Emran El-Badawi is Program Director and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of The Qur'an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions and Communities of the Qur'an, which is also published by Oneworld. He has contributed to numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Al-Jazeera, Forbes, Christian Science Monitor and ARTE.
'A genuinely paradigm-shifting work by one of the most exciting and innovative scholars in the field. Queens and Prophets upends popular assumptions concerning Arab women in late antiquity. Drawing on an impressive range of extensive research, Emran El-Badawi sheds new light on the history of the Near East by studying three female rulers alongside the most significant holy men of the era. In doing so, he reveals the importance of these women to the history of the late antique Near East. It is a compelling and powerful narrative that is sure to provoke thought and discussion amongst scholars and curious readers alike.' -- Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and An American Martyr in Persia 'Breathtaking... El-Badawi brings to life accounts of warriors and queens who defy standard notions of the social and religious history of the Arabs. His masterful book offers new insights into the intimate relationships between paganism, Christianity, and early Islam in the Near East, and on the distinctive roles that women played in all of these traditions.' -- Gabriel Said Reynolds, Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology, University of Notre Dame