bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Oikos/Polis Conflict
Authors: Kausar Zeenath
Published: December 2020

Conflict has been an inescapable phenomenon of Western society,particularly since the sixteenth century. If the era of the medieval West ischaracterized by the conflict between Pope and Emperor, which eventuallygave rise to modem nation-states, the postmodem era may rightly bedescribed as one of conflict between family and state.The postmodem conflict can be traced back to the oikos/polis conflictgenerated by Western political thought, which originated from Greekmisogyny. In the same way the church was overthrown in the conflict inthe medieval era, the family is being overthrown in the postmodern era bythe neo-Marxist radical school of postmodern feminism, which is alsocalled gender feminism.Quite contrary to gender feminists, contemporary Islamic revivalistsfind no conflict between the two institutions of family and state. They givedue recognition to both institutions and consider them as complementary toone another. This is quite observable in their views and activities in the areaof women’s issues, particularly that of women’s political participation.The aim of this paper is to examine the debate on women’s politicalparticipation between gender feminists and contemporary Islamic revivalists.The paper shall demonstrate how gender feminists prefer women’spolitical participation at the cost of deconstructing gender and family. Thecontemporary Islamic revivalists, however, support and encouragewomen’s political participation-but not at the expense of family and thedistinct identity of woman.The paper is divided into three parts. In the first and second parts, thearguments of gender feminists and contemporary Islamic revivalists onwomen’s political participation shall be analyzed. The third part shall identifyand discuss the differences between them. It is followed by a briefconclusion ...
Allegorical Gender
Authors: Abugideiri Hibba
Published: December 2020

IntroductionIn the last decade, a number of monographs and forays in the field ofMuslim women’s studies have attempted to examine the place of theMuslim woman in the interpretive heritage of Islamic exegetical texts, particulythe hadith tufsir literature from the period of classical Islam.’ The figureof Eve (Hawwa’ in Qur’anic terminology) is an inevitable topic of discussionin all of these scholarly studies, primarily due to her definitive rolein the evolution of gender categories in the Islamic exegetical texts, and,subsequently, how this role has become an indicator of direction for theMuslim woman’s identity. The figure of Eve, in short, as articulated byMuslim classical exegetes, has not ony defined the identity of Muslimwoman; it has also set the parameters for how that identity has been forged.Yet, the traditional view of Eve portrays woman as both physically andmentally inferior to man, as well as spiritually inept. This classical interpretationof Eve has come to be endowed with sacred authority, more so byvirtue of its place in our Islamic past than by any Qur’anic sanction.This is not to imply that all of the medieval classical writings on Islamconstitute a monolithic whole. After all, the sources of the Shari‘ah, namely,the Qur’an and the hadith, historically have been highly adaptable texts:In the case of the Qur’an, its directives are general, broad, and flexiblein most cases; therefore they could be translated into the termsof a specific social reality of each generation of interpreters.Concerning the hadith . . . given the inevitable gap between theactual and the idealized. . . it is not surprising that the Hadith containsan abundance of varied and often contradictory traditions, ...
ISLAM AND THE WEST
Authors: Yamani Mohammed Abdou
Published: December 2020

On the verge of the twenty-first century, the world witnesses anunprecedented instability. Wars and culture conflicts widen the gapbetween the various civilizations and sow the seeds of hatred betweenindividuals. Islam, with its universal precepts of peace and respect for thedignity of humanity, was and still is the most misunderstood religion.When represented in the West, it is always associated with negativeimages that repel Westerners from seeing what Islam really is. Hence thegreat necessity for a peaceful and enlightened dialogue between theworld of Islam and the West.A great deal has been said and written on the subject of Islam andthe West and many conferences have been convened, yet no discernibleprogress has been made in bringing a better understanding or dampeningthe assault on Islam and the Muslims in the western media. PrinceCharles noted in his lecture at Oxford:The depressing fact is that, despite the advances in technologyand mass communications of the second half of the twentiethcentury, despite mass travel, the intermingling of races, the evergrowingreduction- or so we believe- of the mysteries of ourworld, misunderstandings between Islam and the West continue.Indeed, they may be growing.The misrepresentation of Islam, which was limited in the past tothe printed word, has now mushroomed to all forms of mass communication.The entertainment industry, news telecasts, radio shows, themovie industry, children’s television programs, and even commercialson billboards all have become vehicles for propagating the misrepresentationof Islam in the West. Literary fiction and nonfiction remainamong the most insidious vehicles for permanently damaging theimage and concept of Islam in the minds of non-Muslim readers ...
Searching for Solace
Authors: Dhaouadi Mahmoud
Published: December 2020

