I. Why uncover Muslim women's history? -- Introduction : why uncover the history of Muslim women in Britain? -- Unequal history : Olive Salaman and (in)visibility in the histories of Britain's earliest female converts to Islam -- I. Muslim women in the first British mosques -- Fatima Elizabeth Cates : the life and struggles of an early Victorian convert to Islam -- Dynamism and discontent : Nafeesah M. T. Keep and female Muslims in Victorian Liverpool -- Sultan Jahan and the Woking Muslim Mission : representing Islamic femininity during the First World War -- III. British Muslim women and expanding spheres of influence -- 'Fatma Hanim of the English Converts' : Hannah Rodda Robinson and the Ottoman Court -- 'No room at the inn' : Bertha Cave, a woman before her time -- 'Fairest of women' : the conversion to Islam and Muslim life of Gladys Milton Brooke, Dayang Muda of Sarawak -- IV. Muslim women in Britain : sojourners, settlers, legacy-makers -- 'We were not anything like what they imagined!' : Muslim women travellers from South Asia to Britain, 1890s to 1930s -- Noor Inayat Khan : A British Muslim hero?

"The history of British Islam and British Muslims is a growing area of interest among historians and the general public. But, whilst Muslim women have featured in some research, their lives and experiences prior to the present day have remained obscure, if not ‘hidden’, in both academic and popular discussion. Uncovering Muslim women’s experiences and contributions to society in past generations is essential for us to build a full picture of Muslim life in Britain, then and now. This is the first book to address that gap, telling the stories of Muslim women who lived in Britain between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, from Victorian times to the years immediately after the Second World War—just before immigration profoundly affected the size and composition of Britain’s Muslim communities. It reveals a rich variety of experiences, including Muslim women who travelled to or away from Britain, and many who converted to Islam within the British Isles. Underpinned by feminist historical approaches, this groundbreaking book aims to make women visible where they have been hidden from or within history. Its fascinating accounts will reinstate Muslim women as actors, storytellers and storymakers who have shaped the history of Britain and of ‘British Islam’."-- Provided by publisher.