Reuven Firestone
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195154948
- eISBN:
- 9780199849239
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154948.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. ...
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While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. This book focuses on why and how such a seemingly radical development took place. Basing the hypothesis on evidence from the Qurʾān and early Islamic literary sources, this book locates the origin of Islamic holy war and traces its evolution as a response to the changes affecting the new community of Muslims in its transition from ancient Arabian culture to the religious civilization of Islam.Less
While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. This book focuses on why and how such a seemingly radical development took place. Basing the hypothesis on evidence from the Qurʾān and early Islamic literary sources, this book locates the origin of Islamic holy war and traces its evolution as a response to the changes affecting the new community of Muslims in its transition from ancient Arabian culture to the religious civilization of Islam.
Abdelwahab Meddeb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251230
- eISBN:
- 9780823252916
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251230.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In his fifth essay since 9/11 on the subject of Islam and violence, the author again makes the urgent case for an Islamic reformation, particularly in Western Europe, home to millions of Muslims, ...
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In his fifth essay since 9/11 on the subject of Islam and violence, the author again makes the urgent case for an Islamic reformation, particularly in Western Europe, home to millions of Muslims, where Christianity and Judaism coexist with secular humanism and positivist law. He is not advocating so-called moderate Islam, which he characterizes as thinly disguised Wahhabism, but rather an Islam inspired by the great Sufi thinkers whose practice was not bound by doctrine. But to accomplish this, we need to reconsider the doctrinal question of the Koran as transcription of the uncreated word of God, and calls upon Muslims to distinguish between Islam's spiritual message and the temporal, historically grounded origins of its founding scriptures. This book revisits periods of Islamic history when philosophers and theologians engaged in lively dialogue with other faiths, other civilizations, and indeed contributed to transmitting the Hellenist tradition to early modern Europe. The author asks how it is that Islam today is the grip of such collective amnesia. It is a war of interpretations that he wages in this book, in his attempt to demonstrate that Muslims cannot join the concert of nations unless they set aside outmoded notions such as jihād, and realize that the feuding among monotheisms must give way to the more important issue of what it means to be a citizen in today's post-religious global setting. He closes with a short piece in praise of President Barack Obama's Cairo speech, which echoes many of this book's points.Less
In his fifth essay since 9/11 on the subject of Islam and violence, the author again makes the urgent case for an Islamic reformation, particularly in Western Europe, home to millions of Muslims, where Christianity and Judaism coexist with secular humanism and positivist law. He is not advocating so-called moderate Islam, which he characterizes as thinly disguised Wahhabism, but rather an Islam inspired by the great Sufi thinkers whose practice was not bound by doctrine. But to accomplish this, we need to reconsider the doctrinal question of the Koran as transcription of the uncreated word of God, and calls upon Muslims to distinguish between Islam's spiritual message and the temporal, historically grounded origins of its founding scriptures. This book revisits periods of Islamic history when philosophers and theologians engaged in lively dialogue with other faiths, other civilizations, and indeed contributed to transmitting the Hellenist tradition to early modern Europe. The author asks how it is that Islam today is the grip of such collective amnesia. It is a war of interpretations that he wages in this book, in his attempt to demonstrate that Muslims cannot join the concert of nations unless they set aside outmoded notions such as jihād, and realize that the feuding among monotheisms must give way to the more important issue of what it means to be a citizen in today's post-religious global setting. He closes with a short piece in praise of President Barack Obama's Cairo speech, which echoes many of this book's points.
Reuven Firestone
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195154948
- eISBN:
- 9780199849239
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154948.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines the preconceived notions about the various topics and subtopics to be studied and establishes the approach employed. From the conquest of Spain in the early 8th century to the ...
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This chapter examines the preconceived notions about the various topics and subtopics to be studied and establishes the approach employed. From the conquest of Spain in the early 8th century to the siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks in 1683, Islam represented a threat to the existence of Christendom. Islam's achievement in all scientific and intellectual fields during its heyday in the Middle Ages caused a reaction in the West that considered Islam as cruel, evil, and uncivilized. Although holy war is defined most broadly as any religious justification for engaging in war, it does not necessarily presume a connection of military activity to religious purposes, though it is often the case. The particular expressions of holy war found in the Islamic world tend to be referred to in the West as jihād. Jihād derives from the root j.h.d, meaning to strive, exert oneself, or take extraordinary pains.Less
This chapter examines the preconceived notions about the various topics and subtopics to be studied and establishes the approach employed. From the conquest of Spain in the early 8th century to the siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks in 1683, Islam represented a threat to the existence of Christendom. Islam's achievement in all scientific and intellectual fields during its heyday in the Middle Ages caused a reaction in the West that considered Islam as cruel, evil, and uncivilized. Although holy war is defined most broadly as any religious justification for engaging in war, it does not necessarily presume a connection of military activity to religious purposes, though it is often the case. The particular expressions of holy war found in the Islamic world tend to be referred to in the West as jihād. Jihād derives from the root j.h.d, meaning to strive, exert oneself, or take extraordinary pains.