Searching for Solace consists of two parts, two appendixes, and a sectiondisplaying documents and photos of Yusuf Ali and those with whom he hadcontact.The author devotes the first part to A. Yusuf Ali's life and his service tothe British. He was born in 1872 in Surat, western India, into the Bohra mercantilecommunity, whose members trace their Muslim ancestry to the effonsof preachers sent by the FaJimid caliphs in Cairo. Ali was sent to Bombay forhis education. While there, he attended the new school of the Anjuman-e-Islamand, subsequently, a missionary school named after its founder, John Wilson.He was barely eight or nine years old when he left home. Classes were taughtin both Urdu and English. When he was fifteen, Ali left Wilson's school andentered its senior section, Wilson College, which was affiliated to the Universityof Bombay. Sherif thinks that Ali's education in the Anjuman schoolhelped him resist the cultural onslaught of the dominant British colonizer.Ali arrived in Britain in 1891 to study law at St. John College. He eventuallybecame one of its best students, which predisposed him to work in theIndian Civil Service (ICS), a much prized career. His first appointment, on 23January 1896, was assistant magistrate and collector in Saharanpur, India. Aftera few years in India, he returned to Britain in 1905 for a leave. While there, hemarried Teresa Mary Shalders. Sherif thinks that his marriage to an Englishwoman symbolizes Ali's desire to establish a bridge between India and the West.But this marriage ended in divorce in 1912 following his wife's an exttamaritalaffair. Their children were left in her custody. The affairs of his children are consideredto be one reason that pushed Ali to resign from ICS. But his loyalty tothe British empire remained sttong. When Britain declared war on Germany inAugust 1914, he reaffirmed his commitment: "I am prepared and shall bepleased to volunteer to temporary service, in any capacity in which I can be usefulon account of the War" (p. 32).Ali's strong commitment to the British was based on his belief that Indiacould learn a lot from Britain. But he also had a strong faith in Islam as a religionand civilization that could contribute much to the West. This should havebeen among the strong reasons that motivated him to ttanslate the Qur'an intoEnglish. His Interpretation of the Qur'an has made him famous among Muslimspeakers of English throughout the world. The author underlines a number offactors that helped Ali achieve this great work: "A troubled domestic life, ear ...
The Nearest in Affection
Authors: Hamedi Jalal
Published: December 2020

I fully agree with Stuart Brown that many conflicts between Christiansand Muslims occur because of misunderstandings due to both parties' ignoranceof each others' beliefs and, in some circumstances, the deliberate misrepresentationof both faiths by their members. I also fully agree that peoplehave to work hard within their community and use their abilities to resolve anyconflicts that arise in a very peaceful manner. However, many atrocities thathave been committed throughout the world should not be attributed to religionper se but to those who use religion and abuse the ignorance of their peopleabout religion for worldly gains.As regards this book, the first question that comes to my mind is, forwhom did Brown write this book? I fail to understand how the contents of thisbook can help Muslims or Christians understand each other in a better way.First of all, the book's language is not for the layman. Second, anyone whoreads this book must have an extensive knowledge of Islamic history in orderto grasp the author's points. This book was not written for persons with little orno knowledge of Islam (whether Muslim or Christian). In order for one tounderstand the concept of this book, one has to have knowledge of both religions.A large portion of the book has nothing to do with its title "The Nearestin Affection." Most importantly, I have never read a book that does not providereferences. I could not confirm many statements made by the author. In myopinion, this book will cause more confusion for non-Muslims than it will helpthem to understand Muslims.A few specific statements need to be clarified or corrected. For example,Bmwn explains that "Arabs held that it was Isma'il who lay on the altar." Thecorrect statement is that Muslims believe this, because there are many non ...
ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Authors: Galadanci Bashir S.
Published: December 2020

Allah, the Most High, clearly gives the mantle of leadership toMuslims when He categorically states in the Holy Qur'an:You are the best community ever brought forth ·to mankind.This leadership is in all spheres of life, whether it be economic,political,social, spiritual, moral, or educational. This leadership must bebalanced,exemplary, and in line with Allah's admonition:And We made you a balanced nation so that you may be witnessesover mankind just as the Messenger is a witness over you.(2: 143)The necessity of leadership in the realm of education and knowledgebecomes all the more important because it is a prerequisite to leadership ...
CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL DIMENSIONS OF ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Authors: Haneef Mohamed Aslam Mohamed , Amin Ruzita Mohammad
Published: December 2020

IntroductionIn the 1980s, the understanding and practice of Islam in Malaysiaentered a new phase. The global Islamic resurgence coupled with localMalaysian factors saw numerous important events talcing place. First, in1981 Dr. Mahathir Mohamed became Malaysia's fourth prime minister.Second, in 1982 the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) wastaken over by new leadership that claimed total commitment to settingup an Islamic state and rejecting nationalism and ethnic politics. Also, inthe same year, Anwar Ibrahim, then the president of the MalaysianIslamic Youth Movement (ABIM), joined Dr. Mohamed's government,winning the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) youthmovement's presidency and joining the UMNO-led cabinet as a juniorminister.The Mohamed administration, unlike its predecessors, openly supportedIslamic reform at all levels of society. Islam's role became more thanceremonial; it became a source of values for development, facilitatedthrough the Inculcation of Islamic Values Policy (in 1981) and the estab­lishment of numerous Islamic institutions such as the Islamic Bank ofMalaysia and the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) in1983. Although many see these developments as being merely politicallymotivated to counter the influence of PAS, it is without doubt that Dr.Mohamed was quite consistent with his earlier Views which he expressedin The Malay Dilemma. In his book he described Islam as the “greatestsingle influence on Malay value concepts and ethical codes,” thus beinga positive factor to develop the Malays ...
Islam in West Africa
Authors: Bangura Ahmed Sheikh
Published: December 2020

