The main objective of this thesis is to understand the extent to which Sharia compliant investment funds focus on social justice in Saudi Arabia. Islamic investment funds are defined as "a joint pool wherein the investors contribute their surplus money for the purpose of its investment to earn permitted profits in strict conformity with the precepts of Islamic Shariah" (Siddiqi and Hrubi, 2008, p.16). Islamic law teaches that social justice should exist between people in the community. This thesis examines social justice using a theoretical framework based on critical theory, which is an umbrella term for different social theories concerned with social and human dimensions. Postcolonial theory provides a lens for the interpretation of the research questions which investigate the influence of capitalism and globalisation on social aspects of life, and in this thesis on Saudi Arabian Sharia compliant investment funds. First interviews are conducted with Sharia compliant investment fund stakeholders in Saudi Arabia to (i) understand current practice in these funds in Saudi Arabia; (ii) evaluate perceptions of social justice in the light of globalisation, capitalism and Islam in the Saudi context; and, finally, (iii) evaluate the current practices of social justice in Sharia compliant funds in Saudi Arabia. The second method used is a content analysis of Sharia compliant investment equity funds' Terms and Conditions. The main concern of the analysis is the social justice perspective of SCIFs to critically examine: (i) Western and global influences on SCIFs and; (ii) whether SCIFs T&Cs disclosures and screening criteria contain and reflect Islamic concepts of social justice. The findings from the two empirical pieces of work suggest that fund managers, the Sharia Supervisory Board members, investors, regulatory bodies and investee companies, which are the main stakeholders, have been affected by capitalism and globalisation that has caused the Sharia aspect of social justice in Islamic investment funds. Further, there are other impediments to social justice such as the absence of positive screening, Hisba and Shura from Sharia Compliant Investment Funds in Saudi Arabia. The main finding of this thesis is that Western ideas have permeated into the developing world, as evidenced by Saudi Arabia such that SCIFs have adopted and mimic the capitalist ideology despite Islamic teachings. Thus Islamic investment funds need to rethink their practices and embed Islamic teachings into all their activities.

When I undertook a critical study of the Falasha Version of the Testaments of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the initial objective I set myself was the collation of the texts of five unpublished Falasha MSS. -one from the Cambridge University Library and four from the Faitlovitch Library, Tel-Aviv. The published work already done in this field, viz., the texts and translations of the d'Abbadie fragment by Conti Rossini, Aeffooly and Leslau, had also to be taken into account. In the second year of my study., two further Ethiopic MSS., from Addis Ababa, became available and were consulted at points of special difficulty. The procedure I adopted was to use the Cambridge MS. as my 'master' text, noting in my apparatus the variants between it and the other four MSS. as well as the printed texts of Conti Rossini and Aeäooly. The basis of my translation was the Cambridge text, . -but emended from the Ethiopic variants according as the sense or grammar seemed to demand. These emendations I appended to the translation in the form of critical notes which included such OT, rabbinic, NT and Islamic sources or similarities as I was able to trace and seemed relevant. As the work prooeeded, examples of Arabic-style syntactical phenomena were encountered that seemed to substantiate the theory (formed by Conti Rossini, Aeäcoly and Leslau successively) that the Ethiopic version was a translation of the Arabic, and it thug became evident that a detailed comparison of the two versions might yield valuable results. Accordingly I obtained from Paris'a microfilm of the d'Abbadie Arabic MS. of the Testaments. On inspection it offered evidence consistent with the above theory, but it also disclosed discrepancies and variants suggesting that if indeed Arabic was the immediate source of the Ethiopic version, (a) it may in places have been misread by the Ethiopian translator(s), or (b) the d'Abbadie Arabic MS. may itself be corrupt in parts. This led me to subject the Arabic text to a much closer analysis than I had expected would be necessary, but the task proved exceptionally rewarding, both historically and philologically. The corresponding Arabic reading was therefore noted in the apparatus wherever the Ethiopic MSS. differed, in order to assess whether or not it supported the Ge-ez reading finally adopted. Additionally, in the case of Isaac and Jacob, the Coptic version (using Gaselee's translation) was similarly considered. In my Introduction, I attempt to evaluate the interrelation of the Ge-ez MSS.; to trace the sequence of transmission of the versions; to ascertain the date of the Ethiopic text; and to assess the dependence of the latter on the Arabic. I then turn to the earliest extant versions (i. e. Greek and Coptic), to investigate in some detail the findings of M. R. James, K. Kohler and Z. Ginzberg with regard to the sources of Abraham, and to consider the internal evidence of Isaac and Jacob. for clues as to their origin. Asia result, I put forward a case for a Jewish-Christian authorship for the. Testaments. f In my Conclusions, I consider the light which the Ethiopic version sheds on the origins of Falasha Judaism and suggest that the books lend no substance to the claim for an ethnical link between the Palashas and ancient Israel. Finally I propose that the Testaments, in conjunction with other historical evidence, support the view that the Palashas are descendants of those sections of the Aksumite Kingdom that resisted conversion to Christianity.

