Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Rebranding Religion, Parker Brown

Capstones

The Mormon church spends millions on focus group, lobby groups, surveys, public relations, and marketing, all to fix a single problem: When Americans are asked what they think of Mormons, fewer than 50% give a positive answer. This is the story of God-vertising, of what happens when the traditions of religion meet the proselyting tools of the modern world.

Islam As A Way Of Defining The National Identity Of Bosnian Muslims, Athanasios G. Athanasiadis

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Political changes in Yugoslavia in the 1990s triggered a series of changes in the ethno-religious field. The ethnological problems faced by the residents of Bosnia formed part of more general ethnological reshuffling in former Yugoslavia, promoting idealized nations, non-existent ethnic ideologies and fabricated state designs. However, these nations already constitute part of the reshuffling of the reform of New Europe. A major part was played in the formulation of the ethnic identity of Bosnian Muslims by the Islamic Community, under unique conditions and in cooperation with the Communist Yugoslavia of Josip Broz Tito from 1945 to 1990. The description and …

The Imam And The Pastor: Attempts At Peace In Nigeria Using Interfaith Dialogue, Jinelle Piereder

The Partisan

No abstract provided.

How Secular Should Democracy Be? A Cross-Disciplinary Study Of Catholicism And Islam In Promoting Public Reason, David Ingram, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

I argue that the same factors (strategic and principled) that motivated Catholicism to champion liberal democracy are the same that motivate 21^st Century Islam to do the same. I defend this claim by linking political liberalism to democratic secularism. Distinguishing institutional, political, and epistemic dimensions of democratic secularism, I show that moderate forms of political and epistemic secularism are most conducive to fostering the kind of public reasoning essential to democratic legitimacy. This demonstration draws upon the ambivalent impact of Indonesia’s Islamic parties in advancing universal social justice aims as against more sectarian policies.

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 …

What Is Enlightenment? An Islamic Perspective, Muqtedar Khan

Muqtedar Khan

This essay draws on Immanuel Kant’s concept of enlightenment as an escape from self- imposed ignorance and argues that a similar concept of enlightenment can be understood within the Muslim context as escape from self-imposed jahiliyyah, which is understood as fear to exercise reason publicly. The article advocates for ijtihad, is critical of Taqlid, and invokes Islamic sources to invest confidence in contemporary use of reason for interpreting Islam.

The Image Of Women In The Interpreted Qur'an: Translations Of Pickthall, Ali, Hilali And Abdel Haleem, Yassmine Muhammad Mahfouz Muhammad

Theses and Dissertations

The Image of Women in the Interpreted Qur’ān: Translations of Pickthall, Ali, Hilālī, and Abdel Haleem By Yassmine Muhammad Mahfouz (Under the supervision of Professor Tahia Abdel Nasser, The American University in Cairo). I have intended this work with the premise of shedding light on the rights of women in the Qur’ān through examining its English translations since this topic has undergone much controversy between patriarchal and Islamophobic camps. However, through the examination of the translations, I have touched on how translation cannot only be problematic but also dangerously influential in presenting the sacred text. The main finding was that …

Missioners In The Muslim World, John E. Rybolt

John E Rybolt

No abstract provided.

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 …

Islamic Feminism: A Discourse Of Gender Justice And Equality, Breanna Ribeiro

Senior Theses

This paper examines Islamic feminism using structural methodology and the phenomenological approach to examine the component of Muslim feminists' activism that utilizes ijtihad and tafsir to reinterpret patriarchal rhetoric and highlight Islamic discourses that validate gender equality. These scholars and activists critically analyze Islamic theology by employing hermeneutics in order to produce Islamic exegeses that affirm social justice, gender equality, and liberation. Religion plays a critical role in building collective cultural identities; therefore, examining sacred texts' representation and prescription of gender roles and mores generates an understanding of the gender order in the community of believers, while simultaneously exposing contextual …

Thoughts On Islam, Gender, And The Hizmet Movement, Semiha Topal

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Fethullah Gülen's Thought And Practice: An Attempt To Reconcile Islam With Secularism, Nazila Isgandarova

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Apples To Apples Or Apples To Dates? The Muslim Critique Of Christian Scriptures, David D. Grafton

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Conquest And Violence: The Christian Critique Of Muhammad, David D. Grafton

Consensus

No abstract provided.

"Veiled With A Special Veil": Rabi'a Of Basra And The Ascetic Reconfiguration Of Identity, Olga Solovieva

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

History In The Making: Tunisia's Revolution, Nathaniel Greenberg

Nathaniel Greenberg

ON THE NIGHT of January 24, 2011, I sat smoking shisha and sipping tea at a coffee shop in the downtown Cairo neighborhood of Lazoghly, just blocks from Tahrir Square. The Tunisian revolution had reached a crescendo, but there was little talk of it in this largely working-class neighborhood. With rumors spreading that protests were planned for the coming day, I asked some of the regulars if they thought Egypt could go the way of Tunisia. It was a laughable query. Egypt was too divided, they said, Mubarak too powerful. The following day seemed to confirm their skepticism. No one …

Does Religion Have A Role In Criminal Sentencing?, Jack B. Weinstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Specter Of Intolerance: Understanding Religious Violence In Pakistan, Syeda Haider

Honors Scholar Theses

The role of religion in Pakistani political and civil life has had a defining role in the political development of the nation. The country is now a breeding ground for religious extremism, with militant groups conducting brutal attacks against the Shia, Ahmedi, Christian and Hindu communities of Pakistan. There have been few explanations attempting to describe the problem of religious violence domestically, within Pakistan’s borders towards Pakistani citizens. This essay examines how, despite Pakistan’s initial conception as a secular state, the country has become haunted by intense religious violence. It links the lack of consensus around national identity with the …

Female Reverberations Online: An Analysis Of Tunisian, Egyptian, And Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During The Arab Spring, Brittany Landorf

International Studies Honors Projects

Digital technologies and social media networks have the potential to open new platforms for women in the public domain. During the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions, female cyberactivists used digital technologies to participate in and at times led protests. This thesis examines how Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan female cyberactivists deployed social media networks to write a new body politic online. It argues throughout that female activists turned to online activism to disrupt gender relations in their countries and demand social, religious, economic, and political gender parity.

An Oral History Of The Islamic Center Of Maine, Orono, Kyle Franklin

Honors College

In January 2002, the first freestanding mosque in the state of Maine was built near the University of Maine campus. Called the Islamic Center of Maine (ICM), it was established to serve the growing Muslim population in the Orono area, in particular the student and faculty population at the University. The establishment of this Islamic Center was due to the efforts and hard work of Muslim faculty and students, as well as families in the area and generous contributions from Muslims around the United States and other countries. A new, larger center was constructed in 2010, again to meet the …

More Than A Prophet: Jesus And Islam, Justin A. Farmer

Selected Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Images And Perceptions Of Muslims And Arabs In Korean Popular Culture And Society, Maria M. Jamass

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in Muslim and Arab societies has been on the rise in South Korea, especially since 2001, with many books and various documentaries being published on the subject. Since 2005 there have been a number of television shows and documentaries that include Muslim, and sometimes Arab characters. This study will examine how images of Muslims and Arabs are presented in Korean popular culture through the analysis of various dramas and variety shows, as well as how these images fit into the context of Korean ethno-nationalism and the history of Islam in East Asia. In addition to this analysis this study …

The Impact Of Islam As A Religion And Muslim Women On Gender Equality: A Phenomenological Research Study, Sonia D. Galloway

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine and explore the meanings, structures and essence of the lived experience of Muslim women via an Islamic theoretical (Kalam) framework. The study's goal was to describe a detailed and comprehensive description of how Muslim women use Islam to promote gender equality and improve treatment within their daily lives. The critical importance of gleaning a better understanding of Islam and the perceived invisibility of Muslim women motivated the researcher to undertake this study.

The research study included a qualitative phenomenology research approach. Data were collected from multiple sources: observations, semi-structured individual interviews and …

Nadīr Ad-Durgilīs (St. 1935) Nuzhat Al-Adhhān Fī Tarāğim 'Ulamā’ Dāġistān, Eds., Michael Kemper And Amri R. Shixsaidov, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

_The Poetics From Athens To Al-Andalus: Ibn Rushd’S Grounds For Comparison, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

On Palestinian Art, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

No abstract provided.

Political Authority In Islam, Muqtedar Khan

Muqtedar Khan

The chapter is a survey of various approaches to political authority in Islamic thought.

Political Authority In Islam, Muqtedar Khan

Muqtedar Khan

The chapter is a survey of various approaches to political authority in Islamic thought.

Haji Bektash Veli And The Bektash Path In Albania And Macedonia, Arben Sulejmani

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Bektashi World Community officially represents the spiritual teachings of the Bektashi Sufi Order, one of the many mystical branches found within Islam. This religious order was founded in the 13th century by the Sufi saint Hajji Bektash Veli. The ultimate goal of the Bektash spiritual path is the perfection of the human soul. It is a path which fortifies its wayfarers with ethical and spiritual principles, which bring closeness to the Divine. Being founded on the revealed religion of Islam, Bektashism offers a unique and distinctive reading of the Qur’an, as well as the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, …

Christian And Muslim Mutual Relatedness And Directedness As Our Common Destiny In The Balkans, Marko Djurić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The author gives his own religious perspective about mutual relatedness and directedness between Christians and Muslims in the Balkans. According to him, the relatedness and directedness between Orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims in the Balkans were never at the level of which one could be proud. The contemporary historical moment it is important to improve contacts not only between Christians and Muslims, but also between their religious institutions. This relation would not harm their identity, but would only enrich and help building religious peace among believers on the Balkans. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to know the …