K Encyclopedia of Islam
Protecting the Environment and Natural Resource
in Islamic Law (published in Arabic, 2004). He
has presented numerous scholarly papers on
topics such as Islamic law and the modern state:
conflict or coexistence? and a critical study of
the translations of Hadith terminology.
Jessica Andruss earned an M.A. in religious stud-
ies at the University of California, Santa Bar-
bara, and is now a Ph.D. candidate at the
University of Chicago’s Divinity School. Her
area of specialization is in medieval Jewish and
Muslim scriptural exegesis.
Jon Armajani earned a Ph.D. in religious studies
with a focus in Islamic studies and Near East-
ern studies from the University of California,
Santa Barbara. His areas of expertise include
modern Islam and Muslim-Christian relations.
He is the author of Dynamic Islam: Liberal
Muslim Perspectives in a Transnational Age and
assistant professor in the Department of The-
ology at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s
University in Minnesota.
Reza Aslan is assistant professor at the University
of California, Riverside and author of No god,
but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of
Islam. He is also a research associate at the
University of Southern California’s Center on
Public Diplomacy. His commentaries on Islam
and the Middle East have appeared in the Los
Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wash-
ington Post, and the Boston Globe. He has also
appeared on a number of major network and
cable news programs.
A. Nazir Atassi is assistant professor of history
at Louisiana Tech University. He received a
Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa
Barbara. He specializes in Islamic and Middle
Eastern history, with a focus on early Islamic
society.
Anna Bigelow is assistant professor of religious
studies at North Carolina State University. She
received a Ph.D. from the University of Califor-
nia, Santa Barbara, in 2004. Her research focuses
on South Asian Islam, especially interreligious
relations and shared religious spaces. Her cur-
rent book project is called Sharing the Sacred:
Devotion and Pluralism in Muslim North India.
Vincent F. Biondo III is assistant professor of reli-
gious studies at California State University in
Fresno. He received a Ph.D. from the University
of California, Santa Barbara. His specialization
is the religious traditions of the West, with a
focus on Islam in America and Great Britain. He
is author of several articles and coeditor of Reli-
gion in the Practice of Daily Life (forthcoming).
Stephen Cory received a Ph.D. in Islamic history
from the University of California, Santa Bar-
bara. His specialty is the history of North Africa
and Islamic Spain during the late medieval and
early modern periods. He is currently an assis-
tant professor in history and religious studies
at Cleveland State University.
David L. Crawford is assistant professor of sociol-
ogy and anthropology at Fairfield University. He
received a Ph.D. from the University of Califor-
nia, Santa Barbara. He specializes in the study of
the societies of North Africa with a focus on the
Amazigh people of Morocco. He is the author
of Amazigh Households in the World Economy:
Labor and Inequality in a Moroccan Village and a
number of articles and chapters on contempo-
rary Moroccan society and politics.
Maria del Mar Logrono-Narbona received a Ph.D.
in history, with a focus on modern Middle
Eastern history, from the University of Cali-
fornia, Santa Barbara. She specializes in the
transnational connections between Syrian and
Lebanese diasporas in Latin America during
the first half of the 20th century. She is cur-
rently visiting professor at Appalachian State
University, North Carolina.
Caleb Elfenbein is a Ph.D. candidate in religious
studies at the University of California, Santa
Barbara. He specializes in Islamic studies, with
a focus on Islam in colonial and postcolonial
societies.
Kenneth S. Habib is an assistant professor in the
music department of the California Polytechnic