Sherman Jackson

b. 1956 · United States · Scholar of Islamic law and theology; King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture at USC

Sherman A. Jackson is an American scholar of Islamic law, theology and Black American religion. He earned his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied under the historian of Islamic institutions George Makdisi. From 1987 to 1989 he directed the Center for Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo.

He taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan before joining the University of Southern California, where he holds the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture and is professor of religion and of American studies and ethnicity.

His first two books are studies of two medieval authorities, the Maliki jurist al-Qarafi and the theologian al-Ghazali. Later works turn to Muslims in America, especially Black Muslims, and to theological questions of suffering and of the relation between sacred law and the secular.

Photo: Abdallahmb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Archived 19 October 2026 · Biography sources: en.wikipedia.org · openlibrary.org

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Archived 23 October 2026 · Sources: the Wikipedia article of each author and the biographies on this site. Whole network

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Works

Books 5

BOOK 1996 · English

Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi

A study of the thirteenth-century Maliki jurist al-Qarafi's distinctions between judicial, legislative and executive functions in Islamic law.

Archived 19 October 2026 · Source: openlibrary.org

Cite

Jackson, Sherman. Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi. 1996. Archived 19 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/sherman-jackson/#sherman-jackson-islamic-law-and-the-state-the-constitutional-jurisprudence

No free copy online

BOOK 2002 · English

On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Faysal al-Tafriqa

A translation and study of al-Ghazali's treatise on the limits of declaring other Muslims unbelievers.

Archived 19 October 2026 · Source: Internet Archive (borrowable)

Cite

Jackson, Sherman. On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Faysal al-Tafriqa. 2002. Internet Archive (borrowable), https://archive.org/details/onboundariesofth0001jack. Archived 19 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/sherman-jackson/#sherman-jackson-on-the-boundaries-of-theological-tolerance-in-islam-abu

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BOOK 2005 · English

Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection

An examination of Islam among Black Americans and of the relationship between Black Muslims and immigrant Muslim communities in the United States.

Archived 19 October 2026 · Source: Internet Archive (borrowable)

Cite

Jackson, Sherman. Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection. 2005. Internet Archive (borrowable), https://archive.org/details/islamblackameric0000jack. Archived 19 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/sherman-jackson/#sherman-jackson-islam-and-the-blackamerican-looking-toward-the-third

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BOOK 2009 · English

Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering

A theological study of how Islamic thought can speak to the meaning of Black suffering, drawing on classical discussions of divine justice.

Archived 19 October 2026 · Source: Internet Archive (borrowable)

Cite

Jackson, Sherman. Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering. 2009. Internet Archive (borrowable), https://archive.org/details/islamproblemofbl0000jack. Archived 19 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/sherman-jackson/#sherman-jackson-islam-and-the-problem-of-black-suffering

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BOOK 2023 · English

The Islamic Secular

A study of how Islamic legal and theological thought can be read as recognising a domain of the secular.

Archived 19 October 2026 · Source: openlibrary.org

Cite

Jackson, Sherman. The Islamic Secular. 2023. Archived 19 October 2026 in Islamic Internet Archives: Archive of Modern Islamic Thought. https://islamicarchives.org/authors/sherman-jackson/#sherman-jackson-the-islamic-secular

No free copy online