Islam in West Africa is a collection of nineteen essays written by NehemiaLevtzion between 1963 and 1993. The book is divided into five sections. dealingwith different facets of the history and sociology of Islam in West Africa.The first section focuses on the patterns, characteristics, and agents of thespread of Islam. The author offers an approach to the study of the process of thatIslamization in West Africa that compares pattems of Islamizacion in medievalMali and Songhay to patterns in the Volta basin from the seventeenth to thenineteenth centuries. He also assesses the complex roles played by Africanchiefs and kings and slavery in the spread of Islam.Section two focuses on the subject of lslam and West African politics fromthe medieval period to the early nineteenth century. Levtzion identifies twotrend in African Islam: accommodation and militancy. Islam's early acceptancein West African societies was aided by the fact that Islam was initially seen asa supplement, and not as a substitute, to existing religious systems. Levtzionanalyzes the dynamics of Islam in African states as accommodation gave wayin time to tensions between the ruling authorities and Islamic scholars, callingfor a radical restructuring of the stare according to Islamic ideals. The tensionsbetween the Muslim clerics of Timbuktu and the medieval Songhay rulers. andthe ultimately adversarial relationship between Uthman dan Fodio and the Gobirleadership in eighteenth-century Hausaland, are singled out for sustained analysis ...
Ethnic Conflict in World Politics
Authors: Musa Ibrahim
Published: December 2020

Thi publication comes at a time when unprecedented bloody ethnic conflictnot only dominate the global media and international politics, but also numb theworld's conscience. Bosnia Herzegovina, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, EastTimor, Chechnia, Kashmir, and Kurdistan are some of the famous landmarkswhere entire countries and communities are caught up in the web of ethnic conflict.In other instances, ethnic conflict is gradually becoming a feature ofnational life. It is not at all unfamiliar to hear reports of ethnic conflict in India(Hindu-Muslim riots), Germany (violence against immigrant Turks), France(anti-Arab right-wing nationalist fervor and the Muslim scarf issue), the UnitedStates (Los Angeles riots after the Rodney King trial) and Great Britain (Muslimand government standoff over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses).Gurr and Harff have written a useful book that tries to make sense of the causesof ethnic conflict in different parts of the world. It deals with the issue in thecontext of rapid changes in the world order; the emergence of ethnopoliticalgroups or ethnoclasses; the struggles for either autonomy or pluralism by variousethnic and social groups; the challenges that ethnopolitics poses to the international.legal and political systems; and the effect of this on communitiesdemanding ethnic rights. It also attempts to provide a framework for analysis ...
Islam and Human Rights
Authors: Moussalli Ahmad
Published: December 2020

Professor Mayer' second edition of her Islam and Human Rights, like theftrst edition, aims essentially to study comparatively "selected civil and politicalrights formulations in international law and in actual and proposed rightsschemes purporting to embody Islamic principles, with a critical appraisal of thelatter in terms of international law and Islamic jurisprudence" (p. xi). Whileacknowledging that the title of her book is misleading (because it is not onlyIslam that determines a Muslim's attitude), by the end of the book the readerfinds that the different conservative interpretations of Islam that developed duringthe Middle Ages and are kept within authoritacjve books of jurisprudence are made responsible for Muslims’ dealing with human rights issues. However, theauthor does not elaborate much on the repression of secular regimes, whichadhere neither to international human rights nor to medieval Islamic legal thinking.The question then relates not to Islam as such, but to the nature of politicsthat is being exercised, whether in the name of Islam or secularism.Mayer is emphatic in not attributing repression to Islam and is very keen torecognize the multiplicity of ideas and trends within the Islamic world todaytoward the issues of human rights. But what unifies these different trends is theirheavy reliance on religious principles of Islamic sources-meaning medievalbooks of jurisprudence and not the Qur’an or the Sunnah. For Islam, whateverthat may mean to the author, is used for both political protest against undemocraticregimes and for repression by these regimes. In other words, Islam has notspecified what is equivalent to international human rights and has no properscheme for human rights. But had the author looked at the original texts of theQur’an and the Sunnah, she could have developed a scheme of rights that thencould be compared to the international human rights standards. Again, themedieval Islamic literature is not devoid of a scheme of rights, though they maynot be exactly what she wants to label as a scheme of human rights ...
The Call from Algeria
Authors: Ighemat Arezki
Published: December 2020

