Kathleen Moore
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387810
- eISBN:
- 9780199777242
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387810.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Today there are more Muslims living in diaspora than at any time in history. This situation was not envisioned by Islamic law, which makes no provision for permanent as opposed to transient diasporic ...
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Today there are more Muslims living in diaspora than at any time in history. This situation was not envisioned by Islamic law, which makes no provision for permanent as opposed to transient diasporic communities. Western Muslims are therefore faced with the necessity of developing an Islamic law for Muslim communities living in non-Muslim societies. This book explores the development of new forms of Islamic law and legal reasoning in the U.S. and Great Britain, as well as Muslims encountering Anglo-American common law and its unfamiliar commitments to pluralism and participation, and to gender, family, and identity. The underlying context is the aftermath of 9/11 and 7/7, the two attacks that arguably recast the way the West views Muslims and Islam. Islamic jurisprudence, the book notes, contains a number of references to various “abodes” and a number of interpretations of how Muslims should conduct themselves within those worlds. These include the dar al harb (house of war), dar al kufr (house of unbelievers), and dar al salam (house of peace). How Islamic law interprets these determines the debates that take shape in and around Islamic legality in these spaces. The book's analysis emphasizes the multiplicities of law, and the tensions between secularism and religiosity. It offers a close examination of the emergence of a contingent legal consciousness shaped by the exceptional circumstances of being Muslim in the U.S. and Britain in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.Less
Today there are more Muslims living in diaspora than at any time in history. This situation was not envisioned by Islamic law, which makes no provision for permanent as opposed to transient diasporic communities. Western Muslims are therefore faced with the necessity of developing an Islamic law for Muslim communities living in non-Muslim societies. This book explores the development of new forms of Islamic law and legal reasoning in the U.S. and Great Britain, as well as Muslims encountering Anglo-American common law and its unfamiliar commitments to pluralism and participation, and to gender, family, and identity. The underlying context is the aftermath of 9/11 and 7/7, the two attacks that arguably recast the way the West views Muslims and Islam. Islamic jurisprudence, the book notes, contains a number of references to various “abodes” and a number of interpretations of how Muslims should conduct themselves within those worlds. These include the dar al harb (house of war), dar al kufr (house of unbelievers), and dar al salam (house of peace). How Islamic law interprets these determines the debates that take shape in and around Islamic legality in these spaces. The book's analysis emphasizes the multiplicities of law, and the tensions between secularism and religiosity. It offers a close examination of the emergence of a contingent legal consciousness shaped by the exceptional circumstances of being Muslim in the U.S. and Britain in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.
Jeffrey T. Kenney
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195131697
- eISBN:
- 9780199785001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019513169X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The evocation of Kharijism first occurred in connection with the activities and ideas of the Society of Muslim Brothers. On two separate occasions, in 1948 and 1954, the Muslim Brothers were accused ...
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The evocation of Kharijism first occurred in connection with the activities and ideas of the Society of Muslim Brothers. On two separate occasions, in 1948 and 1954, the Muslim Brothers were accused of being Kharijite. These isolated episodes adumbrate the trend toward accusations of Kharijism that came to inform a range of political and religious rival groups in Egypt — government, official al-Azhar, conservative, Islamist, and secular. This chapter examines the first wave of accusations of Kharijism as they were applied in general to the Society of Muslim Brothers, and in particular to the writing and figure of Sayyid Qutb, a one-time literary critic who became the voice of Islamist militancy.Less
The evocation of Kharijism first occurred in connection with the activities and ideas of the Society of Muslim Brothers. On two separate occasions, in 1948 and 1954, the Muslim Brothers were accused of being Kharijite. These isolated episodes adumbrate the trend toward accusations of Kharijism that came to inform a range of political and religious rival groups in Egypt — government, official al-Azhar, conservative, Islamist, and secular. This chapter examines the first wave of accusations of Kharijism as they were applied in general to the Society of Muslim Brothers, and in particular to the writing and figure of Sayyid Qutb, a one-time literary critic who became the voice of Islamist militancy.
Nader Hashemi
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195321241
- eISBN:
- 9780199869831
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321241.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Secularism and its discontents in Muslims societies is the focus of this chapter. The main claim is that the cultivation of an indigenous Muslim understanding of secularism will enhance the prospects ...
