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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Aftermaths Of Opposition: Effectiveness Of Repression Against Reformist Islamists In Saudi Arabia, Londyn Lorenz May 2022

Aftermaths Of Opposition: Effectiveness Of Repression Against Reformist Islamists In Saudi Arabia, Londyn Lorenz

Honors Theses

Saudi Arabia has long been considered a religious, political, and economic hub of the Middle East and North Africa as the home of the two holiest cities in Islam: Mecca and Medina. The kingdom’s leaders, the Al Saud family, have relied on their Islamic clout to remain in power since the 1700s, but their Islamic credentials were called into question following their allowance of American troops on Saudi soil and alliance with Western ideals during and following the Gulf War of the 1990s. Islamist outrage against the throne poured out across the nation, bringing demands for political change and increased …


Is There A Secular Tradition? On Treason, Government, And Truth, Ali M. Uğurlu Jun 2017

Is There A Secular Tradition? On Treason, Government, And Truth, Ali M. Uğurlu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Because the secular is so much part of our modern life, it is not easy to grasp it directly,” writes Talal Asad, in the introduction to his Formations of the Secular. This thesis attempts to obliquely engage with secular power through a concept that has been at the center of much contention in our political present: treason. Taking the failed coup of July 16and the ensuing purge against the Gülen movement in Turkey as its points of departure, it seeks to broach some of the constitutive and operative logics of the modern nation-state. Inquiring into the State’s perennial presupposition …


"What Is To Be Done?" Contesting Modernity In Sayyid Qutb And Ali Shariati's Islamic Revival, Nicole B. Carroll Jan 2017

"What Is To Be Done?" Contesting Modernity In Sayyid Qutb And Ali Shariati's Islamic Revival, Nicole B. Carroll

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.


Mass Media’S Cultivation Effect On Islamic, Muslim, And Qur’Anic Prejudice, Shanna J. Carlson Oct 2016

Mass Media’S Cultivation Effect On Islamic, Muslim, And Qur’Anic Prejudice, Shanna J. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the power of the mass media’s ability to cultivate reality in terms of the threat of Islam. A rhetorical analysis of the messages portrayed by the mass media is then compared to the findings of the study. While the study did not find any significant correlation between consumption of media and fear of Muslims, the Qur’an, or Islam, it did find a strong negative correlation between inter-group contact and salience of stereotypes.


Engagement And Resistance: African Americans, Saudi Arabia And Islamic Transnationalisms, 1975 To 2000, Jeffrey Diamant Sep 2016

Engagement And Resistance: African Americans, Saudi Arabia And Islamic Transnationalisms, 1975 To 2000, Jeffrey Diamant

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the 1960s, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has financed missionary efforts to Muslims around the world, attempting to spread a Salafi form of Islam that professes strict adherence to Islamic sacred scripture. The effects of this transnational proselytization have depended on numerous factors in “host countries.” This project explores the various impacts of Saudi transnational religious influence in the United States among African-Americans. By relying on previously unused documentary sources and fresh oral histories, it shows how Saudi “soft power” attempted to effect change in religious practices of African-American Muslims from 1975 through 2000. It provides the most detailed …


Ritual Embodiment: The Body Remembers Through Ritual, Ayesha Mohyuddin May 2015

Ritual Embodiment: The Body Remembers Through Ritual, Ayesha Mohyuddin

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

Ritual externalizes religious belief through physical embodiment and codified performance that allows it to be shared through a community. In a post 9/11 American society where Muslims are subject to increased scrutiny,. In a secular society that regulates religion to the private sphere so as not to conflict with the identity of the state, externalized religious identity can become problematic, especially as a Muslim living in post 9/11 United States. Ritual thenritual becomes a way to otherize a community based on shared practices. an identity under increased scrutiny. However, looking beyond the framework that the specific rules of ritual creates …


Ulu Al Amr & Authority: The Central Pillars Of Sunni Political Thought, Hisseine Faradj Oct 2014

Ulu Al Amr & Authority: The Central Pillars Of Sunni Political Thought, Hisseine Faradj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation evaluates the political history of Islam through the prism of the Sunni conception of authority. It finds an historical red thread that explains the legal and political evolution of different types of Islamic government that have, instead of a European-type sovereign, the Ulu Al Amr (those in authority). In addition, it argues that it is the authority of Ulu Al Amr that legitimizes temporal power via legal rulings such as Wilayah al ahed (allegiance to a dynastic monarchy) and Wlayah al qaher (obedience to coercive power and rule). Those rulings are essential to legitimating historical change. Historical legal …


Brothers In Motion: Religious Practice, Political Action, And The Mobilization Of The Early Muslim Brotherhood, Ian Henry Vandermeulen Jun 2014

Brothers In Motion: Religious Practice, Political Action, And The Mobilization Of The Early Muslim Brotherhood, Ian Henry Vandermeulen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In light of Randy Martin's proposal to use dance as an analytic tool for understanding social movements, this article seeks to reconstruct the early mobilization of the Muslim Brotherhood as "bodies in motion." Through a re-examination of both primary and secondary source material, this study highlights the ways in which founder Hasan al-Banna appropriated both Islamic and colonial choreographic logics into the Muslim Brotherhood's pious training regimen, scouting programs, political expression, and social welfare projects. I argue that the Muslim Brotherhood was mobilized through al-Banna's revival of traditional Islamic practices concerning the body, reconfigured for the goal not of otherworldly …


The Mut`Azilī Criteria For Evaluating Prophetic Traditions With Special Reference To Usụ̄L Al-Fiqh, Mohamed Ahmed Abdelrahman Jun 2008

The Mut`Azilī Criteria For Evaluating Prophetic Traditions With Special Reference To Usụ̄L Al-Fiqh, Mohamed Ahmed Abdelrahman

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.


Religion In Language Policy, And The Survival Of Syriac, Ibrahim George Aboud Jan 2008

Religion In Language Policy, And The Survival Of Syriac, Ibrahim George Aboud

Theses Digitization Project

Throughout Islamic era, the Syriac language remained the language of the majority despite Arabic hegemony. The decline of the Syriac accompanied the decline of Christianity in the East, and was affected by the policies of rival religious and nationalist groups. By considering the current conditions under which Syriac speakers live, and the renewed interest in reviving the language among Christian communities in the modern Fertile Crescent, this thesis will examine the causes of decline over the centuries, and the possibilities for the revival of Syriac in modern times. The present research examines how religion contributed to the shaping of language …