<p> There is continued pressure for girls to formulate a positive identity in a society that privileges specific identity constructions along the lines of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and religion. This difficulty, however, may be even greater for a teen girl who also juggles the additional challenges of being Arabic and Muslim. Living in a country where their values, practices and beliefs are not the norm amongst the dominant culture in which they are surrounded contributes to this difficulty. Much research has been done about the Muslim population in general. However, narratives of young Muslim females telling their specific life stories, in relationship to the challenges they may have faced or currently face negotiating their identities in and out of public schools in the post-9/11 era, have not been addressed. In addition, although there have been studies done about Muslims' negotiation of identities, no study has related their negotiations of these identities to life's opportunities. In other words, to what extent do/did Muslim girls need to negotiate multiple identities, which is defined here as to give up and/or alter some cultural and/or religious practices and/or adopt others, in the American public school system and in places of employment in relationship to their perceptions of life's opportunities both while in high school and present day. This study seeks to tell the stories of young, female Muslims, stories about their identity negotiations in public high schools and present day in a post-9/11 world. Only through in-depth examinations of these women's lives can their stories be shared.</p>

<p> Religiously based nonviolence varies in motive, intent and interpretation. John Howard Yoder outlines a variety of religious nonviolence in his book Nevertheless. Muslim nonviolence is not addressed in the book. Identifying a distinctly Muslim understanding of nonviolence requires an appreciation of aspects of peace building that are emphasized in Islam. Muhammad Abu-Nimer has formed a framework for identifying and encouraging nonviolence and peace building in an Islamic context. By applying the basic outlines formulated by Yoder and the framework developed by Abu-Nimer to three cases of Muslim movements of nonviolence, this paper identifies distinct variations of religious nonviolence and peace building that have been developed and practiced by Muslims. The first case is historic; the Khudai Khudmatgar sought independence from Great Britain through nonviolent demonstrations and civil disobedience. The second case puts emphasis on the peace building vision of Islam by examining a movement developed in contemporary Turkey. The followers of Said Nursi and the G&uuml;len Movement collectively support "the middle way", education in both science and religion and opportunities for dialogue as a means to build peace locally and globally. The third case of religiously based nonviolence practiced by Muslims is that of the Shi'a led movement for democratic reforms in Bahrain, which uses collective action and protests to draw attention to the need for social change. Each movement demonstrates distinct approaches to nonviolence and peace building. In each case, the leadership frames the commitment to peace in Islamic terms. And in each case those who commit themselves to the movement do so through their understanding of the way they, as Muslims, should justly relate to one another and the world. This paper demonstrates Islam's unique characteristics that have enabled Muslims to pursue a common purpose and make change in a nonviolent manner.</p>

<p> This thesis examines the striking disconnect between the extensive power wielded by women in medieval Cairo and the 'official' constructions of gender relationships articulated by the 'ulama'. The formal discourses produced by legal-religious scholars encouraged men to monitor, correct, and chastise women in order to limit the chaotic and destructive potential innately present in female bodies and feminine activities. However, the larger population, including the very members of the 'ulama' who constructed these narratives of patriarchy, consistently undermined these beliefs in their daily practices. The tensions produced between patriarchal ideals and the relatively egalitarian reality of gender relationships in medieval Cairene culture were especially visible in the ruling class. While royal women actively shaped the popular image of the Mamluk sultanate and participated in extending its power throughout the city, their abilities to engage in statecraft from formal and official positions of authority were restricted by their culture's constructions of gender. However, rather than being oppressed by these limitations, Mamluk women created a unique sphere of power from which they exercised enormous influence on the epistemological framework of their society, especially through the establishment of <i>awq&amacr;f</i> (perpetual charitable endowments). </p><p> In the following analysis, I demonstrate how royal women utilized the locations and functions of these foundations to emphasize cultural norms that linked the female population of Cairo to the spaces of death and remembrance in the city's cemeteries. Underscoring their membership in two distinct bases of power&mdash;the ruling class and women in general&mdash;female founders utilized their <i>awq&amacr;f</i>to cultivate interpersonal relationships with the women of Cairo and to strengthen the Mamluks' hegemonic framework through the appropriation of female concepts of piety. By focusing their architectural and charitable patronage on the female population of the city, royal women also helped reinforce the spaces central to female expressions of piety and participation in the production of knowledge.</p>

<p> The ongoing war in Syria is reaching its fourth year, and over 1.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes into surrounding countries. This thesis looks at the Syrian refugees that have traveled to neighboring Jordan, and how religion has kept them stable in diaspora. Looking at Thomas Tweed's theory on translocative religion, I will show how diasporic religion symbolically moves in time and space through the use of sacred artifacts and rituals. Emile Durkheim's lens will reflect why human-made objects are sacred. </p><p> The Muslim Syrian refugees that took part in this research always identified with a vision of what the Syrian nation should be: a nation where religion could be practiced and where sectarianism did not divide the people. Benedict Anderson's "imagined community" makes that nation accessible in the imagination, since the refugees cannot physically be there.</p>