The main theme of the book is the study of how "Third Worldism"-as aschool of thought-was born and developed, how it reached its apogee in themid-1970s, and how it disappeared from the international scene in the 1980s,leaving in its place new trends such as liberalization, democratization, andlslamism. The author demonstrates his thesis through an examination ofAlgeria. Robert Malley explains his choice of Algeria for this case study by sayingthat Algeria is one of the "principal surrogates of Third Worldism," addingthat "understanding Algeria's contemporary history is a good way to understandwhat has happened to the formerly progressive Third World." This led theauthor to divide his book into three parts.Part 1, "Gestation," is itself subdivided into two chapters. Chapter 1, "WhenSouth Met North," shows how Third Worldism was born th.rough a process ofdialogue/conflict between the North and the South. Chapter 2, "The Origins ofAlgerian Third Worldism," demonstrates how Third World ideas were born anddeveloped in Algeria, starting from the Ottoman era, th.rough the colonial periodand the war for Algerian independence up to its apogee in the mid-1970s. Inparticular, he emphasizes the roles played by such Algerian personalities asMessali Hadj, the Emir Khaled, Ferhat Abbas, and Ibn Badis, in promoting theideas of freedom, equality, solidarity, and justice, which have been the foundingprinciples of Third Worldism. The author also shows the role that Islam hasalways played in Third Worldist Algeria, notably through what has been called"Socialist Islam."Part 2, "Apogee," includes two chapters. In chapter 1 (the third chapter), "TheMaking of a World," the author starts with the concept of Third World (TiersMonde) as used for the first time in 1952 by French economist Alfred Sauvy,in relation to the "Tiers-Etats" which played an important role in the FrenchRevolution in 1789. Then, the author recaJJs the authentic founding event ofThird Worldism-the Bandung Conference of 1955. At the conference, twentynineAfro-Asian "heads of states, including the Algerian FLN, representing1,300 million people," met to promote a collective self-reliance strategy withinThird World countries; curiously enough, at the end of it, a resolution wasadopted calling for the independence of Algeria. The apogee of Third Worldism,the author recalls, was reached in 1974 when the U.N. General Assemblylaunched its Sixth Special Session on Raw Materials and Development andcalled-under the initiative of Algeria-for a New International EconomicOrder (NIEO) based on the principles of equity, sovereignty, equality, interdependence,common interest, and cooperation among all states, irrespective ofthe economic and social systems ...
Home and Homeland
Authors: Boulby Marion
Published: December 2020

The formation of Jordanian tribal and national identities is the central themeof Layne's Home and Homeland. This study focuses on the Abbadi tribes of theEast Jordan Valley and is based on extensive fieldwork conducted by Laynebetween 1979 and 1988. Layne's central argument is that for the Abbadi and forJordanian society in general, tribal and national identities are in dialogic relationships,deriving meaning from and conditioning one another. She challengesapproaches to Jordanian social and political identity which compartmentalizeindividuals according to rigid Palestinian/East Bank/tribal lines, arguing thatidentities are constantly shifting and being reconstructed through discoursebetween tribespeople, urbanites, the monarchy, bureaucracy, the intelligentsia,Hashemite rulers, and Western social scientists.In the introductory chapter of this work, the author reviews and assessesnotions of social identity. Layne criticizes mosaic and segmentary models ofcollective identity on two grounds: they are essentialist in tending to posit collectiveidentity in terms of social masses and they provide "pigeonhole" modelsof identity which require the presence of an observer. Here she introduces a"posture-oriented" approach to identity which "sees identity as meaning constructedon an ongoing basis through the everyday practices of making a placein the world, that is, adopting a posture in the context of changing circumstancesand uncertain contingencies."Layne devotes the next three chapters to the Abbadi tribes. She outlines significantchanges that occurred in the Jordan Valley in the twentieth century intenns of the tribes' relationship with land and state. Her case study focuses ondomestic space as an expression of how the tribespeople have constructed theirsocial entities in the context of inclusion in the Jordanian nation-state and integrationinto world capitalism. The author emphasizes the strong threads of ...
lbn Sina and Mysticism
Authors: Hawi Sami S.
Published: December 2020

S. Inati, translator. Ibn Sina and Mysticism: Remarks and Admonitions(Al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat), Part Four. London and New York: KeganPaul International, 1996, pp. 114. The book is an Fhglish translation andanalysis of the fourth part of Ibn Sina’s Al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat.This book “announces” a contribution to a specific aspect of Ibn Sina’sthought. Its main focus is the fourth part of his Al-Isharat wa al-Tanbihat(Remarks and Admonitions), which deals in a systematic manner withIslamic Sufism (mysticism), its different modifcations, and the kind ofternpod and transcendental experience that the soul undergoes in itsjourney back to its origin. Dr. S. Inati’s translation is the first into Englishof this part of the Isharat.’ It includes Ibn Sina’s dissertation in which heemploys a form of descriptive psychology and scant aspects of his metaphysicalsystem, as a focal point, to explain the drama of mystical life,its actualities, horizons, and pretensions. The Archimedean point of theIsharat is the experience of the Sufi (mystic) described in a crisp, vivid,and resonant Arabic. There is an excited, dynamic, and luminous simplicityin his style with sparse metaphors and practically no symbols orenigmas to hinder a direct comprehension of the themes discussed therein.Dr. Inati’s position on the Isharat is in harmony with the popularlyheld beliep that it is entirely a symbolic composition (pp. 2-3) whichstands for or represents his othewise clear naturalistic doctrine? I disagreeand shall defend this position later. The best part of this work isdirectly communicated, employing his conceptual categories as a deviceto illuminate the process of mystical gnosis. He must have believed thatan appeal to his rational determinations from his cosmology and theoryof the soul would provide models or “ideated structures” that enhance abetter understanding of mysticism by himself and by his competent der.The Shaykh’s contribution in Isharut lies in his methd of descriptionand inteptation and not in major novel themes about mysticism; the ...
Democracy and Islam in Malek Bennabi's Thought
Authors: Zoubir Yahia H.
Published: December 2020