This dissertation examines the work of Tunisian Islamic intellectual Mohamed Talbi. Islamic thought in the Arab world has progressed in recent decades beyond the simple modernist / Islamist dichotomy to reflect a wide range of nuanced approaches to the question of religious text and modern socio-political questions. At the same time, Islamic intellectuals continue to find themselves caught between competing intellectual influences -traditional and modern, Western and Eastern - and many have sought to reconcile these approaches into a single body of thought applicable to their societies. Among these thinkers, Mohamed Talbi offers a methodology in which the religious core of the Qur'an, which he defines as a set of eternal ethical principles, may be separated from timebound injunctions using the crucible of history. He defines a methodology that is at its core modern, stating however that it is a project in the tradition of the classical asbab al-nuziil, by which the God's intended outcomes (maqa$;d) are identified through a detailed analysis of the circumstances surrounding the revelation. This thesis traces Talbi's methodology and its application to a number of social questions in the Arab world to evaluate its internal coh~i;iveri'ess and to situate it vis-a-vis the classical traditions that it invokes. It locates a number of methodological difficulties in Talbi's thought, most importantly a frequent anachronistic back-projection - the attribution of modern ideas and discourse to early Islamic history. While such shortcomings have been traced throughout Talbi's scholarly output, they do not ultimately undermine his project, as evidenced by the respect lent to Talbi by both his detractors and his disciples. In the post-revolutionary period, it is likely that the influence of his corpus will continue to grow, as additional scholars, many from beyond Tunisia, offer refinements of his approach and apply it to social questions within their own societies.

In the early nineteenth century, European officials in India determined that the education offered in state schools and colleges would be exclusively secular: no religious teaching would be imparted in colonial educational institutions. This thesis enquires into the impact of the religious-secular distinction in Indian education from this date. After revisiting the origins of the government's commitment to secular education, it focuses upon the engagement of Indian Muslims with the colonial state, discerning how far Muslim parties opposed the separation of religion from education. The argument is advanced that concerns for the provision of religious education in the colonial system of public instruction played a critical role in the development of Muslim public activity, and of understandings of Muslim community, under British rule. Across the breadth of northern India, in Bengal, the North-Western Provinces and the Punjab, Muslim parties contested the divorce of religion from education, challenging the colonial government to respond to the requirements of their religious constituency. I employ the Foucauldian concept of governmentality which enhances our understanding of how the British government of India introduced a multiplicity of practices, including colonial public instruction, to regulate conduct and fashion subjectivities among Indian subjects. Building upon existing studies of the Anglo-Indian state as a governmentalised entity, the thesis then explores Indian Muslim negotiations of colonial educational provisions through which aspects of colonial governmentality were revised. The evolving institutions of civil society provided a location for Muslim parties to formulate public opinion and negotiate with government. With the growing support of European officials and educationalists, Muslim individuals and associations challenged the exclusion of religious teaching from government institutions and asserted the importance both of religious community and faith in Indian public spheres. The colonial separation of state. from religion was contested by Muslim parties interrogating nineteenth century meanings of the concept of secularism.

Theory development in Islamic economics has largely been based on the foundational texts of Islam, the Qur’an and Sunnah. As the main articulation of Islamic economics, the Islamic finance industry was once perceived as the main gateway of building an economic system based on the principles and ideals developed in Islamic economics. However, nowadays, Islamic economics theory has failed to integrate important alternative economic concepts such as sustainable development, and Islamic finance is often criticised for preferring ‘form over substance’ in terms of ethicality. In order to address these shortcomings, the present study uses a grounded theory based and transdisciplinary research approach. On the basis of semi-structured elite interviews with representatives of Muslim civil society in Germany on questions regarding the economy in general and businesses in particular in connection with issues of ethics and sustainable development a theoretical model for an ideal Islamic economy is proposed based on the emerging concepts. The framework for the proposed model is located in economic sociology. Furthermore, this study develops an assessment tool for Islamic sustainable investment decisions from the theoretical model in order to address the perceived ethical gap in the practice of Islamic finance. The research presented enriches the theory development in Islamic economics, because it introduces new concepts such as rizq and alternative economic mechanisms that have not been explored in Islamic economics before and that open new avenues of enquiry. The research presented in this study also enlivens the debate by introducing new voices that have not been considered so far in Islamic economics. Voices, such as those of Muslim civil society actors, are important to give the field a reality check, make the theoretical foundations more meaningful and move them closer to the lebenswelt (lifeworld) of Muslims today. They also show the great diversity of interpretations of Islamic concepts in the Muslim community, and, therefore are a reflection of the plurality existing in the modern Islamic discourse.

No description available.

