This historical study transforms our understanding of modern Egyptian national culture by applying social theory to the history of Egypt's first teacher-training school. It focuses on Dar al-Ulum, which trained students from religious schools to teach in Egypt's new civil schools from 1872. During the first four decades of British occupation (1882-1922), Egyptian nationalists strove to emulate Europe yet insisted that Arabic and Islamic knowledge be reformed and integrated into Egyptian national culture despite opposition from British officials. This reinforced the authority of the alumni of the Dar al-Ulum, the daramiyya, as arbiters of how to be modern and authentic, a position that graduates Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb of the Muslim Brotherhood would use to resist westernisation and create new modes of Islamic leadership in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Establishing a 130-year history for tensions over the place of Islamic ideas and practices within modernized public spaces, tensions which became central to the outcomes of the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Hilary Kalmbach demonstrates the importance of Arabic and Islamic knowledge to notions of authority, belonging, and authenticity within a modernising Muslim-majority community.

This article demonstrates the importance of performance – and in particular performances that blur boundaries between aesthetical styles – to the emergence and impact of ‘new religious intellectuals’, a group that radically transformed Islamic leadership in the twentieth century and were involved in setting up the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from 1928.This article builds on previous work on performance and the legitimation of Islamic leadership to show that aesthetics should be considered alongside education and discourse as a differentiating factor between new religious intellectuals and the ‘ulama’. Drawing on Birgit Meyer's approach to aesthetics, it argues that aesthetical styles formed a crucial part of the vocabulary of the performances through which leadership and group belonging was legitimised in interwar Egypt. This emphasises further that the legitimation of leadership is about more than demonstrating intellectual mastery of information and techniques, whether Islamic or European-influenced. Finally, the article demonstrates the importance of blurring boundaries to sociocultural change and specifically to the emergence of new religious intellectuals in interwar Egypt, because it highlights how early new religious intellectuals straddled the boundary separating the ‘ulama’ from the efendiyya to establish themselves as religious leaders for the self-consciously modern efendiyya. While early new religious intellectuals drew on hybrid educational backgrounds, their vocation and discourse were fairly closely matched to the efendiyya. Instead, it was in the area of aesthetics that the most blurring occurred, with leaders performing elements of both ‘ulama’ and efendiyya aesthetics to establish legitimacy as both social leaders and religious authorities within the efendiyya.

The 1890s were crucial to the development of an explicitly Egyptian national education system. Despite the efforts of colonial officials such as Lord Cromer and Douglas Dunlop, British cultural and linguistic influence was incomplete in fin-de-siècle Egypt. Reforms to Egyptian teacher training in the 1890s highlight how Egyptian administrators, especially graduates of educational missions, actively engaged in cross-cultural borrowing from Europe. Non-British – especially French – pedagogies were especially important. Egyptian educationalists translated foreign knowledge into the Egyptian cultural context, creating European-Islamic hybrids which were then transmitted further via the Egyptian government school system. However, 1890s developments also laid the groundwork for increased British cultural and linguistic influence after the turn of the century. Egyptians began studying at England’s Borough Road teacher training school shortly after the 1889 opening of the English-language Khedivial Teachers’ School, which joined the Arabic-focused Dar al-‘Ulum School and the French-language Tawfiqiyya Teachers’ School.

This sole-authored introduction to the edited volume 'Women, Leadership, and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority' surveys the literature on Islamic authority and leadership, presents a new approach to the study of Islamic authority, and explains why a study focused on female Islamic authority makes a significant contribution to scholarship on Islam and Muslim women.

The acceptance of female leadership in mosques and madrassas is a significant change from much historical practice, signalling the mainstream acceptance of some form of female Islamic authority in many places. This volume investigates the diverse range of female religious leadership present in contemporary Muslim communities in South, East and Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America, with chapters discussing its emergence, the limitations placed upon it, and its wider impact, as well as the physical and virtual spaces used by women to establish and consolidate their authority. It will be invaluable as a reference text, as it is the first to bring together analysis of female Islamic leadership in geographically and ideologically-diverse Muslim communities worldwide.