<p> "Our war is not against Islam.....Our war is a war against evil&hellip;" -President George W. Bush. </p><p> Despite President Bush's rhetoric attempting to separate Muslims in general from terrorists who adhere to the Islamic faith, the policies of the War on Terror have generally focused on Muslims domestically and abroad, often for no greater reason than a shared religious identity with the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack (see for example, National Special Entry-Exit Registration). While foreign-born Muslims were the primary subjects of earlier policies in the War on Terror, several cases involving Muslim Americans suggest that despite holding U.S. citizenship, they may be subject to differential standards of justice (i.e. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld or the targeted killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki). Building on previous scholarship that has examined the Muslim American experience post 9/11, this dissertation focuses on the relationship between the substance and implementation of laws and policies and Muslim American attitudes towards political efficacy and orientations towards the U.S. government. In addition, this dissertation examines the relationship between policy design and implementation and Muslim American political participation, alienation, and withdrawal. </p><p> This study was approached through the lens of social construction in policy design, a theoretical framework that was pioneered by Anne Schneider and Helen Ingram. Schneider and Ingram (1993, 1997) focus on the role of public policy in fostering and maintaining democracy. With the goal of understanding public policy as a vehicle to promoting or inhibiting democracy, their analysis focuses on how the use of social constructions of different policy group targets can affect their attitudes towards government and citizenship, in addition to behaviors such as political participation. </p><p> According to Schneider and Ingram (1993, 1997, 20005), groups with favorable constructions can expect to receive positive treatment and exhibit positive attitudes towards government and participate at higher levels than groups with negative social constructions, who will develop negative orientations towards government, a decrease in feelings of political efficacy, and lower levels of political participation. Within this conceptualization of the impact of policy on target groups is the element of political power, which Schneider and Ingram (1993, 1997, 2005) examine as a measure of the degree to which different target groups can challenge their social construction and, subsequently, the policy benefits or burdens directed at them. </p><p> Research studying the impact of policies on differently constructed groups (welfare recipients, veterans, etc.) has empirically verified Schneider and Ingram's (1993, 1997, 2005) social construction in policy design theory. However, none of the existing research has yet to apply this framework to Muslim Americans as a group and in the context of counter-terrorism policies. </p><p> In order to situate the Muslim American responses according to the theories' main propositions, this study provides a background on many of the post 9/11 counter-terrorism policies, highlighting those policies that have disproportionately impacted members of this group. This research also examines how the War on Terror has been framed, and the actors involved in the construction of the Muslim image, with a focus on discerning the ways in which members of this population have been demonized and positioned as collectively responsible for acts of terrorism perpetrated by other Muslims. </p><p> This study utilized a mixed methods approach and included a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews. Purposive sampling was used in order to obtain a sample of Muslim Americans from different racial and ethnic backgrounds proportionate to the demographics of this community in the United States. The study findings are based on surveys from 75 individuals and interviews with 61 individuals. </p><p> The findings in this study reveal that Muslim Americans overwhelmingly perceive themselves to be the target of the War on Terror policies. Further, the data in this study shows that Muslim Americans across a range of backgrounds question the degree to which they are entitled to equity in both cultural and legal citizenship, including procedural justice. Despite exhibiting these views towards citizenship and procedural justice, a majority of Muslim Americans nonetheless reported increased levels of political participation as a response to policies that targeted them. </p><p> These findings provide additional empirical support for the social construction in policy design framework. Specifically, this data demonstrates that Muslim Americans in large part believe themselves to be the policy targets and have internalized many of the social constructions that have emerged vis-&agrave;-vis policy design and implementation. Consequently, Muslim Americans have developed subsequently negative orientations towards government and a sense of diminished citizenship. While the study results in terms of increased political participation may appear to be at odds with what the framework suggests, these increased levels of political participation are more properly couched as being a function of fear or threat, and in this sense a symptom of being targeted. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)</p>

<p> My dissertation is on how the combination of religious law and constitutional law in Pakistan affects the daily lives of the women living there. The time frame to be discussed is from Pakistan's inception as a country in 1947 through the most prominent regimes that changed the Constitutional law, i.e. to the mid 1980's. During this epoch, Pakistan adopted Shari'a Law (law based on the Islamic faith) into its constitution. By chronicling the historic development of Pakistan's Constitution, I will show a correspondence between the specific laws and amendments with the attrition of women's rights in Pakistan and the deterioration of the quality of their lives. Although, Shari'a Law is based on the teachings of Islam, I contend these laws run contrary to the traditions and directives of the sacred texts, the Qur'an, Hadith (recorded oral traditions), and Sunnah (habits and practices of the Prophet Muhammad). By tracing specific Shari'a laws back to their roots and investigate the circumstances that impact Pakistani women to ascertain if they indeed burden, restrict, and quite possibly, endanger the lives of Pakistani women, and furthermore, violate the principles taught by the Prophet Muhammad, who exhorted to his followers, "Be kind to your women." The Constitution of Pakistan claims it provides equal rights for its citizens by proclaiming all people are equal (Preamble of the Constitution #8). I argue that the oppression of women in Pakistan can be linked directly to the introduction of Shari'a Law into the Pakistani Constitution and Shari'a Law is being used to justify the poor treatment of women, but it is in fact a distortion of the teachings of Islam. Therefore, women's lack of civil rights in Pakistan is attributable to male chauvinism that is based in culture, rather than religion. What can be done to reconcile the gender discrimination in Shari'a Law with parity for all citizens stated by the Constitution?</p>

