Fasting and Feasting in Morocco : Women's Participation in Ramadan

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the 'five pillars' or religious duties that Muslims must perform and is for many the most important role for women in Islamic practice, revealing the strategies women employ to earn religious merit.

Rather than downplaying the role of women in religious practice within dominant Islam, this work shows that female pious acts are essential to the carrying out of religious doctrine and no less important than the special prayers said by men in the mosques.