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Andrew Magnusson

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Islamic History

Ph.D. Candidate
B.A., Brigham Young University; M.A., UC Santa Barbara

Office: 3226 HSSB
Hours: By appointment

Advisor: Stephen Humphreys

My dissertation examines the interaction of Muslims and Zoroastrians in early Islamic history. I trace the development of Muslim attitudes toward Zoroastrians in Islamic religious and legal literature from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the eleventh century. I use several case studies to compare the normative and actual treatment of Zoroastrians living under Muslim rule in Iran. These case studies include fire temple desecration, representation at the caliphal court, consanguineous marriage, and destruction of the Cypress of Zoroaster. Incorporating insights gleaned from scholarship on South Asia, I also offer new insights into the Zoroastrians' relatively rapid conversion to Islam and the Parsis' flight to India. Finally, I consider rhetorical uses of the term "Zoroastrian" in Muslim sources from Spain to India.

Dissertation Title

Al-Majus: Zoroastrians in Early Islamic History and Tradition

Teaching Fields

Early Islamic History
Modern Middle East
Medieval Mediterranean
Islam

Teaching Assistantships

HIST 2C--World History 1700CE-Present
Paul Spickard and Randy Bergstrom, Spring 2011 and 2012
HIST 46--Middle Eastern History
Sherry Vatter and Beth Brownson, Fall 2010 and Winter 2012
Model Arab League (Lebanon/Sudan/Saudi Arabia)
Advisor, Winter 2010-2012
HIST 2A--World History Prehistory-1000CE
Tony Barbieri-Low, Fall 2011
HIST 2B--World History 1000-1700CE
Luke Roberts, Winter 2009
MES 45--Introduction to Middle East Studies
Garay Menicucci, Fall 2008

Publications

"On the Origins of the Prophet Muhammad's Charter to the Family of Salman al-Farisi"
ARAM Periodical 27 (forthcoming)
"Ethnic and Religious Minorities"
in The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture (forthcoming)
"Satanic Verses? An Analysis of the Explanations for the Return of the Muslim Community from Abyssinia"
Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing 36 (2007): 1-18.

Awards

Department Dissertation Fellowship (2012-2013)
UCSB History Department
Outstanding TA (2011)
UCSB Residence Halls Association
Burnand-Partridge Foundation Scholarship (2007-2011)
Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation
Stephen and Eloise Hay Award in Islamic History (2010)
UCSB History Department
Critical Language Scholarship--Arabic/Morocco (2010)
U.S. State Department

Conference Presentations

Out of Context in India: The Prophet Muhammad's Charter to the Zoroastrians
Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, 20 November 2012
On the Origins of the Prophet Muhammad's Charter to the Zoroastrians
ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, Oriental Institute at Oxford University, 5 July 2012.
The "Arabistic Bias": Marshall Hodgson on Ethnic Essentialism in Early Islamic History
Islamic Studies Graduate Student Conference, UCSB, 9 April 2011.
Like Other Dhimmis? Case Studies on the Treatment of Zoroastrians in the Early Muslim Period
Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, Portland State University, 25 October 2008.
Islam and Fascism: A Historiography of Comparative Scholarship
Reconsidering the "Orient" and "Occident" in the 21st Century: Observing the 30th Anniversary of Edward Said's Orientalism, SUNY Brockport, 12 April 2008.