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Despite criticism from relatives, religious leaders and her Muslim community, Faghmeda Miller publicly disclosed her HIV status on World AIDS Day in 1996. She became the first Muslim woman in South Africa to do so. Her story of courage in the face of the unknown, stigma and discrimination echo the complex social context in which HIV is experienced nationally and globally. It places emphasis on the fact that HIV affects all humans, irrespective of religion, race, gender, sexuality or socio-economic status. Using life trajectory as a method of enquiring into Miller's social and religious meaning making regarding her infection and HIV and AIDS activism, this research presents her challenges and victories in her journey with HIV and AIDS. The biographical study examines how she became the face of a Muslim woman with HIV in society. In speaking up for the infected voiceless and taking a lead in creating awareness about a highly stigmatised disease, Miller shows how personal agency was used to change attitudes, save lives and offer support to the suffering. Mass media in the 1990s—television, radio and print—played a crucial role in her trajectory. This study argues that Miller acquired social capital through the declaration of her HIV status, increasing her public profile, and co-founding the Muslim HIV/AIDS organization, Positive Muslims. The analysis focuses on turning points in her life trajectory, including traumatic experiences, transformative reflections on Islam, and activism. Through her personal and social challenge with the virus, she ultimately embraces an inclusive Islamic theology of compassion.

Bibliography: leaves 210-218. / The hypothesis for this dissertation is that (a) there is an increasing call for something called 'raising consciousness', and (b) sexuality and spirituality are integral to the process. It is, however, argued that sexuality in it's relationship with consciousness is incompletely considered in the mainstream of academic and lay discourse; and seems to not be accorded a positive position in the problematic landscape of human affairs. In this investigation, sex, gender, sexpression (the link between the previous two), sexuality, and spirituality are shown to be generally confused and in need of differentiation, and re-integration into a coherent unit.

Bibliography: leaves 157-168. / This study examines the status of the Qur'an in contemporary Islamic thought at the point of intersection with the philosophical discourses of modernity and postmodernity. As a marginal discourse, Islamic thought has had to seek legitimacy in light of the dominant paradigms of modernity and postmodernity. It is argued that through active engagement and critique of the dominant paradigms, Islamic discourse is able to articulate a much more vivid portrait of its authentic-self. This self-portrait is shaped by dissenting voices within the Western philosophical tradition critical of modernity and postmodernity, as well as by voices from the Islamic intellectual tradition. The role of the Qur'an as foundational text is approached by questioning the status and source of values in both the Western and the Islamic traditions. It is consequently argued that the moral categories of right and wrong, or good and bad, are necessarily ontological in Islam and are informed by the Qur'an. The role of the Qur'an as foundational text is thus affirmed from this perspective. Finally, the mechanism through which the Qur'an is able to convey its ethical imperative is explored. In this regard, it is argued that the Qur'an is performative in nature and that its moral ethos is conveyed by a dialogic process. The conclusion suggests that the re-emergence of a religious slant in social discourse is of marked significance, especially at a time in which secular philosophy is being cogently challenged. This study is therefore an apt example of a new and important focal point in the social sciences.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-98). / "Two strong features of contemporary sociology are the rapidly growing interest in globalization, on the one hand, and an increasing tendency to discuss values, morals and ethics, on the other" (Robertson, 1997: 69). Derived from such interest, the main objective of this paper is to discuss the often obscure role religion plays in today's society against the backdrop of the globalization discourse, thus marrying the twofold sociological quest mentioned above. According to Jan Aart Scholte, "globalization has considerably redrawn the contours of the world political economy" (Scholte, 2000: 173). I suggest that the same can be said of religion. Even though some argue that globalization in "neither good nor bad; [i]t is and will be what people make of it" (Dewane, 2002:2), it undoubtedly affects the role, form, and influence of religion.

Includes bibliographical references. / The purpose of this dissertation is to upset exclusive and sectarian tendencies in the Seventh-day Adventist Church via an application of Jacques Derrida's notion of hospitality to Adventist soteriology.