David S. Powers, Ph.D. 1979

The Islamic claim to supersede Judaism and Christianity is embodied in the theological assertion that the office of prophecy is hereditary but that the line of descent ends with Muhammad, who is the seal, or last, of the prophets.

While Muhammad had no natural sons who reached the age of maturity,…

Leor Halevi, B.A. 1994

Winner of MESA’s 2007 Albert Hourani Award

Winner of the American Academy of Religion 2008 Award for Excellence in the category of Analytical-Descriptive studies

Winner of Phi Beta Kappa Society’s 2008 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award

In the years leading up to World War I, the Great Powers of Europe jostled one another for control over Morocco, the last sovereign nation in North Africa. France beat out its rivals and added Morocco to its vast colonial holdings through the use of diplomatic intrigue and undisguised force. But greed and ambition alone do not explain the…

Focusing on idealists and visionaries who believed that Justice could reign in our world, this book explores the desire to experience utopia on earth. Reluctant to await another existence—another form, or eternal life following death and resurrection—individuals with ghuluww, or exaggeration, emerged at the advent of Islam, expecting…