Marion H Katz

Marion H. Katz is a Professor at New York University’s College of Arts & Science, specializing in the history of Islamic legal thought with a focus on gender and ritual in the 11th–15th centuries CE. Her research explores the intersection of Islamic law with ethical, philosophical, and Sufi discourses, emphasizing how normative frameworks shaped premodern Muslim societies. She holds a PhD from the University of Chicago (1997) and a BA from Yale (1989).

Her major publications include Wives and Work: Islamic Law and Ethics Before Modernity (2022), which examines debates over marital obligations and domestic labor, and Women in the Mosque: A History of Legal Thought and Social Practice (2014), analyzing gender dynamics in Islamic ritual spaces. She has held prestigious fellowships, including from the Institute for Advanced Study and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Dr. Katz teaches courses on Islamic law, gender, and religious texts, including “Islamic Law and Society” and “Women and Gender in Islam.” Her work bridges legal theory, social practice, and textual analysis, highlighting the complexity of premodern Islamic thought and its modern legacies.