This book describes and analyzes the different roles women have played in the Islamic world, past and present. Starting with Sharia regulations and their applications in societies throughout history, Schneider observes and pinpoints the obstacles and opportunities women have faced, and still face, in various Islamic societies. The last chapter addresses women's participation in the Arab Spring and their hopes and disappointments. The result is a vivid portrait of the different worlds of women in Islam, encompassing religion and law, sexuality and love, literature and the arts, law and professional life, and politics and power.