Duke Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

Publications of Ebrahim Moosa

• Books

  • • Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination.
    • University of North Carolina Press,
    • 2005.
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/moosa_ghazali.html

• Edited Books

  • • with
    • Jeffrey T. Kenney & Ebrahim Moosa.
    • "Modern Islam: A Textbook."
    • 2013.

    Publication Description

    A textbook on modern Islam with Routledge with 2013 release date.

  • • Shamil Jeppie, Ebrahim Moosa & Richard Roberts.
    • "Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial Legacies and Post-Colonial Challenges."
    • Amsterdam University Press,
    • Spring, 2010.
    • 388.
    • (Introduction pp. 13-60; Muslim Family Law in South Africa: Paradoxes and Ironies, pp. 331-354)
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    Shamil Jeppie, Ebrahim Moosa, Richard Roberts Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa Colonial Legacies and Post-Colonial Challenges Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial Legacies and Post-Colonial Challenges offers comparative historical, anthropological and legal perspectives on the ways in which French and British colonial administrations interacted with the diversity of Islamic legal schools, scholars, and practices in Africa. The authors examine how the colonial impress marks Islamic legal practices in Africa and its impact on the post-colonial and contemporary periods. Several chapters document the experiences of Muslim citizens in some African states in their bid to have Islamic law, particularly family law, recognized. A substantial introduction sets the individual essays in a comparative framework of Islamic legal scholarship in an era of colonialism by contrasting and comparing vital questions as they occur in the African context. Shamil Jeppie is associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town. Ebrahim Moosa is associate professor in the Department of Religion, Duke University. Richard Roberts is professor in the Department of History, Stanford University. http://www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789089641724

  • • Fazlur Rahman; Ebrahim Moosa (editor).
    • "Revival and Reform: A Study of Islamic Fundementalism."
    • Oxford: Oneworld,
    • 1999.
    • (Introduction, 1-29; Postscript 204-206)

• Papers Published

  • • with
    • Aasim I. Padela, Ahsan Arozullah.
    • "Brain Death in Islamic Ethico-Legal Deliberation: Challenges for Applied Islamic Bioethics."
    • Bioethics
    • .
    • Blackwell,
    • (2011)
    • .
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    Since the 1980s, Islamic scholars and medical experts have used the tools of Islamic law to formulate ethico-legal opinions on brain death. These assessments have varied in their determinations and remain controversial. Some juridical councils such as the Organization of Islamic Conferences' Islamic Fiqh Academy (OIC-IFA) equate brain death with cardiopulmonary death, while others such as the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences (IOMS) analogize brain death to an intermediate state between life and death. Still other councils have repudiated the notion entirely. Similarly, the ethico-legal assessments are not uniform in their acceptance of brain-stem or whole-brain criteria for death, and consequently their conceptualizations of, brain death. Within the medical literature, and in the statements of Muslim medical professional societies, brain death has been viewed as sanctioned by Islamic law with experts citing the aforementioned rulings. Furthermore, health policies around organ transplantation and end-of-life care within the Muslim world have been crafted with consideration of these representative religious determinations made by transnational, legally-inclusive, and multidisciplinary councils. The determinations of these councils also have bearing upon Muslim clinicians and patients who encounter the challenges of brain death at the bedside. For those searching for ‘Islamically-sanctioned’ responses that can inform their practice, both the OIC-IFA and IOMS verdicts have palpable gaps in their assessments and remain clinically ambiguous. In this paper we analyze these verdicts from the perspective of applied Islamic bioethics and raise several questions that, if answered by future juridical councils, will better meet the needs of clinicians and bioethicists.

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Aesthetics and Transcendence in the Arab Uprisings."
    • Middle East Law and Governance
    • 4
    • .3
    • Brill,
    • (2011)
    • :
    • 171-180.
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    Politics is regarded as a science for it tells us what to do, when it deals with measurable concepts. But politics is also an art—a form of practice, telling us how and when to do things. Lest we forget, the arts of persuasion and inspiration are part of politics. And, every art also produces an aesthetic. By aesthetics I mean, the ways by which we think about art: recall, art is what we do and how we do things. Th ose things and acts that become visible when we do and produce certain actions—jubilation, conversations, speeches, greetings, protests, banners, deaths, wounds and other expressions—all constitute the means by which thought becomes visible, effective, and sensible. These forms and visible expressions of the sensible constitute the aesthetics of politics. Only the patient will know where the momentum for change in the Arab world is heading. But, if the outcome of the Arab uprisings is unclear, then there is one certainty: the people have changed the order of the sensible. Thanks to peaceful protests in the face of regime brutality, tens of millions of people have performed change in myriads of expressions: aesthetics. Their feelings have cumulatively changed, and how people feel about governance is ultimately what politics is all about.

