Search Results

The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.

Judah Halevi, the great medieval Hebrew poet, abandoned home and family in Spain (al-Andalus) at the end of his life and traveled east to die in the Holy Land. This book narrates his journey, quoting from Arabic letters by Halevi and his friends, and explores its meaning through analysis of his Hebrew poems. The poems are presented both in Hebrew and in new English verse translations and are provided with full commentary. The discussion introduces Halevi’s circle of Jewish businessmen and intellectuals in al-Andalus and Egypt, examines their way of life, and describes their position vis-à-vis Arabic and Islamic culture. It also explores the interweaving of religious ideas of Jewish, Islamic, and Hellenistic origin in Halevi’s work. Although Halevi was partially motivated by a desire to repudiate the Judeo-Arabic hybrid culture and embrace purely Jewish values, the book demonstrates that his poetry and his pilgrimage continue to reflect the Judeo-Arabic milieu. His poetry and pilgrimage also show that while the Jews’ precarious situation as a tolerated minority weighed on Halevi, he was impelled to the pilgrimage not by a grand plan for ending the Jewish exile, as is widely thought, but by a personal religious quest. Chapters 1 through 3 each deal with one of the major themes of Halevi’s poetry that point in the direction of the pilgrimage. Chapters 4 through 6 are a narrative of the pilgrimage. Chapters 7 through 10 are a study of Halevi’s poems that are explicitly about the Land of Israel and about the pilgrimage. The epilogue explores the later legend of his martyrdom.

Dangdut Stories is a social and musical history of dangdut, Indonesia's most popular music, within a range of broader narratives about social class, gender, ethnicity and nation in post-independence Indonesia (1945-present). The book shows how dangdut evolved from a debased form of urban popular music to a prominent role in Indonesian cultural politics and the commercial music industry. Throughout the book the voices and experiences of musicians take center stage in shaping the book's narrative. Quoted material from interviews, detailed analysis of music and song texts, and ethnography of performance illuminate the stylistic nature of the music and its centrality in public debates about Islam, social class relations, and the role of women in post-colonial Indonesia. Dangdut Stories is the first musicological study to examine the stylistic development of dangdut music itself, using vocal style, melody, rhythm, harmony, form, and song texts to articulate symbolic struggles over meaning in the realm of culture. The book illuminates historical changes in musical style, performance practice, and social meanings from the genre's origins to the present day. Developed during the early 1970s, an historical treatment of the genre's musical style, performance practice, and social meanings is long overdue.

Islam is spreading rapidly in sub‐Saharan Africa, home of more than 150 million Muslims. African Islam is local Islam, responsive to local histories in cultures as diverse as the countries considered in this study – Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa. Islam provides a source of communal identity to those experiencing rapid change, populations affected by secularization, unemployment, corrupt and ineffectual governments, and the intrusions of global media. The spread of Islam ascends as respect for the state declines. Ironically, the same Muslim believers who rail against Western materialism are keen on adopting the most modern technologies to communicate with members, and to find access to employment and economic opportunities in the West. As for Islamic fundamentalists (Islamists) the danger is that given Africa's porous borders and weak state structures, such groups can move about easily, feeding on popular discontent. Often more political than theological in aspirations, there is no certainty that the Islamist position will advance in Africa. Opposition includes central governments, many of them with Muslims in key positions, and numerous traditional Islamic rulers and brotherhoods, more moderate in outlook. The extent to which imposition of Sharia, traditional Islamic law, is introduced in a country can be a barometer of the extent of Islamic influence. This timely study is based on extensive field research, including oral interviews, the study of contemporary local sources, and historical research by two scholars with long familiarity with the subject.

This volume contains sixteen lectures given to the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2004. The topical issues debated in this volume include the patenting of AIDS drugs, the future pensions crisis (a lecture given by the Governor of the Bank of England), Britain's universities, and Pan-Islam. There are studies of Shakespeare, Pope, Montaigne, Robert Graves, and William Faulkner. And there are lectures on the Inquisition, empires in history, and the journey towards spiritual fulfillment.