The growth of political Islam in the 1970s and the possibility ofIslamist parties coming to power in various countries led many scholarsand political analysts to question the compatibility of Islam and democracy.Most studies have concentrated on popular Muslim thinkers whowere considered Islamic activists such as Sayyid Qutb or Abu ‘Ala Al-Maududi, but no attention has been paid to the thought of the remarkableAlgerian Islamic thinker, Malek Bennabi (1905-1973). A French-educatedelectrical engineer, strongly influenced by the ideas of Rashid Ridaand Mohammed Abdu, Bennabi’s most important concern throughout hislife was the adaptation of Islamic values to modernity. Very familiar withwestern civilization-as well as many others-he felt that the Muslimworld failed to rise above its inertia not only because it is incapable ofabsorbing modem technology, but also because its elite borrowed failingideologies, such as Marxism, without attempting to recapture the bestvalues that were produced by Islamic civilization. In other words, theMuslim world failed to reproduce the experience of such successfulnations as Japan. In his view, Japan achieved modernity because “the‘deadly ideas’ [i.e., materialism] of the west did not make it deviate fromits path: It [Japan] remained faithful to its culture, its traditions, and itspast.”’ More importantly, throughout his work Bennabi puts most of theblame for the Muslim world‘s predicament, not on western colonialism,but on the Islamic world itself, a notion that m s against the prevailingopinion in the Arab-lslamic world that argues that western powers aremostly responsible for the backwardness of the Muslim world.After his return to Algeria in 1963, following his long exile in Egypt,Malek Bennabi joined the first Islamist organization in Algeria,Al-Qiym al-Zslamyya (Islamic Values), founded the same year. Theassociation was opposed to the “Marxist” policies of President Ahmed ...
Science, Objectivity and Ethics in Research Methodology
Authors: Arif Nasr
Published: December 2020

Islam recognizes that Truth is infinite and that different methods arenecessary to reach its different aspects. In other words, in the Islamic paradigm,each methodology has its appropriate domain which admits thepossibility of certitude while allowing for openness. Clearly, this is thepolar opposite of the relativist who claims that no method can reachTruth, he denies certitude and dogmatically insists that there is no suchthing as Truth. However, the self-contradictory nahm of the assertionproves it is false.’From the Islamic point of view, no single methodology can make aclaim on all knowledge contained in all fields and at all levels. This isreflected in the traditional formula inserted at the end of scholarly matiseswu’lluhu u’lum “God knows best,” for no scholar can claim to havecome to the end of knowledge, thereby encompassing the infinite Truthin a self-contained system of thought.The Islamic approach to knowledge refuses to accept partial truth as ifit were the whole, and a single methodology as if it were the onlymethodology. Objectivity requires recognizing a partial truth for what itis, and not making monopolistic claims on knowledge with a singlemethodology. This recognition limits the abuse of power by those whowould deny other valid methodologies and “ways of knowing.’”Recognizing the multiplicity of methods requires discernment as totheir correct application in specific domains. This requires wisdom and afully operational intelligence unobscured by passion. In other words, theintelligence or ‘uql must be wholesome4e ethics and justice of theresearcher being a necessary condition for discerning appropriatemethodologies. Muslim scholars, therefore, emphasize the ethical trainingof the scientist to ensure the just selection of methodologies in eachdomain ...
Islam and Peace
Authors: Khan M. A. Muqtedar
Published: December 2020

