This research paper investigates the performance of Islamic and Conventional banks in The Gambia and United Kingdom for the periods 2008/2009 to 2012. Islamic banking is conceived by many as a recent phenomenon which in the last few decades attracted lots of attention and discussions. Islamic banking is a system of banking that is in consistent with Islamic law (Sharia). Islam does not allow the payment or acceptance of interest charges (Riba) in banking activities such as lending and depositing of money. Whiles Conventional banks deal with Interest, Islamic banks method of operation is strictly based on Sharia principles (profit, loss and risk sharing). The objective of this study is to analyze and investigate the impact of the financial crisis on the performance of some Islamic and Conventional banks in The Gambia and United Kingdom. Financial ratios are used to measure Profitability, Liquidity and Financial Leverage of the banks. The empirical results of the analysis showed that the Islamic banks selected for the study generally fared better than their counterpart Conventional banks in terms of Liquidity and Financial Leverage during and after the financial crisis. Among other findings, the selected Conventional Banks in this study are found to be relatively more profitable than their peer Islamic banks from 2008/2009 to 2012.

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the conception of human rights in Islamic culture and to examine its influence on international relations. The essential method used to complete the analysis is a comparison of conceptions of human rights in western culture and in Islamic culture. This comparison is based on the most important documents involving human rights. Particular examination of different conceptions is posted in the case study of Pakistan based on Sharia and of secular Turkey. The thesis examines the hypothesis based on opinion, that the states practicing Sharia are not able to follow all the human rights as involved in the western conception of United Nations. Thus, position of those states in international relations is not as good as in case of the secular ones. Anyway, while analyzing various sources and factors, the hypothesis was found not as well-founded as it was supposed to be.

Malgré un format institutionnel classique, l’État libanais ne présente pas certaines propriétés par lesquelles la sociologie politique caractérise le pouvoir étatique. Il figure ainsi régulièrement dans la liste des États faibles. Ce travail de recherche remet en question la pertinence de cette qualification en s'inscrivant dans une démarche de sociologie politique du droit et de la justice, appliquée à la justice civile des mineurs ainsi qu’à la justice de la charia. Il documente l’activation à partir de 2002 des juges des enfants sur un terrain libanais où le droit de la famille est pluriel, et où plusieurs droits religieux sont mis en œuvre par plusieurs systèmes juridictionnels religieux, en l’absence d’un droit civil commun. Cette thèse mobilise la notion d’“épreuve d’État” pour étudier un conflit public, de 2007 à 2010, entre ces juges des enfants et les tribunaux sunnites de la charia autour de la protection de l’enfant en danger. Ce conflit, quoique clôturé en 2010 par un recul des ambitions des juges civils, produit des effets au-delà des arènes juridictionnelles, sur des mobilisations de femmes qui tentent avec un certain succès de modifier en leur faveur le droit religieux sunnite de la famille. Ces effets d’État ne passent pas par les éléments traditionnels recherchés par la sociologie de l’État et de l’action publique : des budgets, une bureaucratie, des règles centrales obligatoires. Il s’agit ici de formes originales d’étatisation par concurrence entre tribunaux autour de l’enfant et de la famille libanaise. L’enquête ouvre ainsi la boite noire de l’État réputé faible à travers l’épreuve du conflit interjuridictionnel, pour s’attarder sur les formes et les effets de la présence de l’État là où il est supposé être absent. Au lieu de chercher le changement dans les droits rigides de la famille uniquement à travers une politique publique sécularisante du centre civil, cette démarche permet de suivre et de mieux comprendre les bouleversements à l’intérieur même des normativités religieuses et de leurs droits supposés immobiles. Le rapport entre l’État et la communauté religieuse n’est plus un jeu à somme nulle, les droits religieux de la famille montrent une certaine réactivité face aux mobilisations des droits par le bas, et l’État libanais acquiert une effectivité que ne lui reconnaissent pas les récits récurrents de sa faiblesse. / The Lebanese state is often depicted as failing to possess some of the properties through which political sociology usually defines state power. Therefore, it is often described as a weak state. I question the relevance of this description through a political sociology of law, an approach I apply to civil juvenile courts and to sharia courts. I study the activation in 2002 of juvenile judges in Lebanon, where several religious family laws are implemented by parallel religious courts, in the absence of a common civil law for the family. I use the notion of "State test" to study a public conflict (2007 - 2010) between these juvenile judges and Sunni sharia courts around the protection of endangered children. This conflict produces effects beyond judicial arenas on women mobilizations that are trying, with some success, to change religious Sunni family law. These "state effects" are not channeled through the traditional elements sought by the sociology of the state and policy studies : budgets, bureaucracy or mandatory central rules. These original forms of stateness are the result of a competition between courts for the child and the Lebanese family. Instead of seeking change in rigid family laws only through a secularizing public policy from the civil center, investigating these "state tests" and their effects can allow us to track and better understand the changes within religious groups and their supposedly immobile legal systems. The relationship between the state and the religious groups is no longer a zero-sum game, religious family laws appear more responsive to legal mobilizations from below, and the state acquires an effectiveness that often goes unrecognized by the recurrent narratives of its weakness.

