Artium Baccalaureus (AB), Ohio University, 2018, History

The thesis analyzes the role of the Islamic legal system and the juridical climate of 9th century Cordoba in the manifestation of a group of Christian martyrs known as the Martyrs of Cordoba in the 850s. It argues that, alongside the strong sociocultural changes Cordoban Christians experienced in the 850s, the Islamic legal system of al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) buttressed a sociopolitical order that prompted and suppressed many of Cordoba's martyrs. It also closely analyzes the sources for the Cordoban martyrdoms, authored primarily by Eulogius and Albar of Cordoba, and their anti-Islamic and anti-assimilationist stances in order to separate their polemical construction of the martyr narratives from the martyrs' actual lived experiences. Through a close investigation of a handful of key martyrs, the thesis presents how Islamic legal rulings on apostasy, blasphemy, and interfaith marriages all variedly brought Christians into the qadi's court and provided them with the necessary tools to achieve their martyrdoms. The close interconnection between al-Andalus' legal system and the emir's administration consequently transformed the martyrdoms into cases of clear social dissent through their religious and legal assaults on Cordoba's sociopolitical order.

Committee: Kevin Uhalde Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: History; Law; Medieval History; Religious History

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Media and Communication

This dissertation examines the fatwa, an Islamic religious ruling and scholarly opinion on matters of Islamic law, and how fatwa is used as cultural, political and legal rhetoric. It illustrates how rhetoric of ulama¿ [scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law], mutakallimun [theologians], muftis [group of theologians or canon lawyers], qadis [judges], professors, and Sheikh al Islam [the highest-level state religious official], play a role in culture and communication in the Islamic world to gain political, social, cultural, and spiritual control. Specifically, the dissertation examines two of the most renowned fatwas (fatawa) issued in the past three decades: First, the fatwa issued by Ayotallah Ruhollah Khomeini on Salman Rushdie, second, the fatwa issued on Bengali Bangladeshi ex-doctor turned author, Taslima Nasrin, who has lived in exile since 1994. The most important contribution to knowledge this dissertation makes is the analysis of the fatwa issued on Egyptian author and intellectual, Dr. Faraj Fodah, who was murdered in 1992. Next to no research or media coverage exists in western sources about Fodah's life, publications, accomplishments, and assassination. Additionally, comprehensive evidence and transcripts from the trial of Fodah's assassins is presented. A combination of rhetorical criticism and discourse analysis is applied to examine the rhetoric of fatwas. Also analyzed are global perceptions of fatwas issued on Rushdie and Nasrin, both controversial authors of South Asian heritage, their involvement with the western nations that gave each asylum, and the broader western discourses that have held both authors in esteem and as exemplars of free speech. The study enhances understanding of how religion is used as an instrument for power, prestige, and political gain in Arab and Muslim majority nations. The study also helps understanding of political and cultural turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa. Finally, the dissertation highli (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alberto Gonzalez PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Lara Lengel PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Christopher Frey PhD (Other); Ellen Gorsevski PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

What follows is an edition and translation of an Arabic manuscript written by Murtada az-Zabidi in 1171/1758 in defense of coffee as per Islamic legality. He cites the main objections to coffee drinking and refutes them systematically using examples from Islamic jurisprudence to back up his points. The author also includes lines of poetry in his epistle in order to defend coffee's legality. This particular manuscript is important due to its illustrious author as well as to its content, as few documents describing the legal issues surrounding coffee at such a late date have been properly explored by coffee historians. The dictionary Taj al-Arus, authored by Murtada az-Zabidi himself, as well as Edward Lane's dictionary, were used to translate the manuscript, which was first edited. Unfortunately, I was only able to acquire one complete and one incomplete manuscript; other known manuscripts were unavailable. Arabic mistakes in the original have been corrected and the translation is annotated to provide appropriate background to the epistle's commentary. A brief introduction to the history of coffee, a sample of the debate surrounding the legality of coffee in Islam, and a biography of the author is provided.

Committee: Georges Tamer PhD (Advisor); Joseph Zeidan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Islamic Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2010, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

In the past, urfi marriage was used to describe all social and religious marriages in Egyptian society. However, when Egypt imposed the requirement for marriage registration, in 1931, it created a rupture between the established culture and modern laws, rendering the traditional definition of urfi marriage obsolete. Since the late twentieth century, urfi marriage has been re-imagined as a viable alternative to legal marriage by those who find the modern marriage tradition socially or financially unviable. This study seeks to understand the complexities in reconstructing and redefining urfi marriage and ponders whether this contemporary social practice-in one or more variations-will one day become fully accepted in Egyptian society. In order to accomplish this, I draw on Berger and Luckmanns classical work on the social construction of reality to shed light on how various popular discourses—film, blogs, legal discourse, television and others—interrogate the category of urfi, contest its definition as deviant, and seek to unpack the on-going social negotiation surrounding its multiple and conflicting meanings in order to understand why it has re-emerged and gained legitimacy among many segments of society. Like my research into the treatment of urfi and related topics as obliquely presented through the artistic medium of film, field research of online resources also allowed me to gain a broader understanding of the perceptions, meanings, and ideas associated with marriage as well as of the current practices of urfi marriage, often considered a taboo topic, by varied segments of Egyptian society. Because marriage is such a powerful icon for coming of age in Egypt, in the end, this debate on what forms of urfi marriage will emerge as acceptable will have far reaching repercussions on other complex, intertwined issues such as individual freedom, adulthood, familial and societal duties, individual choice in marriage, hereditary rights, ethics of medical science, morality, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sabra Webber PhD (Advisor); Morgan Liu PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Families and Family Life; Gender; History; Law; Mass Media; Middle Eastern History; Personal Relationships; Religion; Sociology; Theology; Womens Studies