§16§This book analyzes perceptions of self, power, agency, and gender of Muslim women in a rural community of Bangladesh. Rural women's limited power and agency has been subsumed within the male dominated Islamic discourses on gender. However, many Muslim women have their own alternative discourses surrounding power and agency. Sarwar Alam intertwines an exploration of these power dynamics with reading of the Qur'an and Hadith, and analyzes how Muslim women's perception of power and gender are linked to their relationship with religion.§ §04§Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Geography and Demography.- Chapter 3: Self, Identity, and Individuality.- Chapter 4: Women's Perceptions of Agency and Power.- Chapter 5: Sources of Power and Agency.- Chapter 6: Barriers to Women's Power and Agency.- Chapter 7: Construction of Gender and Gender Ideology.- Chapter 8: Conclusion. § §02§§ Sarwar Alam is a lecturer at the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies of the University of Arkansas, USA.§
