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Ph.D.
in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Islamic Studies - Harvard
University
aahmad@religion.ucsb.edu
Areas of Academic Interest:
- Islamic intellectual history,
specifically Islamic legal history and theory
- the relationship between
theory and practice in Islamic law, adjudication, the laws of war,
apostasy, and privacy
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Statement:
I am interested in the
history of Islamic legal institutions and the relationship between
theory and practice in Islamic law. I am also interested in modern
readings of Islamic law and Muslim cultures and how these readings
are used in the debate on Islamic and Modern or Western values. Pedagogy
and research are inseparable for me, and I enjoy both equally. I also
provide expert testimony in legal cases involving religious matters,
such as what American law calls cases of ‘free exercise of religion’
and the ‘disestablishment clause.’
Publications:
Books
in English
- Incommensurate
Values: Islam, Modernity, Violence, and Everyday Life (London,
2008, forthcoming).
- Structural Interrelations
of Theory and Practice in Islamic Law: A Study of Six Works of Medieval
Islamic Jurisprudence (Leiden, 2006).
Books
in Arabic
- Isti’naf
al-Ahkam al-Qada’iyya wa Naqduha fi al-Tashri al-Islami (Reviewing
and Repealing Court Decisions in Islamic Law) (Cairo, 1997).
Articles
in English
- Contributed translations
of modern Qur’anic exegesis to An Anthology of Qur’anic
Commentaries: Volume 1: On the Nature of the Divine, forthcoming
from the Institute of Isma‘ili Studies, London, England.
- “Divorce at the
Wife’s Initiative in Islamic Law,” “Judicial Review
in Islamic Law,” & “Lawyers in Islamic Law,”
Oxford Encyclopedia of Legal History, Oxford University
Press, forthcoming.
- “The Morality
of War in Sunni Islamic Law,” in Terry Nichols (ed.), The
Morality of War in the Christian and Islamic Traditions (Georgetown
University Press, 2008, forthcoming).
- “Ghazali’s
Contribution to the Islamic Laws of Apostasy,” Journal
of Arabic and Islamic Studies, (Vol. 7), University of Edinburgh
Press, 2007.
- “Chinese Muslims
in Taipei, Nanjing, and Shanghai,” Macalester International,
World Press, St. Paul, MN, April 2007.
- “The Evolution
of Islamic Just War Theory: Texts, History, and the Purpose of Reading,”
American Foreign Policy Interests, April 2006.
Articles
in Arabic
- Da’irat al-Ma‘arif
al-Islamiyya:
“Encyclopedia of the Islamic Sciences.” Contributing
Editor to over 200 entries on Islamic intellectual history and contemporary
thought, (Cairo, 1991-1998).
Book
Reviews
- “Authority, Conflict,
and the Transmission of Diversity in Medieval Islamic Law”
by Kevin Jaques. Journal of Islamic Studies (Vol. 18.2),
Oxford University Press, April 2007.
Courses:
- Intro to Islamic Law
(Fall 2007)
- Jihad and Just War Theory
(Winter 2008)
- The Qur’an and
its Interpretations (Winter 2008)
- Heresy and Apostasy
in Islamic Law (Spring 2008)
- Islam and the West 700-1850
(Spring 2008)
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