The main purpose of the thesis is to investigate the possibility of bridging the dichotomy between Islam and the criteria of modern society by means of reinterpreting the principles (foundations) of Islam. The reformists Abdolkarim Soroush, Sedigheh Vasmaghi and Tariq Ramadan seek to prove that the methods keeping strictly within the boundaries of tradition interpreting the Quran along the lines of previous generations is not necessarily the sole means of coming to an understanding of the Quran’s message. The thesis discusses these reinterpreters’ critique of tradition and their arguments for the possibility of uniting the principles of Islam with the prerequisites of modern society. In conjunction with this, the question whether modern society presupposes a strict division between the private and the public sphere is problematized from a point of departure in Jeffrey Stout’s Democracy and Tradition. The thesis attempts to show potential conceptions of a modern society based on the principles of Islam.

Le but de ce mémoire est d’analyser la condition et la conception des femmes dans le roman Le Ventre de l’Atlantique de Fatou Diome. Cette analyse est effectuée à la lumière des travaux de plusieurs écrivaines africaines. Fatou Diome évoque et dénonce la position de la femme sur l’île de Niodior au travers de nombreuses thématiques telles que : la soumission, le mariage forcé, la stérilité, la polygamie, la société́ patriarcale, la femme traditionnelle, la femme moderne, la liberté́, la femme en tant qu’objet et victime des coutumes et traditions. / The purpose of this essay is to analyze the condition and conception of women in Fatou Diome's novel Le Ventre de l’Atlantique. This analysis is done in light of the work of several African women writers. Fatou Diome evokes and denounces the position of the women on the island of Niodior through many topics such as submission, forced marriage, infertility, polygamy, patriarchal society, traditional versus modern woman, freedom, women as objects as victims of customs and traditions.

Le Mali est apparu pendant longtemps comme un ‘’bon élève’’, un modèle de démocratie du continent africain. Sa société, avant l’éclatement de la crise de 2012, se caractérisait par une vie religieuse exempte de violences, réunissant harmonieusement les diverses tendances doctrinales (musulmans orthodoxes, hérétiques et non-musulmans). A la faveur de la crise, la segmentation de l’islam malien, bien que s’étant auparavant pacifiquement exercée, s’est manifestée sous une violence inédite, par les armes. À la fois révélateur des limites de la démocratie, d’un dépérissement de l’Etat, de maux sociaux/sociétaux critiques, d’importants dysfonctionnements dans le mode de gouvernance, la crise de 2012 a également dévoilé de nouveaux types de rapports liant la sphère islamique au domaine politique malien. Ces rapports sont dominés par l’omniprésence, l’influence islamique dans la sphère politique. Les mouvements religieux tirent cette influence de leur capacité à exprimer et à produire du politique, combinée à leur solide ancrage auprès des populations, au travers d’œuvres sociales considérables. Cette dynamique islamique dans l’espace public politique malien sera très vite exploitée par les élites politiques, faisant des élites musulmanes des partenaires, notamment en périodes électorales. / Long appeared as a ‘’good student’’ of African continent, as a model of democracy – with a religious life free of violence, which blends harmoniously orthodox religious, heretics and non-Muslims – the year 2012 marked a turning point in the history of Mali. Thanks to the crisis, the segmentation of Malian Islam, although having peacefully exercised previously, will manifest in an unprecedented violence, with arms. Revealing, both, the limits of democracy, the withering away of the state, some critical social ills, significant shortcomings in the governance, the crisis of the year 2012 also unveiled new types of connections, linking the Islamic sphere to the politic. These links are dominated by the omnipresence, Islamic influence in the political sphere. Religious movements derive their influence from their ability to express and produce policy, combined with their strong anchor near to the population, through significant social works. This Islamic dynamic in the Malian political public space, will be exploited by the political elites, making Muslim elites partners, particularly in election periods.

