Thesiss

An examination of the debate within the 7th century Islamic community over the role of women in public life. Using primarily the Qur'an, sunna, hadith, and early histories of the period, this thesis shows that the community was heavily divided on this issue, rather than universa…

This thesis compares and contrasts the responses of Hasan H[dotbelow]anafi (Egypt, b. 1935), Muh[dotbelow]ammad `Abid al-Jabiri (Morocco, b. 1936) and Nurcholish Madjid (Indonesia, b. 1939) to the slogan "Back to the Qur'an and the Sunna," a slogan that many modern Sunni reforme…

The purpose of this thesis is to explain how and why many modern Twelver Shi'a, Sunni, and Western scholars have structured political and religious conflict during the formative era of Islam (610-945 C.E.) around a partisan Sunni-Shi'a divide that did not truly exist, at least a…