Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Women are potent symbols of identity. They signify a vision of society that identifies a nation. The Middle East provides a perfect example of this. It has one of the highest rates of population growth in the world, yet maintains one of the lowest literacy rates and labor force participation among women. This has a direct impact on their ability to be seen as modern states. Furthermore the Middle East has come under attack for having one of the poorest records of human rights, particularly in reference to women. Contrary to this implication Middle Eastern women have taken extremely active roles in the gender debate and the socio-political struggles within their societies. The results of this participation have yielded a number of different interpretations of what it means to be a feminist and if this title is even something that Muslim women want. It has also created a very complex relationship between the west and western feminism which has deep implications in contemporary gender politics.

There have been many deadly terrorist attacks which have taken place in the 21st Century. At the turn of the century the world was transfixed as two planes were hijacked and flown into the ‘Twin Towers.’ Many recent attacks have been carried out by Islamic Fundamentalist groups. In 2015, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Daesh and Al-Qaeda were responsible for 74% of all terrorist attacks which took place across the globe. It is widely recognised that aid is used to promote donor interests in areas such as curbing terrorism. This thesis is focused on identifying whether terrorist attacks which have been carried out by Islamic Fundamentalist groups has increased the amount of aid to Muslim countries. The research identifies that in the earliest parts of the 21st century Iraq and Afghanistan received large proportions of aid due to the ‘War on Terror.’ From 2010 onwards this trend shifts and other countries that have large Muslim populations have increasingly received vast proportions of aid. This trend has been attributed to the changing context and concerns such as the War in Syria and the migration crisis. The research also looks at whether isolated terrorist incidents influence aid allocations. I have examined trends related to UK aid before and after the 7/7 bombings. The evidence shows that countries which are defined by the US Department of State as ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ and ‘terrorist safe havens’ have received more aid after the 9/11 hijackings and then after the 7/7 bombings.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Reissued 5 May 2017 to correct misspelled Second Reader’s name on title page. / The number of disconnected youth, those ages 16 to 24 who are not in school and are not employed, has reached significant levels in the United States and Western Europe. This trend is coupled with the fact that more and more foreign fighters are joining Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria. In particular, Western youth have been the target of radicalization by ISIS and other terrorist groups, and the appeal and lure of such groups seem unlikely to subside. A similar trend is also evident among youth in Muslim countries where the number of foreign fighters to terrorist groups seems unlikely to decrease. According to recent estimates, over 28,000 foreign fighters have joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq since 2011. The fact that so many youth have been radicalized to join terrorist groups is a cause for concern that requires closer scrutiny, understanding, and action by Western and other governments. The explanations and motivations as to why youth join terrorist groups abound; these include lack of education, poverty, religion discrimination, family background, and political and economic marginalization, among others. This research seeks to answer the question, are the youth in the United States, who are disconnected, more likely to become radicalized to terrorism? To answer this, various theoretical frameworks were researched and examined, such as relative deprivation, social movement theory, and psychological perspectives, to shed light on understanding this issue. / Director, Personnel Support Services and Benefits, Transportation Security Administration

This thesis investigates the emergence and development of Muslim Chaplaincy at Princeton and Rutgers universities. It seeks to answer three questions: (1) How did university-based Muslim Chaplaincy develop? (2) What roles did Muslim Chaplains play? and (3) Why did university administrators hire and sanction Muslim Chaplains? The thesis explores these questions by examining the decision making processes of administrators through in-depth case studies based on observations, document analysis, and 64 interviews with current and former Muslim Chaplains, University Chaplains, Muslim student leaders, faculty members, alumni, and other administrators. The case studies are prefaced by a description of the national context for campus Muslim Chaplaincy based on 36 interviews with religious life professionals at 21 other colleges. My research suggests that Muslim Chaplaincy at Princeton emerged through the advocacy of Christian University Chaplains; in contrast, at Rutgers the role was created by a local community organisation and sanctioned by student affairs professionals. Campus Muslim Chaplains played a variety of roles. For Muslim students, they provided religious, pastoral, advisory, educational, programmatic, and liaisonal support. They also served other university constituents and local community members. Administrators at both institutions had multiple rationales for hiring and sanctioning Muslim Chaplains: to advance social justice for Muslim students, to provide an educational benefit to non-Muslim students, to remain competitive with peer institutions, to overcome histories of exclusion, and to avoid potential crisis situations. The goal of this study is to make two contributions to knowledge. In terms of its subject, this thesis provides the first empirical case studies of Muslim Chaplaincy in American higher education and frames these cases within the national context. In terms of theory, this study aims to develop an understanding of the administrative rationales behind the creation of Muslim Chaplaincies. It does this through the application of the political, cultural, and adaptive sociological models of the university. In particular, it draws on the concepts of institutional isomorphism and risk mitigation/management as explanations for the emergence of Muslim Chaplaincy.

