Arabic Studies Commons^™

Review Of Shia Islam And Politics: Iran, Iraq, And Lebanon, Christopher Anzalone

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Birth Of Afghanistan: From Ancient Persia To A Modern-Day Multiethnic And Linguistic Country, Tyler A. Worm

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis offers a comprehensive historical analysis of the formation and evolution of Afghan identity from antiquity through the early medieval period, emphasizing the region’s role as a dynamic crossroads of civilizations. It traces the origins of Afghan populations to Indo-Iranian pastoralist migrations and examines the successive influence of major imperial formations, including the Median and Achaemenid Persian empires, the conquests of Alexander and the Seleucid period, and the rise of the Kushan, Parthian, and Sasanian states. Through this longue durée approach, the study demonstrates how Afghanistan’s geographic position facilitated continuous cultural interaction, economic exchange, and political contestation, producing a …

The Utilitarian Islamic Modernity Of Ḥasan Al-ʿAṭṭār (1766–1835), Ian Greer

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I describe and analyze the manifestations of modern thought in the life and works of Ḥasan al-ʿAṭṭār (d. 1835), an Egyptian Islamic scholar who served as Shaykh al-Azhar in the 1830s, in concert with Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha. These manifestations were significantly influenced by the writings and ideas of Ottoman ʿulamāʿ and political elites which al-ʿAṭṭār would have encountered during his 10-year journey across the Empire. The thesis will also explore the content of al-ʿAṭṭār’s political, legal and social thought, which was guided by a unique form of ‘Islamic utilitarianism’ which reaches across his writings and the reforms …

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 …

Mes 160: Classical Islamic Literature & Civilization, Kirsten Beck

Open Educational Resources

This open resource includes a syllabus, class schedule, grading rubrics, and guidelines/examples for digital poetry annotation.

The course website can be found here: http://mes160.social.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/

In this course, we will take a journey through history, literature, and ideas, traveling through Islamic civilization from 600-1250 CE. We will learn about and contemplate the major events and concerns of Islamic civilization, from the dawn of Islam through the expansions, transformations, and fragmentations of Islamic empires, up until the end of the 13th century. Works of Islamic literature from a variety of genres will fuel our journey. Along the way, we will learn how …

Palestinian Evangelical Christian Music In Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine, Abby Smith

Senior Honors Theses

Often the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is portrayed as Jewish vs. Muslim, Hebrew vs. Arab. There is little room in the international dialogue for minorities such as Arab Christians. Though Palestinians have a rich culture of Arabic musical and poetic heritage, they are unable to produce their own new songs. In this study I interviewed three members of Immanuel Evangelical Church on their experiences and opinions on local Christian worship. The findings show that Palestinian Christians may feel unable to write worship music because of a prevalent feeling of inadequacy and a lack of musical training. I propose several …

The Impact Of Islam On Sociopolitical And Spiritual Life In Central Asia, Ilhomjon Bekmirzaev, Irodaxon Gafurova

The Light of Islam

The authors, based on reliable sources and third-party studies, for the first time provide information that Central Asia, being an independent state entity, is one of the civilizations of the region, despite the anthropological, social, political, linguistic, religious and other changes that have taken place in it. for centuries, in the course of centuries of development, it has formed its own specific laws and principles. The author also argues the position that in the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, which were considered central in the region, national values formed the basis of Islamic civilization. An analysis of primary sources and …

Warfare And Welcome: Practicality And Qur’Ānic Hierarchy In Ibāḍī Muslims’ Jurisprudential Rulings On Music, Bradford J. Garvey

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

While much ink has been spilled by musicologists on the legal standing of music in Islamic jurisprudential scholarship, few scholars have offered as comprehensive a view as Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi. Thirty-five years after her major works on this issue, this article seeks to reassess her model of musical legitimacy within Muslim scholarship. Al-Faruqi places Qur’ānic recitation at the apex of a unidirectional continuum of sound art, with genres less similar to the recitation of the Qur’ān located progressively further away from it. Based on fieldwork in the Sultanate of Oman in 2015-17 and engaging with recent reinvigorations on the anthropological …

Islam, Democracy, And The Leadership Role Of Women In Government, Leea Collard

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between Islam, democratic government, and the governmental leadership of women in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT). In order to understand female leadership in this region, the compatibility between Islam and democracy is analyzed. This occurs through the examination of Sharia Law and democratic principles within Islam. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of the successes of democracies in the region will be presented. Each nation will be categorized by the constitutional provisions entrusted to its female citizens. Thus, this thesis will present the legality of the political participation of women in each of the …

Secularism In The Arab World: Contexts, Ideas And Consequences, Aziz Al-Azmeh, David Bond

In Translation: Modern Muslim Thinkers

Explores secularism and secularisation in Arab societies since the mid-19th century.

