This study argues that the use of reflected self-image as a tool for interpreting Christian anti-Muslim polemic allows such texts to be read for the self-image of their authors instead of the image of just those they attacked. This self-image is further described as the author’s assertion of Christian identity in light of Islam. As such, polemic becomes a set of boundaries authors offered to their communities, helping them to successfully navigate inter-religious living. Using this interpretive tool, two sets of medieval anti-Muslim polemic from Spain – four treatises from the third/ninth century and four from the fifth/eleventh-sixth/twelfth centuries – are analysed in order to discern how their authors defined themselves in light of Islam, and in turn, how they hoped their readers would distinguish themselves from Muslims. The research found differences in both the strategies deployed by the different sets of texts and the definitions of Christian identity that result from them. In the first case, Christian defamation of Islam is used to define Christians by their isolation from Muslims. In the second case, familiarity with Islam and Muslim culture reveals a definition of Christianity more supportive of the cultural proximity to Muslims even as Christians’ religious distinctiveness is emphasised.

This thesis contributes to the study of religions, particularly Islam, in the successor states of former Yugoslavia from 1989 to 2009. The theoretical contributions of this work lie in the comparison of the communist and post-communist periods, where clear similarities and differences have been drawn for better understanding of the continuity between them. Current works on the state of Islam and Muslim communities in the Balkans have mainly focused on recent developments without insight into the conditions and effects of religious life under communism. This work is concerned with the continuity of religious practice from the communist period, religious changes and the revival of Islam at the institutional, public, intellectual and individual level. The thesis begins with a historical background of the region and the arrival of Islam. It moves then to examine constitutional and legislative changes regarding religion and their impact on Islam. After analysing the most visible signs of an Islamic revival at the institutional level, the thesis examines the place of Islam in the public arena, analysing the media, public gatherings, Muslim organizations and mosque construction. It then focuses on intellectual changes and similarities within the communist period. The concluding chapter explains the scope and reasons for the Islamic revival.

This thesis aims to determine whether the teaching of Tajwid science in the UK is of a sufficient standard. This stems from the author’s experience in professional studies and teaching experiments performed in Britain in this field, which have indicated that current instruction is substandard. The research aim is to contribute to developing Tajwid teaching in Britain. To conduct this research, the author evaluated Tajwid teaching using a series of methods. A pedagogical study was applied; specifically, a questionnaire with Tajwid students from different UK Islamic organisations. She then engaged in two group meetings with Tajwid teachers, conducted close-ended telephone interviews with Islamic organisations based in the UK, reviewed five English-language resources, and suggested alternative sources for Tajwid instruction that explain the subject through al-Shāṭibiyyah, which features the most well-known form of recitation among Muslims. Finally, she hosted a series of free Tajwid classes to examine research-recommended sources and their effects on learners’ attitudes. The findings proved that different approaches are required to develop Tajwid teaching in the UK; furthermore, they helped to establish the criteria required to develop effective Tajwid teaching, and clarified the importance of incorporating new sources that use topics comprehensibly and provide solutions to related problems.

This thesis explores how Kenyan Christians perceive Islam and Muslims. The thesis approaches the problem by examining various Christian writings. Substantial and representative Christian literature was found in the form of scholarly writing, produced by Kenyan mainline Christians, and in the form of popular literature, produced by Kenyan Neo-Pentecostals. The historiography of Islam entering into Kenya; and a historical look at Christian-Muslim relations in Kenya, with particularly an examination of the recent debate over the inclusion of kadhi courts in the constitution, were also examined. The combination of the historical and the literary approach provides breadth into the examination of how Christians in Kenya perceive Islam and Muslims. After an analysis of the history and the texts, several themes that emerge from this analysis are examined from two perspectives. One, politically oriented themes are examined to understand how Kenyan Christians symbolically contest with Muslims over public space. It is seen that the symbolic contestation concerns the legitimacy to occupy roles in the nation-building project. Two, emerging theologies of religion are teased out of the writings to gain insight into the deeper theological structures from which Kenyan Christians operate as they seek to understand and interact with the religious Other (Islam). The thesis claims that the Kenyan cultural/religious context contributes significantly, more so than traditional Christian-Muslim dynamics from outside of Africa.

Following the Islamic conquests of the Middle East, Christians living in Iraq and the surrounding region found themselves under a new socio-political system which was organised around the religious principles of Islam. Living in an environment which was dominated by Islamic social and political norms also provided them an opportunity to express and define their theology in a new style and language. Kitāb al-Majdal is the fruit of this fascinating period. It is composed by a member of the Church of the East called ‘Amr ibn Mattā around the end of the tenth century. It is subdivided into seven chapters dealing with different aspects of Christian theology, morality and history. The fourth division of the Kitāb al-Majdal is devoted to explain certain Christian practices and virtues in order to provide spiritual and moral guidance for the readers. This study investigates how Christian morality is developed and presented in al-Maṣābīh chapter and the ways in which the surrounding Islamic culture influenced the text in terms of its language, style and structure. The key conclusion reached at the end is that Christian morality is defined in a very creative way in al-Maṣābīh chapter using both traditional Christian and Islamic sources.