February 6-7, 1998. Sponsored by NonviolenceInternational and the Mohammad Said Farsi Chair of IslamicPeace at The American University, Washington, DC.At a time when the Muslim world is suffering from an unmitigated epidemicof violence, both from within and from without, Muslim scholarsand peace and social activists got together for two days to examine theIslamic tradition of peace and to explore strategies to once again realizethis Islamic ideal. The conference consisted of over 25 panelists withnearly 75 attendees in the audience. For reasons not divulged, the conferencewas closed and attendance was by invitation only. The hosts,Mubad Awad and Karim Crow of Nonviolence International andAbdul Aziz Said, the Mohammed Said Farsi Professor of Islamic Peaceat American University, were very gracious and managed to put up anexcellent show that was reminiscent of the hey days of Islamic civilization.In a land so far away from the Islamic heartland, for two days, theconference repduced a feeling that once again the world was under themerciful and benign shadow of Islamic traditions.The conference had an unusual format. Only a few of the participantswere invited to present papers on subjects that dealt with the meaning ofpeace in Islam, the barriers to peace in the Muslim world, and the tensionsbetween heightened religious identity and violence. The rest of thepanelists acted as discussants who contributed their own perspectives onthe subject. The audience was allowed extended time to interact with thepanel. The conference consisted of two keynote addresse- One on eachday- by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Professor of Islamic Studies at GeorgeWashington University) and Seyyeda Rabab Sadr Chareffedine(Chaqerson of Imam Al-Sadr Foundation of Lebanon). However,Seyyeda Rabab Chareffedine could not make it, instead her son Raedread her speech.The participants came from the Muslim world as well as the West.Maulana Wahekduddin came from India, Jawadat Sa'id came fromSyria, Laith Kubba from London, Sakeena Yakoobi from Afghanistan,Kamal Hassan from Malaysia, Mokhtar Lamani represented OIC, Su'adal-Hakim from Lebanon, Mehmet Ersoy from Turkey and AmbassadorSadek Sulaiman from Oman. The American contingent consisted of M. ...
Applying the Canon in Islam
Authors: DeLorenzo Yusuf Talal
Published: December 2020

According to Smith, the Ndembu diviner applies a "canon" of twenty-four fixedobjects to a client's situation, first selecting a few of the objects by shaking the basket,interpreting the selected objects according to a range of meanings fixed by pub­lic convention, and matching the meanings to the client's particular condition.Brannon Wheeler, in his Introduction to Applying the Canon in IslamWhen the idolaters inimical to the message of Muhammad, upon him bepeace, attempted to criticize the Qur'an for its use of the lowly and the trivial inits rhetorical repertoire, the following verse was revealed in reply.Behold, God does not disdain to propound a parable of a gnat, or of something evenless than that. Now, as for those who have attained to faith, they know that it is thetruth from their Sustainer whereas those who are bent on denying the truth say,What could God mean by this parable? (2:26)This exchange then became the basis for djscussion and debate among theclassical Arabic rhetoricians on the subject of what might and what might not besuitable for use in similes, metaphors, and other comparative ljterary devices.That this debate shouJd be recalled at the outset of a review of a work dealingwith Hanafi fiqh scholarship might seem slrangely out of place. Yet, once onehas acqurunted oneself with the underlying premise of this work, one cannothelp but recall the classical debate and the verses of Qur'anic scripture so oftencited in regard to it. What lies at the heart of the matter is that comparisonsdrawn between disparate and remote subjects are sometimes delightful andsometimes awful. This, after all, is the stuff of literature. There are some comparisons,however, that are simply offensive.In fact, there are some things people just don't like to see compared at all.Period. Things held near and dear often fall under this category, things like one'sreligion, ethnicity, culture, and so on. This is human nature. And that is dangerousground.Of course, I've oversimplified the matter. ln fact, I'm going in a direction thatwas certrunly not intended by the author for his readership. Wheeler's Applyingthe Canon in Islam is not a work of literature. Likewise, hjs use of models andexamples from other disciplines, like anthropology and the history of religion,is a methodological rather than a literary choice. But the fact remains that thechoice Professor Wheeler has made in this matter is one that will not likely bemet with objectivity by Muslims. If I may venture a comparison of my own, thisis rather akin to inviting a Muslim to partake of a meal, a sumptuous and hearty ...
Globalization
Authors: Pennell John A.
Published: December 2020

Since the 1960s, the world has witnessed an increasing fragmentationof the production process across national boundaries; the emergence oftransnational (as opposed to multinational) corporations; the rise of newsocial movements; and heightened cross-border flows of capital andlabor. As a result of these developments, scholars and practitioners havesought to understand what has brought about these changes. Is globalizationthe culprit, or is it simply a myth? If globalization is a reality, whatdoes it entail and how does it affect the realms of economy, polityy andsociety? In Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson’s Globalization inQuestion: The International Economy and the Possibilities ofGovernance (1 996); James H. Mittelman’s (Ed.) Globalization: CriticalReflections (1 996); and Malcolm Waters’ Globalization (1 999, the struggleto answer these questions and many others is undertaken.’This article critiques the major points presented by each author inregard to the questions asked above. Each author’s views on globalizationas it relates to the economy, the state, and culture will be examined.Furthermore, this article will show that while all three works have theirdrawbacks and shortcomings, it is recommended that each book be readto gain an understanding of the wide range of empirical and theoreticalperspectives on globalization. The conclusion will offer suggestions onareas requiring more in-depth inquiry.What Is Globalization?While Mittelman, as well as Hirst and Thompson, discuss globalizationprimarily in terms of economic processes, Waters sees globalizationas driven by social or cultural processes. According to him, globalizationis a “social process in which the constraints of geography on social andcultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasinglyaware that they are receding” (p. 3). Waters contends that in a truly ...
Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity
Authors: Al Mujahid Sharif
Published: December 2020

Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed is probably the most published author in Pakistan. His pub­lished works, some of which have earned excellent reviews, make a fonnidable list. Asperhaps the best known contemporary Muslim anthropologist, his commitment to the discipline,despite his avocation of being an administrator, is the key to his success. Whatsets Ahmed apart from most Pakistani authors is that his writings are informed by theoreticalconsiderations and anchored in empirical data. He exudes easy familiarity withmethodology, is creative and imaginative in his approach, and can conceptualize.Moreover, he can intellectu.alize problems and issues. As with his earlier writings, his presentwork is marked by these characteristics.

