Asma Afsaruddin

Phone:

(812) 856-7347

Email:

aafsarud@iu.edu

Department:

Core Faculty

Campus:

IU Bloomington

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:

• The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023
  https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-islam-and-women-9780190638771?q=afsaruddin&lang=en&cc=us
  Authoritative new research by Professor Asma Afsaruddin uncovers deep insights into Islam and women’s agency in Muslim-majority societies: Hamilton Lugar School: Indiana University (iu.edu)
  
• Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022
  Translated into Polish as Dżihad: Wszystko, co warto wiedzieć by Agnieszka Adamczyk-Karwowska. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2024
• 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.

Select Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

• “The Study of the Middle East and Islam in the American Academy: An Epilogue.” In Lehrer und Schüler: Festschrift zum 60ten Geburtstag von Sebastian Günther.  Ed. Dorothee Lauer and Jana Newiger. Leiden: Brill, 2024. Pp. 748-768

• “Fighting and Martial Valor in the Pre-Modern Islamic Tradition.” In The Cambridge Companion to Religion and War. Ed. Margo Kitts. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. 76-94

• “Modern Rereadings of the Qur’ān through a Gendered Lens.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Women. Ed. Asma Afsaruddin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp. 80-118

• “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.