This paper explores medieval Islamic literature produced by jurists in which male authors reflect upon women as people with intellectual, spiritual, and social requirements. In these texts, men discuss the religious fulfillment Muslim women ought to be able to achieve under ideal circumstances, and they imagine what Muslim women must find frustrating about the limitations placed upon them by religious strictures, by nature itself, and by the men in their lives. Interestingly, the frustrations most commonly mentioned are not the ones which are at the forefront of modern debates within in the Islamic world – such as divorce law, female prayer-leadership, modest attire for women, and space for non-sexual relationships between members of the opposite sex. Rather, the frustrations mentioned are largely concerned with the perceived lack of sanctified communal occasions for women to interact with each other. The activities which these jurists believe women covet are characterized by their sociability and piety – pilgrimage, communal prayer, visits to the sick, participation in funeral processions, and military participation. With the exception of involvement in warfare, these are the kinds of activities which seem to occupy a certain grey area in the legal religious landscape. Based on what jurists themselves describe, it is clear that women participate in such events and that such participation is perceived as being socially acceptable and even pious by some women and their male family members, while at the same time certain authorities (often the authors themselves) view these activities as syncretistic or impious. The opposition to such behavior does not seem to stem from concerns about sexual impropriety so much as concerns about the religious culture fostered when women meet together in settings that are fraught with spiritual significance. Some authors, such as Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari (d.1336, in Egypt) go so far as to say that through these activities Muslim women have developed their own system of religion, with its own rituals and authorities, which parallels the male-dominated shariah system. In his Madkhal, Ibn al-Hajj argues that the best way to mend the rift between male and female Islamic culture is for Muslims jurists to spend more time and energy cultivating intellectual relationships with their wives and involving themselves in women’s spheres of activity. Other medieval jurists did not argue for a specific solution, but nonetheless thought it important to articulate and explore the contrast between how men and women experienced the communal aspects of Islamic life.