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D.Litt.et Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This research has three main purposes. First, it discusses the differences between the conventional and the Islamic perspectives of accounting in terms of the accounting definition, objectives, principles, rules, measurements and disclosure requirements. Second, it discusses and formulates the accounting measurements and the disclosure requirements, which should be applied in Islamic banks for Murabahah and Mudarabah operations.Third, to provide insight into the current practice of these measures and requirements, the study reports the results of a survey which aims at identifying the gap between the suggested measures and requirements and the current practice of the Dubai Islamic Bank and the Jordan Islamic Bank. The analysis reveals that there are differences between the conventional and the Islamic perspectives of accounting. It also indicates the need for specific accounting measures for Murabahah and Mudarabah operations as well as the need to disclose more information about these operations and their accounting measurement methods in an Islamic bank's annual reports as well as in other disclosures.Finally, the direction for future research on Islamic banks operations and their accounting measurement problems are presented / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This creative project will culminate in a show of twenty-five pieces of metalwork, both wearable and sculptural, using as source material the rich tradition the floral imagery found in Islamic arts. Specifically the pieces will be based on the art of the Persian Gulf area. sources will be floral images as expressed in architectural elements, fabric, tiles, and other related arts or crafts. / Department of Art

This dissertation studies the evolving relationship of the early 'Abbasid caliphs with the proto-Sunni 'ulama'. By the time of Harun al-Rashid, the 'Abbasids had aligned themselves with the emergent proto-Sunnitrends; a pattern of state - 'ulama' relations, with the caliph's view of his function approaching that of the 'ulama ', had begun to emerge. al-Ma'mun was uncharacteristic of the early 'Abbasids in claiming religious authority for himself, apparently to challenge the 'ulama's influence and authority. That effort proved abortive, and confirmed in its failure the earlier pattern of state - 'ulama' relations. The pattern was one of collaboration between the caliphs and the 'ulama'. Proto-Sunni scholars were among the beneficiaries of extensive caliphal patronage, and it was their viewpoints which caliphal interventions in religious life upheld. Owing perhaps to the effects of 'Abbasid patronage, but also to the implications of certain proto-Sunni viewpoints, proto-Sunnis were generally favourable towards the 'Abbasids. A convergence is discernible in the interests of the Caliphs and the 'ulama', and partly explains not only the latter's pro-'Abbasid sentiment but also why it was the proto-Sunni viewpoints that the 'Abbasids came to patronize.

abstract: This dissertation research employs biological distance and mortuary analyses in tandem with historical sources to investigate the degree to which conversion, as opposed to migration, contributed to the spread of Islam in southern Iberia. The dynamics of the 8th century conquest of Iberia by Muslim Arab and Berber forces from North Africa, and the subsequent 800-year period of religious, political, and social change, remain contested and poorly understood. Migration of Islamic peoples to the peninsula once was invoked as the primary vehicle of Islamic influence, but religious conversion, whether true or nominal, increasingly is regarded as a key component of those changes. This dissertation proposes that conversion, whether a prelude to or a component of Islamization, altered social group affiliations and interactions among those living in southern Iberia. Such changes in social relations and the resultant patterns of mate exchange will be recognizable by means of altered biological patterns of phenotypic variation. Through the examination of ~900 individuals from both Iberian and North African skeletal collections, this study concludes that conquest resulted in a great increase in phenotypic variability in the peninsula from the 8th-11th centuries. The data further indicate that males contributed this phenotypic variability to the samples in the Early Conquest period. Females, most frequently from Hispano-Roman Christian groups, appear to have ‘intermarried’ with these early conquerors and with the Muwallads, male Islamic converts, and are included in the early Muslim burial programs. From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the data presented here demonstrate a stasis and even a slight decrease in phenotypic variability in southern Iberia, which may be explained by endogamy among religious groups in this region. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2017