<p> This dissertation analyzes the development of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a Muslim-American religious association, from the Iranian Revolution to the inauguration of our nation's first African-American president. This case study of ISNA, the largest Muslim-American organization in North America, examines the organization's institution-building and governance as a way to illustrate Muslim-American civic and religious participation. Using nonprofit research and theory related to issues of diversity, legitimacy, power, and nonprofit governance and management, I challenge misconceptions about ISNA and dispel a number of myths about Muslim Americans and their institutions. In addition, I investigate the experiences of Muslim-Americans as they attempted to translate faith into practice within the framework of the American religious and civic experience. I arrive at three main conclusions. First, because of their incredible diversity, Muslim-Americans are largely cultural pluralists. They draw from each other and our national culture to develop their religious identity and values. Second, a nonprofit association that embraces the values of a liberal democracy by establishing itself as an open organization will include members that may damage the organization's reputation. I argue that ISNA's values should be assessed in light of its programs and actions rather than the views of a small portion of its membership. Reviewing the organization's actions and programs helps us discover a religious association that is centered on American civic and religious values. Third, ISNA's leaders were unable to balance their desire for an open, consensus-based organization with a strong nonprofit management power structure. Effective nonprofit associations need their boards, volunteers and staff to have well-defined roles and authority. ISNA's leaders failed to adopt such a management and governance structure because of their suspicion of an empowered chief executive officer.</p>

The purpose of this thesis was to explore young Shia Muslim Canadian women's discursive constructions of physical activity in relation to Islam and the Hijab. The aims of the study were primarily informed by feminist poststructuralist and postcolonial theories. Qualitative methods were favored and poststructuralist discourse analysis was used to analyze the transcripts of conversations with 10 young Hijab-wearing Shia Muslim women residing in the Ottawa or Toronto regions. The results show that the participants discursively constructed physical activity in terms of being physically active (involved in fitness activities rather than sport), feeling good about themselves (i.e., being physically and mentally healthy), and losing weight or remaining "not fat." The participants were extremely heterogeneous in their ideas and experiences but, nevertheless, a majority mentioned that they would choose Islam over physical activity if they had to make a choice between the two. Wearing the Hijab while participating in physical activity was seen by most as difficult and limiting but, in the end, neither the Islamic religion nor the Hijab were considered barriers to physical activity. Participants strongly resisted the Islamophobic discourse present in Canada, they appealed to a discourse dominant in their own communities that presents a relatively progressive interpretation of the Quran and they constructed themselves as modern Muslim subjects yet they located themselves within a dominant gendered/religious discourse on women and physical activity. In the end, the young Shia Muslim women appropriated an intersectional discourse that legitimates their refusal to choose between their right to religious freedom and their right to physical activity.

This dissertation introduces and analyzes "piety stories," the stories that Muslim Tatar women in Tatarstan, Russia, share about their paths to becoming observant Muslims. It examines the ways women use these stories to create and represent moral worlds that diverge from those of the mostly secular, historically Christian, society that surrounds them. This study is based on ethnographic research and recordings of stories in Tatarstan's capital city of Kazan and its suburbs over a total period of thirteen months (from 2006 through 2010). While outsiders often see Islam as oppressing women, these women experience Muslim piety as a source of agency and a resource for personal and social transformation in post-Soviet Russia. Piety stories allow Muslim Tatar women to (re)experience their commitment to Islam at the discursive level and to invite others to step onto a path to Muslim piety, thus serving as a form of da'wah, a Muslim's moral duty to invite others to Islam. Through these stories, women perform identities, negotiate group memberships, and contribute to building both local and global Muslim communities. Piety stories serve as a window onto the personal politics of the post-Soviet Muslim revival. Older women, for example, use stories to create coherent narratives of their piety, despite their relative lack of religious practice during the state-endorsed atheism of the Soviet period. Expressions of gender are also intertwined with this political and economic history. Both Soviet policies and the immediate post-Soviet economic collapse required women to work outside the home in addition to caring for their families, and many Muslim Tatar women find the clear delineation of traditional gender roles and rights in Islam liberating. In global and local contexts where Muslim piety is often conflated with political Islam and terrorism, women use piety stories to deal with stereotypical perceptions of Muslims by showing their religious identities and the forms of Islam they practice to be moral. Ultimately, practicing Muslim Tatar women use piety stories as one way--a discursive one--to challenge, re-produce, or legitimize their understanding of Islam and what it means to be a practicing Muslim Tatar woman in Russia today.

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