Gaiser

M05 Dodd Hall
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306
Office: M07 Dodd Hall
Phone: (850) 645-7579
Fax: (850) 644-7225
Email: agaiser@fsu.edu
Office Hours: TR, 11:00-12:00

Curriculum Vitae

Adam Gaiser (Ph.D. ’05, University of Virginia, History of Religions) teaches courses in Islamic studies. His research focuses on the development of early Islamic sectarian identity among the Kharijites and Ibadiyya in the context of Arabian and Mesopotamian cultural-religious settings, and encompasses political, intellectual and military forms of expression. His research is heading in the direction of inter and intra-religious convergence, borrowing and continuity, especially among early Eastern Christian and Islamic sectarian movements. Dr. Gaiser nurtures an additional interest in Islam in an American context.

Early Islamic Sectarianism: Kharijites, Ibadites and Shi’ites
Islamic and Eastern Christian Conceptions of Martyrdom
Convergence and borrowing between Eastern Christianity and Islam
Islam in Europe and the Americas

Books

Dissertation (to be revised for publication): The Origin and Development of the Ibadi Imamate Ideal
Abstract: This dissertation examines the intricacy of the Ibadi Imamate (as expressed in classical North African and ‘Umani Ibadi sources) as the product of the Imamate’s equally complex and multifaceted origin and development. By deconstructing the Ibadi imama into four distinct aspects (piety, knowledge, pious bravado, and the duty to insure collective salvation) that correspond to four unique features of Ibadi Imamate theory, the Ibadi Imamate is shown to be the syncretization of four separate conceptions of legitimate authority and their institutional manifestations.

Articles

“Satan’s Seven Specious Arguments: al-Shahrastani’s Kitab al-Milal wa’l-Nihal in an Isma'ili Context” (in process).