Digital Commons Network^™

Istabl Qawsun: The History And Reconstruction Of An Abandoned Palace, Mennat-Allah Mohammed El-Mahy

Theses and Dissertations

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Al-Ghazali's Integral Epistemology: A Critical Analysis Of The Jewels Of The Quran, Amani Elshimi

Theses and Dissertations

The Jewels of the Quran by renowned Islamic scholar Abu Hamid al-Ghazali has usually been published as a two-volume publication, consisting of al-Ghazali’s hierarchy of sciences, followed by a thematic classification of verses from the Quran. A recent edition of the book includes a third chapter which is often published alone as The Book of Forty Religious Principles, but which al-Ghazali makes reference to in his introduction. A thorough, contextualized, critical analysis of the 3-chapter publication reveals al-Ghazali’s more comprehensive integral framework of knowledge – one which stems from and is held by a core experience of the Divine, and …

Tropical Mudejar: Mosque-Type Chapels In Mexico And Their Role In Early Spanish America., Luis Carlos Barragan Castro

Theses and Dissertations

Mudejar, the architectural style that emerged in Spain during the Reconquista, is relatively common in Spanish Colonial architecture in America, but it was merely an echo of the contemporary buildings constructed in Spain during the years of the colony. The presence of completely Islamic structures, however, such as the Mosque-type chapels, defy that observation, because the hypostyle plan had not been used in Spain for at least a hundred years. This research compares five chapels built in Mexico during the sixteenth century that follow a hypostyle plan, which resemble mosques in almost every aspect. It also proposes that these Mosque-type …

Khul' In Egypt Between Theory And Practice A Critical Analysis For Khul' Implementation, Nivine Samaha

Theses and Dissertations

As a Prelude, Law is a social Phenomenon that reflects the culture of the society producing it and adapts to the Requirements of the environment in which it exists being a fundamental element of its structure and cultural character. However, this is not always the case in reality and in order to detect the level of accuracy of Schacht's comment and to what extent it walks in conformity with the mundane practicalities, this study is being presented to critically re-assess the "Khul'" Law implementation in Egypt throughout the last fifteen years since its first emanation in year 2000, by the …

Student-Centered Teaching In Private Higher Education Institutions In Egypt, Soha Sayed Abdelhady Aly

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims at assessing to which extent the teaching approach in private higher education institutions in Egypt employs a student-centered approach from the perceptions of students. This is to review the quality of teaching at those institutions which were originally established to contribute to overcoming the poor-quality issues of the Egyptian higher education sector. As Egypt still ranks very late in global higher education competitiveness, it is important to understand how those institutions are employing student-centered teaching to enhance quality of teaching and equip graduates with problem solving and critical thinking skills. A qualitative methodology was used through conducting …

Uses And Gratification Of Spiritual And Religious Music In Egypt: A Descriptive Analysis Study, Hend El-Taher

Theses and Dissertations

Media is one important constituent of the culture in a society. Its importance is reflected in the contents it presents especially in religion and music. The way both religion and music are blended and used as a medium to gratify certain needs is the interest of this study. In that sense, the relation between religions and music is examined, how music was perceived by religious figures, what disputes the music provoked, and how spiritual music is used as an intrapersonal, interpersonal, or a mass communication tool to influence the audience cognitively, behaviorally, and attitudinally. Accordingly, a descriptive survey is conducted …

Al-Ghazālī'S Conception Of The Purification Of The Self: Reflections From Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm Al-Dīn (Revival Of The Religious Knowledge), Soha Ahmad Helwa

Theses and Dissertations

Al-Ghazālī's name and his book Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn are attached to self-purification, which is an essential part in the religion of Islam. This study does not seek to analyze all the details of Al-Ghazālī's program to purify the self. Rather, it focuses on delineating a framework - from Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn - concerning his understanding of self-purification. This framework mainly includes his method of purifying the self. In the midst of this, many of Al-Ghazālī's psychological insights are extracted, under the umbrella of the Islamic perspective of psychology. Among these insights are some related to his perception of the human …