Summary
This article uses the concept of authority to analyze contemporary female Islamic leadership, focusing in particular on Syrian mosque instructor Huda al-Habash. While examples of female leadership in the distant past can provide inspiration for women active in and contemporary revivalists mosque movements, these movements and their leaders have emerged as a result of twentieth-century developments. The need to be perceived by the wider community as largely supportive of past practices places significant constraints on female religious authority within revivalist movements. Female mosque instructors such Huda al-Habash have the potential to change the status of women within these movements and their surrounding communities in subtle but significant ways.

Résumé
Cet article s’appuie sur le concept d’autorité pour analyser l’autorité religieuse des femmes dans l’islam contemporain, en s’intéressant plus particulièrement à Huda al-Habash, enseignante dans une mosquée syrienne. Les exemples historiques peuvent servir d’inspiration aux femmes engagées dans les mouvements des mosquées contemporains, qui prônent un renouveau islamique, mais ces mouvements et celles et ceux qui les animent sont le produit d’évolutions propres au XXe siècle. Les enseignantes de mosquée comme Huda al-Habash peuvent contribuer à transformer subtilement le statut des femmes au sein de ces mouvements et dans les communautés où elles apparaissent.

Zusammenfassung
Dieser Artikel hinterfragt das Konzept von Autorität um die religiöse Autorität von Frauen im zeitgenössischen Islam zu untersuchen und interessiert sich insbesondere für Huda al-Habash, Lehrerin in einer syrischen Moschee. Historische Beispiele können den in den zeitgenössischen Bewegungen der Moscheen engagierten Frauen als Inspiration dienen, auch wenn diese Bewegungen und ihre Inspiratoren ein Produkt des XXe Jahrhunderts sind. Lehrerinnen in einer Moschee, wie Huda al-Habash, können dazu beitragen, den Status der Frauen innerhalb dieser Bewe-gungen, sowie in den religiösen Gemeinschaften aus denen sie stammen, subtil zu verändern.

Resumen
Este artículo se apoya en el concepto de autoridad para analizar la autoridad religiosa de las mujeres en el Islam contemporáneo, interesándose más específicamente en Huda al-Habash, enseñante en una mezquita siria. Los ejemplos históricos pueden inspirar a las mujeres comprometidas en los movimientos de las mezquitas contemporáneos, que defienden una renovación islámica, pero dichos movimientos y aquellas que los dinamizan son el producto de evoluciones propias del siglo XX. Las profesoras de mezquita como Huda al-Habash pueden contribuir en transformar de manera sutil el estatus de las mujeres dentro de estos movimientos y de las comunidades donde surgen.

Resumo
Este artigo se apoia no conceito de autoridade para analisar a autoridade religiosa das mulheres no islã contemporâneo, interessando-se mais particularmente por Huda al-Habash, professora em uma mesquita síria. Os exemplos históricos podem servir de inspiração às mulheres engajadas nos movimentos das mesquitas contemporâneas, que pregam uma renovação islâmica, mas esses movimentos, e aquelas e aqueles que o conduzem são produto de evoluções próprias do século XX. As professoras de mesquita como Huda al-Habash podem contribuir para transformar sutilmente o estatuto das mulheres no seio desses movimentos e nas comunidades em que elas aparecem.

文章摘要
本文使用权威的概念来分析妇女在当代伊斯兰教中的宗教权威，同时 我们尤其关注 Huda al-Habash 这位叙利亚清真寺中女老师 一些历史案例能够用于启发那些参与当代清真寺运动并推动伊斯兰教 重建的妇女们，但这些运动及其组织者们（男性和女性）都是二十世 纪自身演变的产物。清真寺的女老师们，比如 Huda al-Habash 可以为在这些运动中以及所发生的团体中妇女地位的微妙转变做出贡 献。

Female religious authority exists and is accepted in conservative Damascene circles, though scholarship has largely overlooked it. While charismatic forms of authority have been accessible to women for centuries, twentieth-century changes have made it possible for women to achieve scholarly authority as well. The female instructor in this study argues that it is natural for women to teach female mosque lesson groups; her own authority, though, is based not only on what is ‘natural’, but also on traditional and contemporary sources of legitimisation. At the same time, female Islamic authority is intrinsically limited by the gender mores of Islamic society. Though women are able to subtly reinterpret some aspects of their societal roles, they cannot completely change the social system. Hence female leaders spread conservative practice. Female religious authority can be seen as performative; by demonstrating their potential to openly oppose the system, women can maximise their standing within it.