THE LADY IMAM | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

The soul-stirring intersectional biography of the most famous Islamic woman scholar working today, from the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist author of If the Oceans Were Ink and Home, Land, Security.

"A testament to what it means to labor for justice from inside a faith tradition--to love it enough to transform it . . . The Lady Imam is right on time to ignite our courage."--Valarie Kaur, bestselling author of See No Stranger and Sage Warrior

A feminist scholar-activist, single mother of five, and queer advocate, amina wadud has led a struggle against Islam's patriarchal establishment that's been felt keenly all over the world. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X before her, wadud has mobilized faith's potential as an engine of equality. Yet this American trail-blazer's story has never been told in book form--until now.

Born Mary Teasley, the daughter of a Methodist preacher, wadud grew up in Maryland with a rare vantage on socioeconomic divides, living through poverty and her sister's death from an illegal abortion. A gifted student, teenage wadud was sent to live with affluent white families in Weston, Massachusetts. After cross-country hitchhiking and a stint in a Buddhist ashram, she converted to Islam as a twenty-year-old Ivy League student.

wadud devoted her life to studying the Qur'an and challenged centuries of patriarchal interpretations, finding in it equality for all. In Manhattan in 2005, she became the world's most famous--and infamous--Islamic scholar when she became the first woman in 1400 years to lead men and women together in public Friday prayers.

The Lady Imam chronicles the life of a singular figure not only in Islam, but also in feminism, Black history, and gender studies. With unprecedented access through years of interviews and archival research, Carla Power has written the definitive account of wadud's extraordinary life while shedding light on our deepest questions about faith, family, and social justice.

Carla Power is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside Dr. Aminah Beverly (McCloud) Al-Deen to celebrate the release of The Lady Imam and share more about the life and legacy of amina wadud. Lady Imam will join the conversation via Zoom at the end of the program! Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Carla Power will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Doors open to guests at 5:30pm. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE LADY IMAM will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person.

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Carla Power is the author of The Lady Imam: How amina wadud's Life and Faith Changed the World (out June, 2026), Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism, (Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, 2022), and If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran, (Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, 2016, National Book Award finalist in Nonfiction, 2015.) She began her journalism career reporting from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including Time, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and The Guardian. She lives with her family in London.

Dr. Aminah Beverly (McCloud) Al-Deen is professor emerita of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University. In 2006, she founded the United States’ first undergraduate baccalaureate program in Islamic World Studies. She is the former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Islamic Law & Culture, a Senior Fulbright Scholar, host of Critical Talk a Muslim Network TV production, board member of Soundvision, Advisory board member of the Institute for Muslim Mental Health, Muslim Arc, Greenwood Policy Institute and the American editor for the Muslim Minorities in the West Series for Brill Publishers. Dr. Al-Deen was also the Project Director and Primary Investigator of the Black-American Muslim Internationalism Project (BAMI).

BOOK DETAILS

The Lady Imam

How amina wadud's Life and Faith Changed the World

By Carla Power

June 16, 2026 | Hardcover, 336 pages, $30.00

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