Welcome to this new series of classes from MISK Women - the Muslim Institute for Sacred Knowledge! The podcast uploads here are the class recordings which are lightly edited and presented here without the Q and A session at the end.

In this first class, we introduce the course and some of the main objectives of studying the lives and legacies of Women on the Straight Path, both past and present.

We look at a definition and explanation of the Straight Path, the characteristics of those on it and in doing so, we seek to ground ourselves in a solid Islamic worldview.

We also consider the types of questions we ask about our topic, and how crucial it is that those questions are derived from that worldview. If we didn't have an Islamic worldview, what sort of questions would we ask in order to study and understand the great women in our history who have preceded us on the Straight Path? What sort of answers to those questions would we find?

Finally we look at the most important question of all...How do we, in our challenging, contemporary times, become Women on the Straight Path?