Asma Afsaruddin

Asma Afsaruddin
Asma Afsaruddin in 2015
Born	Asma Afsaruddin 1958
Nationality	American
Academic background
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins University
Academic work
Institutions	Indiana University
Notable works	Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought The First Muslims: History and Memory

Asma Afsaruddin (born 1958) is an American scholar of Islamic studies^[1][2] and Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University in Bloomington.^[3]

Biography

She was an associate professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.^[4] She has previously taught at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University, from which she received her PhD in 1993.^[5] Her fields of specialization include the religious and political thought of Islam, study of the primary Islamic texts (Qur'an and hadith), as well as gender studies.^[5]

Afsaruddin has been an editorial board member for the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, published by Cambridge University Press. She was an editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Medieval Islamic Civilization and a consultant for The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2002).^[5]

Afsaruddin chairs the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy board of directors. She also sits on advisory committees for the Muslim World Initiative of the United States Institute of Peace and the human rights organization Karamah.^[6]

Awards and honours

In 2015, she was presented the Jayezeh Jahani (World Book Prize) for the best new book in Islamic studies by the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani for her book Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought.^[7] The book was also a runner-up for the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize in 2014.^[7]

Publications

• Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2022)
• Contemporary Issues in Islam (Edinburgh University Press, 2015)^[8]
• Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (Oxford University Press, 2013)^[9]
• The First Muslims: History and Memory (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008)^[10]
• Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002)
• Hermeneutics and Honor: Negotiation of Female "Public" Space in Islamic/ate Societies (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1999)
• Culture, and Language in the Near East : Essays in Honor of Georg Krotkoff (Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, Ind., 1997)

References

1. W. Cole Durham; Brett G. Scharffs (2010). Law and Religion: National, International, and Comparative Perspectives. Aspen Publishers. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-7355-8482-2.
2. Suroor, Hasan (2015-03-23). "Towards the birth of a 'new' Islam?". The Hindu. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
3. "Asma Afsaruddin: Core Faculty: People: Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures: Indiana University Bloomington". Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
4. Nomani, Asra Q (28 December 2003). "Going where I know I belong". Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011.
5. "Asma Asfaruddin". University Indiana.
6. "Interview with Asma Afsaruddin". ThatReligiousStudiesWebsite. 20 June 2007.
7. "IU professor honored by Iran's president for her scholarly book on new understanding of jihad". Indiana University. Retrieved Sep 4, 2016.
8. Reviews of Contemporary Issues in Islam:
   • Burrell, David (2018). "Contemporary Issues in Islam". The Muslim World. 108 (3). Wiley: 564–565. doi:10.1111/muwo.12256. ISSN 0027-4909. S2CID 171563830.
9. Reviews of Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought:
   • Rizvi, Sajjad (2017-12-22). "Striving in the path of God: jihād and martyrdom in Islamic thought". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 45 (2). Informa UK Limited: 312–314. doi:10.1080/13530194.2017.1415858. ISSN 1353-0194. S2CID 149247104.
   • Dunn, Shannon (2015-07-09). "Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 83 (3). Oxford University Press (OUP): 881–883. doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfv039. ISSN 0002-7189.
   • Melchert, Christopher (2015). "Asma Afsaruddin . Striving in the Path of God: Jihād and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought". Review of Middle East Studies. 49 (2). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 175–178. doi:10.1017/rms.2016.42. ISSN 2151-3481. S2CID 163213936.
   • Velji, Jamel (2016). Journal of Religion and Violence 4 (1):107-109
10. Reviews of The First Muslims: History and Memory:
    • Ulum, Muhammad Bahrul (2017). "The First Muslims History and Memory". e-Journal Lentera Hukum. 4 (3): 237. doi:10.19184/ejlh.v4i3.6176. ISSN 2355-4673.
    • Madelung, Wilferd (2008). "Asma Afsaruddin The First Muslims: History and Memory". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 71 (3). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 567–568. doi:10.1017/s0041977x08000931. ISSN 0041-977X. S2CID 162303396.
    • Berkey, Jonathan (2011). Review of Middle East Studies 45(2):199-201
    • Halevi, Leor (2008). "Asma Afsaruddin The First Muslims: History and Memory". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 128 (3). American Oriental Society: 577–579. JSTOR 25608420.
    • Robinson, Chase (2009). "The Ideological Uses of Early Islam". Past and Present (203). Oxford University Press: 205–228. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtp021.
    • Donner, F. M. (2009). The First Muslims: History and Memory. Asma Afsaruddin . Speculum, 84(3), 663–665.

External links

• Faculty, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, Bloomington: Asma Afsaruddin
• Religion Compass Online: Asma Afsaruddin Archived 2008-06-19 at the Wayback Machine