In 1993, when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin sealed the Oslo peace agreement, it was heralded as the beginning of a new era in the Middle East peace process. Instead, violence on both sides has continued to plague the region. The brutal facts on the ground have called into question the style of diplomacy that saw its greatest triumph with the Oslo Accords. This book asserts that the failure of the peace process stems in large part from its complete neglect of cultural and religious factors; attempted solutions have ignored the basic needs and values of average people. The author argues for a far greater integration of the religious communities of the region into peace‐building efforts. Drawing on his own personal experience with religion‐based peace initiatives in Israel and Palestine, he writes of the individuals and groups that are already attempting such reconciliations. He offers a detailed prescription for future negotiations using methods specifically designed to undermine the appeal of religious extremists by subtly incorporating religious values and symbols into the procedures of official and unofficial diplomacy, believing that a combination of secular and religious methods of peacemaking will yield a rich and creative model for conflict resolution. Any effort at peacemaking that fails to take into account the deep religious feelings of Muslims, Jews, and Christians is destined to fail. Only by including religion in the peace process can we move past fragile and superficial agreements and toward a deep and lasting solution. The book is arranged in two parts – Analysis, and Practical applications.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the role of religion within the public order of the European Union. It examines the facilitation and protection of individual and institutional religious freedom in EU law and the means through which the Union facilitates religious input and influence over law. In addition, the book identifies the limitations on religious influence over law and politics that have been identified by the Union as fundamental elements of its public order and prerequisites to EU membership. It demonstrates that the Union seeks to balance its predominantly Christian religious heritage with an equally strong secular and humanist movement by facilitating religion as a form of cultural identity while limiting its political influence. Such balancing takes place in the context of the Union's limited legitimacy and its commitment to respect for Member State cultural autonomy. Deference towards the cultural role of religion at Member State level enables culturally-entrenched religions to exercise a greater degree of influence within the Union's public order than ‘outsider’ faiths that lack a comparable cultural role. The book places the Union's approach to religion in the context of broader historical and sociological trends around religion in Europe and of contemporary debates around secularism, equal treatment, and the role of Islam in Europe.

Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed is one of the most discussed books in Jewish history. Since its appearance, many readers have advocated an “esoteric” reading of the Guide, professing to find a hidden message in Maimonides' metaphysical beliefs. Through close readings of the Guide, this book addresses the major debates surrounding its secret doctrine. It argues that perceived contradictions in Maimonides' accounts of creation and divine attributes can be squared by paying attention to the various ways in which he presents his arguments. Furthermore, by employing philosophical rigor, it shows how a coherent theological view can emerge from the many layers of the Guide. But Maimonides' clear declaration that certain matters must be hidden from the masses cannot be ignored, and the kind of inconsistency that is peculiar to the Guide requires another explanation. It is found in the purpose Maimonides assigns to the Guide: scriptural exegesis. Ezekiel's account of the chariot, treated in one of the most laconic sections of the Guide, is the subject of the final chapters. By connecting the vision with currents in the wider Islamic world, the book shows how Maimonides devises a new method of presentation in order to imitate scripture's multilayered manner of communication. He updates what he takes to be the correct interpretation of scripture by writing it in a work appropriate for his own time, and to do so he has to keep the Torah's most hidden secrets.

This book focuses on core religious teachings that explain how human beings ought to behave in relation to other animals, with the intent that this information be considered in light of contemporary practices and consumer choices. The book explores sacred literature, the lives of religious exemplars, and core ethics to expose animal-friendly teachings in indigenous, Vedic, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious traditions. Each chapter explores specific topics, such as sacred nature, key philosophical concepts (such as oneness of being, universal peace, and the afterlife), core ethics (on subjects such as compassion, humility, and diet), rightful relations between human beings and animals (kinship), and the activist nature of religious commitment, introducing famous figures such as Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Tolstoy, as well as contemporary animal advocates from within each religious tradition. A thoughtful introduction and conclusion outline the parameters of the book, as well as the intent of the author, and provide focus for this landmark publication. Finally, the appendix explains industrial farming and fishing—including the environmental degradation associated with both—and explores terms such as ”free-range,” ”cruelty-free,” and ”organic.”

Why are there so few Muslim terrorists? With more than a billion Muslims in the world—many of whom supposedly hate the West and ardently desire martyrdom—why don't we see terrorist attacks every day? Where are the missing martyrs? This counterintuitive book demonstrates that terrorist groups are thoroughly marginal in the Muslim world. Drawing on government sources, public opinion surveys, election results, and in-depth interviews with Muslims in the Middle East and around the world, the book finds that young Muslims are indeed angry with what they see as imperialism—and especially at Western support for local dictatorships. But revolutionary Islamists such as al-Qaida and the Taliban have failed to reach them, as can be seen from the terrorists' own websites and publications, which constantly bemoan the dearth of willing recruits. It takes only a small cadre of committed killers to wreak unspeakable havoc. But as easy as terrorism is to commit, few Muslims turn to violence. With each bombing, the terrorists lose support among Muslims. The threat of Islamist terrorism is real, but its dimensions are, so far, tightly confined.

Conflicts and controversies at home and abroad have led Americans to focus on Islam more than ever before. Little is known about Islam in Victorian America. This book is a biography of Alexander Russell Webb, one of the earliest American Muslims to achieve public renown. Webb was a central figure of American Islam during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A native of the Hudson Valley, he was a journalist, editor, and civil servant. Raised a Presbyterian, Webb early on began to cultivate an interest in other religions and became particularly fascinated by Islam. While serving as US consul to the Philippines in 1887, he took a greater interest in the faith and embraced it in 1888, one of the first Americans known to have done so. Within a few years, he began corresponding with important Muslims in India. Webb became an enthusiastic propagator of the faith, founding the first Islamic institution in the United States: the American Mission. He wrote numerous books intended to introduce Islam to Americans, started the first Islamic press in the United States, published a journal entitled The Moslem World, and served as the representative of Islam at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. In 1901, he was appointed Honorary Turkish Consul General in New York and was invited to Turkey, where he received two Ottoman medals of merits.