The work is structured around one major theme (Jinnah), and the subthemes of thenature of nationhood, Islam, ethnic and religious identity, the problems of minorities, andthe pervasive and ubiquitous influence of media, race, empire, and other factors. Usingthe methodologies of cultural anthropology, semiotics, and media studies, Ahrnedexplores old ground with new insights and interpretations. What we have here is neitherbiography nor history per se; it is part biography, part history of partition, an explorationof Muslim nationhood and Pakistani statehood, and part the Muslim search for identity, aquest that not only inspired the Muslim struggle for Pakistan during the 1940% but whichis still relevant (e.g., northern Cyprus, Bosnia, Chechnia, Kashmir, Kosovo, Mindanao[the Philippines], Pattani [Thailand], and even for the Turkish minority in Bulgaria).All said and done, it was the critical problem of identity to which Jinnah addressedhimself in the Indian context of the 1930s and 1940s. Thus he represents not onlyPakistan, but also a manifestation of the very search for identity in the present largerMuslim world context. His solution to the problems of marginalization, alienation, andeven exclusion of Muslims from the corridors of power serves as a beacon to Muslimcommunities struggling for identity, self-expression, and self-realization. Hence the relevanceof Jinnah to the modem Muslim world ...
Constructing Identity in “Glocal” Politics
Authors: Khan M. A. Muqtedar
Published: December 2020

This paper seeks to understand the impact of current global politicaland socioeconomic conditions on the construction of identity. I advancean argument based on a two-step logic. First, I challenge the characterizationof current socioeconomic conditions as one of globalization bymarshaling arguments and evidence that strongly suggest that along withglobalization, there are simultaneous processes of localization proliferatingin the world today. I contend that current conditions are indicative ofthings far exceeding the scope of globalization and that they can bedescribed more accurately as ccglocalization.~H’2a ving established thisclaim, I show how the processes of glocalization affect the constructionof Muslim identity.Why do I explore the relationship between glocalization and identityconstruction? Because it is significant. Those conversant with current theoreticaldebates within the discipline of international relations’ are awarethat identity has emerged as a significant explanatory construct in internationalrelations theory in the post-Cold War era.4 In this article, I discussthe emergence of identity as an important concept in world politics.The contemporary field of international relations is defined by threephilosophically distinct research programs? rationalists: constructivists,’and interpretivists.’ The moot issue is essentially a search for the mostimportant variable that can help explain or understand the behavior ofinternational actors and subsequently explain the nature of world politicsin order to minimize war and maximize peace.Rationalists contend that actors are basically rational actors who seekthe maximization of their interests, interests being understood primarilyin material terms and often calculated by utility functions maximizinggiven preferences? Interpretivists include postmodernists, critical theorists,and feminists, all of whom argue that basically the extant worldpolitical praxis or discourses “constitute” international agents and therebydetermine their actions, even as they reproduce world politics by ...
Self and Knowledge
Authors: Khan M. A. Muqtedar
Published: December 2020

The contempomy intellectual revival of Muslim societies proposes aprofound but problematic relationship between identity and epistemology,and between self and knowledge. I propose to elucidate this relationshipand its implications by making a fundamental distinction between self andidentity, and showing how there can be many identities but only one self. Ibegin by inquiring into the meaning of identity symbols such as “Islam” or“Muslim” prior to knowledge. For example, what is the meaning and relationshipbetween identity and knowledge in Islamization of knowledge orIslamic Philosophy? In both types of knowledge, identity is prior to knowledgein an epistemological, as well as an ontological sense.Ontologically we are suggesting that the existence of Islamic psychologyor Islamic philosophy is contingent on the being of an agency such as Islamor Muslims. Epistemologically we are arguing that Islam includes a theoryof knowledge, and Islamic principles constitute paradigmatic values fromwhich Islamic psychology or Islamic philosophy can be derived. Cleqly,the prefix Islamic gives an identity to knowledge. In other words, there arecertain truth claims which derive their legitimacy not because their truth isself-evident or rationally deducible or empirically verifiable, but becausethey satisfy certain criteria which establishes their identity as Islamic.The issue of criteria that determine what constitutes knowledge (epistemology)is indeed crucial. The first thing that needs to be resolved iswhether these criteria are universally intelligible or are functions of culturehdentityand value systems. I would like to posit that in the realms ofsocially meaningful practices it is possible to have relativistic criteria fordetermining the validity of social truths. Knowledge about answers to questionssuch as Is polygyny or homosexuality acceptable? or Are religiousrights more important than economic rights? may be determined based oncriteria that are located within the corpus of tradition and ethos of a givencultural milieu This is accomodation of cultural p l d s m . But in therealms of science and philosophy, reasoning and empirical evidence alone ...
Harvest of Rage
Authors: McCarron Kevin
Published: December 2020