D.Phil. (Sociology) / Increasingly religion is recognised within public debate, as realising the post-secular according to Habermas. Furthermore for Habermas citizen participation is possible via publics that are literary which operate within the public sphere that is in turn open to all citizens. On the other hand when individuals, while being religious, are educated in so called closed Islamic educational institutions, it has been argued that they retreat from public life. In effect this would mean that although Muslims may be citizens with access to the public sphere, when they choose to be educated in Islamic institutions participation in debate is inhibited. Institutions of Islamic education for women, where secular education is regarded to have less importance, are especially noted to eschew participation in national life. Learners and parents at institutions of Islamic education are however shown to desire involvement in a broader social life, but also maintain their Islamic values and principles. This thesis thus asks if Islamic education for women can allow for the expression of post-secular citizenship. The secularisation theory, deprivatisation, as well as the post-secular construct as defined in this thesis are unable to explain how individuals, while they are religious, may be able to participate in public life. Weber‟s thesis in the Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism illustrates how individuals while they are religious can direct public debate. Protestants were able to do so due to the fact that their rational religious ethic altered their behaviour according to a particular set of patterned actions. A catalyst to patterned action premised on religion, according to Weber, is doctrinal development – the systematising of religious concepts within religious texts – in particular canonical and dogmatic texts or writing. In addition, vernacular writings are also established as an element of doctrinal development, specifically its ability to communicate a set pattern of behaviour to the laity. In the process of developing a doctrine, individuals also constitute a literary public because both require similar activities – writing texts and then reading as well as discussing them. The thesis then contends that one way to assess whether Islamic education can allow for post-secular citizenship is to determine whether it contributes to doctrinal development. In this way those who are educated in Islamic education institutions could participation in the public sphere and express post-secular citizenship. The Deobandi education movement, demonstrated to be a dominant Islamic doctrine in South Africa in relation to public participation, is then found to be involved in doctrinal development. An effect of doctrinal development, the rationalisation of religion, realises a set pattern of action. Doctrinal development can thus also spawn Muslim publics – those who act according to an interpretation of Islam in a public space. The thesis relates, from literature on women‟s Deobandi institutions, that patterned behaviour intent on engendering a particular interpretation of Islamic womanhood can be seen as reflected in the public sphere. Further research at Deobandi Islamic education institutions for women is thus advocated to explore the phenomenon. Data were gathered at an institution of Islamic education for adolescent women, Warda Madrasa (WM), finding a strong association with the Deobandi education movement. In addition a set pattern of action or behaviour is endorsed at WM via a particular corpus of texts. Findings from the data presented that was gathered at WM strongly tie the institution to the development of a doctrine, Muslim public and literary public. Moreover the findings point to an additional element in doctrinal development, through patterned action – specifically purdah, engendered at institutions such as WM. Purdah allows the body to be read like a book; to become a bodily text and thus bringing an interpretation of Islam into a public space and directing debate in the public sphere. As such, the thesis concludes, Islamic education for women in South Africa can allow for the expression of post-secular citizenship.

Scholars of Islamic history have long recognized the fascinating transition of Sufism from a loose set of distinct tendencies in the third/ninth centuries, to a self-conscious movement which, by the beginning of the sixth/twelfth century, had entered into the mainstream and began to pervade all levels of society. Many have sought to explain the developments in the interim between the third/ninth and sixth/twelfth centuries which resulted in the eventual popularization of Sufism by the end of that period. It is known that instrumental to this process was the rising prominence of the so-called awliyā’ Allāh (“Friends of God”) who before long, were primarily identified with masters of the Ṣūfī path. Given the integration of Sufism into mainstream Sunnī Islam, Sunnī theology came to adopt the miracles of the Friends as markers of sainthood (wilāyah). My project seeks a more comprehensive understanding of how this took place, and the challenges that presented against this development. To this end, this project explores the debates on the Friends and their miracles between two opposing camps, the emerging Sunnī-Ṣūfī majority in contradistinction to the Muʿtazilah. I adopt a combination of textual, source-critical, and contextual approaches to Sunnī and Muʿtazilī writings on sainthood from the third/ninth to the fifth/eleventh century and place these sources in conversation with one another to better understand the stakes involved. This project also highlights the discursive nature of the Islamic tradition, with Muslim writers dynamically acting and reacting to one another, and to their social environments, in their attempts to define the boundaries of Islamic thought. / Religion

Though relatively unknown to non-specialists, Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī is a fundamental member of the community of Muslims who founded Islamic Philosophy. In his tenth-century work, On the Perfect State, al-Fārābī tackles questions of eminent importance to society of Muslims still deciding who they were. These questions and their inevitable solutions were, for a time, a source of much turmoil for the young Ummah; and we argue that the Perfect State should be read as an effort to take part in, even to lead, the conversation that would decide how these questions were answered. A school of thought championed by Richard Walzer argues that the most important thing to know about al-Fārābī is that he repeated in Arabic many things already said better in Greek by the ancients. According to this school of thought, al-Fārābī’s main intention was to transmit specifically Greek learning to posterity, not to participate in the world of Islam and Muslims. It is our contention that this view is mistaken and misleading. Through an examination of tenth-century Islamic history, a close reading of al-Fārābī’s work in Arabic, and a thorough discussion of the mistakes made by the Walzerian school of thought, we will show that al-Fārābī used philosophy as a tool for solving problems particular to the Muslim community of his age. / Religion

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