The dissertation focuses on the conversion experiences and individual processes of twenty-four native British Muslim converts and fifty-two native German Muslim converts, based on personal interviews and completed questionnaires between 2008 and 2010. It analyses the occurring similarities and differences among British and German Muslim converts, and puts them into relation to basic Islamic requirements of the individual, and in the context of their respective social settings. Accordingly, the primary focus is placed on the changing behavioural norms in the individual process of religious conversion concerning family and mixed-gender relations and the converts’ attitudes towards particularly often sensitive and controversial topics. My empirical research on this phenomenon was guided by many research questions, such as: What has provoked the participants to convert to Islam, and what impact and influence does their conversion have on their (former and primarily) non-Muslim environment? Do Muslim converts tend to distance themselves from their former lifestyles and change their social behavioural patterns, and are the objectives and purposes that they see themselves having in the given society directed to them being: bridge-builders or isolators? The topic of conversion to Islam, particularly within Western non-Muslim societies is a growing research phenomenon. At the same time, there has only been little contribution to the literature that deals with comparative analyses of Muslim converts in different countries. This dissertation is based on the conversion research methods by Wohlrarb-Sahr (1999) and Zebiri (2008), and further concentrates on the acute challenges and personal understandings of Muslim converts regarding cultural, religious, and moral changes, changes in belief and adoption of religious practices as well as social relations. Dissatisfaction with the former faith or given social norms, the appeal of the Muslim tenets, the search for identity and the desire to have a sense of belonging included the participants’ motivation for conversion. Taking the former into consideration enabled the result of providing a personal, lively yet rational insight into the lives of British and German Muslim converts.

This thesis deals with veiling of Czech women who convert to Islam, those who were born here, were brought up here and have a full Czech sociocultural background. The thesis focuses on the reasons for veiling in the Czech milieu, the real possibility of veiling in the Czech Republic, the emotional side of those women and the change in their visual appearance itself. It also discusses the changes in the acceptance of conversion to Islam in informants' families after they began to veil themselves. The thesis focuses on problems of the employment and the possibility of veiling being contraproductive in the western society. The whole thesis is based on a qualitative research and supported by the personal testimonies and life stories of eleven key informants and testimonies of secondary respondents. Their statements have been linked with theories that deals with veiling and clothing from different scientific perspectives and are compared with studies among female converts in other European countries, USA and Canada. Keywords: religion, Islam, conversion, hijab, veiled women, Czech, Muslim

Les activités du e-commerce et le cadre juridique qui en découle soulèvent des questions pertinentes, en particulier celle de la protection de l'acquéreur profane.A cet égard, dans le cadre des règles fondamentales, les règles juridiques fixées par la loi devraient être portées à la connaissance du consommateur par le professionnel de façon claire et concise avant conclusion du contrat électronique. Ainsi seront précisées: l'identité et l'adresse du vendeur (professionnel), notamment une description détaillée des étapes de la conclusion du contrat. C'est déjà le cas en droit français et en droit européen. Les contrats électroniques sont également soumis à des règles légales qui encadrent l'obligation du vendeur et de l'acheteur, la livraison, la réception, le paiement, la signature électronique du contrat, le droit de remboursement ou de rétractation, la garantie etc.Les règles juridiques édictées par le législateur en droit français réglementent les activités de l'e-commerce. Il semblerait nécessaire que des règles juridiques plus précises régissent ces activités en droit jordanien. D'où les propositions faites dans la thèse.De notre étude, il ressort que les conditions générales de vente sont des clauses-type constitutives d'un contrat d'adhésion. Leur dimension internationale et la technicité du procédé de signature représente la spécificité des conditions générales de vente dans les contrats électroniques.Ces clauses usuelles peuvent être classées selon qu'elles concernent la formation ou l'exécution du contrat. A ces deux stades, l'élimination des clauses abusives et l'encadrement juridique existant en droit français protègent le consommateur. Certaines de ces règles peuvent être transposées en droit jordanien. / SummaryE-commerce activities and the legal frame that results from them raise many relevant questions. Especially those related to the protection of the layman buyer.Concerning this issue, and in the framework of fundamental rules. The professional seller should bring to the knowledge of the consumer all the legal rules laid down by the law in a clear and concise way before the conclusion of the e-contract. Thus, will be cited precisely: the identity and address of the seller (professional), particularly a detailed description of the steps leading to the conclusion of the contract. This is the case in the European and French law. E-contracts are also subject to legal rules framed by the obligations of and the seller the buyer such as delivery, reception, payment, e-signature of the contract, the right to withdrawal or repayment. Within the framework, we show a great interest towards the legal rules set up by lawmakers in the French law. It seems necessary for us that such accurate legal rules regulate e-commerce activities in the Jordanian law. The reason why we made some propositions in this thesis.Our study shows that general sales conditions are standard clauses and components of the adhesion contract binding consumers and professionals that represents the specificity of general sales conditions.Furthermore, those common clauses can be classified in two categories either related to the lay out of the contract or related to the accomplishment of the contract. At these two stages of the lay out of the contract, the consumer is protected by the legal frame provided by the French law who bans abusive clauses. Some of these rules can be transposed to the Jordanian law.Key words: Islamic law, Jordanian law, consumer, recipient, sender, delivery, guarantee.

