Somalis represent the largest consecutively displaced and resettled group in the United States yet, little is known about their experiences with and perceptions of illness in diaspora. In this research project I examine how Somalis’ understandings of the body and embodiment shape perceptions of diabetes and mental health. In addition, I ask how are the effects of migration and diaspora embodied among Somalis in Boston? To answer these research questions, I developed a qualitative study among Somali Muslims in Boston. I utilized information from semi-structured interviews (n=6), informal interviews (n=4), and participant observation at a local mosque from March 2015 to March 2016. I argue that for Somalis, diaspora is embodied through: bodily practices based on fluid and complex body ideals and values, food ritual and practices of consumption, and chronic physical health and mental health issues resulting in culturally relevant somatic explanatory models.

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Islamic banking in the United States of America, became recognized as an alternative to expand into the market of traditional Muslim consumers, living in the United States. Because of strict regulatory guidelines, no Islamic banks exist in the United States. Instead, conventional banks, Islāmic banking windows (IBW) and other financial institutions offer Shari‘ah compliant products by modifying classical Islamic contracts or attaching a rider to define contract verbiage. This study reviewed techniques of adapting contracts used for Shari‘ah compliant products in the United States to determine if the contracts maintain the true characteristics of the original classical Islamic contracts. Contracts in Islamic sacred law provide protections by ensuring wealth is not wasted, and no injustice is performed by either of the contracting parties. Wealth protection and justice are the inherit characteristics of contracts in the Islāmic law. Any changes or modifications may void or decrease the protections provided in Islamic law. This research reviewed the theoretical aspects of contract modifications, by analyzing the procedures used for the derivative Shari‘ah compliant product contracts used in the Islamic finance industry in the United States. Data was evaluated and compared with the requirements of classical Islamic contract equivalents, to determine the effects of these changes. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Phil. (Religious Studies)

Although there are a few general surveys of early Islamic metalwork, and numerous detailed studies of particular objects or object groups, no comprehensive study of the metalworking industry in Iran in early Islamic times has yet been written. This thesis aims to provide that study first by assembling as much as possible of the basic information on metalworking in Iran from the Islamic conquests to the mid 13th century and then by using it to draw some general conclusions about the range and history of Iran's metalworking industries at this time. The primary sources used are the references to metals and metalworking in early Islamic literature and the surviving objects. For technical information and for select vocabularies of the relevant Arabic and Persian terminologies the technical treatises of al-Hamdānī, al-Birūnī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, and Abū'l-Qāsim al-Kāshānī have been particularly exploited. For the names and functions of particular objects or object groups a range of Arabic non-technical works has been searched. For the gazetteers and general discussions of metal sources Arabic and Persian geographical works have been utilised. The objects catalogued and discussed here include all the published pieces known to the author, together with unpublished objects in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashmolean Museum (including Sirāf excavation material), the Musée du Louvre in Paris (including Susa excavation material), the Museum für Islamische Kunst Berlin-Dahlem, the StaatlicheMuseum in East Berlin, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, the Philadelphia University Museum (including the Rayy excavation material), the Walters Art Gallery, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (including the Nīshāpūr excavation material), and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. All objects have been arranged in groups on the basis of metal, function, and form, and catalogued accordingly, and an overall dating and provenancing for each group has been established through reference to their decoration, including inscriptions where relevant, and archaeological data. Additional use has been made of analyses undertaken by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Musee du Louvre, and the Ashmolean Museum, plus a limited number of other published analyses: all these are included in a single Table.

The main objective of this research is to examine whether the current practices of Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia are compatible with the principles of Shariah. This examination includes the current uses of sukuk (Islamic bonds), the models of takaful (Islamic insurance) and accepted risk transfer mechanisms in Islamic structured finance (Islamic derivatives). The second purpose is to investigate the basic laws of banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia and examine whether they are compatible with Shariah principles. The final aim is to suggest solutions to the absence of regulatory and supervisory systems of Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia by proposing a legislative and regulatory framework for Islamic banking and finance in Saudi Arabia. The research findings show that there are no specific laws and regulations governing Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia. In addition, there is no independent central Shariah board to regulate and supervise Islamic banking and financial activities in Saudi Arabia, nor are there are any specialised commercial courts to look into banking issues. The research finds that there are some articles in the law of supervision of cooperative insurance companies in Saudi Arabia, and its implementing regulations, which do not comply with Shariah, and in addition, there is some incompatibility between the law and its implementing regulations. The final finding is that the issuance of sukuk and Islamic financial derivatives in Saudi Arabia are not consistent with Shariah requirements, due to the absence of regulatory policies and supervisory harmonisation, while Islamic insurance needs to amend some articles of the law of supervision of cooperative insurance companies in Saudi Arabia, and its implementing regulations, in order to comply with Shariah and also to avoid incompatibility between them.

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