Egyptian women’s religious organizing began as charity work in the late 1930s

Evidence

Zaynab al— hazali (b. 1917) is credited with establishing a women’s organiza.. tion called the Society of Muslim Ladies (Jamaeat al..Sayyidat al.- imat) in the late 1930s, which was initially dedicated to providing charitable services to poor women and children. The Society later expanded its role to training women in the art of preaching so that they could instruct women in religious issues either in their homes or at mosques. — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 485