Asma Afsaruddin
- Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
- Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
- Adjunct Professor, Department of Religious Studies
Education
- PhD, Johns Hopkins University, 1993 (Near Eastern Studies)
Research Interests
- Pre-modern and modern Islamic religious and political thought
- Qur’anic hermeneutics
- Hadith criticism
- Exegetical, legal, and ethical perspectives on jihad and martyrdom
- Muslim attitudes towards the People of the Book
- Islam and religious pluralism
- Gender roles
Contact Information
Email: aafsarud@indiana.edu
Office: Memorial Hall M17
Phone: (812) 855-5993
Courses Recently Taught
- Golden Age of Islamic Civilization
- Islamic Texts: Tafsir
- Islamic Texts: Hadith Sciences
- Islam and Modernity
- War and Peace in the Islamic Tradition
- Islamic Feminisms
- Jihad in Islamic Texts
Publication Highlights
- Editor. Islam, the State, and Political Authority: Medieval Issues and Modern Concerns. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011.
- "“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 First Muslims: History and Memory. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008
- 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.
- "“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., edited by Muqtedar Khan, 37–60. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006.
- "”The ‘Islamic State’: Genealogy, Facts, and Myths." ”Journal of Church and State 48 (2006): 153–73.