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Secularism and its discontents in Muslims societies is the focus of this chapter. The main claim is that the cultivation of an indigenous Muslim understanding of secularism will enhance the prospects for liberal democracy in Muslim societies. The chapter commences with a brief history of secularism in the Muslim world over the past two centuries. It is argued that Muslims have good reasons to be skeptical of secularism because it has bequeathed a negative legacy in large part due to its association with failed modernization paradigms. Failures of the colonial and post‐colonial state are highlighted and related to secularism. A brief discussion of recent events in Turkey and Indonesia and parallel developments in Catholicism in the late 20th century are highlighted as a way towards reconciling Islam and political secularism.Less
Secularism and its discontents in Muslims societies is the focus of this chapter. The main claim is that the cultivation of an indigenous Muslim understanding of secularism will enhance the prospects for liberal democracy in Muslim societies. The chapter commences with a brief history of secularism in the Muslim world over the past two centuries. It is argued that Muslims have good reasons to be skeptical of secularism because it has bequeathed a negative legacy in large part due to its association with failed modernization paradigms. Failures of the colonial and post‐colonial state are highlighted and related to secularism. A brief discussion of recent events in Turkey and Indonesia and parallel developments in Catholicism in the late 20th century are highlighted as a way towards reconciling Islam and political secularism.
Amina Wadud
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195175349
- eISBN:
- 9780199835775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195175344.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Wadud analyzes citizenship in theocratic states governed by Shari’ah, or Islamic law, states which do not traditionally envisage the equality of women. Against such theocratic systems, Wadud argues ...
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Wadud analyzes citizenship in theocratic states governed by Shari’ah, or Islamic law, states which do not traditionally envisage the equality of women. Against such theocratic systems, Wadud argues that the canonical Islamic tradition of jurisprudence is open to reinterpretation in light of changing conditions in Muslim societies. According to Wadud, the Qur’an does not restrict agency on the grounds of gender. The gender disparity that has developed in Islamic tradition and theory denies women the means of completing their duties before Allah. Wadud calls upon all Muslims, female and male, to reform their societies so as to implement the equality inherent in the “tawhidic” Islamic paradigm, which stresses unity and harmony.Less
Wadud analyzes citizenship in theocratic states governed by Shari’ah, or Islamic law, states which do not traditionally envisage the equality of women. Against such theocratic systems, Wadud argues that the canonical Islamic tradition of jurisprudence is open to reinterpretation in light of changing conditions in Muslim societies. According to Wadud, the Qur’an does not restrict agency on the grounds of gender. The gender disparity that has developed in Islamic tradition and theory denies women the means of completing their duties before Allah. Wadud calls upon all Muslims, female and male, to reform their societies so as to implement the equality inherent in the “tawhidic” Islamic paradigm, which stresses unity and harmony.
Paul D. Numrich
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195386219
- eISBN:
- 9780199866731
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386219.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The Catholic Focolare Movement was founded by the late Chiara Lubich in Italy during World War II in order to rediscover the communal love and spirituality of the early Christians. The movement ...
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The Catholic Focolare Movement was founded by the late Chiara Lubich in Italy during World War II in order to rediscover the communal love and spirituality of the early Christians. The movement includes several “minicities” around the world, each called a permanent Mariapolis (after Mary, Mother of Unity). The Focolare engage in “dialogues of love” with spiritually minded members of other faiths, including Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Sikhs. This chapter focuses on the relationship between the Focolare movement and the American Society of Muslims, the largest African American Muslim group in the United States, followers of mainstream Islam under the leadership of the late Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. The chapter features testimonies by Focolare members and Muslims about their dialogues of love. “For us it is encountering Jesus in every person,” says the codirector of the Chicago Focolare community. “We love everybody who comes our way.”Less
The Catholic Focolare Movement was founded by the late Chiara Lubich in Italy during World War II in order to rediscover the communal love and spirituality of the early Christians. The movement includes several “minicities” around the world, each called a permanent Mariapolis (after Mary, Mother of Unity). The Focolare engage in “dialogues of love” with spiritually minded members of other faiths, including Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Sikhs. This chapter focuses on the relationship between the Focolare movement and the American Society of Muslims, the largest African American Muslim group in the United States, followers of mainstream Islam under the leadership of the late Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. The chapter features testimonies by Focolare members and Muslims about their dialogues of love. “For us it is encountering Jesus in every person,” says the codirector of the Chicago Focolare community. “We love everybody who comes our way.”
Sarah Bowen Savant and Helena de Felipe (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748644971
- eISBN:
- 9781474400831
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748644971.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such ...
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This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such societies. The volume provides a window onto Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge. The case studies draw on primary sources from across the Middle East, the Maghreb, and Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from works of classical Arabic heritage to oral testimonies gained from fieldwork. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, along with the interests that this malleability serves. They also address questions about how genealogical knowledge has been generated, how it has empowered political and religious elites, and how it has shaped our understanding of the past. Finally, the book examines the authenticity, legitimacy, and institutionalisation of genealogical knowledge, Muslim hierarchy, and the basis of sectarian, tribal, ethnic and other identities.Less
This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such societies. The volume provides a window onto Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge. The case studies draw on primary sources from across the Middle East, the Maghreb, and Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from works of classical Arabic heritage to oral testimonies gained from fieldwork. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, along with the interests that this malleability serves. They also address questions about how genealogical knowledge has been generated, how it has empowered political and religious elites, and how it has shaped our understanding of the past. Finally, the book examines the authenticity, legitimacy, and institutionalisation of genealogical knowledge, Muslim hierarchy, and the basis of sectarian, tribal, ethnic and other identities.
Neilesh Bose
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198097280
- eISBN:
- 9780199082933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198097280.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
Traversing one end of urban Bengal to another, this chapter looks at how Dacca (the present capital of Bangladesh), the putative city of mosques, but also a city of Hindu bhadralok (the educated and ...
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Traversing one end of urban Bengal to another, this chapter looks at how Dacca (the present capital of Bangladesh), the putative city of mosques, but also a city of Hindu bhadralok (the educated and refined classes), and many others besides Muslim elites, hosted Muslim modernist movements just like the ones held in Calcutta. The focus of the chapter is the Dacca University–based Muslim Sahitya Samaj (Muslim Literary Society), formed in 1926, and organized around modernizing forces, such as reform in religion, education, gender relations, and relationships with the colonial state. In this chapter, the differences between Dacca and Calcutta’s literary cultures are analysed along with the effects of the creation of a new university in Dacca, built on the socio-cultural landscape of the city.Less
Traversing one end of urban Bengal to another, this chapter looks at how Dacca (the present capital of Bangladesh), the putative city of mosques, but also a city of Hindu bhadralok (the educated and refined classes), and many others besides Muslim elites, hosted Muslim modernist movements just like the ones held in Calcutta. The focus of the chapter is the Dacca University–based Muslim Sahitya Samaj (Muslim Literary Society), formed in 1926, and organized around modernizing forces, such as reform in religion, education, gender relations, and relationships with the colonial state. In this chapter, the differences between Dacca and Calcutta’s literary cultures are analysed along with the effects of the creation of a new university in Dacca, built on the socio-cultural landscape of the city.
Neilesh Bose
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198097280
- eISBN:
- 9780199082933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198097280.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This chapter discusses the background of modern Bengali Muslim literary cultures through a review of Muslim writing in Bengali from the early fourteenth century through the early twentieth century. ...
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This chapter discusses the background of modern Bengali Muslim literary cultures through a review of Muslim writing in Bengali from the early fourteenth century through the early twentieth century. The chapter discusses the role of British colonialism in the creation of modern vernacular languages, and in particular, how that process affected Bengali Muslim writers of the nineteenth century. The nineteenth-century creation of a modern vernacular dominated by Hindu writers alongside the simultaneous growth of a genre known as ‘Mussalmani Bangla’ (Muslim Bengali) both form the background of developments in the early twentieth century. The key development discussed in this chapter is the rise of a specifically Bengali Muslim and Calcutta-based intelligentsia through literary societies, including the Bengali Muslim Literary Society, which began in 1911. This pivotal salon-type space functioned as the first organization in Calcutta that catered to both the changing elements of colonial society as well as the needs of the Bengali Muslim community.Less
This chapter discusses the background of modern Bengali Muslim literary cultures through a review of Muslim writing in Bengali from the early fourteenth century through the early twentieth century. The chapter discusses the role of British colonialism in the creation of modern vernacular languages, and in particular, how that process affected Bengali Muslim writers of the nineteenth century. The nineteenth-century creation of a modern vernacular dominated by Hindu writers alongside the simultaneous growth of a genre known as ‘Mussalmani Bangla’ (Muslim Bengali) both form the background of developments in the early twentieth century. The key development discussed in this chapter is the rise of a specifically Bengali Muslim and Calcutta-based intelligentsia through literary societies, including the Bengali Muslim Literary Society, which began in 1911. This pivotal salon-type space functioned as the first organization in Calcutta that catered to both the changing elements of colonial society as well as the needs of the Bengali Muslim community.