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Response to Robert Segal."
    • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    • 74
    • .1
    • (2007)
    • :
    • 172-174.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Contrapuntal Readings in Muslim Thought: Translations and Transitions."
    • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    • 74
    • .1
    • (2006)
    • :
    • 107-118.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Rejoinder to Paul J. Griffiths’ Response."
    • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    • 74
    • .1
    • (2006)
    • :
    • 122-124.
  • • "The Poetics and Politics of Law after Empire: Reading Women's Rights in the Contestations of Law."
    • Journal for Islamic and Near Eastern Law (JINEL)
    • 1
    • .1
    • UCLA Law School,
    • (fall/winter 2001/2002)
    • :
    • 1-46.
  • • "The Dilemma of Islamic Rights Schemes."
    • The Journal of Law and Religion
    • xv
    • .1-2
    • (2000-2001)
    • :
    • 185-215.
  • • "Interface of Science and Jurisprudence: Dissonant Gazes at the Body of Modern Muslim Ethics."
    • God, Life and the Cosmos: Christian and Islamic Perspectives.
    • Ed. Ted Peters, Muzzaffar Iqbal & Syed Nomanul Haq.
    • Aldershot: Ashgate,
    • 2002.
    • 329-356.
  • • "Languages of Change in Islamic Law: Redefining Death in Modernity."
    • Islamic Studies
    • 38
    • .3
    • (1999)
    • :
    • 305-342.
  • • "Allegory of the Rule (Hukm): Law As Simulacrum in Islam."
    • History of Religions
    • 38
    • .1
    • (1998)
    • :
    • 1-24.
  • • "Shaykh Ahmad Shakir and the Adoption of a Scientifically-Based Lunar Calendar."
    • Islamic Law & Society
    • 5
    • .1-2
    • (1998)
    • :
    • 57-89.
  • • "The Sufaha in Qur’an Literature: A Problem in Semiosis."
    • Der Islam
    • 75
    • .2
    • (1998)
    • :
    • 1-27.
  • • "Worlds ‘Apart’:The Tabligh Jamat under Apartheid 1963-1993."
    • Journal for Islamic Studies
    • 17
    • (1997)
    • :
    • 28-48.
    • (reproduced in Muhammad Khalid Masud (ed.) Travellers in Faith: Studies of the Tabligh Jamat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000), 206-221)

• Articles in a Collection

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Post 9/11: America Agonizes over Islam."
    • The Cambridge History of Religions in America: Religions in America 1945 to the present.
    • Ed. Stephen J. Stein.
    • 3
    • New York:
    • Cambridge University Press,
    • 2012.
    • 553-574.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Translating Neuroethics: Reflections from Muslim Ethics."
    • Science and Engineering Ethics
    • 18
    • .2
    • (2012)
    • :
    • 519-528.
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    Abstract Muslim ethics is cautiously engaging developments in neuroscience. In their encounters with developments in neuroscience such as brain death and functional magnetic resonance imaging procedures, Muslim ethicists might be on the cusp of spirited debates. Science and religion perform different kinds of work and ought not to be conflated. Cultural translation is central to negotiating the complex life worlds of religious communities, Muslims included. Cultural translation involves lived encounters with modernity and its byproduct, modern science. Serious ethical debate requires more than just a mere instrumental encounter with science. A robust Muslim approach to neuroethics might require an emulsion of religion and neuroscience, thought and body, and body and soul. Yet one must anticipate that Muslim debates in neuroethics will be inflected with Muslim values, symbols and the discrete faith perspectives of this tradition with meanings that are specific to people who share this worldview and their concerns.