On April 19, 1995, a Ryder truck filled with fenilizer and racing fuel explodedoutside the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 peo­ple and wounding 500 others. Harvest of Rage is an extremely readable and informative attempt to placethis brutal terrorist attack within the context of Christian fundamentalism,right-wing politics, and the dramatic decline in the living standards ofAmerica’s rural population. Joel Dyer is the editor of the Boulder Weekly andhas written many investigative features on the farm crisis and the rise of theradical right. He begins by stating two themes that govern his book the reluctanceof most Americans to recognize the existence of numerous terroristorganizations within America itself and the increasing tendency of thesegroups to use violence to achieve their aims.While the smoke was still clearing from America’s most infamous terroristattack, all eyes looked across the Ocean for answers. The national media beganto explore which faraway terrorists were likely culprits. After all, this wasOklahoma City, the middle of the American heartland, and only the mind ofsome foreign murderer could have conceived such a bloodthirsty plot.But in Oklahoma and around the nation, FBI agents were looking across ourown Oceans of wheat, corn, and barley for their answers. They weren’t raidingthe homes of Palestinian nationals or people born in Imq or Iran. Within hoursof the blast, they were questioning men and women who had attended meetingson how to stop farm foreclosures or on how to return the country to a constitutionalrepublic (p. 1).Harvest of Rage is divided into three parts: “Fertile Ground,” “The Seeds ofInfluence,” and “The Harvest,” all three of which share with the book‘s title anindebtedness to organic metaphors. This reliance on organic imagery is a majorfeature of Dyer’s book; the once-rich lands of the American heartland, heimplies, are now fertile grounds only for terrorism. “Fertile Ground” examinesthe disastrous impact of recent government policies on America’s rural population,the subsequent disenchantment with conventional government, and thesubsequent allure of organizations which respond to this growing dissatisfactionand anger. “The Seeds of Influence” focuses on the nature and beliefs ofthese numerous, primarily right-wing Christian groups which have proliferatedthroughout rural America in recent years, in particular those influenced by“Christian Identity” beliefs. ‘The Harvest” examines the bitter disputes concerningthe meaning of the American Constitution and the increasing relianceof America’s disaffected rural population on common-law courts. Dyer is, ofcourse, a journalist, and the book’s audience is the educated general reader. Attimes, Harvest of Rage is a little too lushly written, but the reader is never leftin doubt as to the seriousness of the author‘s subject: “We will continue to paythe price-one building, one pipe bomb, one bumeddown church at a timeuntilwe come to understand, first, that the nation is holding a loaded gun to its ...
The Pure and Powerful
Authors: Ezzat Heba Raouf
Published: December 2020

While most of the literature on Islam over the past two decades has concentratedon the issue of Islamic resurgence, focusing mainly on the nature andworkings of political movements and militant Islamic groups, this book examinesinstead the beliefs and practices of ordinary Muslim, exploring an intricateweb of social relationships involving the 'ulama, government, Islamic institutions,Sufis, and the people Jiving in the rural and city areas of the country.The analysis demonstrates how in order to further our understanding ofMuslim society, we must gather fieldwork data on the relationship of the commonperson's Islamic practices to those of the Islamic tradition and apply therelevant analytical concepts to examine them. It further challenges the existingethnography of Muslim society which is not only based mainly on limitedempirical data but also conceals issues worthy of study and is, moreover, fullof assumptions oversimplifying the nature of the complex social relationshipsinvolved. For instance, anthropology implicitly assumes that the "native" is anaive and ignorant person who, as a corollary of this, is ignorant of his ownreligion. The consequence of this supposition has been that anthropologistswho have written on the subject have not found it necessary to examine howthe Islamic practices of the common people have been related to the Islamictradition.It was also often assumed that the Islamic knowledge of the 'ulama, and theirstatus as the learned ones, somehow separated them from the lives of the commonpeople. Only recently have researchers started studying the effect of theirfa tawa on society and people, little work having been done before on their livesand influence. This work refutes the assumption that the Islamic text is outsidesociety and that the 'ulama are an entity separate from the people.The author re-examines the view that different societies contain differentversions of Islam and points out that this type of thinking does not of itselfadvance our knowledge of the subject, nor does it offer a viable criteria for ...
Islam and the West
Authors: Braibanti Ralph
Published: December 2020

This article systematically presents an alternate scenario to the themethat Islam and the West are heading toward an inevitable clash of civilizations.It explores the common mod values shared by Christians andMuslims and identifies many areas where both Islam and the Westwould benefit if they made common cause. The paper proceeds todeconstruct some of the imagined differences between Islam and theWest and proceed.. to examine the emerging reconciliation, mutualunderstanding, and cooperation between the Vatican and variousMuslim groups and governments. The author laments the decline ofmorality and virtue globally. He insists that the upsurge of spiritualityand piety in contemporary Muslim societies may benefit not only theWest but all of humanity. If Muslim fervor and Christian order canmake common cause, it can stem the moral and spiritual decline of civilization.