Michael Laffan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145303
- eISBN:
- 9781400839995
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145303.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter traces the ongoing debates about Sufism in relation to changing notions of orthodoxy, focusing on the new Salafi movement of Muhammad ʻAbduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida. As a part of their ...
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This chapter traces the ongoing debates about Sufism in relation to changing notions of orthodoxy, focusing on the new Salafi movement of Muhammad ʻAbduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida. As a part of their platform to reorder Muslim society, this movement called upon Muslims to break with the older patronage networks organized around the tariqa and the sayyid. Their goals could be harmonized for a time: both wanted to restrict Sufism to the elite once more and promoted extending a proper understanding of Shariʻa to a widening circle of readers. There were tensions inherent in this “harmony,” however, and they led inevitably to the collapse of the sayyid-led reforms and to the genesis of an increasingly bifurcated public sphere in the Netherlands Indies. Going forward, the various strands of the “modernist” Muslim movement will seek to take the lead under the aegis of the Office for Native Affairs.Less
This chapter traces the ongoing debates about Sufism in relation to changing notions of orthodoxy, focusing on the new Salafi movement of Muhammad ʻAbduh and Muhammad Rashid Rida. As a part of their platform to reorder Muslim society, this movement called upon Muslims to break with the older patronage networks organized around the tariqa and the sayyid. Their goals could be harmonized for a time: both wanted to restrict Sufism to the elite once more and promoted extending a proper understanding of Shariʻa to a widening circle of readers. There were tensions inherent in this “harmony,” however, and they led inevitably to the collapse of the sayyid-led reforms and to the genesis of an increasingly bifurcated public sphere in the Netherlands Indies. Going forward, the various strands of the “modernist” Muslim movement will seek to take the lead under the aegis of the Office for Native Affairs.
Michael W. Dols and Diana E. Immisch
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202219
- eISBN:
- 9780191675218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202219.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter provides a historical perspective on magical beliefs and practices in Muslim society as sanctioned by the Qur'an and hadith. Magic is almost always assumed to be bad — essentially evil, ...
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This chapter provides a historical perspective on magical beliefs and practices in Muslim society as sanctioned by the Qur'an and hadith. Magic is almost always assumed to be bad — essentially evil, popular, and irrational — although it was a pervasive aspect of medieval society and was closely allied with religion, which was also viewed as popular and irrational. Magic was usually a more forceful method of supplication or a supercharged prayer, for magic was a means of forcing supernatural powers to fulfil a supplicant's desire, especially for healing. The use of such therapeutic magic by Muslims was sanctioned by hadith.Less
This chapter provides a historical perspective on magical beliefs and practices in Muslim society as sanctioned by the Qur'an and hadith. Magic is almost always assumed to be bad — essentially evil, popular, and irrational — although it was a pervasive aspect of medieval society and was closely allied with religion, which was also viewed as popular and irrational. Magic was usually a more forceful method of supplication or a supercharged prayer, for magic was a means of forcing supernatural powers to fulfil a supplicant's desire, especially for healing. The use of such therapeutic magic by Muslims was sanctioned by hadith.
Roman Loimeier
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748695430
- eISBN:
- 9781474427050
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748695430.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter defines the central terms of the book: What is reform, what are the markers of reform, what characterizes processes of reform, what is Salafi-oriented reform and how is Salafi-oriented ...
