Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-273) and index.

This controversial book exposes the origins and history of Islam's repression of women. Anwar Hekmat, a scholar who was brought up in Muslim Europe, explains how Arab tribal society degenerated from a polytheistic, pre-Islamic culture in which women enjoyed positions of relative prestige, honor, and equality, to one in which men dominate and women are little more than chattel.