Amira K. Bennison (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265697
- eISBN:
- 9780191771897
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265697.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This volume explores how rulers in medieval Iberia and the Maghrib presented their rule and what strategies they adopted to persuade their subjects of their legitimacy. It focuses on the Naṣrids of ...
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This volume explores how rulers in medieval Iberia and the Maghrib presented their rule and what strategies they adopted to persuade their subjects of their legitimacy. It focuses on the Naṣrids of Granada and the Marīnids of Morocco who both ruled from the mid-thirteenth to the later fifteenth century. One of the book's main arguments is that the legitimating strategies of these monarchs developed out of a common political culture that straddled the straits of Gibraltar. This culture was mediated by constant transfers of people, ideas and commodities across the straits and a political historiography in which deliberate parallels and comparisons were drawn between Iberia and North Africa. The book challenges a tendency to see the Iberian and North African cultural and political spheres as inherently different and, implicitly, as precursors to later European and African identities. While several chapters in the volume do flag up contrasts in practice, they also highlight the structural similarities in the Naṣrid and Marīnid approach to legitimation in this period. The volume is divided into several sections, each of which approaches the theme of legitimation from a separate angle. The first section contains an introduction to the theme as well as analyses of the material and intellectual background to discourses of legitimation. The next section focuses on rhetorical bids for legitimacy such as the deployment of prestigious genealogies, the use of religiopolitical titles, and other forms of propaganda. That is followed by a detailed look at ceremonial and the calculated patronage of religious festivals by rulers. A final section grapples with the problem of legitimation outside the environs of the city, among illiterate and frequently armed populations.Less
This volume explores how rulers in medieval Iberia and the Maghrib presented their rule and what strategies they adopted to persuade their subjects of their legitimacy. It focuses on the Naṣrids of Granada and the Marīnids of Morocco who both ruled from the mid-thirteenth to the later fifteenth century. One of the book's main arguments is that the legitimating strategies of these monarchs developed out of a common political culture that straddled the straits of Gibraltar. This culture was mediated by constant transfers of people, ideas and commodities across the straits and a political historiography in which deliberate parallels and comparisons were drawn between Iberia and North Africa. The book challenges a tendency to see the Iberian and North African cultural and political spheres as inherently different and, implicitly, as precursors to later European and African identities. While several chapters in the volume do flag up contrasts in practice, they also highlight the structural similarities in the Naṣrid and Marīnid approach to legitimation in this period. The volume is divided into several sections, each of which approaches the theme of legitimation from a separate angle. The first section contains an introduction to the theme as well as analyses of the material and intellectual background to discourses of legitimation. The next section focuses on rhetorical bids for legitimacy such as the deployment of prestigious genealogies, the use of religiopolitical titles, and other forms of propaganda. That is followed by a detailed look at ceremonial and the calculated patronage of religious festivals by rulers. A final section grapples with the problem of legitimation outside the environs of the city, among illiterate and frequently armed populations.
Cabeiri deBergh Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520274204
- eISBN:
- 9780520954540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520274204.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This book provides a fascinating look at the creation of contemporary Muslim jihādists. Drawing on a long-term fieldwork in the disputed borderlands between Pakistan and India, the book explains how ...
