• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Open Search
  • About
    • Contact Us
  • People
    • Core Faculty
    • Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty
    • Emeriti Faculty
    • MELC Librarian
    • Staff
  • Graduate
  • Undergraduate
  • Events
  • Resources
  • In Memoriam
  • Give Now

Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
  • People
    • Core Faculty
    • Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty
    • Emeriti Faculty
    • MELC Librarian
    • Staff
  • Graduate
  • Undergraduate
  • Events
  • Resources
  • In Memoriam
  • Search
  • Give Now
  • Home
  • People
  • Core Faculty
  • Asma Afsaruddin

Asma Afsaruddin

Professor
Class of 1950 Herman B. Wells Endowed Professor
Adjunct Professor, Religious Studies
Affiliated Professor, Gender Studies

Phone:
(812) 856-7347
Email:
aafsarud@indiana.edu
Department:
Core Faculty
Campus:
IU Bloomington
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.
  • Core Faculty
  • Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty
  • Emeriti Faculty
  • MELC Librarian
  • Staff

Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures social media channels

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Additional links and resources

Indiana UniversityHamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

Indiana University

Accessibility | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2023 The Trustees of Indiana University