PLEASE TYPE YOUR THESIS STATEMENT IN BOLD LETTERS IN THE INTRODUCTION. Your first paper (six pages, i.e. five pages + one page for the bibliography) is based MAINLY on Islam in Transition (pp. 143-227) and the following videos/articles: http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/04/07/passionate-debate-erupts-over-the-future-for-women-in-islam/ http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2016/04/10/debate-over-women-in-islam-spills-over-into-a-second-day-with-farah-pandith-and-zainab-salbi/ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/world/africa/muslim-conference-calls-for-protection-of-religious-minorities.html You are a consultant to the US State Department and you have been asked to write a memo on human rights in Islam (specifically the rights of women and religious minorities) in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this five-page memo, your main responsibility is to introduce US officials, concerned by the rise of ISIS and its infringements of human rights, to other interpretations of Islam, in particular to those of Muslim scholars who have been fighting for the respect of human rights in general and women’s rights in particular. According to these scholars, how has Islam affected or changed the status of women and minorities? How can this apply to the present? Are their views monolithic? What accounts for these differences? How are women influenced by and influencing Islamic interpretations of their rights today? What kind of ijtihad do they perform and why? Can Muslim societies be pluralistic and give women and minorities their full voices despite ISIS’s claim for the truth? Be specific and cite specific authors and passages in Islam in Transition to support and illustrate your essay (mainly, pp. 143-223 and 473-512).