Synergy: Game Design + Qur'an Memorization, Sultana Jesmine Moulana

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The …

Liritë Fetare Në Bashkimin Europian, Imri Hoxha

Theses and Dissertations

Pasiqë çështja e lirisë fetare paraqet një nga sfidat më të rëndësishme në kuadër të raporteve ndërnjerëzore, por edhe procesit euro-integrues të vendeve pretendente për në Bashkimin Evropian, në kuadër të këtij punimi do të shtjellohen modalitetet që implikojnë edhe shkallën e lirisë dhe kufizimit në këtë drejtim. Meqenëse hulumtimet paraprake kanë të dhëna mbi liritë fetare, tendenca e këtij punimi lidhet me ndryshimet konkrete që duhet bërë në këtë drejtim. Tendenca e punimit dhe rezultateve ka të bëjë me konkretizimin e detyrimeve që duhet ndjekur si standarte ndërkombëtare, por edhe kufizimet e duhura në garantimin e sigurisë kombëtare dhe …

Re-Thinking Initiative Of The Egyptian JamaʿA Islamiyya In 1997, Maissa Hussein Niaz

Theses and Dissertations

The rising worldwide danger of Islamist militancy arouses the need for the search of solutions for the containment of this danger at a highest priority. This thesis examines the case of the successful violence-ending experience of the Egyptian Jamaʿa Islamiyya (EJI), being a model for conflict resolution with the political regime and an example of the possible de-radicalization of one of the most militant Islamist groups in the modern history of Egypt. The study focuses on the Renouncing - Violence Initiative that was issued by EJI in 1997 and the subsequent issuing of a “Correction of Conceptions Series” that aimed …

Dilemma Of Applying Islamic Sharia’A Through Takhayur And Talfiq Principles In The Modern Egyptian Legal System, Aly Abdulrahman Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

For many Egyptians, the only path to modernity in the Egyptian legal system is believed to be through utilizing Islamic sharia’a. Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Egyptian legal elite worked to introduce a modern interpretation and application of Islamic sharia’a. The Islamic principles takhayur and talfiq were used to do this. While the main usage of takhayur and talfiq was to legitimize the modern legal system by maintaining the usage of Islamic sharia’a, the legal practice reached a contradictory outcome. The Courts have been unable to decide on the exact relationship between Islamic sharia’a and other legal texts. …

The Turkish Olympics: Festival Into The Gulen Movement, Sean David Hobbs

Theses and Dissertations

The Turkish Olympics Final is an annual two-week long cultural festival bringing together non-Turkish international students from Gulenist schools in other nations to compete in a variety of performances throughout Turkey. The performances tend to have international school children singing in Turkish, dancing villager dances from Anatolia, reciting Turkish poetry and acting in Turkish plays. International school children can also perform in English or their own native languages but much of the Turkish media attention is given to the school children/performers that learn Turkish. Also important at the Turkish Olympics – while the majority of performers are international non-Turkish children …

Radicalization Of Zaydi Reform Attempts, Maysaa Shuja Al Deen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is studying the development of the Zaydi doctrine in order to understand the reasons of emerging the Zaydi radical group, the Houthis. The studies about Zaydism are few, since it is a doctrine that only exists in Yemen, so it is considered a doctrine of a minor group. The studies about the contemporary Zaydism are much fewer, which leads to misunderstand the Houthi phenomenon. Zaydism has a long history in Yemen and the Zaydi Imamate controlled Yemen or the northern parts of Yemen for hundreds years. Therefore, the overthrow of the Imamate in 1962 and the establishment of …

Maqasid Al-Shari'a: A Tool Of Mediation In The Politics Of The Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court, Reem Shehab Khalil

Theses and Dissertations

Maqasid al-Shari’a is a term that is widely used nowadays in the field of Islamic law. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) of Egypt, in its interpretation of Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution, started endorsing the maqasid as a framework through which it conceptualizes the application of Islamic law. Also, with Islamists and religious figures using the maqasid as a framework to use reason and adopt the traditional Islamic jurisprudence to the modern contexts, it is essential to trace how the classical theory of maqasid was developed and what are the constituents of …

Ethnography On The Return Of Professional Egyptian Female Migrants From The Gulf Cooperation Council, Nerida Mackey

Theses and Dissertations

International labor migration is one of Egypt’s economic development strategies, averaging an estimated twenty-two billion dollars in remittances in recent years, according to Egypt Daily News (Al-Aees, 2015). Although the participation of Egyptians in international migration for the purpose of work has mainly been dominated by men, there is a substantial handful of Egyptian women who independently participate in these migration flows. The Feminization of migration is still an unexplored and relatively new phenomenon in Egypt. Much of the discourse on Egyptian international labor migration has focused on men. Research on the effects of the women left behind by migrant …

Redefining Islamic Identity: Cosmopolitanism In The Theater Of Tawfiq Al-Hakim And Akbar Ahmed, Gaber Abdelghaffar Abdelrahman Hasaneen

Theses and Dissertations

The question whether Islam is compatible with American, or generally “Western,” values has now imposed itself on public debates, gaining more urgency and traction with every tragic act of terrorism committed in the name of Islam. In these debates Islamic identity is usually defined in Orientalist terms. Fundamentalist Muslims reiterate Orientalist concepts of who a Muslim is. Orientalist observers on the one hand, and on the other fundamentalist Muslims have defined Islam as the West’s inimical Other, which has made the so-called clash of civilizations sound inevitable.

I argue that cosmopolitan observers challenge these misrepresentations. Representation, particularly self-representation, of the …

Modern Art Of Pakistan: Lahore Art Circle 1947-1957, Samina Iqbal

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the modern art of Pakistan from 1947-57, more specifically, the role of six important artists who founded the Lahore Art Circle (LAC) in 1952. The group played a pivotal role in the formulation of modernism in Pakistan after its establishment as an Islamic Republic. Framed within postcolonial theories and criticism, this study will address the role of modern art in developing new artistic sensibilities in the nation of Pakistan. In order to understand the context of LAC’s framing of “modernism” and “nationalism” in terms of specific historic and hybrid nexus,my research will provide an investigation of …

An Approach To Evaluating The Pedagogical Value Of Concordances In Arabic Foreign Language Classrooms: Perspectives From The Users, Ola Hashad

Theses and Dissertations

The use of electronic corpora in recent years has been widely spreading among language educators, yet they are still at their initial stages of exploring key issues relating to this approach. One way to integrate corpora in language courses is through concordances, which Baker, Hardie, and McEnery (2006) define as “a list of all the occurrences of a particular search term in a corpus, presented within the context in which they occur, usually a few words to the left and right of search term” (p.42). Despite opposing and supporting arguments on the adaptation, there is a lack of evaluative research …

Becoming And Being: Atheism As A Social Experience In Egypt, Wael Ossama Al-Soukkary

Theses and Dissertations

This project involves discovering how some Egyptian atheists develop and manage their identity. The goal of the research is to demonstrate the different variables that influence the transformation to atheism. This research also seeks to explore the different ways Egyptian atheists deal with the stigma associated with their identity once they self-identity as atheists. Upon examination and analysis of my interlocutors' account it became clear that atheism is not only organic to the Egyptian culture but also a significantly fluid identity.

Rituals, Our Past, Present & Future. Glimpses Of Islamic Enrichment, Othman Mohamed Khunji Mr

Theses and Dissertations

A Muslim should be encouraged to comprehend the benefit

and value behind every aspect of Islamic practice and wisdom,

and not just practice their religion because they were told to do

so. The products proposed in this thesis aim to achieve this by

inviting and encouraging a Muslim to practice The Five Pillars

of Islam while comprehending their value through the use of

modern means such as Arduino technology, 3D printing and

visual computing programing.

I am provoked by the fact that the circle of Gulf-region Muslims

I’m surrounded by, and have been exposed to since childhood,

belong to one …

Qatari Foreign Policy And The Arab Spring: From Mediation To Intervention, Basma Mahmoud Eletreby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the controversial role that Qatar has been playing in the Arab Spring, specifically from 2011 to 2013. Evidently, Qatari foreign policy will be assessed to comprehend the power this small state has been gaining in Middle East politics in a region plagued by never ending manifestations of power struggles and turbulent developments. The case studies of Egypt, Libya and Syria in which Qatari foreign policy involvement deployed the same rationale will be investigated to examine the increasing involvement of Qatar in Middle East politics. It concludes that the foreign policy of Qatar was both opportunistic and pro-Islamist …

The Italian Press And The Church: Italian Newspaper Coverage Of Lds-Related News And The Media Strategies Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Italy 2010-2012, Giulia Vibilio Matthews

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between media and religion has been influenced by many factors in history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has received a great deal of media attention throughout the world in the past five years. In Italy, the Church National Council of Public Relations worked to provide the media with the necessary information to report accurate news about the Church. This thesis collected the information provided to the Italian media by the Church National Council and analyzed the main topic and the level of accuracy reported by the Italian media on Church-related news. The results show that …

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 …

The Hammams Of Cairo: Glorious Past And Endangered Present, Salma Kassem

Theses and Dissertations

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The Divine Names In Ibn 'Arabi's Theory Of Oneness Of Existence, Makoto Sawai

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tries to consider Ibn ʿArabīʼs theory of Oneness of Existence (waḥdat al-wujūd), in terms of his argument of the divine names. It consists of the four chapters. The first chapter is to trace the descriptions of Ibn ʿArabī by Muslim scholars and scholars of Islamic studies. The second chapter discusses the idea of divine names in the context of the self-disclosure (tajallī) of Existence. The analysis in the third chapter is the divine presence (ḥaḍrah), and Ibn ʿArabIʼs explanation of the Mercy (al-Raḥmah) and the Lord (al-Rabb). In the fourth chapter, I consider the relationship between the Perfect …

Competing Models Of The Modern Islamic State: Wahhabi Vs. Muslim Brotherhood Ideologies, Mohammad Affan

Theses and Dissertations

n the aftermath of the Arab Spring, with the success of the Political Islam movements to seize power in some countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia, the problematic of the Islamic state was raised and ignited serious conflict between Islamists and seculars. Nevertheless, another hidden conflict seems to begin simultaneously in the camp of the Islamists itself between the Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood, the two major Sunni Islamic movements. Each of them calls for a different model of the Islamic state. The Wahhabi ideology adopts a traditional state model, based on traditional legitimacy, centralized hierarchical power, and patriarchal form …

Catalogue Of Hijazi Architecture In Jidda And Makkah C. 1850- 1920s: Selected Buildings, Hidaya Monir Abbas

Theses and Dissertations

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Architectural Jurisprudence: The Relationship Between The Four Sunni Schools Of Law And Mosque Architecture, Ahmed Hamdy Kamal

Theses and Dissertations

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Ottoman Kaftan Culture During 16th-18th Centuries, Bushra Tatari Chaabi

Theses and Dissertations

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On The Demand To Incorporate Shari'a Law Into Uk Law, Mayada Serageldin

Theses and Dissertations

The origin of this thesis lay in the emergence of a minority group of ‘religious’ activists in London, England. The purpose of this group was to establish “Shari’a Zones” in pockets of Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets, wherein certain acts would be prohibited and Shari’a law would be enforced. This led to an examination of the theological and religious beliefs of this small and much marginalized section of the British Muslim community. What became apparent is that this group prescribed to a view of Islam, and shariah law in particular, which is incongruent with the provisions of human rights law. …