Militant Islamist Sayyid Imam's legal critique of Al Qaeda's anti-U.S. mass casualty terrorism holds great potential utility for counterterrorist messaging strategy. In this article, a jihad–realist Islamist theological–jurisprudential methodology is first defended as the means most productive for delegitimizing Al Qaeda among high value, religiously motivated recruits. Second, Sayyid Imam's specific allegations and detailed Sharia proofs against Al Qaeda are presented. Finally, implications are drawn for U.S. counterterrorist messaging focusing especially on the utility of wielding this theological–juridical approach as compared to other “counternarrative” approaches, and the vital need to accurately characterize Islamism and its relation to terrorism.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

Muslims and islam are unquestionably a part of European social life. In recent times, however, different events, such as the enlargement of the EU and the fact that muslims to a higher extent demand their rights, have brought a number of questions to the fore concerning muslims and islam in Europe. Moreover, we can see an increasing level of islamophobia in contemporary Europe, but also that the EU has launched several programs to increase both the diversity and the unity throughout the Union and to combat islamophobia. However, most of these programs focus on islam as religion and muslims in general, and such a narrow viewpoint runs the risk of missing important issues. In this new context it would be interesting to widen the scope and ask what place not only the muslim community and islam, but also sharia (an important element in islam), may have in future Europe – especially when it comes to muslim identity? My main objects are to see how the concept of sharia is constructed in the debates in the European Parliament, how that discourse relates to a social practice – the increasing islamophobic ideas in Europe – and what effect this may have on muslim identity in a European context. The results shows that the Parliament constructs sharia as, for example, something archaic, threatening, inhuman and misogynistic. In that sense, the discourse fits in with the predominant order of discourse regarding islam and muslims (in Europe) – and strengthen it. Though my results are neither absolute nor uniform, they show, persuasively enough, that sharia (as it is seen by the Parliament) is not consistent with and can not be included in or accepted by “European norms and values”. However, this must be said with one reservation: sharia is not always excluded as a whole. Still, it is not difficult to maintain that it is sharia as such that activates the (negative and) excluding connotations. Thus, an “approved” European muslim identity, as it seems, can not have too close connections with sharia, if (any) at all. Moreover, there is a risk that muslims themselves take on a restricting practice concerning their identity. In all, this will to a large extent circumscribe the possible muslim identities in Europe. To form a substantial and really pluralistic diversity in Europe, the EU, and others, must liberate itself from the logic of these discourses. But this is not an easy thing to do. One way that might be profitable, is to challenge the prevailing discourse with new narratives – narratives and voices that for the most part must come from the muslims themselves. Despite the fact that these voices do exist, as has been shown, the question is how and under what circumstances they can be seen – or rather heard. Unfortunately the answer is not to be found in this thesis; the need of further research is obvious.

Sharia or western equality? women in Egyptian legislation The Islamic law (Sharia) in most of the countries in Middle East and North Africa has been the basis for modern laws which regulate issues such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. These laws (personal status law or family law) have been debated frequently in the last decades. There are those who consider personal status law (PSL) as unjust, male-biased and discriminating against women especially in the issue of divorce. On the other hand there are voices who call to go back to the Sharia, because muslims has to follow the islamic law and its values, they are universal as they claim. In this essay I try to enlighten these two points of view which can be found in the debate in Egypt. A country witch was first among the Arabic countries to adopt a modern jurisprudence. Despite several reforms in personal status law (PSL) in the last 80 years women groups and international organisations consider that there are much more to be done. This essay gives a historical background of Islamic jurisprudence, its development and islamic political ideas behind Sharia. It also describes PSL with divorce in focus.