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- All Subjects: Muslim
- Creators: Ali, Souad
- Creators: Doty, Roxanne
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
Description
Since 9/11 a wide range of violent practices including indefinite detention, torture, and targeted killing have been employed by the United States and the "international community" against "international terrorism." Modern laws of war are portrayed as the bright line that distinguishes the "international community" from "unlawful combatants." The threat posed by unlawful combatants has been portrayed as so exceptionally grave that the international community is justified in the transgression of those very laws of war that constitute the distinction between "us" and "them." In consequence the efficacy of modern laws of war to provide humanitarian protections has been cast into doubt and many characterize humanitarian laws of war as obsolete. Existing work on the politics of exception and the exclusion of Guantánamo Bay detainees from US federal law does not frame the problem of the exception in terms of international law. Though many consider the prerequisites for politics of exception absent in the international system, I argue that a dispersed notion of sovereignty and constructivist approaches to law resolve obstacles to considering the exception at the level of the state system. I explore system level exceptional politics through a critical reading of modern laws of war. Rejecting essentialist historical narratives, I first conduct a genealogical study of laws of war from ancient Greece through the Middle Ages. I then conduct a critical reading of three texts from the War on Terrorism; Barack Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, John Brennan's "The Ethics and Efficacy of the President's Counterterrorism Strategy," and Medea Benjamin's interruption of John Brennan. I argue that modern narratives of war law venerate codification and textually privilege a "mystical" figure of modern law. This figure empowers a universalized "international community" as law's privileged agent. Violence employed by this archetypal community, even when outside the law, is rendered ethically pure and historically necessary. In consequence modern humanitarian law as a bright line always permits excluded archetypal identities and vast powers of violence are mobilized by the "international community" against discrete individual human bodies who are identified with this excluded archetype, or who simply find themselves in the way.
ContributorsHickman, Peter L (Author) / Doty, Roxanne (Thesis advisor) / Ashley, Richard (Committee member) / Thomas, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The term I'jaz al Qur'an refers to the inimitable quality of the Qur'an. The doctrine of inimitability comes directly from the Qur'anic text itself: And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful (The Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:23). This verse is one of the verses of tahaddi (challenge) that challenges mankind to imitate just one chapter of the Qur'an. The doctrine of inimitability comes directly from this verse and four others throughout the Qur'an. It took about two centuries after the revelation of the Qur'an for the topic i'jaz to become the subject of mass scholarly activity. Reasons for the sudden increase in scholarly activity surrounding i'jaz include such historical events as the emergence of Sufism, the mu'tazalah school of theology, the shu'ubiyyah movement, and the Muslim-Christian interactions during the ninth century. Scholarly activity on has produced several theories on i'jaz from the likes of classical Islamic scholars including Abu Ishaq al-Nazaam, Al-Qadi Abd Al-Jabbar, Abu Bakr Abd al-Qahir bin Abd ar-Rahman bin Muhammad al-Jurjani, Abu Bakr Muammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Baqillani, and Muhammad ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi. These theories of i'jaz, while sharing many similarities, were chosen for this analysis due to the key differences they exhibit. These differences are often associated with the theological school and area of expertise of the given scholar, all of which will be explored thoroughly.
ContributorsShakoor, Musa Abdul (Author) / Ali, Souad (Thesis director) / Gallab, Abdullahi (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have been a prominent part of American culture and have been woven into the history of the United States. Both group's presence in the United States has elicited rhetoric from U.S citizens and U.S public officials. One may infer that the narrative of Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants overlaps the narrative of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Both Muslim refugees and immigrants as well as unauthorized immigrants, are criminalized in the United States, or are associated to crime by default of their faith and or their legal status. The association that Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have with crime, based on their rhetoric, has elicited a policy from the United States government as well. The United States government has responded to a presumed threat that both groups pose to U.S. citizens and the nation by means of aggressive legislation, both local and federal. In this research paper, past and present discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and undocumented immigrants was analyzed to determine each of the group's narrative; the mainstream media, newspapers and photographic images, was also considered to determine the narrative of both groups. Based on the discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and on undocumented immigrants, the media portrayal of both groups, and on the change of public policy one may assert that the narratives of both groups overlaps; as both Muslim refugees and immigrants and unauthorized immigrants are seen as a possible threat to the American people.
ContributorsGalvan, Brigitte Magdalena (Author) / Doty, Roxanne (Thesis director) / Magaña, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This study reports findings regarding vulnerability to intimate partner violence and barriers to seeking services for Arab Muslim immigrant women in the United States. The implications of gender-role expectations, isolation and dependence, and religious interpretations on vulnerability to violence are assessed. Barriers to seeking services, such as immigration status, divorce/legal separation, reports of violence to authorities, and over-inclusion, are identified. The study also includes recommendations for service providers that cater to this population. This study concludes with a brief discussion.
ContributorsDasgupta, Trisha (Author) / Ali, Souad (Thesis director) / Anderson, Lisa M. (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05