This dissertation explores why some Muslim clerics adopt the ideology of militant Jihad while others do not. I argue that clerics strategically adopt or reject Jihadi ideology because of career incentives generated by the structure of cleric educational networks. Well-connected …
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This paper probes the history of the Temple Mount complex during the British Mandate for Palestine. Approaching this sacred space from three different perspectives--British, Arab, and Jewish--the paper examines how people and events surrounding the site contributed to the evolut…
The majority of academic works relating to Islam in China discuss the Hui people as a Muslim-majority ethnic group predominant in certain areas of China, however, this is an oversimplification that fails to adequately represent historical reality. Furthermore, presenting the Hui…
Even before 9/11, there has been a long history of attitudes and public policies that were biased against people of Middle East descent in the United States--regardless of whether or not they are Muslim. This research uses Status Characteristics Theory (SCT) and stigma theory to…
This dissertation engages notions of the contemporary American ghetto as a distinct socio-spatial order, one marked by extreme isolation. This engagement is through exploration of the ghetto as an alternative socio-spatial order, distinguished by cosmopolitanism and the role som…
In 218/833, the theological controversy between traditional Hadith-oriented 'Ulama (usually referred to as Sunni Hanbalis) and rationalist theologians (usually referred to as Mu'tazilis) over the createdness of the Qur'an was institutionalized by the 'Abbasid state into an organ…
In 1998, the U.S. government made the promotion of religious freedom official policy. This policy has often been met with skepticism and hostility from foreign governments and publics. In the Muslim-majority world, it is commonly seen as an attempt to discredit traditional cultu…
This dissertation examines patterns of Islamist political mobilization in Egypt and Indonesia. It focuses on the development of major political organizations formed in both countries whose primary goal is the establishment of Islamic state. By focusing on these organizations, th…
Today, the nation of Morocco finds itself in a state of fitna --social upheaval caused by public disagreement over adherence to normative Islamic ethics. Young women in the medina of Fes are engaged in a complex and socially-contested process of deciding for themselves what prac…
This study investigated how shari'a regulations diffused across different jurisdictions in Indonesia. The focus of this study was on the process of the diffusion, looking at three different aspects of diffusion: factors, actors, and mechanisms. It addressed these questions: What…
This research looks at the connection between the Islamic purity system (taharah ), Islamic rituals, and women in Muslim societies. The goal of this thesis is a critical analysis of the taharah system concerning female bodies and as applied in the performance of Islamic rituals.…
A growing community of Latino Muslims in the United States expands already dynamic categories of what it means to be a Latino and what it means to be a Muslim at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Through various avenues, including the Internet, Latinos have come into co…
This dissertation examines uncertainties about the supernatural among members of the urban middle class in Tehran, Iran. In particular, I attend to the ways in which the category of the supernatural (mavara ) has become, for some people, an object of potential scientific ('elmi …
Given the challenges facing Islamic banking and finance, Islamic banking is developing at a remarkable pace. In the past three decades, the number of Islamic financial institutions has grown from one in 1975 to over 300 today in more than 75 countries. However, there are relativ…
Though common sense and political rhetoric suggest that identity claims play an important role in determining action, psychology and sociology research both suggest that beliefs do not have a direct impact on action. This dissertation explores the impact of the religious identit…
Senior Islamic authorities (`ulama ) have reached different levels of consensus when contesting their response to major international events in the 21st century, largely agreeing on the appropriate response in some cases while remaining strongly divided in others. This variation…
This dissertation examines the processes through which Beirut, a town on the periphery of the Early Islamic Empire (7th -9 th century C.E.), was integrated into a nascent Islamic landscape. Chapter 1 describes the role of Umayyad naval policies in the creation of communal and ad…
In this study, I examine the existing literature and carry out a qualitative exploration in order to formulate a better understanding of the dynamics that influence the lives of 2nd generation Italian Muslims. Although monumental social and political challenges remain in confron…
This research explores understandings of what it means to "be Canadian" for Canadian-born Muslim women who practice hijab, an outward expression of personal identity practiced by some Muslim women and visible by the covering of the head and modest clothing. The women's identity …