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Indiana University Bloomington
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Core Faculty : Faculty & Staff

Asma AfsaruddinAsma Afsaruddin

  • Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Education

  • Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University, 1993, Near Eastern Studies

Research Interests

  • Pre-modern and modern Islamic religious and political thought
  • Qur’anic hermeneutics
  • Hadith criticism
  • Exegetical, legal, and ethical perspectives on jihad and martyrdom
  • Muslim attitudes towards the People of the Book
  • Islam and politics
  • Gender roles

Contact Information

aafsarud@indiana.edu
Memorial Hall, M17

(812) 856-7347

Courses Recently Taught

  • Golden Age of Islamic Civilization
  • Islamic Texts: Tafsir

Publication Highlights

  • The First Muslims: History and Memory. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008
  • Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002
  • Hermeneutics and Honor: Negotiating Female Public Space in Islamic Societies. (Editor) Middle East Monograph series. Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard University, 1999
  • “The Hermeneutics of Inter-Faith Relations: Retrieving Moderation and Pluralism as Universal Principles in Qur’anic Exegeses,” Journal of Religious Ethics (2009): 331-45
  • ”Obedience to Political Authority: An Evolutionary Concept,” Islamic Democratic Discourse: Theory, Debates, and Directions. Ed. Muqtedar Khan Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, 2006. Pp. 37-60
  • ”The ‘Islamic State’: Genealogy, Facts, and Myths,” Journal of Church and State 48 (2006): 153-173
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