Many researchers say that the multiculturalism in Russia has emerged recently, but this term started to dеvеlop few dеcades ago. During this time period we have seen its significant change and improvement. Russian sociеty culturally is very divеrse. There are many different nаtions, culturеs, religions, and even civilizations living in Russia. The uniqueness of Russia consists in the fact that those different culturеs are its indigenous people. There is probably no other stаte in the world with such a high number of different culturеs living together relatively peacefully for centuries. Also, culturally diverse population of Russia is not composed of migrаnts as in the case of Europe or the USA. For this purpose the beginning of the thesis is dedicated to understanding of the term multiculturalism, cultural diversity, minority groups and similar. Multiculturalism developed significantly especially in the phase of last events which took place in the Wеst. The 9/11 has brought several changes. Also, the latest incidents (and the speeches of the several lеadеrs) in Europe have shown Europeans and the rest of the world that the situation in immigrаnt welcoming rеgions is not positive as before. This makes the policy of multiculturalism even more complicated in the light of present developments. The...

1 Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the contemporary Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) providing normative frameworks for Muslim minorities living in Europe. The Muslim minorities in Europe vary significantly in their ethnic, social, and religious background; yet in many cases they bring to Europe coherent system of ethical and legal rules. Nevertheless, these normative systems differ according to the country of origin and religious background of the respective minorities. Therefore, in Europe that is a constant struggle between the various interpretations of Islam and different Muslim authorities. The situation of Muslims living in the non-Muslim legal system is not regulated by the classical Islamic law and therefore jurisprudence is becoming the primary mechanism for dealing with normative issues. The key institute for contemporary Islamic jurisprudence is iftā, i.e. delivering fatwas in response to real or hypothetical individual inquiries. This diploma thesis argues that the traditional and established Muslim authorities, such as imams in mosques and muftis trained in the countries of origin, are increasingly being challenged by global Muslim authorities and individual interpretation of Islam. The ideological background of these newly established authorities range from the liberal Islam to...

Although there is a recognized need for counseling Muslims and underutilization of mental health services by this population is assumed, research regarding the attitudes of Muslims towards counseling is scarce. This qualitative study explored Muslim women's attitudes towards counseling and utilization of counseling services. The influence of religiosity and religious coping as well as the Muslim women's perception of the Imam-counselor liaison, and the influence of the liaison on counseling-seeking attitudes have been examined. Participants consisted of 10 purposefully selected Muslim women from each of five distinct socio-racial categories, including White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Arab. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews and the administration of a demographic questionnaire. Data analysis involved phenomenological exploration and hermeneutical interpretations of the participants' meaning. The findings indicated that attitudes towards counseling do not indicate actual use of the services. Rather, utilization of religious coping, availability of family and friend support, accessibility of Muslim counselors and counseling within the Muslim community, and the Imamcounselor liaison have a significant impact on counseling-seeking attitudes of the Muslim women. Additionally, the findings indicated variation of counseling utilization among socioracial groups. All non-U.S.-born Arab, Asian, Hispanic, and Black participants reported no use of professional counseling, whereas U.S.-born White, Black, and Hispanic participants and one non-U.S.-born White participant reported utilization of the services. However, rather than linking ethnicity alone to use of counseling, other factors need to be considered as well. The Imam-counselor liaison seems to hold promise towards closing the gap in delivery and utilization of counseling services by Muslims. The findings generated a greater awareness of the xi importance for the inclusion of religious beliefs and practices in therapeutic conversation with Muslim female clients. It is my hope that the findings will facilitate reflection on current counselor and counselor educator practices, and lead to changes that will enhance service provision to this population. In sum, it is hoped that the revealed pertinent areas will be considered within both the counseling room and the classroom.