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This book provides a fascinating look at the creation of contemporary Muslim jihādists. Drawing on a long-term fieldwork in the disputed borderlands between Pakistan and India, the book explains how refuge-seeking has become a socially and politically debased practice in the Kashmir region and why this devaluation has turned refugee men into potential militants. It reveals the fraught social processes by which individuals and families produce and maintain a modern jihād, and how Muslim refugees have forged an Islamic notion of rights—a hybrid of global political ideals that adopts the language of human rights and humanitarianism as a means to rethink refugees' positions in transnational communities. Jihād is no longer seen as a collective fight for the sovereignty of the Islamic polity, but instead as a personal struggle to establish the security of Muslim bodies against political violence, torture, and rape. The book describes how this new understanding has contributed to the popularization of jihād in the Kashmir region, decentered religious institutions as regulators of jihād in practice, and turned the families of refugee youths into the ultimate mediators of entrance into militant organizations. This provocative book challenges the idea that extremism in modern Muslim societies is the natural by-product of a clash of civilizations, of a universal Islamist ideology, or of fundamentalist conversion.Less
This book provides a fascinating look at the creation of contemporary Muslim jihādists. Drawing on a long-term fieldwork in the disputed borderlands between Pakistan and India, the book explains how refuge-seeking has become a socially and politically debased practice in the Kashmir region and why this devaluation has turned refugee men into potential militants. It reveals the fraught social processes by which individuals and families produce and maintain a modern jihād, and how Muslim refugees have forged an Islamic notion of rights—a hybrid of global political ideals that adopts the language of human rights and humanitarianism as a means to rethink refugees' positions in transnational communities. Jihād is no longer seen as a collective fight for the sovereignty of the Islamic polity, but instead as a personal struggle to establish the security of Muslim bodies against political violence, torture, and rape. The book describes how this new understanding has contributed to the popularization of jihād in the Kashmir region, decentered religious institutions as regulators of jihād in practice, and turned the families of refugee youths into the ultimate mediators of entrance into militant organizations. This provocative book challenges the idea that extremism in modern Muslim societies is the natural by-product of a clash of civilizations, of a universal Islamist ideology, or of fundamentalist conversion.
Amira K. Bennison
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265697
- eISBN:
- 9780191771897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265697.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter explores how the Marīnid sultans expressed their authority to their subjects, especially those living beyond Fes, their capital city, during their first century of rule. The construction ...
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This chapter explores how the Marīnid sultans expressed their authority to their subjects, especially those living beyond Fes, their capital city, during their first century of rule. The construction of palatine cities and madrasas were important marks of Marīnid authority in urban space but, as a dynasty ruling over a large rural tribal population, the Marīnids also needed to express their power and authority beyond the city. The chapter begins with analysis of the textual image of kingship presented in Marīnid chronicles and then considers how that image was disseminated to the population. It looks at Marīnid military progresses (ḥarakāt) between their fortresses and towns and Marīnid military engagements in the rural environment and shows how they used a number of symbols of monarchy, from the historically resonant Qurʾān of ʿUthmān to generic items such as drums and banners to make their power manifest.Less
This chapter explores how the Marīnid sultans expressed their authority to their subjects, especially those living beyond Fes, their capital city, during their first century of rule. The construction of palatine cities and madrasas were important marks of Marīnid authority in urban space but, as a dynasty ruling over a large rural tribal population, the Marīnids also needed to express their power and authority beyond the city. The chapter begins with analysis of the textual image of kingship presented in Marīnid chronicles and then considers how that image was disseminated to the population. It looks at Marīnid military progresses (ḥarakāt) between their fortresses and towns and Marīnid military engagements in the rural environment and shows how they used a number of symbols of monarchy, from the historically resonant Qurʾān of ʿUthmān to generic items such as drums and banners to make their power manifest.
Camilo Gómez-Rivas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265697
- eISBN:
- 9780191771897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265697.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and ...
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This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and demographic changes that led to an increase in capture and ransom, the legal framework and social response to the ransoming industry, and leaders’ involvement in the release of captives as a high concern of state. An example of large-scale conquest, enslavement, and ransom in the thirteenth century illustrates how ransom and refuge were causally related and predicated upon the reciprocal social expectations of frontier societies.Less
This chapter argues for establishing a connection between the ransoming of captives and the hosting of refugees as a politically legitimising practice. It considers twelfthcentury military and demographic changes that led to an increase in capture and ransom, the legal framework and social response to the ransoming industry, and leaders’ involvement in the release of captives as a high concern of state. An example of large-scale conquest, enslavement, and ransom in the thirteenth century illustrates how ransom and refuge were causally related and predicated upon the reciprocal social expectations of frontier societies.
Abigail Krasner Balbale
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265697
- eISBN:
- 9780191771897
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265697.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
In eastern al-Andalus, the end of Almohad authority initiated a period of fierce clashes among Muslim and Christian rivals. Many of these conflicts were presented as holy war, and the eventual loss ...
