Global and International Studies Building, 3041

Courses Recently Taught
- Golden Age of Islamic Civilization
- Qur’an Commentaries
- Hadith Sciences
- Islam and Modernity
- War and Peace in the Islamic Tradition
- Islam in the Eyes of the West
- The Middle East in the Western Imagination
- Islamic Feminisms
- Jihad in Islamic Texts
Publication Highlights
Books:
- Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022 https://global.oup.com/academic/product/jihad-what-everyone-needs-to-know-9780190647322?q=afsaruddin&lang=en&cc=us#
- Contemporary Issues in Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015.
- Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Winner of the runner-up prize from the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society (2014); World Book Award in Islamic Studies from the Iranian government (2015). Translated into Bahasa Indonesian by Irsyad Rafsadie as Tafsir Dekonstruksi Jihad & Syahid. Jakarta: Mizan Press, 2018
- The First Muslims: History and Memory. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008. Winner of the Dost Award, Turkkad, Istanbul, 2013. Translated by Deniz Kaynak into Turkish as Ilk Müslümanlar: Tarih ve Bellek. Istanbul: Tuti Kitap, 2014.
- Editor, Islam, the State, and Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns, editor. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
- Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002.
- Editor. Hermeneutics and Honor: Negotiating Female Public Space in Islamic Societies. Middle East Monograph series. Cambridge, MA: Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard University, 1999.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters:
- “Egalitarianism in Islam.” In The Cambridge History of Socialism. Marcel van Linden. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. 56-78
- “Looking for the Caliphate in All the Wrong Places: ISIS and Its Reading of Scripture.” In Overcoming Orientalism: Essays in Honor of John L. Esposito. Tamara Sonn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 121-148
- “Jihad and the Qur’an: Classical and Modern Interpretations.” In The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies. Mohammad Abdel Haleem and Mustafa Shah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. 512-526
- “Women and the Qur’an.” In TheOxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies. Mohammad Abdel Haleem and Mustafa Shah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. 527-537
- “Jihad, Gender, and Religious Minorities in the Siyar Literature: the Diachronic View,” Studia Islamica 114 (2019): 1-26
- “Martyrdom and Its Contestations in the Formative Period of Islam.” In Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice and Self-Immolation: Religious Perspectives on Suicide. Ed. Margo Kitts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. 85-105
- “Loyalty and Obedience to the Ruler: Religious Obligation or Practical Necessity.” The Muslim World. Ed. Armando Salvatore et al. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2018. 235-252
- "Shari'a and Fiqh" In the Oxford Handbook of American Islam. Eds. Jane Smith and Yvonne Haddad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 174-186.
- "Martyrdom in Islam: A Historical Survey." In Terrorism, Martyrdom, and Religion: European Perspectives in Global Context. Eds. Dominic Janes and Alex Houen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 40-58.
- "Islamic Feminisms: Gender Egalitarianism and Legal Constraints." In Social Difference and Constitutionalism in Pan Asia. Ed. Susan Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. 319-352.
- "Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Remembering Muhammad as Head of State." In The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad, edited by Jonathan Brockopp, 180-98. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- "The Hermeneutics of Inter-Faith Relations: Retrieving Moderation and Pluralism as Universal Principles in Qur'anic Exegeses." Journal of Religious Ethics (2009): 331-45.
- "Obedience to Political Authority: An Evolutionary Concept." In Islamic Democratic Discourse: Theory, Debates, and Directions. Ed. Muqtedar Khan. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. Pp. 37-60
- "The Islamic State: Genealogy, Facts, and Myths." Journal of Church and State 48 (2006): 153–73.