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This chapter defines the central terms of the book: What is reform, what are the markers of reform, what characterizes processes of reform, what is Salafi-oriented reform and how is Salafi-oriented reform different from Sufi-oriented reform? The chapter presents doctrinal distinction, symbolic distantiation, social separation and spatial segregation as the major features of Salafi-oriented reform. It introduces major intellectual trends of Salafi-oriented reform, it also introduces the major intellectual exponents of Salafi-oriented reform in Africa and stresses the importance of generational change. The chapter points out that movements of reform are not monolithic organizations but characterized by the existence of traditions of dispute on many different levels. The chapter presents the major trends within Salafi-oriented reform that are informed by different approaches to political strategy, education, militancy and piety. The chapter finally discusses different ways of constructing Muslim societies and concludes that such epistemic constructions usually rely on essentialisations that are often misleading when applied to larger social and historical contexts.Less
This chapter defines the central terms of the book: What is reform, what are the markers of reform, what characterizes processes of reform, what is Salafi-oriented reform and how is Salafi-oriented reform different from Sufi-oriented reform? The chapter presents doctrinal distinction, symbolic distantiation, social separation and spatial segregation as the major features of Salafi-oriented reform. It introduces major intellectual trends of Salafi-oriented reform, it also introduces the major intellectual exponents of Salafi-oriented reform in Africa and stresses the importance of generational change. The chapter points out that movements of reform are not monolithic organizations but characterized by the existence of traditions of dispute on many different levels. The chapter presents the major trends within Salafi-oriented reform that are informed by different approaches to political strategy, education, militancy and piety. The chapter finally discusses different ways of constructing Muslim societies and concludes that such epistemic constructions usually rely on essentialisations that are often misleading when applied to larger social and historical contexts.
Masooda Bano and Keiko Sakurai (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696857
- eISBN:
- 9781474412247
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696857.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Claims abound that Saudi oil money is fuelling Salafi Islam in cultural and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as ...
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Claims abound that Saudi oil money is fuelling Salafi Islam in cultural and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as Jakarta. In a similar manner, it is often regarded as a fact that Iran and the Sunni Arab states are fighting proxy wars in foreign lands. This book challenges the assumptions prevalent within academic as well as policy circles about the hegemonic power of such Islamic discourses and movements to penetrate all Muslim communities and societies. Through case studies of academic institutions, the book illustrates how transmission of ideas is an extremely complex process, and shows that the outcome of such efforts depends not just on the strategies adopted by backers of those ideologies but equally on the characteristics of the receipt communities. In order to understand this complex interaction between the global and local Islam and the plurality in outcomes, the book focuses on the workings of three universities with global outreach whose graduating students carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their own countries, along with, in some cases, a zeal to reform their home society.Less
Claims abound that Saudi oil money is fuelling Salafi Islam in cultural and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as Jakarta. In a similar manner, it is often regarded as a fact that Iran and the Sunni Arab states are fighting proxy wars in foreign lands. This book challenges the assumptions prevalent within academic as well as policy circles about the hegemonic power of such Islamic discourses and movements to penetrate all Muslim communities and societies. Through case studies of academic institutions, the book illustrates how transmission of ideas is an extremely complex process, and shows that the outcome of such efforts depends not just on the strategies adopted by backers of those ideologies but equally on the characteristics of the receipt communities. In order to understand this complex interaction between the global and local Islam and the plurality in outcomes, the book focuses on the workings of three universities with global outreach whose graduating students carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their own countries, along with, in some cases, a zeal to reform their home society.
Filali-Ansary Abdou
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748639694
- eISBN:
- 9780748653195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748639694.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter discusses pluralism in Muslim societies. While it is generally believed that Muslim societies inherently possess the characteristics of a generic unity and internal coherence, it is ...
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This chapter discusses pluralism in Muslim societies. While it is generally believed that Muslim societies inherently possess the characteristics of a generic unity and internal coherence, it is argued in this chapter that there exists a “Muslim position” on pluralism. In this chapter, the historical experience of Muslim societies of pluralism is considered and examined. Overall, the classical Muslim historical experience presents sets of precedents of plurality and pluralism which would not be recognizable to modern notions of pluralism, or which would provide “sources of inspiration” for them. And, in any case, classical pluralism in Muslim societies extended beyond the formal arrangements provided for by law, for these were societies of a highly composite nature. They were differentiated by language, dialect, locality, ethnic origin, clan relations and genealogies, social group, cultural baggage, and much else. Except for the revivalist discourses of Muslim traditionalism, there is no reason to maintain that these differences were subject to the logic and institutes of Muslim jurisprudence, or that it was these institutes that governed social life.Less
This chapter discusses pluralism in Muslim societies. While it is generally believed that Muslim societies inherently possess the characteristics of a generic unity and internal coherence, it is argued in this chapter that there exists a “Muslim position” on pluralism. In this chapter, the historical experience of Muslim societies of pluralism is considered and examined. Overall, the classical Muslim historical experience presents sets of precedents of plurality and pluralism which would not be recognizable to modern notions of pluralism, or which would provide “sources of inspiration” for them. And, in any case, classical pluralism in Muslim societies extended beyond the formal arrangements provided for by law, for these were societies of a highly composite nature. They were differentiated by language, dialect, locality, ethnic origin, clan relations and genealogies, social group, cultural baggage, and much else. Except for the revivalist discourses of Muslim traditionalism, there is no reason to maintain that these differences were subject to the logic and institutes of Muslim jurisprudence, or that it was these institutes that governed social life.
Michael W. Dols and Diana E. Immisch
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202219
- eISBN:
- 9780191675218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202219.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
There are a number of mental disorders that are not mentioned in the medieval medical texts that a present-day reader might expect. The reasons for such omissions may be because modern psychiatry ...
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There are a number of mental disorders that are not mentioned in the medieval medical texts that a present-day reader might expect. The reasons for such omissions may be because modern psychiatry differs fundamentally from medieval Galenism, but also because of the social stigma in Muslim society attached to some addictions, such as alcohol and narcotics, and the reluctance of medieval and modern historians to discuss them, or because an illness, such as syphilis, or substance abuse, such as with tobacco, became prevalent only in the early modern period. Alcoholism may, of course, lead to insanity, but its general prohibition in Muslim society because of its threat to mental competency is also significant.Less
There are a number of mental disorders that are not mentioned in the medieval medical texts that a present-day reader might expect. The reasons for such omissions may be because modern psychiatry differs fundamentally from medieval Galenism, but also because of the social stigma in Muslim society attached to some addictions, such as alcohol and narcotics, and the reluctance of medieval and modern historians to discuss them, or because an illness, such as syphilis, or substance abuse, such as with tobacco, became prevalent only in the early modern period. Alcoholism may, of course, lead to insanity, but its general prohibition in Muslim society because of its threat to mental competency is also significant.
Aisha Khan (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813060132
- eISBN:
- 9780813050584
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813060132.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Islam and the Americas gathers together the work of twelve scholars from anthropology, history, sociology, political science, literature, and religious studies, whose interdisciplinary contributions ...
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Islam and the Americas gathers together the work of twelve scholars from anthropology, history, sociology, political science, literature, and religious studies, whose interdisciplinary contributions consider historical and contemporary Muslim populations and communities in Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean. The volume inquires into the ways that Islam translates into vernacular forms of belief and practice in the Americas, a process by which Muslims are both sustained and created. Emphasizing everyday life in ethnographic and historical approaches, contributors explore the experiences of Muslims not living in “Muslim majority” societies but, rather, in “minority” contexts in the Americas, where Islam and the West have been in dialogue for half a millennium. With this focus, the volume unpacks what the calculation “minority” assumes, and what these forms of experience reveal about dimensions of social, political, and cultural life articulated outside of what are presumed to be religious parameters. Contributors inquire into the diversity of circumstances that brought Islam to the Americas, the contingent ways that Muslims have been defined and represented over time, and the trajectories and networks of power that create our changing notions of “the Americas,” “American,” “Muslim,” and “Islam.”Less
Islam and the Americas gathers together the work of twelve scholars from anthropology, history, sociology, political science, literature, and religious studies, whose interdisciplinary contributions consider historical and contemporary Muslim populations and communities in Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean. The volume inquires into the ways that Islam translates into vernacular forms of belief and practice in the Americas, a process by which Muslims are both sustained and created. Emphasizing everyday life in ethnographic and historical approaches, contributors explore the experiences of Muslims not living in “Muslim majority” societies but, rather, in “minority” contexts in the Americas, where Islam and the West have been in dialogue for half a millennium. With this focus, the volume unpacks what the calculation “minority” assumes, and what these forms of experience reveal about dimensions of social, political, and cultural life articulated outside of what are presumed to be religious parameters. Contributors inquire into the diversity of circumstances that brought Islam to the Americas, the contingent ways that Muslims have been defined and represented over time, and the trajectories and networks of power that create our changing notions of “the Americas,” “American,” “Muslim,” and “Islam.”
