bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Arguing the Just War in Islam
Authors: Rizvi Sajjad H.
Published: October 2020

Jihad has become a normal English word, a term to describe irrational violence,“holy war,” terrorism, and the generally rather nasty things that “badMuslims do.” John Kelsay, in this wonderfully succinct and accessible work,wants to argue that the real issue in discussing jihad is to make sense of legitimateviolence and how it may be deployed, and hence to locate the discoursewithin an existing discussion about just war theory. I am not generally sympatheticto the use of the comparable frame of just war theory because, as ajuridical and ethical concept it is rather limited, arising as it does out of a particularpolitico-theological context of medieval Catholicism. Having saidthat, any serious attempt to nuance jihad’s meaning in the contemporaryworld, to contextualize the discourse adequately and historically, and to posedifficult questions to those who appropriate it on the basis of a claim towardestablishing justice and acting in a just cause is welcome.

Kelsay is interested in the contemporary debate about the nature ofpolitical ethics among Muslims. His book is not just an attempt to “whitewash”Muslims and their theologies from any culpability in the acts and ideologiesof the likes of al-Qaeda. While he does interrogate the theologicaland juridical reasoning of such terrorists, what he wants to show is not onlytheir distance from historically grounded narratives of jihad, but alsohow their reasoning may be shared. It is indeed foolish to argue that jihadiideology has nothing to do with reasoning about jihad as such; it is counterintuitiveand unhelpful. He also wants to indicate how the language of justwar is mutually supportive between the rhetoric of the “war on terror” andal-Qaeda’s war on the “Zionist-Crusaders” (which is, in theological terms,the subject of a forthcoming book by Alia Brahimi to be published by CambridgeUniversity Press) ...
Leaderless Jihad
Authors: Ami Naama Ben
Published: October 2020

Acts of terrorism are committed the world over, driven by religious, political,social, and personal motives. But what causes someone to become a terrorist?Are there profiles that fit them? What can be done to counter terrorism?These and other questions are addressed by Marc Sageman in his book,although it focuses only on what he calls “Global Islamic terrorism.”In his “Preface,” Sageman presents the problem of global terrorism andlays out the topics that each chapter will analyze. In the “Introduction,” heprofiles the terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the son of MuslimPakistani parents who had emigrated to England. We learn of his childhoodand how he grew up, his personality traits, education, and activities. Hisstory is told through his parents, his childhood friends, fellow prisoners, andpeople whom he had kidnapped. These stories portray an ambivalent figure,one who is highly intelligent, polite, and popular on the one hand, yet violent,cold-blooded, and cruel on the other ...
Israelism
Authors: Ami Naama Ben , Ami Naama Ben
Published: October 2020

The author is an Arab from Jordan who stayed in Israel for a time, learnedHebrew, and became acquainted with the country. As a result, he was able toexamine the Middle East conflict and its dynamics from a relatively objectivepoint of view, as demonstrated in his Israelism. The book consists of fivechapters, preceded by an acknowledgments section and an introduction, andfollowed by an epilogue, a bibliography, and an index. Each chapter has anintroduction and a conclusion, and ends with notes providing references andclarifications. The first four chapters begin with a quote from one or moreprominent personalities (e.g., David Ben-Gurion, Nasser, and Sayyid Qutb).In the “Introduction,” Barari explains what prompted him to write thisbook and provides background information on the Middle East problem; theopinions and approaches of Arab scholars toward Israel; how the outcomeof the Six Day War affected scholarly writing about Israel in, for example,Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon; and the obstacles that prevent objective writingabout Israel. The “Introduction” ends with an explanation of the book’saims and structure ...
The Path to Virtue
Authors: Tatar Burhanettin
Published: October 2020

Modern hermeneutics, specifically H.-G. Gadamer’s hermeneutics, askswhat kind of meaningful horizon a text opens to us and what happens to uswhen we interpret and understand that particular horizon. The same questionsarise when we read Yasien Mohamed’s The Path to Virtue, a scholarlyorganized text full of fine historical and philosophical analyses. Not onlydoes this book meet internationally accepted research standards, but it alsodeserves to be a missing link between the philosophical ethical thought ofmedieval Islamic culture and our own modern ethical culture.When we read The Path to Virtue, we quickly find ourselves within theso-called “hermeneutical circle” as regards the text’s major topic. This circlereveals itself in two distinct viewpoints: the structure and the horizon ofthe text. As regards its structure, Mohamed’s text discloses both the mostgeneral aspects of al-Isfahani’s ethical thought and the critical detailedcorners of his way of thinking. Hence he is able to show us how the relationshipbetween general aspects of al-Isfahani’s thought fulfills itself in alogically coherent manner with the particularities of the same thought. Hedoes so not only in terms of referring to the internal relations between generaland particular aspects of al-Isfahani’s thought, but also by disclosing theexternal references of al-Isfahani’s thought, among them Plato, Aristotle,basic Islamic texts like the Qur’an and the hadith literature, Miskawayh, andothers. When we focus on the text’s structure, we soon find ourselves assilent participants of a grand discussion on character ethics among Plato,Aristotle, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Miskawayh, the Ikhwan al-Safa, al-Isfahani,al-Ghazali, and others ...
Psychoanalysis and the Challenge of Islam
Authors: Mozafari Arshavez
Published: October 2020

