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Islamic finance is rapidly gaining momentum around the world. Interpretations of Shari'ah, or Islamic law, state that investments must be free from elements of riba (interest), gharar (uncertainty), maysir (speculation) and haram (unethical) business activities. Islamic equity investing, therefore, utilizes a set of business activity screens and accounting-based screens to exclude firms considered non-permissible under Shari'ah. Despite increased academic interest, there is still much uncertainty surrounding the financial implications of these investment principles. This Ph.D. thesis, comprised of three empirical essays, aims to contribute to this debate. The first essay offers a comprehensive examination of Islamic equity index performance. The findings show that Islamic equity indices have exhibited abnormal returns on a global and developed market level, primarily due to their exclusion of stocks in the financial services sector. The second essay attempts to study the determinants of Islamic investments' financial performance, with a particular focus on the role of country-level factors. The third essay studies performance related issues associated with the accounting-based screening process. A significant proportion of these screens are documented to contribute positively to risk-adjusted performance, most notably in periods of financial market turmoil.

This dissertation is primarily about the ethical evaluation ofbrain death, brain-dead persons and organ transplantation in contemporary Muslim ethics. / Cette tQese est premierement au sujet de l'évaluation éthique de la mort cérébrale et les personnes dans un coma dépassé aux éthiques Musulmanes contemporaines.

Several armed Islamist movements have shown remarkable behavioural and ideological transformations towards non-violence. The "de-radicalization" processes of these movements removed tens of thousands of former militants from the ranks of al-Qa'ida's supporter and acted as disincentives for would-be militants. These processes have taken place on a large scale in Egypt and Algeria, and on a smaller scale in Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Tajikistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. / This dissertation addresses crucial lacunae in the literature on Islamism, security and counterterrorism studies by asking the question 'why do radical Islamist militants revise their ideologies, strategies and objectives and initiate a de-radicalization process.' The dissertation also aims to answer the question of what are the necessary conditions under which this process can be successful. In the following chapters, I analyze how such factors as state policies, charismatic leadership and social interaction between the layers of an Islamist organization, as well as between the same organization and the "other," can all interact to shape the prospects for renunciation violence, both behaviourally and ideologically, by an Islamist movement. Empirically, I analyze the deradicalization processes of three cases in Egypt (the armed wings of the Muslim Brothers, the Islamic Group and al-Jihad Organization) and one case in Algeria (Islamic Salvation Army and affiliated militias). I also analyze two cases of deradicalization failure in Algeria, as a means to further explicate and examine my variables. / The arguments in the dissertation are based on qualitative comparative research. Archival interviews, supplemented by personal ones, with Islamist leaders, mid-ranking commanders, grassroots organization members, Islamist movements' specialists, former security and intelligence officers and state officials are analyzed to help identify the potential causes of de-radicalization from different perspectives. Content analysis is also used to examine original literature and statements produced by the Islamist groups under study and their leaders to both legitimize and, at a later stage, to de-legitimize violence. / In the conclusion, the dissertation provides a comprehensive theoretical framework that explains the causes of de-radicalization of armed Islamist movements. It also provides direction for future research agendas and addresses policy implications relevant to de-radicalization. / Plusieurs mouvements islamistes armes ont donne les signes d'importants changements sur le plan du comportement et de l'ideologie en faveur de la nonviolence. Les processus de de-radicalisation de ces mouvements ont conduit au retrait de dizaines de milliers d'anciens militants des rangs des supporteurs d' Al Qaida et ont eu un effet dissuasif sur ceux qui songeaient a se joindre a eux. Ces processus ont eu lieu a grande echelle en Egypte et en Algerie et a plus petite echelle en Libye, en Arabie Saoudite, au Yemen, en Jordanie, au Tadjikistan, en Malaisie et en Indonesie. / Cette these porte sur des lacunes importantes dans la litterature sur l'islamisme, les etudes de securite et le contreterrorisme. Elle cherche a savoir pourquoi les militants radicaux islamistes ont revise leurs ideologies, leurs strategies et leur objectifs et initie un processus de de-radicalisation. Cette these vise arepondre a ces questions afin de comprendre les conditions necessaires a la reussite d'un tel processus. Au cours des chapitres suivants, j'analyse comment des facteurs tels que les politiques etatiques, le leadership charismatique, et les interactions sociales entre les couches d'une organisation islamiste ainsi qu'entre la meme organisation et l' « Autre» peuvent tous interagir pour modifier les perspectives d'un mouvement islamiste de fayon aI'amener arenoncer ala violence, tant dans son comportement que dans son ideologie. De fayon empirique, j'analyse les processus de deradicalisation de trois cas en Egypte (l'aile armee des Freres musulmans, le Groupe islamique et l'Organisation du al-Jihad) et d'un cas en Algerie ( l'Armee islamique du salut et les milices affiliees). J'analyse egalement deux cas d'echec de la deradicalisation en Algerie afin d'examiner mes variables. / Les arguments de cette dissertation sont fondes sur une recherche qualitative comparee. Des entrevues archivees et des entrevues que j'ai moi-meme realisees avec des autorites islamistes, des sous-officiers ainsi qu' avec de jeunes sympathisants, des militants de souche, des specialistes des mouvements islamistes, des anciens officiers de la securite et du renseignement et des employes de l' etat sont analysees afin d'aider it identifier sous differents angles les causes potentielles de de-radicalisation. L'analyse de contenu est egalement utilisee pour examiner la litterature de base ainsi que les communiques produits par des groupes islamistes et leurs chefs pour legitimer et plus tard, pour delegitimer, la violence. / En conclusion, la these presente un cadre theorique qui explique les causes de la de-radicalisation des mouvements islamistes armes. Elle propose egalement des avenues de recherche et traite des implications concemant les politiques gouvemementales et autres relatives ala de-radicalisation.

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The Islamic dress code has been forcibly imposed on the women in Sudan, since 1983, and many feminists researchers have criticized the practices of the veil as a tool to oppress women. This study aimed to explore a group of Sudanese women, currently living in South Africa, experiences and perceptions of the veil, whether the veil is a religious dress code or a tool that has been used to exercise inequality.

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The Shi'ite orthodoxy, represented by the Usuli trend, introduced a new institution, i.e. marja'-i taqlid, in the middle of the thirteenth/nineteenth century when the struggle for the authority of the Imam was heightened by the representatives of speculative thought in Shi'ism. This institution combined the status of the most learned mujtahid with the charisma derived from the vicegerency of the Imam of the Age without committing itself to miraculous performances or directly jeopardizing the ruling establishments. The Usuli orthodoxy successfully fought the Akhbaris' detachment from the formal bases of argumentation on the one hand and the direct pretension to the authority of the Imam by the Sufis and Shaykhis on the other hand. The Usulis not only placed the marja'-i taqlid at the head of the Shi'ite learned hierarchy, but gave his pronouncements as of binding authority for the community. Marja'-i taqlid benefitted from the growth of popular religion among post-Safavid Iranians whose religious alms and charities guaranteed the financial independence of the supreme mujtahids. Marja'-i taqlid played important roles in the socio-political development of the Shi'ite people of Iran and Iraq either by legitimizing their constitutional and reformist movements or opposing colonialist and Westernizationist processes. However, in practice, the institution of marja'iyat escaped any attempts to embed the institution into the constitutional system or into any formal structure of juristic hierarchy.