Jan-Peter Hartung
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199361779
- eISBN:
- 9780199388264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199361779.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter argues that a change in governance and of the economic system which politics aims to secure, in order to be effective, has to be so far-reaching that it can best be described as a ...
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This chapter argues that a change in governance and of the economic system which politics aims to secure, in order to be effective, has to be so far-reaching that it can best be described as a ‘revolution’. The possibility of applying this term to societal contexts, however, was the result of a profound semantic shift which occurred in sixteenth-century Europe. From a term that originally denoted the circular motion of the stars and the planets, it became then consciously applied also to long-term and, even more sudden political upheaval which would necessarily discharge into social change. To perceive the dissolution of an old order as something desirable was even in early modern Europe a revolutionary development in itself but the absence in Muslim societies of such decisive economic change as the Industrial Revolution brought to Europe prior to nineteenth-century colonialism, seems a major reason why Muslim political thinkers maintained a negative attitude towards political revolution for such a long time.Less
This chapter argues that a change in governance and of the economic system which politics aims to secure, in order to be effective, has to be so far-reaching that it can best be described as a ‘revolution’. The possibility of applying this term to societal contexts, however, was the result of a profound semantic shift which occurred in sixteenth-century Europe. From a term that originally denoted the circular motion of the stars and the planets, it became then consciously applied also to long-term and, even more sudden political upheaval which would necessarily discharge into social change. To perceive the dissolution of an old order as something desirable was even in early modern Europe a revolutionary development in itself but the absence in Muslim societies of such decisive economic change as the Industrial Revolution brought to Europe prior to nineteenth-century colonialism, seems a major reason why Muslim political thinkers maintained a negative attitude towards political revolution for such a long time.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226384689
- eISBN:
- 9780226384702
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226384702.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book tries to disrupt the teleology that denies the possibility of secularism, with all its positive normative associations, in Pakistan, and also highlights the differences between the ...
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This book tries to disrupt the teleology that denies the possibility of secularism, with all its positive normative associations, in Pakistan, and also highlights the differences between the Jama'at-e-Islami and the Jama'at-ud-Da'wa. The important similarity between the two groups lies in the overlap in their constituency and the salience of political engagement in their rhetoric and practice. The book demonstrates the variety in religious practice and its effect on forcing a certain consciousness about the availability of different paths toward leading a pious life. Moreover, it emphasizes the implications of a close and continued multistranded entanglement between what is called the “West” and those labeled “Muslim societies.” The secular or the secularists are those who identify consciously with some version of the ideology and project of secularism. This Introduction provides an overview of the chapters included in the book.Less
This book tries to disrupt the teleology that denies the possibility of secularism, with all its positive normative associations, in Pakistan, and also highlights the differences between the Jama'at-e-Islami and the Jama'at-ud-Da'wa. The important similarity between the two groups lies in the overlap in their constituency and the salience of political engagement in their rhetoric and practice. The book demonstrates the variety in religious practice and its effect on forcing a certain consciousness about the availability of different paths toward leading a pious life. Moreover, it emphasizes the implications of a close and continued multistranded entanglement between what is called the “West” and those labeled “Muslim societies.” The secular or the secularists are those who identify consciously with some version of the ideology and project of secularism. This Introduction provides an overview of the chapters included in the book.
Brinkley Messick
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520076051
- eISBN:
- 9780520917828
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520076051.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This combination of anthropology, history, and postmodern theory examines the changing relation of writing and authority in a Muslim society from the late nineteenth century to the present. The ...
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This combination of anthropology, history, and postmodern theory examines the changing relation of writing and authority in a Muslim society from the late nineteenth century to the present. The creation and interpretation of texts, from sacred scriptures to administrative and legal contracts, are among the fundamental ways that authority is established and maintained in a complex state. Yet few scholars have explored this process and the ways in which it changes, especially outside the Western world. The book brings together intensive ethnography and textual analysis from a wealth of material: Islamic jurisprudence, Yemeni histories, local documents. In exploring the structure and transformation of literacy, law, and statecraft in Yemen, it raises issues that are of comparative significance for understanding political life in other Muslim and nonwestern states as well.Less
This combination of anthropology, history, and postmodern theory examines the changing relation of writing and authority in a Muslim society from the late nineteenth century to the present. The creation and interpretation of texts, from sacred scriptures to administrative and legal contracts, are among the fundamental ways that authority is established and maintained in a complex state. Yet few scholars have explored this process and the ways in which it changes, especially outside the Western world. The book brings together intensive ethnography and textual analysis from a wealth of material: Islamic jurisprudence, Yemeni histories, local documents. In exploring the structure and transformation of literacy, law, and statecraft in Yemen, it raises issues that are of comparative significance for understanding political life in other Muslim and nonwestern states as well.
