aisha’s Rectification of the Companions. It critically analyses from the perspective of hadith criticism a number of sections presenting Aisha’s refutations and corrections of key Companions including, Umar b. al-Khattab, Abdullah b. Abbas, Zayd b. Thabit and Abu Hurayra, applying classical hadith methodology to the scrutiny of narrators by way of impugnment and validation (al-jarh wa al-tadil) in an effort to re-construct and re-present Aisha as a central authority in Islamic knowledge production.
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Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation
“These essays, deftly blending the political and the personal, offer fresh, galvanising, and passionate perspectives on literary translation.”
Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize Winner
Frantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that 'Decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon,' meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind.
In my essay, Seeking Hajar: Decolonising Translation of Classical Arabic Texts I explore how classical Islamic texts are translated and the lack of transparency of the process leaving colonial imprints including misogyny on the translation of many texts into English. I explore how one can take a decolonial approach when translating these texts so as to free them from affirming orientalist depictions of Islam.
Gathering: Women of Colour on Nature
The beautiful rolling hills and coastlines are for all of us. Together, we can reimagine the British countryside (and all it represents) and make space so that everyone is welcomed.
Gathering brings together essays by women of colour across the UK writing about their relationships with nature, in a genre long-dominated by male, white, middle-class writers. In redressing this imbalance, this moving collection considers climate justice, neurodiversity, mental health, academia, inherited histories, colonialism, whiteness, music, hiking and so much more.
In my essay, From God We Come and To God We Return, I explore the Qur'an's imperative for us to be caretakers of the earth and to heed its cry with as much authority as that of the prophets. I explore layered meanings of Surah al-Zalzalah, the Earthquake, as a warning of the earth's convulsions today in response to irresponsible and unsustainable actions born out of capitalist greed, whilst rooting our current hurtle into climate catastrophe in colonial history and the continued violences of empire upon the earth.
Mapping Faith
“thought-provoking, challenging and moving…”
Julie Siddiqi, Founder of Thrive Together
This enlightening edited collection shows how migration shapes the lives of faith communities - and vice versa - through diverse prisms including diaspora, generational change, cultural conflict, conceptions of 'ministry' and artistic response.
The contributors comprise writers, poets and artists from the three largest Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and beyond. They show how issues of migration are addressed through a variety of different media such as theological debate and shared community action, poetry and art.
In my essay, Translation and Re-Centring 'Aisha in the Hadith Canon I explore how translation mimics physical migration; how some parts remain untransferable whether thats words from one language to another or all the parts of an individual from one context to another.
Expanding on the illustrious 13th-century scholar Ibn al-Qayyim's discussion of migration of the heart to God in his al-Risālah al-Tābukiyyah, I explore how migration in Islam extends beyond the physical. It is also a metaphysical journey; one of the soul seeking closeness to Allah.
Cut From the Same Cloth?
“Radical, moving, funny, profound . . . The essays in this book are a vital gift”
Preti Taneja, author.
In my essay, The Gift of Second Sight, I combine a commentary on the circumstances in which Surah al-Mujadilah (She who disputes) was revealed with the great Black American intellectual, W.E.B DuBois's framework of double consciousness to explore the experiences of British Muslim women who live at the intersections of being (often) people of colour, women and Muslim in Britain.
It is a call to prophetic allyship and God-given and ordained right to call for our rights.
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