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In eastern al-Andalus, the end of Almohad authority initiated a period of fierce clashes among Muslim and Christian rivals. Many of these conflicts were presented as holy war, and the eventual loss of the territory to the Christians means narratives often emphasise interreligious warfare. An examination of one independent Muslim ruler indicates the vital importance the doctrine of jihād played in political legitimation, but also the flexibility of this concept. Muḥammad b. Hūd (r. 625–634/1228–1237) fought to assert ʿAbbāsid authority in al-Andalus, and presented himself as a holy warrior (mujāhid) to secure the support of his subjects but, simultaneously, he allied with Castile against his Muslim rivals, believing that this was a jihād in the name of ʿAbbāsid authority. From this perspective, the great battles of thirteenth-century al-Andalus were not determined solely by religious affiliation, but also by debates over what constituted righteous rule.Less
In eastern al-Andalus, the end of Almohad authority initiated a period of fierce clashes among Muslim and Christian rivals. Many of these conflicts were presented as holy war, and the eventual loss of the territory to the Christians means narratives often emphasise interreligious warfare. An examination of one independent Muslim ruler indicates the vital importance the doctrine of jihād played in political legitimation, but also the flexibility of this concept. Muḥammad b. Hūd (r. 625–634/1228–1237) fought to assert ʿAbbāsid authority in al-Andalus, and presented himself as a holy warrior (mujāhid) to secure the support of his subjects but, simultaneously, he allied with Castile against his Muslim rivals, believing that this was a jihād in the name of ʿAbbāsid authority. From this perspective, the great battles of thirteenth-century al-Andalus were not determined solely by religious affiliation, but also by debates over what constituted righteous rule.
Patrick D. Gaffney
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520084711
- eISBN:
- 9780520914582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520084711.003.0012
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Middle Eastern Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses a sermon chosen to exemplify that type of preacher who legitimates his function by assuming the culturally constituted duty of “struggle” or jihād. The sermon was delivered by ...
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This chapter discusses a sermon chosen to exemplify that type of preacher who legitimates his function by assuming the culturally constituted duty of “struggle” or jihād. The sermon was delivered by Shaykh Umar on April 6, 1979, shortly after the first series of arrests in Minya had shown that official patience with the provocative actions by religious extremists had run out. The identification of Shaykh Umar with the entire community signals an ultimate form of metonym as the leader in the form of the warrior and apologist overreaches the implications of transcendence and all but substitutes ideology for religion.Less
This chapter discusses a sermon chosen to exemplify that type of preacher who legitimates his function by assuming the culturally constituted duty of “struggle” or jihād. The sermon was delivered by Shaykh Umar on April 6, 1979, shortly after the first series of arrests in Minya had shown that official patience with the provocative actions by religious extremists had run out. The identification of Shaykh Umar with the entire community signals an ultimate form of metonym as the leader in the form of the warrior and apologist overreaches the implications of transcendence and all but substitutes ideology for religion.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter discusses the methodological approach of the book and explains how it yields a more innovative and comprehensive examination of the concepts of jihād and martyrdom. The importance of a ...
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This chapter discusses the methodological approach of the book and explains how it yields a more innovative and comprehensive examination of the concepts of jihād and martyrdom. The importance of a diachronic survey of key sources is emphasized for charting the changing semantic landscape of these concepts. Among these key sources are Qur’ān, hadīth, tafsīr, fadā’il al-jihād; andfadā’il al-ṣabr works.Less
This chapter discusses the methodological approach of the book and explains how it yields a more innovative and comprehensive examination of the concepts of jihād and martyrdom. The importance of a diachronic survey of key sources is emphasized for charting the changing semantic landscape of these concepts. Among these key sources are Qur’ān, hadīth, tafsīr, fadā’il al-jihād; andfadā’il al-ṣabr works.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In popular and academic literature, jihād is often assumed to refer to “armed combat,” while martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal ...
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In popular and academic literature, jihād is often assumed to refer to “armed combat,” while martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal texts, has led to discussions of jihād and martyrdom predominantly as concepts with fixed, universal meanings. In contradistinction to this approach, this book studies in a more holistic manner the range of significations that can be ascribed to particularly the term jihād from the earliest period to the contemporary period against the backdrop of specific socio-historical and political circumstances which frequently mediated the meanings of this critical term. Instead of privileging the juridical literature, the book canvasses a more diverse genre of texts – Qur’ān, tafsīr, hadīth, edifying and hortatory literature -- to recreate a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihād and martyrdom through time, especially by introducing the concept of ṣabr as an aspect of jihād. As a result, many conventional assumptions about the essential nature of military jihād and martyrdom are challenged and undermined. The book unearths instead a spectrum of contested scholarly views on the purview of the combative jihād and the constitution of martyrdom through a diachronic survey of critical sources not previously studied in great depth.Less
In popular and academic literature, jihād is often assumed to refer to “armed combat,” while martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal texts, has led to discussions of jihād and martyrdom predominantly as concepts with fixed, universal meanings. In contradistinction to this approach, this book studies in a more holistic manner the range of significations that can be ascribed to particularly the term jihād from the earliest period to the contemporary period against the backdrop of specific socio-historical and political circumstances which frequently mediated the meanings of this critical term. Instead of privileging the juridical literature, the book canvasses a more diverse genre of texts – Qur’ān, tafsīr, hadīth, edifying and hortatory literature -- to recreate a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihād and martyrdom through time, especially by introducing the concept of ṣabr as an aspect of jihād. As a result, many conventional assumptions about the essential nature of military jihād and martyrdom are challenged and undermined. The book unearths instead a spectrum of contested scholarly views on the purview of the combative jihād and the constitution of martyrdom through a diachronic survey of critical sources not previously studied in great depth.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In sharp contrast to most of the modern thinkers and activists we focused on in the previous chapter, the scholars and activists discussed in this chapter are distinguished by their inclination to ...
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In sharp contrast to most of the modern thinkers and activists we focused on in the previous chapter, the scholars and activists discussed in this chapter are distinguished by their inclination to engage the concept of jihād in a more diachronic and holistic manner and to emphasize its historically-conditioned multi-layered significations through time. The scholars discussed from this group include Muhammad ’Abdūh, Jamāl al-Banna, and Muhammad Sa’īd Ramadān al-Būtī from the pre-September 11 period. From after the September 11 period, the chapter goes on to survey a growing corpus of works in Muslim-majority societies which are vigorously arguing against contemporary militant and extremist understandings of jihād. Amog these works is an influential treatise written by the prominent Egyptian cleric and scholar ’Alī Jum’a. The chapter then proceeds to focus on three contemporary thinkers and writers who emphasize non-violent approaches to conflict resolution: Jawdat Sa’īd, Wahiduddin Khan, and Fethullah Gülen. This pacifist or near-pacifist strain is genuinely a modern development within Islamic thought and tradition and is grounded in a recuperation of the Qur’anic emphasis on ṣabr as the most important dimension of jihād broadly conceived.Less
In sharp contrast to most of the modern thinkers and activists we focused on in the previous chapter, the scholars and activists discussed in this chapter are distinguished by their inclination to engage the concept of jihād in a more diachronic and holistic manner and to emphasize its historically-conditioned multi-layered significations through time. The scholars discussed from this group include Muhammad ’Abdūh, Jamāl al-Banna, and Muhammad Sa’īd Ramadān al-Būtī from the pre-September 11 period. From after the September 11 period, the chapter goes on to survey a growing corpus of works in Muslim-majority societies which are vigorously arguing against contemporary militant and extremist understandings of jihād. Amog these works is an influential treatise written by the prominent Egyptian cleric and scholar ’Alī Jum’a. The chapter then proceeds to focus on three contemporary thinkers and writers who emphasize non-violent approaches to conflict resolution: Jawdat Sa’īd, Wahiduddin Khan, and Fethullah Gülen. This pacifist or near-pacifist strain is genuinely a modern development within Islamic thought and tradition and is grounded in a recuperation of the Qur’anic emphasis on ṣabr as the most important dimension of jihād broadly conceived.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The Conclusion weighs the evidence and assess when, how, and why scholars in the classical and medieval periods — exegetes,hadīth specialists and historians — increasingly chose to privilege a ...
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The Conclusion weighs the evidence and assess when, how, and why scholars in the classical and medieval periods — exegetes,hadīth specialists and historians — increasingly chose to privilege a monovalent, belligerent interpretation of jihād roughly from the late second/eighth century on, which in turn instigated counter-narratives which foregrounded and praised its non-militant aspects. The historical and political motivations propelling these developments are reconstructed and the extent to which this broadens and nuances current perspectives on jihād are indicated. This chapter concludes by observing that the literatures extolling the excellences (fadā’il) of military combat and of patient forbearance in particular often encode a number of these concerns in a consciously vaunting manner, creating competing paradigms of piety while invoking, co-opting, and reworking the common idioms -- Qur’anic and otherwise -- of jihād and martyrdom broadly construed.Less
The Conclusion weighs the evidence and assess when, how, and why scholars in the classical and medieval periods — exegetes,hadīth specialists and historians — increasingly chose to privilege a monovalent, belligerent interpretation of jihād roughly from the late second/eighth century on, which in turn instigated counter-narratives which foregrounded and praised its non-militant aspects. The historical and political motivations propelling these developments are reconstructed and the extent to which this broadens and nuances current perspectives on jihād are indicated. This chapter concludes by observing that the literatures extolling the excellences (fadā’il) of military combat and of patient forbearance in particular often encode a number of these concerns in a consciously vaunting manner, creating competing paradigms of piety while invoking, co-opting, and reworking the common idioms -- Qur’anic and otherwise -- of jihād and martyrdom broadly construed.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter deals with the Qur’anic concepts of jihād and ṣabr by selectively looking at verses which refer to the non-combative meanings of these terms between the middle Meccan to the early ...
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This chapter deals with the Qur’anic concepts of jihād and ṣabr by selectively looking at verses which refer to the non-combative meanings of these terms between the middle Meccan to the early Medinan period. Several key exegetical works from the Umayyad to the Mamlūk periods are consulted. They include the commentaries of Mujāhid b. Jabr (d. ca. 104/722); Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/767), al-Tabarī (d. 310/ 923); al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1076); al-Zamakhsharī (d. ca. 538/1144) Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210), and al-Qurtubī (d. 671/1273) in order to obtain representative samplings of views from various historical periods. The focus in this chapter, as is true of subsequent chapters, is on the retrieval of multiple and contested understandings of jihād and ṣabr through a comparison of early and later works of exegesis.Less
This chapter deals with the Qur’anic concepts of jihād and ṣabr by selectively looking at verses which refer to the non-combative meanings of these terms between the middle Meccan to the early Medinan period. Several key exegetical works from the Umayyad to the Mamlūk periods are consulted. They include the commentaries of Mujāhid b. Jabr (d. ca. 104/722); Muqātil b. Sulaymān (d. 150/767), al-Tabarī (d. 310/ 923); al-Wāhidī (d. 468/1076); al-Zamakhsharī (d. ca. 538/1144) Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210), and al-Qurtubī (d. 671/1273) in order to obtain representative samplings of views from various historical periods. The focus in this chapter, as is true of subsequent chapters, is on the retrieval of multiple and contested understandings of jihād and ṣabr through a comparison of early and later works of exegesis.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Two discusses the introduction of fighting (qitāl) in the Qur’ān as an important component of jihād in specific circumstances when believers are under attack by hostile forces, ending the ...
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Chapter Two discusses the introduction of fighting (qitāl) in the Qur’ān as an important component of jihād in specific circumstances when believers are under attack by hostile forces, ending the prohibition against armed combat during the Meccan and early Medinan periods. The Qur’ān adopts trenchant language to impress upon the faithful that in response to certain conditions, believers should not shrink from carrying out this religious and moral obligation when commanded to do so by God and His prophet. The taking of human life that armed combat entails in such specific situations is acknowledged in the Qur’ān as an act of enormity. Several verses enumerate the conditions under which qitāl becomes necessary – primarily in self-defense -- and outline the limits of justified military combat which should not be contravened by the faithful.Less
Chapter Two discusses the introduction of fighting (qitāl) in the Qur’ān as an important component of jihād in specific circumstances when believers are under attack by hostile forces, ending the prohibition against armed combat during the Meccan and early Medinan periods. The Qur’ān adopts trenchant language to impress upon the faithful that in response to certain conditions, believers should not shrink from carrying out this religious and moral obligation when commanded to do so by God and His prophet. The taking of human life that armed combat entails in such specific situations is acknowledged in the Qur’ān as an act of enormity. Several verses enumerate the conditions under which qitāl becomes necessary – primarily in self-defense -- and outline the limits of justified military combat which should not be contravened by the faithful.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Five compares early (from before the late third/ninth century) and late hadīth works and brings to the fore a range of competing interpretations on how best to strive in the path of God, ...
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Chapter Five compares early (from before the late third/ninth century) and late hadīth works and brings to the fore a range of competing interpretations on how best to strive in the path of God, engendered by the polyvalence of the term jihād in the Qur’ān. Similarly, early hadīth works, in contrast to later ones, also preserve a broad range of meanings for the terms shahīd and shuhadā’ that are often not replicated in later works. The preservation of the broader semantic content of these terms in diverse early works in comparison with later sources allows for reasoned speculation on the probable historical and socio-political reasons for the subsequent circumscription of their meanings. The chapter discusses in great detail the contents of the fadā’il al-jihād sections in al-Musannaf of ’Abd al-Razzāq, al-Muṣannaf of Ibn Abī Shayba (d. 235/849) and in the six authoritative Sunnī hadīth compilations.Less
Chapter Five compares early (from before the late third/ninth century) and late hadīth works and brings to the fore a range of competing interpretations on how best to strive in the path of God, engendered by the polyvalence of the term jihād in the Qur’ān. Similarly, early hadīth works, in contrast to later ones, also preserve a broad range of meanings for the terms shahīd and shuhadā’ that are often not replicated in later works. The preservation of the broader semantic content of these terms in diverse early works in comparison with later sources allows for reasoned speculation on the probable historical and socio-political reasons for the subsequent circumscription of their meanings. The chapter discusses in great detail the contents of the fadā’il al-jihād sections in al-Musannaf of ’Abd al-Razzāq, al-Muṣannaf of Ibn Abī Shayba (d. 235/849) and in the six authoritative Sunnī hadīth compilations.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Six deals extensively with the contents of independent fadā’il al-jihād works, which include the Kitāb al-Jihād of ’Abd Allāh Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181/797), Kitāb al-jihād by Ibn Abī ’āṣim (d. ...
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Chapter Six deals extensively with the contents of independent fadā’il al-jihād works, which include the Kitāb al-Jihād of ’Abd Allāh Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181/797), Kitāb al-jihād by Ibn Abī ’āṣim (d. 287/900); the Ahkām al-jihād wa-fadā’ilih by ’Abd al-’Azīz b. ’Abd al-Salām al-Sulamī (d. 660/1262) and the Mashāri’ al-ashwāq ilāmaṣāri’ al-ushshāq of Ibn al-Nahhas (d. 814/1411). The extensive comparison of the contents of these works allows for the mapping of the changing semantic landscape, as reflected in this primarily hadith-based discourse, and permits the establishment of a repertoire of meanings assigned to the termjihad and its socio-political function in different historical contexts. In both chapters Five and Six, the chains of transmission of a number of these reports are scrutinized in order to single out their most prolific narrators and discern the probable motivations for the propagation of these reports.Less
Chapter Six deals extensively with the contents of independent fadā’il al-jihād works, which include the Kitāb al-Jihād of ’Abd Allāh Ibn al-Mubārak (d. 181/797), Kitāb al-jihād by Ibn Abī ’āṣim (d. 287/900); the Ahkām al-jihād wa-fadā’ilih by ’Abd al-’Azīz b. ’Abd al-Salām al-Sulamī (d. 660/1262) and the Mashāri’ al-ashwāq ilāmaṣāri’ al-ushshāq of Ibn al-Nahhas (d. 814/1411). The extensive comparison of the contents of these works allows for the mapping of the changing semantic landscape, as reflected in this primarily hadith-based discourse, and permits the establishment of a repertoire of meanings assigned to the termjihad and its socio-political function in different historical contexts. In both chapters Five and Six, the chains of transmission of a number of these reports are scrutinized in order to single out their most prolific narrators and discern the probable motivations for the propagation of these reports.
Asma Afsaruddin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199730933
- eISBN:
- 9780199344949
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730933.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Eight discusses how late medieval discourses on jihād in particular have been appropriated and selectively adapted for new political and ideological ends by political ideologues and radical ...