Jonah Steinberg
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834077
- eISBN:
- 9781469603728
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899458_steinberg
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The Isma'ili Muslims, a major sect of Shi'i Islam, form a community that is intriguing in its deterritorialized social organization. Informed by the richness of Isma'ili history, theories of ...
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The Isma'ili Muslims, a major sect of Shi'i Islam, form a community that is intriguing in its deterritorialized social organization. Informed by the richness of Isma'ili history, theories of transnationalism and globalization, and first-hand ethnographic fieldwork in the Himalayan regions of Tajikistan and Pakistan as well as in Europe, this book investigates Isma'ili Muslims and the development of their remarkable and expansive twenty-first-century global structures. Led by a charismatic European-based hereditary Imam, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, global Isma'ili organizations make available an astonishing array of services—social, economic, political, and religious—to some three to five million subjects stretching from Afghanistan to England, from Pakistan to Tanzania. The book argues that this intricate and highly integrated network enables a new kind of shared identity and citizenship, one that goes well beyond the sense of community maintained by other diasporic populations. Of note in this process is the rapid assimilation in the postcolonial period of once-isolated societies into the intensively centralized Isma'ili structure. Also remarkable is the Isma'ilis' self-presentation, contrary to common characterizations of Islam in the mass media, as a Muslim society that is broadly sympathetic to capitalist systems, opposed to fundamentalism, and distinctly modern in orientation.Less
The Isma'ili Muslims, a major sect of Shi'i Islam, form a community that is intriguing in its deterritorialized social organization. Informed by the richness of Isma'ili history, theories of transnationalism and globalization, and first-hand ethnographic fieldwork in the Himalayan regions of Tajikistan and Pakistan as well as in Europe, this book investigates Isma'ili Muslims and the development of their remarkable and expansive twenty-first-century global structures. Led by a charismatic European-based hereditary Imam, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, global Isma'ili organizations make available an astonishing array of services—social, economic, political, and religious—to some three to five million subjects stretching from Afghanistan to England, from Pakistan to Tanzania. The book argues that this intricate and highly integrated network enables a new kind of shared identity and citizenship, one that goes well beyond the sense of community maintained by other diasporic populations. Of note in this process is the rapid assimilation in the postcolonial period of once-isolated societies into the intensively centralized Isma'ili structure. Also remarkable is the Isma'ilis' self-presentation, contrary to common characterizations of Islam in the mass media, as a Muslim society that is broadly sympathetic to capitalist systems, opposed to fundamentalism, and distinctly modern in orientation.
Jessica M. Marglin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300218466
- eISBN:
- 9780300225082
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218466.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African History
This book presents a previously untold story of Jewish-Muslim relations in modern Morocco, showing how law facilitated Jews' integration into the broader Moroccan society in which they lived. Morocco ...
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This book presents a previously untold story of Jewish-Muslim relations in modern Morocco, showing how law facilitated Jews' integration into the broader Moroccan society in which they lived. Morocco went through immense upheaval in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through the experiences of a single Jewish family, the book charts how the law helped Jews to integrate into Muslim society—until colonial reforms abruptly curtailed their legal mobility. Drawing on a broad range of archival documents, the book expands our understanding of contemporary relations between Jews and Muslims and changes the way we think about Jewish history, the Middle East, and the nature of legal pluralism.Less
This book presents a previously untold story of Jewish-Muslim relations in modern Morocco, showing how law facilitated Jews' integration into the broader Moroccan society in which they lived. Morocco went through immense upheaval in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through the experiences of a single Jewish family, the book charts how the law helped Jews to integrate into Muslim society—until colonial reforms abruptly curtailed their legal mobility. Drawing on a broad range of archival documents, the book expands our understanding of contemporary relations between Jews and Muslims and changes the way we think about Jewish history, the Middle East, and the nature of legal pluralism.