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Children’s Rights in Modern Islamic and International Law: Changes in Muslim Moral Imaginaries."
    • Children, Adults, and Shared Responsibilities: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Perspectives.
    • Marcia Bunge,
    • New York:
    • Cambridge University Press,
    • 2012.
    • 292-308.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Muslim Ethics and Biotechnology."
    • Routledge Companion to Religion and Science.
    • Ed. James W. Haag, Gregory R. Peterson & Michael L. Spezio.
    • Abingdon, Oxford:
    • Routledge,
    • 2012.
    • 455-465.
    • [web]

    Publication Description

    This essay surveys how Muslim perspectives and practices in biotechnology is justified within discrete norms and values of Muslim ethics. At the same time it also points out some of the challenges in trying to balance development in biotechnology with concerns of social justice.

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Muslim Political Theology: Defamation, Apostasy and Anathema."
    • International Symposium-Cartoons & Minarets Reflections on Muslim-Western Encounters, Heinrich Böll Foundation.
    • 2012.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "The Spirit of Islamic Humanism."
    • The Humanist Imperative in South Africa.
    • Ed. John W. de Gruchy.
    • Stellenbosch, South Africa:
    • Sun Press and STIAS,
    • Fall, 2011.
    • 107-116.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "The Law in the Alchemy of the Self: Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī."
    • Great Muslim Jurists.
    • Ed. David Powers, Susan Spectorsky & Oussama Arabi.
    • Brill,
    • 2011.
  • • with
    • Ali A. Mian.
    • "Islam."
    • Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics.
    • Ed. Ruth Chadwick.
    • Second,
    • 2
    • San Diego:
    • Academic Press,
    • 2011.
    • 769-776.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Muslim Ethics and Biotechnology."
    • Routledge Companion to Religion and Science.
    • Ed. James W. Haag, Gregory R. Peterson & Michael L. Spezio.
    • Routledge,
    • 2011.
    • 455-465.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "The Spirit of Islamic Humanism."
    • The Humanist Imperative in South Africa.
    • Ed. John W. de Gruchy.
    • Stellenbosch, South Africa:
    • Sun Press,
    • 2011.
    • 106-116.
    • [web]
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Muslim Family Law in South Africa: Paradoxes and Ironies."
    • Muslim Family Law in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial Legacies and Post-Colonial Challenges.
    • Ed. Shamil Jeppie, Ebrahim Moosa & Richard Roberts.
    • Amsterdam University Press,
    • Spring, 2010.
    • 331-354.

    Publication Description

    http://www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9789089641724

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "History and Normativity in Traditional Indian Muslim Thought: Reading Shari`a Hermeneutics of Qari Muhammad Tayyab (d. 1983)."
    • Rethinking Islamic Studies: From Orientalism to Cosmopolitanism.
    • Ed. Carl W. Ernst & Richard C. Martin.
    • University of South Carolina Press,
    • 2010.
    • 281-301.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Colonialism and Islamic Law."
    • Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates.
    • Ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Armando Salvatore & Martin van Bruinessen.
    • Edinburgh University Press,
    • 2009.
    • 158-181.

    Publication Description

    Recent events have focused attention on the perceived differences and tensions between the Muslim world and the modern West. As a major strand of Western public discourse has it, Islam appears resistant to internal development and remains inherently pre-modern. However Muslim societies have experienced most of the same structural changes that have impacted upon all societies: massive urbanisation, mass education, dramatically increased communication, the emergence of new types of institutions and associations, some measure of political mobilisation, and major transformations of the economy. These developments are accompanied by a wide range of social movements and by complex and varied religious and ideological debates. This textbook is a pioneering study providing an introduction to and overview of the debates and questions that have emerged regarding Islam and modernity. Key issues are selected to give readers an understanding of the complexity of the phenomenon from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The various manifestations of modernity in Muslim life discussed include social change and the transformation of political and religious institutions, gender politics, changing legal regimes, devotional practices and forms of religious association, shifts in religious authority, and modern developments in Muslim religious thought. Key Features *Each chapter contains an overview of relevant secondary literature and concludes with a summary of the key ideas presented and a set of questions *Contributing authors include some of the best-known academics from various disciplines in the field presenting state of the art scholarship in their specialised areas. http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9780748637935

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Shariat Governance in Colonial and Post Colonial India."
    • Islam in South Asia in Practice.
    • Ed. Barbara Metcalf.
    • Princeton University Press,
    • 2009.
    • 317-325.