This book is a translation of Aziz al-Azmeh’s seminal work Al-'Ilmaniya min mandhur mukhtalif that was first published in Beirut in 1992. Both celebrated and criticised for its reflections on Arab secularisation and secularism in the modern history of the Arab World, it is the only study to date to approach its subject as a set of historical changes which affected the regulation of the social, political and cultural order, and which permeated the concrete workings of society, rather than as an ideological discussion framed from the outset by …

Lost & Found: New Harvest, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Presentations and other scholarship

Lost & Found is a strategy card-to-mobile game series that teaches medieval religious legal systems with attention to period accuracy and cultural and historical context.

Set in Fustat (Old Cairo) in the 12th century, a great crossroads of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The Lost & Found games project seeks to expand the discourse around religious legal systems, to enrich public conversations in a variety of communities, and to promote greater understanding of the religious traditions that build the fabric of the United States. Comparative religious literacy can build bridges between and within communities and prepare learners to be responsible citizens …

Islam And Buddhism: The Arabian Prequel?, Anna Akasoy

Publications and Research

Conventionally, the first Muslim-Buddhist encounters are thought to have taken place in the context of the Arab-Muslim expansions into eastern Iran in the mid-seventh century, the conquest of Sind in 711 and the rise of the Islamic empire. However, several theories promoted in academic and popular circles claim that Buddhists or other Indians were present in western Arabia at the eve of Islam and thus shaped the religious environment in which Muhammad’s movement emerged. This article offers a critical survey of the most prominent arguments adduced to support this view and discusses the underlying attitudes to the Islamic tradition, understood …

Historiographical Perspectives Of The Third Reich: Nazi Policies Towards The Arab World And European Muslims, Jesus Montemayor

History Faculty Publications

This historiographical essay examines major works on the interaction of Nazi Germany and the Arab World in general and the European Muslims in particular. The essay argues that despite the claims of revisionist studies that emerged after 9/11 terrorists attacks, the Nazi influence among the Arab and European Muslims was not deep enough to produce sufficient Muslim and Arab support for the Nazi cause.

The Fallen Female: A Testimony, Husney Farwa Naqvi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of thematically related nonfiction works that offers a cultural critique of the author’s three cultures – Pakistani, American, and Muslim – through a feminist lens. The author attempts to offer an intersectional feminist’s insight based on her lived experiences as a Pakistani American woman – born in Karachi, raised in Louisiana and the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas. It explores feminist theory, focusing heavily on rape culture (“Shame and Regrets,” “Bollywood’s Rape Fetish”) and religious influences (“Infallible,” “The Hijab”). It also details the author’s experience as a Muslim woman who chose to observe …

Libération Sexuelle Ou Aliénation Textuelle : La Subalterne Peut-Elle Parler De Son Corps ?, Carla Calargé, Alexandra Gueydan-Turek

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article analyzes two erotic works : L’amande and La traversée des sens. It aims to look at whether the sexual liberation of the female protagonists succeeds in defining a subversive discourse which allows Arab women to escape binary representations made of them or whether, on the contrary the author reproduces such representations. After a quick overview of the difficult situation in which Arab feminists often find themselves both the East and the West, this study examines if Nedjma’s two novels adopt a feminist posture or if they fail to reach the objectives that critics have attributed to them.

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 …

Hiv/Aids In The Muslim-Majority Countries: Formula For Low Prevalence, Kaoru Yamaguchi

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Muslim-majority countries long had been considered to be free of HIV/AIDS epidemic because of their strict religious and moral codes. However, the HIV prevalence rates are increasing in some Islamic states, and even more or so rapidly in a several cases that it is no longer valid to assume the Islamic religion protects its followers from the risks of contracting HIV. Contrary to the popular belief concerning the prevention of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, data collected from well-recognized international organizations such as the WHO and Freedom House indicate that democratization, strong government leadership, and wider and equal human rights for …

International Student Exchange Among Muslim Nations; Soft Power And Voting Alliances At The United Nations, Nambee Ragavan

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The main goal of this research is to analyze the impact of student exchange as a component of soft power in American foreign policy. Since September 11, 2001 there has been a significant increase in the number of Muslim international students enrolled in American institutions. In addition, there has been an increase in study abroad programs to predominantly Muslim countries by American students. I analyze the potential benefit to America’s foreign policy of accepting these international students and sending American students abroad. The measurement is whether or not the United States gets more support for measures it endorses in the …

Naqshbandiyya In Damascus: Strategies To Establish And Strengthen The Order In A Changing Society, Leif Stenberg

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

The Revealed Word And The Struggle For Authority: Interpretation And Use Of Islamic Terminology Among Algerian Islamists, Leif Stenberg

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

A Translation Of ʻAlī ʻAbd Al-RāZiq's Al-IslāM Wa UsūL Al-HụKm: With A Brief Introductory Study, Jim L King

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Outbreak Of The Ridda And The Campaign Of KhāLid B. Al-WalīD In Central Arabia, James F Gould

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The period immediately following the death of Muhammad was a crucial time in the development of the Islamic state. For the first year or more the Muslims were involved in the quelling of revolts and the extending of their control over the Arabian Peninsula. The ridda, as the Arab historians term this period, is extremely impor­tant for the understanding of the growth of Islam. In the military campaigns which were waged at this time the Arab armies were prepare for the Conquest which was to come. All of Arabia was united, as it had not been in the time of …