Asma Afsaruddin (born 1958) is an American scholar of

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

and Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

in Bloomington.

Biography

She was an associate

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. She has previously taught at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, from which she received her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1993. Her fields of specialization include the religious and political thought of Islam, study of the primary Islamic texts (

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

), as well as gender studies. Afsaruddin has been an editorial board member for the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, published by Cambridge University Press. She was an editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Medieval Islamic Civilization and a consultant for The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2002). Afsaruddin chairs the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy board of directors. She also sits on advisory committees for the Muslim World Initiative of the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit, national institute funded by the U.S. Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. See alsPDF on USIP website. It provides rese ...

and the human rights organization Karamah.

Awards and honours

In 2015, she was presented the ''Jayezeh Jahani'' (World Book Prize) for the best new book in Islamic studies by the Iranian president

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

for her book ''Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought''. The book was also a runner-up for the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize in 2014.

Publications

* '' Jihad: What Everyone Needs to Know'' (Oxford University Press, 2022) *''Contemporary Issues in Islam'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2015) *''Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought'' (Oxford University Press, 2013) *''The First Muslims: History and Memory'' (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008)Reviews of ''The First Muslims: History and Memory'': * * * Berkey, Jonathan (2011). Review of Middle East Studies 45(2):199-201 * * * Donner, F. M. (2009). The First Muslims: History and Memory. Asma Afsaruddin . Speculum, 84(3), 663–665. *''Excellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadership'' (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002) *''Hermeneutics and Honor: Negotiation of Female "Public" Space in Islamic/ate Societies'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1999) *''Culture, and Language in the Near East : Essays in Honor of Georg Krotkoff'' (Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, Ind., 1997)

References

External links

Faculty, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, Bloomington: Asma AfsaruddinReligion Compass Online: Asma Afsaruddin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afsaruddin, Asma Living people Indiana University Bloomington faculty American Islamic studies scholars University of Notre Dame faculty Harvard University faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty Johns Hopkins University alumni Women scholars of Islam 1958 births Muslim scholars of Islamic studies