An all women fatwa panel in Hyderabad, the first of its kind in the world, is issuing edicts on subjects ranging from make-up to menstruation. Disapproval from the Muslim orthodoxy notwithstanding, it’s a hit. What impact these pioneering changes might have for the reconstruction of contemporary India remains to be seen, but they are helping to subtly refashion structures of Indian Muslim religious authority, till now largely a male domain.