Afsaruddin’s new book examines legacy of first Muslims | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Afsaruddin’s new book examines legacy of first Muslims Afsaruddin’s new book examines legacy of first Muslims Published: November 18, 2007 Author: Shannon Roddel Asma Afsaruddin, associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame, is the author of a new book titledThe First Muslims: History and Memory,which explores how competing images of the earliest Muslims shape current Muslim discourses on critical issues. Recently published by Oneworld Publications, the book reconstructs the formative period of the Muslim community.It chronicles the lives of the prophet Muhammad, his companions, and the subsequent two generations of Muslims, together known as the salaf or Pious Forbears.It explains the impact of the earliest converts on the development of Islamic doctrine, law and ethics, and examines their status as moral exemplars for succeeding generations. The Pious Forbears are invoked in dramatically different ways by liberal Muslims and hard-line Islamists in the contemporary period,Afsaruddin said.How their roles are constructed today has an enormous bearing on hot-button issues such as the nature of jihad, issues of governance, changing roles of women, interpretations of the Shari‘a, and Muslim relations with Christians and Jews.This is a central concern of the book. Afsaruddin specializes in the religious and political thought of Islam, Quran and hadith studies, Islamic intellectual history and gender.She previously taught at Harvard University and has served as a visiting scholar at the Centre for Islamic Studies at the University of London.She also is the author ofExcellence and Precedence: Medieval Islamic Discourse on Legitimate Leadershipand editor ofHermeneutics and Honor: Negotiation of Female ‘PublicSpace in Islamic/ate Societies. A member of Notre Dames Department of Classics and faculty fellow in the Universitys Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Afsaruddin has written more than 50 scholarly articles, book chapters and reviews, and lectures worldwide on Islam and Islamic thought.Her current research on jihad and martyrdom has won support from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which, in 2005, named her a Carnegie Scholar. _ Contact: Asma Afsaruddin, 574-631-8677,_ " afsaruddin.1@nd.edu ":mailto:afsaruddin.1@nd.edu TopicID: 25467 Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn