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Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh
by Md Nazrul Islam Md Saidul IslamGrounded in the Weberian tradition, Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh presents a critical analysis of the complex relationship between Islam and democracy in South Asia and Bangladesh. The book posits that Islam and democracy are not necessarily incompatible, but that the former has a contributory role in the development of the latter. Islam came to Bengal largely by Sufis and missionaries through peaceful means and hence a moderate form of this religion got rooted in the society. Both militant Islam and militant secularism are equal threats to democracy and pluralism. Like democracy, political Islam has many faces. Political Islam adhering to democratic norms and practices, what the authors call “democratic Islamism,” unlike “militant Islamism,” is not anti-democratic. The book shows that the suppression of democracy and human rights creates avenues for the consolidation of militant Islamism, orthodox Islam, and “Islamic” terrorism, while the “fair play” of democracy results in the decline of anti-democratic form of political Islam.
Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates
by Adis Duderija Alina Alak Kristin HissongGiven the intense political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centres on gendered concerns, Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the key topics, problems and debates in this engaging subject. Split into three parts, this book places the discussion in its historical context, provides up-to-date case studies and delves into contemporary debate on the subject. This book includes discussion of the following important topics: Marriage and divorce Interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunna Male and female sexuality and sexual diversity Classical Islamic thought on masculinity and femininity Gender and hadith Polygamy and inheritance Adultery and sexual violence Veiling, female circumcision and crimes of honour Lived religiosities Gender justice in Islam. Islam and Gender is essential reading for students in religious studies, Islamic studies and gender studies, as well as those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, area studies, sociology, anthropology and history.
Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates
by Adis Duderija Alina Alak Kristin HissongGiven the intense political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centres on gendered concerns, Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the key topics, problems and debates in this engaging subject. Split into three parts, this book places the discussion in its historical context, provides up-to-date case studies and delves into contemporary debate on the subject. This book includes discussion of the following important topics: Marriage and divorce Interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunna Male and female sexuality and sexual diversity Classical Islamic thought on masculinity and femininity Gender and hadith Polygamy and inheritance Adultery and sexual violence Veiling, female circumcision and crimes of honour Lived religiosities Gender justice in Islam. Islam and Gender is essential reading for students in religious studies, Islamic studies and gender studies, as well as those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, area studies, sociology, anthropology and history.
Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey
by Gokhan BacikThis book explores how traditional Sunni Muslim conceptions have informed or shaped Islamization strategies in contemporary Turkey. In particular, the author proposes to examine the teaching curriculum of the Ministry of Education, which oversees Turkish public religious education; the activities and teachings of Diyanet, the constitutional organ responsible for managing all religious affairs; and the ideas and activities of three Muslim religious groups currently operating in Turkey. The monograph explains how the interpretation and practice of Islam affects various situations in the Muslim world and analyzes the concept of nature in Islam, which has been an indivisible component of Islamic tradition since the beginning.
Islam and Politics in Bangladesh: The Followers of Ummah
by Mubashar HasanThis book conceptualizes the politics of Bangladesh through an Islamic concept called ummah or the global brotherhood of Muslims. It demonstrates that, against the backdrop of geopolitics, capitalism and free flow of ideas, localization of this global religious concept at individual level, institutional level, major party platforms and state has cemented the current political condition in Bangladesh in which religiosity, religious intolerance, Islamization and extremism take place. By exploring the effects of ummah in Bangladeshi politics, this book shows how major political parties have mainstreamed political Islam in the country. The book rejects the long standing scholarly claim of religious-secular distinction in Bangladeshi politics and argues that with most Muslim-dominated states, there are no major secular parties in Bangladesh. There are only Islamic parties, which are more or less Islamic. The purely ‘rational’ domain of politics in Bangladesh is long lost, and political Islam sets the framework for politics in the country. The reason behind this logic of Bangladeshi politics is formed, contained and expanded by ummah.
Islam and Turks in Belgium: Communities and Associations (New Directions in Islam)
by Mehmet OrhanDrawing on qualitative research conducted in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders, Islam and Turks in Belgium examines the interdependence between Muslim community and association. With a focus on social groups, religious structures and circles within Turkish populations, this book demonstrates how communal and associative movements operate through a combination of relationships of proximity and distance. Proximity is a way in which Muslim organisations establish religious, social, and cultural ties with communities. Distance, on the other hand, takes into account social, historical, and political elements from abroad, and refers to the relationship with the Muslim world more broadly. As this reciprocal web of relations gives rise to Islamic mobilisations, it leads to the emergence or persistence of different figures of authority within associations and communities who articulate traditional, charismatic, and bureaucratic legitimacies.This book will be of interest to students and scholars of the sociology of religion, migration, race, ethnicity and Islamic studies.
Islam in British media discourses: Understanding perceptions of Muslims in the news (Manchester University Press Ser.)
by Laurens de RooijMedia reporting on Islam and Muslims commonly relate stories about terrorism, violence, or the lack of integration with western values and society. Yet there is little research into how non-Muslims engage with and are affected by these news reports. Inspired by the overtly negative coverage of Islam and Muslims by the mainstream press and the increase in Islamophobia across Europe, this book explores the influence of these depictions on the thoughts and actions of non-Muslims.Building on extensive fieldwork interviews and focus groups, Laurens de Rooij argues that individuals negotiate media reports to fit their existing outlook on Islam and Muslims. Non-Muslim responses to these reports, de Rooij argues, are not only (re)productions of local and personal contextuality, but are co-dependent and co-productive to the reports themselves.
Islam in British media discourses: Understanding perceptions of Muslims in the news (Manchester University Press)
by Laurens de RooijMedia reporting on Islam and Muslims commonly relate stories about terrorism, violence, or the lack of integration with western values and society. Yet there is little research into how non-Muslims engage with and are affected by these news reports. Inspired by the overtly negative coverage of Islam and Muslims by the mainstream press and the increase in Islamophobia across Europe, this book explores the influence of these depictions on the thoughts and actions of non-Muslims. Building on extensive fieldwork interviews and focus groups, Laurens de Rooij argues that individuals negotiate media reports to fit their existing outlook on Islam and Muslims. Non-Muslim responses to these reports, de Rooij argues, are not only (re)productions of local and personal contextuality, but are co-dependent and co-productive to the reports themselves.
Islam on Campus: Contested Identities and the Cultures of Higher Education in Britain
by Alison Scott-Baumann Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor Mathew Guest Shuruq Naguib Aisha PhoenixIslam on Campus explores how Islam is represented, perceived and lived within higher education in Britain. It is a book about the changing nature of university life, and the place of religion within it. Even while many universities maintain ambiguous or affirming orientations to religious institutions for reasons to do with history and ethos, much western scholarship has presumed higher education to be a strongly secularizing force. This framing has resulted in religion often being marginalized or ignored as a cultural irrelevance by the university sector. However, recent times have seen higher education increasingly drawn into political discourses that problematize religion in general, and Islam in particular, as an object of risk. Using the largest data set yet collected in the UK, this book explores university life and the ways in which ideas about Islam and Muslim identities are produced, experienced, perceived, appropriated, and objectified. It asks what role universities and Muslim higher education institutions play in the production, reinforcement, and contestation of emerging narratives about religious difference. This is a culturally nuanced treatment of universities as sites of knowledge production, and contexts for the negotiation of perspectives on culture and religion among an emerging generation. It demonstrates the urgent need to release Islam from its official role as the othered, the feared. When universities achieve this we will be able to help students of all affiliations and of none to be citizens of the campus in preparation for being citizens of the world.
Islamic Conversation: Sohbet and Ethics in Contemporary Turkey (Routledge Islamic Studies Series)
by Smita Tewari JassalThe book evaluates on-going ethical conversations to learn how emotional communication is received, teachings are internalized, and a religious world-view is brought to life. Exploring how religious values saturate people’s consciousness to induce subtle shifts in moral and ethical sensibilities, this book is about people’s practices that illuminate how Islam is lived. Based on fieldwork conducted in Ankara between 2010 and 2016, the study enquires into people’s ethical, religious, and moral motivations through the use of the ethnographic method and "thick description". Conversations and interviews with officials, community leaders, students, entrepreneurs, professionals, and blue-collar workers were subjected to close scrutiny to foreground societal change and churning. To capture perspectives absent or deliberately overlooked in mainstream public discourse and scholarship, fieldwork was conducted in locations ranging from homes, offices, and university dorms to the shrines of saints. In listening closely to how people talk about their religious practices, the book addresses the question of how Islamic subjectivities are being forged in Turkey. The study unveils how people are pushed to re-think old practices and attitudes in the process of reinterpreting Islam in light of contemporary concerns. Filling a gap in the literature where micro-level, grounded analyses of culture and society are relatively rare, this book is a key resource for readers interested in the anthropology of religion and gender, ethnography, Turkey, and the Middle East.
Islamic Conversation: Sohbet and Ethics in Contemporary Turkey (Routledge Islamic Studies Series)
by Smita Tewari JassalThe book evaluates on-going ethical conversations to learn how emotional communication is received, teachings are internalized, and a religious world-view is brought to life. Exploring how religious values saturate people’s consciousness to induce subtle shifts in moral and ethical sensibilities, this book is about people’s practices that illuminate how Islam is lived. Based on fieldwork conducted in Ankara between 2010 and 2016, the study enquires into people’s ethical, religious, and moral motivations through the use of the ethnographic method and "thick description". Conversations and interviews with officials, community leaders, students, entrepreneurs, professionals, and blue-collar workers were subjected to close scrutiny to foreground societal change and churning. To capture perspectives absent or deliberately overlooked in mainstream public discourse and scholarship, fieldwork was conducted in locations ranging from homes, offices, and university dorms to the shrines of saints. In listening closely to how people talk about their religious practices, the book addresses the question of how Islamic subjectivities are being forged in Turkey. The study unveils how people are pushed to re-think old practices and attitudes in the process of reinterpreting Islam in light of contemporary concerns. Filling a gap in the literature where micro-level, grounded analyses of culture and society are relatively rare, this book is a key resource for readers interested in the anthropology of religion and gender, ethnography, Turkey, and the Middle East.
Islamic Economics as Mesoscience: A New Paradigm of Knowledge
by Masudul Alam ChoudhuryThis book presents the building blocks of Islamic economics as meso-science, offering an in-depth study of the Qur’anic worldview of the monotheistic unity of knowledge, which is the universal and unique message of Tawhid in the Qur’an. This primal ontological premise is formalised in an analytical approach that introduces and unpacks the philosophical concepts of ontology, epistemology, and phenomenology in relation to the Tawhidi methodological worldview. The analysis of Qur’anic logical consistency is then cast in a phenomenological perspective by applying the complete model of the unity of knowledge of the Qur’an in a specific study of the Tawhidi methodological approach to Islamic financial-economic theory. In doing so, it tackles the problems of meso-economics given its socio-scientific holism in world affairs. It hones in on the results of the symbiotic modulation of evolutionary learning processes in the world system of the unity of knowledge and its material embedding across knowledge, and knowledge-induced space and time dimensions. The author poses that Shari’ah is only partial in its scope, and excludes an analytical methodological worldview. Shari’ah is thus cast in the midst of a meso-socio-scientific absence of any appertaining methodology. The book is a landmark work in the conceptual and applied understanding of Tawhid as the methodological worldview of the monotheistic unity of knowledge in the meso-socio-scientific realm of ‘everything’, particularised to Islamic economics. Adopting an inter-disciplinary view integrating various fields, it challenges pervasive Western academic and institutional thinking in terms of economics. It will be of interest to students and researchers in Islamic economics, religious theory, Islamic philosophy, development studies, and finance.
Islamic Ethics and Female Volunteering: Committing to Society, Committing to God (New Directions in Islam)
by Merve Reyhan KayikciThis book unpacks how the ethical is embodied through an examination of the lived experiences of female Muslim volunteers in Belgium. Kayikci draws on a wealth of interview material that sheds light on the ethical turn in the anthropology of Islam, exploring how volunteering enables the space and time for Muslim women to commit to both orthodox religious and civic social values. As volunteering and interacting (caring) with the society requires careful deliberation of their society and their position as Muslims, and as women in that society, this research unpacks how multiple belongings of Muslim women in Belgium are negotiated, balanced, and influenced. This analysis reveals how the everyday is informed by different epistemological traditions; both the liberal and the Islamic, and how these traditions make the life-worlds of the women. Islamic Ethics and Female Volunteering will be of interest to academics across religious studies, anthropology, sociology, gender studies and community studies, especially scholars working in the areas of ethics, migration, Muslims in Europe, volunteering and activism.
Islamic Finance and Global Capitalism: An Alternative to the Market Economy
by James Simon WatkinsThis book examines whether Islamic finance and Islamic economics is challenging the orthodoxy of the money markets. Can ethical finance combined with the prohibition on interest and speculation really work in the global economy? With a political economy approach, the book explores how the industry has grown in modern times – from a short-lived bank in an Egyptian city in the 1960s through to a global industry that is today valued at US$2.05 trillion. From the revelation as articulated by the Prophet Muhammed in the seventh century through to the gleaming 21st century skyscrapers of Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, the book covers the end of European colonialism, the controversial utterances of self-styled religious leaders, the impact of Islamophobia, and the efforts to end poverty through Islamic microfinance. The book uncovers an industry that is both profitable and changing the face of contemporary capitalism.
Islamic Finance Practices: Experiences from South Eastern Europe
by Velid EfendicThis book discusses carefully selected topics in Islamic banking and finance (IBF) in South Eastern Europe (SEE) as one of the fastest growing areas in global finance. IBF originated within various Islamic banks, Islamic windows, investment funds, Takaful companies, and other financial institutions and has resulted in various global products. Although it is still in an early phase in SEE, IBF has developed rapidly in the last decade and has created a need for research on related topics, from the fundamental principles of IBF to the SCR, endowments and investment instruments to Islamic banking practices. This is our second book published as a result of the Sarajevo Islamic and Finance conferences (SIFEC). This conference traditionally gathers Islamic banking, economics, and finance academicians, experts, and students all over the world who discuss a wide range of topics in this field, focusing on the SEE. Consisting of seven chapters presenting original research, this book is a valuable resource for researchers as well as for practitioners and potential investors in IBF, especially in SEE.
Islamic Militant Activism in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany: "Islands in a Sea of Disbelief"
by Martijn de Koning Carmen Becker Ineke RoexBased on ethnographic research in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany, this book presents a novel approach to studying Muslim militant activism. While much existing research focuses on the process of radicalization, these authors introduce a different set of questions that investigate specific modes of activism, and their engagement with dominant discourses and practices in media and state policies. Drawing on social movement theory and Foucault’s work on counter-conduct, this research explores how daʿwa networks came about, and how activists developed themselves in interaction with state and media practices. This perspective highlights a form of activism and resistance in which activists turn against policies and debates centring on Muslims and Islam, while attempting to create and protect an alternative space for themselves in which they can experience Islam according to their own perception of it. The study will contribute to debates about resistance, social movements and militant activism among Muslims in Europe.
An Islamic Model for Stabilization and Growth (Political Economy of Islam)
by Adama DieyeThis book argues that the macroeconomic policy adjustment models recommended by the IMF and the World Bank for implementation in many Muslim countries, with substantial donor financial support, have not been effective. Economic indicators show low economic growth, persistent fiscal and external deficits and limited industrialization. Also, these countries are experiencing increases in unemployment, poverty and substantial growth in income and wealth inequalities. These facts underline an urgent need to produce an alternative to the failed conventional macroeconomic model in order to address the challenge of macroeconomic and social adjustment policies. The project posits and investigates the idea that the Islamic economic model prescribed in the Quran and applied by the Prophet (sawa) could be the ideal model for Muslim as well as non-Muslim countries.
Islamic Revivalism and Politics in Malaysia: Problems in Nation Building (Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific)
by Bob OlivierThis book describes the Islamisation process that has unfolded in Malaysia over the last fifty years and provides feedback from in-depth interviews with 100 individuals from Malaysia’s “educated classes”, or the “elite”, regarding their reactions to the changes that have accompanied Islamisation and how they feel it has impacted them. It includes a brief overview of Islamisation globally and a brief history of Malaysia, focusing especially on those aspects relevant to the book’s subject. The book gives a comprehensive explanation of how and why Islamisation occurred in Malaysia and illustrates the extent of change that has accompanied it. The feedback from the research participants includes special analysis of reactions from Muslim women and non-Muslims. The reasons behind there being so little public debate about Islamisation and the concerns that this group of people have about what is happening is also explained. Finally, the author gives his opinion on the impact the change in government in May 2019 is likely to have.
Islamische Bildungsarbeit in der Schule: Theologische und didaktische Überlegungen zum Umgang mit ausgewählten Themen im Islamischen Religionsunterricht (Edition Fachdidaktiken)
by Fahimah Ulfat Ali GhandourDer Band ermöglicht unterschiedliche Zugänge und Denkkulturen zu verschiedenen theologischen Thematiken, die vordergründig aus einer Bildungsperspektive gedacht werden. Dabei wird die Breite der muslimischen Konzepte in ihrer Pluralität abgedeckt, mit je nach Autorin oder Autor systematischen, philologischen, philosophischen oder historischen Schwerpunktsetzungen, sowie einer pädagogischen Schwerpunktsetzung.
Islamism, Crisis and Democratization: Implications of the World Values Survey for the Muslim World (Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region)
by Hussein Solomon Arno TauschThis book systematically assesses the value systems of active Muslims around the globe. Based on a multivariate analysis of recent World Values Survey data, it sheds new light on Muslim opinions and values in countries such as Indonesia, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. Due to a lack of democratic traditions, sluggish economic growth, escalating religiously motivated violence, and dissatisfaction with ruling elites in many Muslim countries, the authors identify a crisis and return to conservative values in the Muslim world, including anti-Semitism, religious and sexual intolerance, and views on democracy and secularism, business and economic matters. Based on these observations, they offer recommendations for policymakers and civil societies in Muslim countries on how to move towards tolerance, greater democratization and more rapid economic growth.
Islamist Party Mobilization: Tunisia’s Ennahda and Algeria’s HMS Compared, 1989–2014
by Chuchu ZhangThis book aims to explore how Islamist parties mobilize debates, discourses, and environments in electoral authoritarian systems. Interrelating three theoretical schools, Electoral Authoritarianism Theory, Protest Voting Theory, and Political Process Theory, it adopts and expands on a demand-and-supply framework to approach the subject in a novel way, and adapts them to address North Africa, a region in which such theoretical scholarship has until now not been conducted. In-depth case studies focus on two Islamist parties in North Africa, Tunisia’s Ennahda and Algeria’s HMS, both of which adopted the Muslim Brotherhood model, had charismatic leaders, and were active in the political scene from 1989-2014, the period between their first electoral trial and their electoral participation after taking part in governance. The chapters proceed chronologically, providing a historical treatment of the evolution of Ennahda and the HMS since their inception and addressing their development in two and a half decades.
Islands of the Evening: Journeys to the Edge of the World
by Alistair MoffatFourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotland’s Atlantic shore. These ‘white martyrs’ sought solitude, remoteness, even harshness, in places apart from the world where they could fast, pray and move closer to an understanding of God: places where they could see angels. Columba, who founded the famous monastery at Iona, was the most well-known of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten by history.In this book, Alistair Moffat journeys from the island of Eileach an Naoimh at the mouth of the Firth of Lorne to Lismore, Iona and then north to Applecross, searching for traces of these extraordinary men. He finds them not often in any tangible remains, but in the spirit of the islands and remote places where they passed their exemplary lives. Brendan, Moluag, Columba, Maelrubha and others brought the Gaelic language and echoes of how the saints saw their world can still be heard in its cadences. And the tradition of great piety endures.
Israel's Jewish Identity Crisis: State And Politics In The Middle East (The\global Middle East Ser.)
by Yaacov YadgarAn important and topical contribution to the field of Middle East studies, this innovative, provocative, and timely study tackles head-on the main assumptions of the foundation of Israel as a Jewish state. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, Yaacov Yadgar provides a novel analysis of the interplay between Israeli nationalism and Jewish tradition, arriving at a fresh understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through its focus on internal questions about Israeli identity. By critiquing and transcending the current discourse on religion and politics in Israel, this study brings to an international audience debates within Israel that have been previously inaccessible to non-Hebrew speaking academics. Featuring discussions on Israeli jurisprudence, nation-state law, and rabbinic courts, Israel's Jewish Identity Crisis will have far-reaching implications, not only within the state of Israel but on politics, society and culture beyond its borders.
Issues in Science and Theology: Transcendence and Immanence in Science and Theology (Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology #5)
by Michael Fuller Dirk Evers Anne Runehov Knut-Willy Sæther Bernard MicholletThis book addresses a variety of important questions on nature, science, and spirituality: Is the natural world all that there is? Or is it possible to move ‘beyond nature’? What might it mean to transcend nature? What reflections of anything ‘beyond nature’ might be found in nature itself? Gathering papers originally delivered at the 2018 annual conference of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology (ESSSAT), the book includes contributions of an international group of scientists, philosophers, theologians and historians, all discussing nature and what may lie beyond it. More than 20 chapters explore questions of science, nature, spirituality and more, includingNature – and Beyond? Immanence and Transcendence in Science and ReligionAwe and wonder in scientific practice: Implications for the relationship between science and religionThe Cosmos Considered as a Moral InstitutionThe transcendent within: how our own biology leads to spiritualityPreserving the heavens and the earth: Planetary sustainability from a Biblical and educational perspective Issues in Science and Theology: Nature – and Beyond will benefit a broad audience of students, scholars and faculty in such disciplines as philosophy, history of science, theology, and ethics.
Italian American Pentecostalism and the Struggle for Religious Identity (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by Paul J. PalmaWhile many established forms of Christianity have seen significant decline in recent decades, Pentecostals are currently one of the fastest growing religious groups across the world. This book examines the roots, inception, and expansion of Pentecostalism among Italian Americans to demonstrate how Pentecostalism moves so freely through widely varying cultures. The book begins with a survey of the origins and early shaping forces of Italian American Pentecostalism. It charts its birth among immigrants in Chicago as well as the initial expansion fuelled by the convergence of folk-Catholic, Reformed evangelical, and Holiness sources. The book goes on to explain how internal and external pressures demanded structure, leading to the founding of the Christian Church of North America in 1927. Paralleling this development was the emergence of the Italian District of the Assemblies of God, the Assemblee di Dio in Italia (Assemblies of God in Italy), the Canadian Assemblies of God, and formidable denominations in Brazil and Argentina. In the closing chapters, based on analysis of key theological loci and in lieu of contemporary developments, the future prospects of the movement are laid out and assessed. This book provides a purview into the religious lives of an underexamined, but culturally significant group in America. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Pentecostalism, Religious Studies and Religious History, as well as Migrations Studies and Cultural Studies in America