    Publication Description

    This volume of Princeton Readings in Religions brings together the work of more than thirty scholars of Islam and Muslim societies in South Asia to create a rich anthology of primary texts that contributes to a new appreciation of the lived religious and cultural experiences of the world's largest population of Muslims. The thirty-four selections--translated from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Hindavi, Dakhani, and other languages--highlight a wide variety of genres, many rarely found in standard accounts of Islamic practice, from oral narratives to elite guidance manuals, from devotional songs to secular judicial decisions arbitrating Islamic law, and from political posters to a discussion among college women affiliated with an "Islamist" organization. Drawn from premodern texts, modern pamphlets, government and organizational archives, new media, and contemporary fieldwork, the selections reflect the rich diversity of Islamic belief and practice in South Asia. Each reading is introduced with a brief contextual note from its scholar-translator, and Barbara Metcalf introduces the whole volume with a substantial historical overview. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9061.html

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Genetically Modified Foods and Muslim Ethics."
    • Acceptable Genes.
    • Ed. Conrad G. Brunk & Harold Coward.
    • SUNY Press,
    • 2009.
    • 135-157.

    Publication Description

    http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4870-acceptable-genes.aspx Modern biotechnology has surpassed science fiction with such feats as putting fish genes in tomatoes to create a more cold-resistant crop. While the environmental and health concerns over such genetically modified foods have been the subject of public debate, religious and spiritual viewpoints have been given short shrift. This book seeks to understand the moral and religious attitudes of groups within pluralistic societies whose traditions and beliefs raise for them unique questions about food and dietary practice. What questions are there for kosher Jews, halal Muslims, and vegetarian Hindus about food products containing transgenes from prohibited sources? How do these foods impact the cultural practices and spiritual teachings of indigenous peoples? Concerns from the above traditions as well as Christianity, Buddhism, Chinese religion, and ethical vegetarianism are included. Contributors look at the ethical context of each tradition and also include information from focus groups. This enlightening work concludes with recommendations for the labeling of genetically modified foods.

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "“I modelli della tradizione: gli ulema e il concetto di normatività nell’islam contemporaneo” trans into Italian (Modalities of Tradition: The `ulama and the Concept of Legitimacy in Modern Islam)."
    • Le religioni e il mondo moderno a cura di Giovanni Filoramo iii Islam.
    • Ed. Roberto Tottolli.
    • Torino:Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a.,
    • 2009.
    • 514-522.
  • • with
    • Aaron L. Mackler, Allen Verhey, Anne Carolyn Klein & Kurt Peters.
    • "Spiritual and Religious Concepts of Nature."
    • Altering Naure: Concepts of 'Nature' and the 'Natural' in Biotechnology Debates.
    • Ed. Lustig, B.A., Brody, B.A., McKenny, G.P..
    • 97
    • .1
    • Springer,
    • 2008.
    • 13-62.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Social Change."
    • The Islamic World (Routledge Worlds).
    • Ed. Andrew Rippin.
    • 2008.
    • 565-575.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Neuropolitics and the Body."
    • Religion and Society: An Agenda for the 21st Century.
    • Ed. Gerrie ter Haar & Yoshio Tsuruoka.
    • Brill,
    • Fall, 2007.
    • 47-59.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Transitions in the 'Progress' of Civilization: Theorizing History, Practice, and Tradition."
    • Voices of Change.
    • Ed. Omid Safi & Vincent J. Cornell.
    • Voices of Islam,
    • Praeger,
    • Spring, 2007.
    • 115-130.
  • • "The Unbearable Intimacy of Language and Thought: Aporetic Discourses in Imagining Religion in Islam."
    • How Should We Talk About Religion.
    • Ed. James Boyd White.
    • University of Notre Dame Press,
    • 2005.
  • • "Qadi."
    • Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World.
    • Ed. Richard Martin.
    • New York: Macmillan Reference USA,
    • 2004.
  • • "Muslim Ethics."
    • Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ethics.
    • Ed. William Schweiker.
    • Blackwell,
    • 2004.
  • • "Ethics and Social Issues."
    • Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World.
    • Ed. Richard Martin.
    • 1
    • New York: Macmillan Reference USA,
    • 2004.
    • 224-231.
  • • "Loyalty."
    • Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an.
    • Ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe.
    • 3
    • Leiden & Boston: Brill,
    • 2003.
    • 237-242.
  • • "Sunni and Shi‘a."
    • Encyclopedia of Ethics.
    • Ed. Lawrence C. Becker & Charlotte C. Becker.
    • 3 P-W
    • Routledge,
    • 2001.
    • 1579-1580; 1672-1673.
  • • "Tensions in Legal and Religious Values in the 1996 South African Constitution."
    • Beyond Rights Talk and Culture Talk: Comparative Essays on the Politics of Rights and Culture.
    • Ed. Mahmood Mamdani.
    • Cape Town: David Philip Publishers,
    • 2000.
    • 121-135.