Al-Munqidh mina al-Ḍalāl (Munqidh) is a well-known autobiography that was written by Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d.505/1111), one of the most influential theologians and philosophers in medieval Islamic thought. This text has received much attention in the West since its re-discovering in the 19th century, but the conditions that have occasioned and influenced the translation and retranslation of it in English have not been explored in depth yet. This study aims to study five English translations of Munqidh in order to 1) locate them into the socio-cultural, political and historical conditions that have occasioned and shaped their production and reception in English; 2) to determine the reasons behind choosing Munqidh to be translated for the first time in English and the reasons why other translators later retranslated it into the same language; 3) to determine the different strategies each translator develops to establish his translation in the receiving system field; 4) to identify and discuss the representations the producers of this text created about al-Ghazālī and Munqidh in the receiving culture, and 5) to assess to what extent the Retranslation Hypothesis, which states that retranslations emerge to restore previous translations and bring them closer to the source text and culture, can be confirmed by the data of Munqidh and its five English translations.

This study aims to carry out a critical analysis of the work of the contemporary, twentieth century Muslim thinker Said Nursi (1876-1960). The focus of this thesis is on his views on the Quranic understanding of the concept of ḥuzn. This is the first academic research which uses Nursi’s understanding of ḥuzn for a greater insight on this concept. The study begins by carrying out a contextual of analysis of ḥuzn by researching Muslim literature on this concept and comparing it with Said Nursi’s Quranic interpretation in order to obtain an in-depth understanding of the narrative on ḥuzn. It explores the idea that since ḥuzn is a universal condition, there must be a reason for its existence. It therefore aims to find out whether ḥuzn has a positive role to play. In order to obtain an in-depth understanding of the narrative on ḥuzn the Quran itself is the first point of reference. By examining all the occurrences of the word ḥuzn in the Quran it is hoped that a typology can be built for an initial Quranic narrative of this concept. This initial framework is then followed by a thematic analysis of this word in order to obtain a more holistic understanding of this word. Izutsian methodology is also used for a more scientific as opposed to an atomistic or cultural approach to the understanding of this concept. Quranic exegetes’ and Muslim thinkers’ understanding of ḥuzn from both medieval and modern periods are also compared with Nursi’s understanding of this concept in order to throw further light on the reason for the existence of ḥuzn and the role it has to play. If indeed it does have a positive role to play then this will impact greately on how ḥuzn should be viewed and treated.

This research aims to challenge a popular contemporary Traditionalist trend of intra-Muslim theological disengagement and isolation, which is justified by a conception of a puritan Traditionalist theology entirely hypothetically based on scripture and a utopian monolithic understanding of the first three generations of Islam (the Salaf). One of the many inevitable consequences of such a popular trend is one of intolerance and hence sectarianism. Intra-Muslim theological disengagement amongst modern Traditionalists and the problems therein will be challenged by proving that the theology of the Traditionalist scholar, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350), whose work is a main reference for contemporary Traditionalists, is much indebted to his critical engagement and intra-Muslim dialogue with fellow non-Traditionalist theologians and philosophers. This will be evident in my analysis of Ibn al-Qayyim’s discussions on topics related to divine determination, which is a fundamental doctrine to Muslims. In fact, Ibn al- Qayyim successfully develops a compatibilist position of dual agency on the problem of free will and determinism, a traditionalist rational objectivism position in the debate on meta-ethics and a four-fold theodicy of optimism on the problem of evil. Ibn al-Qayyim’s theological developments evidently defy contemporary intra-Muslim theological disengagement and the conception of a puritan Traditionalist theology. At the core of this thesis is an implication which seeks to promote dialogue amongst contemporary Muslims and Traditionalist Islam.

Shaykh Muhammad Al-Ghazali (1917-1996) was one of the most influential figures of twentieth century Islamic activism. He was an Azharite who embodied the traditional teachings of Al-Azhar and was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood until his expulsion in 1954. He described himself as a dā'iyah, while his followers considered him a thinker and reformer. His career has spanned more than half a century during which he wrote more than sixty books covering many aspects of Islamic thought, mainly the dilemma faced by Muslims in modern times due to their lack of understanding of the sources of their religion. This thesis will show how al-Ghazali presented his critique of the Muslim mind, and explore as well as analyse his life, the forces that shaped and exposed him to the issues he would later tackle, the development of thematic interpretation of the Qur'ān and his contribution to this field through his thematic commentary of the Qur'ān. His views on sunna is examined as well as the way he re-evaluated certain aḥādīth considered by the muḥaddithūn as sound, thus putting him at odds with salafī forces in Saudi Arabia. Al-Ghazali's views on theology, namely kalām, Sufism, salafiyya, the place of reason in Islam, issues concerning women and their rights in Islam, as well as his views on women's participation in public life, their political rights, women's testimony and the status of Muslim women's marriages to non-Muslims will also be looked at. This thesis explores how al-Ghazali revised his ideas over time to take into account the events unfolding before him and developments in the world, as well as in reflection of his own maturity as a thinker. It propounds the view that with the advent of the recent Arab Spring his outlook is now needed more than ever before.