In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.

How far can religion play a part in the public sphere, or should it be only a private matter? In this book, the author examines this question in the context of today's pluralist societies, where many different beliefs clamour for attention. Should we celebrate diversity, or are matters of truth at stake? In particular, can we maintain our love of freedom, while cutting it off from religious roots? In societies in which there are many conflicting beliefs, the place of religion is a growing political issue. Should all religions be equally welcomed in the public square? Favouring one religion over others may appear to be a failure to treat all citizens equally, yet for citizens in many countries Christian heritage is woven into their way of life. Whether it is the issue of same-sex marriages, the right of French schoolgirls to wear Islamic headscarves, or just the public display of Christmas trees, all societies have to work out a consistent approach to the public influence of religion.

Today, two-thirds of all Arab Muslims are under the age of thirty. This book takes readers inside the evolving competition for their support—a competition not simply between Islamism and the secular world, but between different and often conflicting visions of Islam itself. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research among rank-and-file activists in Morocco, the book shows how Islamist movements are encountering opposition from an unexpected source—each other. In vivid detail, the book describes the conflicts that arise as Islamist groups vie with one another for new recruits, and the unprecedented fragmentation that occurs as members wrangle over a shared urbanized base. Looking carefully at how political Islam is lived, expressed, and understood by young people, the book moves beyond the top-down focus of current research. Instead, it makes the compelling case that Islamist actors are shaped more by their relationships to each other than by their relationships to the state or even to religious ideology. By focusing not only on the texts of aging elites but also on the voices of diverse and sophisticated Muslim youths, the book exposes the shifting and contested nature of Islamist movements today—movements that are being reimagined from the bottom up by young Islam. This book, the first to shed light on this new and uncharted era of Islamist pluralism in the Middle East and North Africa, uncovers the rivalries that are redefining the next generation of political Islam.

This history of political thought — philosophical argument and everyday attitudes — examines what the Western and Islamic approaches to politics had in common and where they diverged. Byzantium is also compared. In all three civilizations, political and religious ideas were intertwined and issues of ‘church and state’ were crucial. This book considers how various ancient and medieval thought-patterns did or did not lead to modern developments; and how sacred monarchy, justice — revealed or natural — the legitimacy of the state, and the role of the people were looked upon in each culture. The book examines in particular the period from the rise of Islam to the end of the European Middle Ages, but account is taken of all genres of political thought up to the present. Up to the mid-11th century, Europe, Islam, and the Byzantine world had more in common than is commonly thought. What made the West different was the papal revolution of the late 11th century, Europe's 12th-century ‘renaissance’ and the gradual secularization of political thought which followed; while Islam, after an early blossoming, interpreted its revelation more and more narrowly. With a few major exceptions (Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun), Islamic political philosophy declined after c.1100. European or Western political thought developed more slowly, but it developed continuously. It underwent major transformations and encompasses a wide variety of opinions. These influenced both the Islamic world (except for fundamentalists) and the post-Byzantine world of Russia.

This book tackles the most significant issues facing Muslims today. As Islam and Muslims enter the 21st century, the book argues, it is necessary to reopen the doors of religious interpretation—to re-examine and correct false interpretations, replace outdated laws and formulate new doctrines that respond to changing social contexts. Always using the Quran as a yardstick, the book demonstrates how and why Islamic law came to reflect political and social influences, leading to regulations that violate the spirit and the letter of the Quran. It analyzes critically Muslim teachings on issues of pluralism, civil society, war and peace, violence and self-sacrifice, the status and role of non-Muslims, and capital punishment.

In the thousand years before the rise of Islam, two radically diverse conceptions of what it means to say that a law is divine confronted one another with a force that reverberates to the present. This book untangles the classical and biblical roots of the Western idea of divine law and shows how early adherents to biblical tradition—Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Philo, the community at Qumran, Paul, and the talmudic rabbis—struggled to make sense of this conflicting legacy. This book shows that for the ancient Greeks, divine law was divine by virtue of its inherent qualities of intrinsic rationality, truth, universality, and immutability, while for the biblical authors, divine law was divine because it was grounded in revelation with no presumption of rationality, conformity to truth, universality, or immutability. The book describes the collision of these opposing conceptions in the Hellenistic period, and details competing attempts to resolve the resulting cognitive dissonance. It shows how Second Temple and Hellenistic Jewish writers, from the author of 1 Enoch to Philo of Alexandria, were engaged in a common project of bridging the gulf between classical and biblical notions of divine law, while Paul, in his letters to the early Christian church, sought to widen it. The book then delves into the literature of classical rabbinic Judaism to reveal how the talmudic rabbis took a third and scandalous path, insisting on a construction of divine law intentionally at odds with the Greco-Roman and Pauline conceptions that would come to dominate the Christianized West. This book sheds critical light on an ancient debate that would shape foundational Western thought, and that continues to inform contemporary views about the nature and purpose of law and the nature and authority of Scripture.