A scholar of Islamic history and Muslim women will give the next Benedum Lecture Series talk at West Virginia University.


Amira El-Azhary Sonbol will speak on”Muslim Women in the 21st Century”at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, in G24 Eiesland Hall.


The Benedum Lecture Series brings experts from other universities and institutions to the WVU campus every year to speak on topics related to a specific theme. This years series is”September 11th: One Year Later.”


Sonbol is an associate professor of Islamic history, law and society at GeorgetownUniversitys Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. She is the author of”The Creation of a Medical Profession in Egypt, 1800-1922”and”The New Mamluks: Egyptian Society and Modern Feudalism.”Her latest book,”Women of the Jordan: Islam, Labor and the Law,”is scheduled to appear in print in November. She is also co-editor of the Journal of Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations .


She was translator and editor of”The Last Khedive of Egypt”and editor of”Women, the Family, and Divorce Laws in Islamic History.”She is the editor”HAWWA: Journal of the Women of the Islamic World and the Middle East,”which is scheduled to be published in 2003.


Sonbol was the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Senior Scholar Grant through the AmericanResearchCenter in Egypt, 1994-95.


The Benedum Lecture Series is sponsored by the Claude Worthington Benedum Endowment and the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Distinguished and Chaired Professors of WVU .