• Reviews

  • • Ebrahim Moosa.
    • "Islamic Reform or Designer Fundamentalism? Review Essay of Tariq Ramadan’s Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003)."
    • Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
    • (Winter, 2006)
    • :
    • 139-144.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Vartan Gregorian: Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith. Brookings Institution Press, 2003."
    • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    • 74
    • .4
    • (2006)
    • .
  • • "Abdolkarim Soroush, Reason, Freedom, & Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)."
    • Iranian Studies: Bulletin of the Society for Iranian Cultural and Social Studies
    • 37
    • .3
    • (September, 2004)
    • :
    • 547-552.
  • • Muhammad Sa'id al-Ashmawy.
    • ""Against Islamic Extremism: The Writings of Muhammad Sa'id al-'Ashmawy."
    • International Journal of Middle East Studies
    • .
    • Ed. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban.
    • Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1998,
    • (forthcoming)
    • .
  • • Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee.
    • ""Theories of Islamic Law (Islamic Research Institute & International Institute of Islamic Thought)."
    • Journal for Islamic Studies
    • 18-19
    • (1998/1999)
    • :
    • 132-139.
  • • "Abdullah Saeed: Islamic Banking and Interest (Leiden: Brill 1996)."
    • Reigious Studies Review
    • 26
    • Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996,
    • (2000)
    • :
    • 290.
  • • "Islam in Europe: The Politics of Religion and Community."
    • Politikon
    • .
    • Ed. Steven Vertovec & Ceri Peach.
    • 27
    • .1
    • London/New York: Macmillan Press and St. Martin's Press, 1997,
    • (2000)
    • :
    • 167-170.
  • • Brannon Wheeler.
    • ""Applying the Canon in Islam."
    • Journal of the American Academy of Religion
    • 67
    • .4
    • Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1996,
    • (1999)
    • .

• Op Ed Pieces

  • • E. Moosa.
    • "Inside the Madrasa: A Personal History."
    • Boston Review
    • (January, 2007)
    • .
  • • "Law is Meant for Mortals, Does Islamic Law advocate Polygamy or Monogamy."
    • New Straits Times (Malaysia)
    • (April 13, 2003)
    • .
  • • "Iraq Invasion is First Crusade of the 21st Century."
    • New Straits Times (Malaysia)
    • (March 21, 2003)
    • .
  • • "Bush's War Against Islam is Real."
    • Herald-Sun
    • (December 17, 2002)
    • .
    • (Reprinted in several Knight Ridder publications)
  • • "Unfair to Direct Blame at Islam."
    • Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • (November 7, 2002)
    • .
  • • "Muslims Must not be Apologists for Terror."
    • Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • (October 14, 2001)
    • .
  • • Ebrahim Moosa.
    • "Bush’s War Against Islam is Real."
    • Herald-Sun
    • (December 17, 2002)
    • .
    • (reprinted in several Knight Ridder publications)
  • • Ebrahim Moosa.
    • "Unfair to Direct Blame at Islam."
    • Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • (November 7, 2002)
    • .
  • • "Muslims Must not be Apologists for Terror."
    • Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    • (October 14, 2001)
    • .

• Other

  • • Ebrahim Moosa.
    • "Entries on topics related to Islam in South Africa, “People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad),” “Muslim Youth Movement,” “Call of Islam”."
    • Oxford Dictionary of Islam.
    • Ed. John Esposito.
    • Oxford University Press,
    • 2003.
  • • E. Moosa.
    • ""Issues in Muslim Bioethics"."
    • 2002.
    • (American Society for Bioethics and Humanities in Baltimore)
  • • E. Moosa.
    • ""Notion of the Other in Muslim Theology"."
    • 2000.
    • (Sawyer Seminar on "Hatred: Encountering the Other" University of Chicago)
  • • E. Moosa.
    • ""Implications of Language in the Reconstruction of Islamic Law and Theology"."
    • 2000.
    • (Mini-conference on Islamic Theology, Emory University, Atlanta)
  • • "Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa- An Evolving Relationship."
    • Economist Intelligence Unit.
    • Country Forecast 1st Quarter,
    • 2000.
    • 12-17.