1. Familiarity with critical debates surrounding ideas of participation, opposition, rights, law, and legislation, both within and apart from any specific reference to Islam;
2. Knowledge of specific debates regarding the politics of religious and sectarian difference emerging at different points in Muslim history and in different parts of the Muslim world.
3. Knowledge of specific Muslim and non-Muslim scholarly efforts to conceptualize the relationship between religious identity, religious difference, and political pluralism.
4. A critical understanding of theoretical efforts in political science to grapple with the politics of religion and religious difference, including efforts to formulate hypotheses and efforts to carry out empirical research to support, qualify, or reject these hypotheses.
5. Skills necessary for the oral and written communication of relevant theoretical and empirical ideas.