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Chapter Eight discusses how late medieval discourses on jihād in particular have been appropriated and selectively adapted for new political and ideological ends by political ideologues and radical Islamists in the contemporary period. In the first group are included Hasan al-Bannā, Abū’l-’Alā’ Mawdūdi, Sayyid Qutb, Ayatullah Khomeini, and Muhammad ’Abd al-Salām Faraj from the twentieth century. From the post-September 11 period the views of Abū Yahyāal-Lībī; Yūsuf al-Qaradāwī, and Abū Baṣīr al-Tartūsī are discussed among others. The Islamicizing rhetoric of these ideologues and radicals are subjected to a close analysis and how they use and misuse the classical and later sources to grant religious legitimacy to their various enterprises is scrutinized in detail. Attention is also paid to the views of the last three on particularly suicide bombings.Less
Chapter Eight discusses how late medieval discourses on jihād in particular have been appropriated and selectively adapted for new political and ideological ends by political ideologues and radical Islamists in the contemporary period. In the first group are included Hasan al-Bannā, Abū’l-’Alā’ Mawdūdi, Sayyid Qutb, Ayatullah Khomeini, and Muhammad ’Abd al-Salām Faraj from the twentieth century. From the post-September 11 period the views of Abū Yahyāal-Lībī; Yūsuf al-Qaradāwī, and Abū Baṣīr al-Tartūsī are discussed among others. The Islamicizing rhetoric of these ideologues and radicals are subjected to a close analysis and how they use and misuse the classical and later sources to grant religious legitimacy to their various enterprises is scrutinized in detail. Attention is also paid to the views of the last three on particularly suicide bombings.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226473154
- eISBN:
- 9780226473178
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226473178.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The term “holy war” evokes the distant Middle Ages, whether of the Christian West or of the Muslim East. Today's headlines tell stories of a crusade or of a jihād, inciting readers to supply the ...
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The term “holy war” evokes the distant Middle Ages, whether of the Christian West or of the Muslim East. Today's headlines tell stories of a crusade or of a jihād, inciting readers to supply the needed emotional and political charge. In Christianity, there was for long (and especially in the Eastern church) a deep resistance to conflating just and holy. On the other hand, matters were singularly and impressively different in Islam. Jihād is one of several words in classical Arabic that denotes war while conveying more generally the notion of moral or physical exertion and struggle. The exertions of philosophers, such as Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes among the Muslims and Moses Maimonides among the Jews, might well be characterized as a jihād of their own. Sir Francis Bacon's Advertisement Touching a Holy War is a display of the very disorder that afflicts the affairs of Christendom of his day as well as a display of the state of mind that might counter it.Less
The term “holy war” evokes the distant Middle Ages, whether of the Christian West or of the Muslim East. Today's headlines tell stories of a crusade or of a jihād, inciting readers to supply the needed emotional and political charge. In Christianity, there was for long (and especially in the Eastern church) a deep resistance to conflating just and holy. On the other hand, matters were singularly and impressively different in Islam. Jihād is one of several words in classical Arabic that denotes war while conveying more generally the notion of moral or physical exertion and struggle. The exertions of philosophers, such as Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes among the Muslims and Moses Maimonides among the Jews, might well be characterized as a jihād of their own. Sir Francis Bacon's Advertisement Touching a Holy War is a display of the very disorder that afflicts the affairs of Christendom of his day as well as a display of the state of mind that might counter it.
Mehdi Laghmari
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- December 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190932459
- eISBN:
- 9780190097097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190932459.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter offers a presentation of the message conveyed in Islamic State (IS) propaganda, as well as an in-depth exploration of its social and theological origins. The chapter thus clarifies the ...
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This chapter offers a presentation of the message conveyed in Islamic State (IS) propaganda, as well as an in-depth exploration of its social and theological origins. The chapter thus clarifies the various theological interpretations and social dynamics that constitute the foundation of IS’s message and make it appealing for some. The key concepts structuring IS’s message are highlighted, their origins and evolutions are traced, and the way these concepts have eventually come to coalesce into an autonomous message distinct from those enunciated by other Islamist groups is explained. Such a “genealogy”—ranging from medieval thinker Ibn Taymiyyah to 2018 IS—is required to fully understand how these particular dimensions of this message are articulated and disseminated in specific ways by the various outlets constituting IS’ “full-spectrum propaganda” (magazines, videos, books, etc.).Less
This chapter offers a presentation of the message conveyed in Islamic State (IS) propaganda, as well as an in-depth exploration of its social and theological origins. The chapter thus clarifies the various theological interpretations and social dynamics that constitute the foundation of IS’s message and make it appealing for some. The key concepts structuring IS’s message are highlighted, their origins and evolutions are traced, and the way these concepts have eventually come to coalesce into an autonomous message distinct from those enunciated by other Islamist groups is explained. Such a “genealogy”—ranging from medieval thinker Ibn Taymiyyah to 2018 IS—is required to fully understand how these particular dimensions of this message are articulated and disseminated in specific ways by the various outlets constituting IS’ “full-spectrum propaganda” (magazines, videos, books, etc.).