In the 1960s, Seyyed Hossein Nasr was the first to articulate in contemporary language the vision of an Islamic environmentalism. Ever since, in a number of articles and interviews Nasr has elaborated his vision further. As the ultimate solution to the environmental crisis, he has persistently argued the need to substitute the prevalent scientific worldview with a religious worldview. However, there has not been any systematic and comprehensive presentation of Nasr’s approach that discusses his ideas in the context of the intellectual currents which have shaped his thought. This thesis attempts to address the gaps in the presentation of Nasr’s religious perspectives on environmentalism. The research has been guided by two questions: 1) what do we need to know to best appreciate Nasr’s vision? And 2) how does Nasr’s vision adhere to traditional Islamic thought? The thesis has demonstrated that Nasr’s arguments are rooted in metaphysical principles of reality, found in the perennial philosophy as well as in traditional Islamic metaphysics, Sufism, philosophy and sciences, as represented by the key authorities of those areas. The thesis hopefully contributes to scholarship in an important dimension of Islamic environmentalism and on the environmental aspects of the relevant intellectual currents.

Egypt’s 2011 revolution led to debates about Salafis’ entry into politics for the first time. The socio-political vision and character of Salafi groups were relatively understudied. As such, the primary question of this thesis is what is the Salafis’ vision for social and political change in post-revolution Egypt? The vision is traced through Salafis’ discourse concerning change. The texts analyzed were collected from Al-Da’awa Al-Salafyya (DS), and its political arm the Al-Nor party: the latter is the only surviving Islamist party, following the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2013. The texts were gathered through field research, and analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis. This analysis enabled what is the first mapping of DS’ vision for change. Based on this, the thesis argues that following its entry into politics, DS reproduced its long-held discourse of social and political change. It achieved this by introducing changes to the form of its discourse, while preserving its core content. The thesis demonstrates that “continuity and consistency” of DS’ key discourse for change (Manhaj), was central to its framing processes towards mobilizing political participation. More broadly, the thesis concludes that the wider movement and the specific political party are both intellectually and structurally connected.

The status of Christian–Muslim relations (CMR), which are difficult to assess, has been ambiguous in contemporary Lebanon. Analysts, as well as individuals within Lebanese communities in Lebanon and within the diaspora have made conflicting claims. One major claim has been that CMR are better now than before the Lebanese Civil War because the civil war ended in 1991 and a reoccurrence has never materialized. Furthermore, the Ţā’if agreement, a working document aimed at ending the civil war and promoting solid CMR, was signed by most of the major communities of Lebanon in 1991. For these reasons and more, Lebanese CMR were believed to have improved post-civil war. Nevertheless, this writer explored the veracity of this proposition. Through comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research, the poor state of CMR in contemporary Lebanon was revealed. In face-to-face interviews in Lebanon, field experts reflected on the weakened condition of CMR and the reasons for the same. University students participated in a survey to ascertain their feelings concerning CMR and the possible causes of problems within CMR. Focus was also placed on the role identity has had in CMR. These causes of CMR conflict and, at times, consensus were reviewed and compared for a clear understanding of the state of present-day CMR. Finally, based on an understanding of these factors, recommendations for improvement, further study, and the future of CMR were given.

This study examines the female-initiated divorce right of khulʿ in Ḥanafī jurisprudence and its practical implementation in Pakistan. Previous research presents Ḥanafī jurisprudence as only allowing a khulʿ with the consent of the husband coupled with a financial liability placed upon the wife. This thesis argues that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of the khulʿ under Ḥanafī fiqh, which is capable of providing divorce rights to women without the husband’s consent and financial recompense. This research also illustrates the judicial activism exhibited by the Pakistani courts, which has created a no-fault khulʿ surpassing existing statutory provisions. To date, there have been no studies on the efficacy of these developments, so this research assesses the extent to which these new liberal divorce laws have filtered down into Pakistani society. Through qualitative interviews and observations, this study examines married Muslim women’s perceptions of the khulʿ and the obstacles that female litigants face whilst trying to utilise the khulʿ in the Lahore courts. The findings reveal that whilst the khulʿ has empowered some women within the marital domain, religious and cultural norms coupled with practical problems within the courts have curtailed the potential of the khulʿ as a liberating tool in marriage.

This thesis expansively discusses the development of Islamic education and its curriculum in Jordan from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives, hitherto an under-researched area. However, it places special emphasis on most recent attitudes, approaches and policies surrounding the Islamic education curriculum in Jordanian schools. This is done by reviewing the most relevant literature available on the subject as well as by analysing the data collected during an extensive field work. It is stressed that although the study employs qualitative approach to contextualise the research, it largely relies on quantitative methods consisting of field work and interviews. Subsequently the final results demonstrate many positives in the process of the development in the curriculum of Islamic education. In addition, it suggests that much has been done in this regard since the beginning of the formal establishment of the education system in Jordan in early eighties. However, it admits that there is much to be done in terms of elevating the standard of the Islamic education curriculum. It suggests that there is a need for a constant drive to improve the content of the curriculum to bring Islamic education at par with the secular education. Finally, it recommends that the future development of the content of the Islamic education curriculum should indeed take place in view of the modern Jordanian context, but this process of development must not compromise the spiritual element that lay at the core of Islamic education.