As a particular outgrowth of modernity, Islamism has garnered the attentionof a great many theorists. In Psychoanalysis and the Challenge ofIslam, Fethi Benslama, a psychoanalyst and professor, elaborates upon theprecise undergirding apparatus that sustains the logic of Islamism as arecently conceived phenomenon. The book attempts to clearly define thelogical progression of Islamism since its point of conception. This point islocated in the colonial era, when “traditional” Islam was put under theintense strain of a developed European modernity. The violent break, alongwith all the baggage that was incapable of being properly allocated andrefined by “what Freud called the ‘cultural work’ (Kulturarbeit)” (p. ix),produced an explosive cocktail that has and continues to haunt the projectof modernity. Through the use of a unique theoretical style called deconstructionistpsychoanalysis, Banslama’s project seeks to account for thispervasive phenomenon.“Islam has never been a major concern for me or my generation. It wasbecause Islam began to take an interest in us that I decided to take an interestin it” (p. 1). This is the way Benslama begins the first section of his book.It marks not only his secular disposition but also the aggressivity associatedwith the burgeoning Islamist political movements. Islamism is strictly conceptualizedas a phenomenon that differs from fundamentalism. It has thecapacity to operate through the decomposition of traditionalism – one occurrence associated with this downfall is the “catastrophic collapse of [traditional]language” (p. 4) ...
After Khomeini
Authors: Hojati Afshin
Published: October 2020

Drawing on the sociology of revolution, Arjomand’s book is set onexplaining the political developments of Iran and its rollercoaster-likedomestic and foreign policy realities during the past two decades. Accordingto the author, the greatest misconception about post-revolutionary Iran isthe notion that the revolution ended with the establishment of a “Brintonian”Thermidor through the rise to power of the pragmatist presidentHashemi-Rafsanjani (1989-97) and/or the reformist president Khatami(1997-2005). In contrast, “this book argues that the Islamic revolution didnot end with Khomeini’s death and that there was no return to ‘normalcy’the day after. Massive revolutionary violence abated while the revolutioncontinued” (p. 5) ...
On Spirituality
Authors: Tourage Mahdi
Published: October 2020

This collection of essays, presented at a private Shi`a-Mennonite conferenceheld at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario (27-30 May2007), are loosely organized around the theme of “spirituality.” The contributorsare Mennonite and invited Iranian participants from the most violentcenter of informal power in Iran (known for its extra-judicial execution oftheir opponents and the persecution of sexual/religious minorities like homosexualsand Baha`is): the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute(IKERI).1 I will confine my review mostly to the Iranian participants’ essaysbecause I am not qualified to comment on the Mennonite’s essays, as theypertain to Christian theology ...
Sylva Frisk, Submitting to God
Authors: Ababneh Sara
Published: October 2020

is an interesting and informative study of urban Malay women who haveturned to Islam to regulate their daily lives. While the book focuses onMuslim women, it is written for a broader audience not necessarily familiarwith Islam—namely, anthropologists and feminists. Following SabaMahmoud1 and other recent scholarship on pious Muslim women, Friskargues for the necessity of acknowledging agency not only when it resistsor reinforces patriarchy. Much of feminist writing has recognized women’sagency only when women have actively resisted patriarchy. Otherwise,women are seen as passive victims. Frisk critiques this dichotomous understandingof agency.The aim of Submitting to God is thus to treat pious women as agentsand to understand the meaning of what they do as defined by the womenthemselves (5). Instead of focusing on the effects of Islamization on women’slives, the book’s goal is to account for women’s Islamization—that is,their religiosity and their spiritual development (15). Frisk conducted herfieldwork from 1995 to the present in mosques in Kuala Lumpur’s affluent ...
Daniel W. Brown A New Introduction to Islam, 2nd ed.
Authors: Parray Tauseef Ahmad
Published: October 2020

A New Introduction to Islam is an excellent undergraduate textbook presentinga thorough history of Islam. It introduces students to the historyand development of Islamic studies as a discipline—showing how Islamicstudies has shaped our understanding of Islam—and it also examineshow the vibrant religious culture of the Near East produced a unique andbrilliant intellectual and religious tradition spanning the fields of Islamiclaw, theology, philosophy, and mysticism. In addition, it shows the waysin which the Islamic tradition has enriched the world, and in turn, how ithas been enriched by interaction with other civilizations. And against thebackground of social and cultural contexts that extend from North Africato South and Southeast Asia, it also considers the opportunities and challengesfacing Muslims today and provides a new and illuminating perspectiveof the development of Muslim beliefs and practices ...
Being Young and Muslim
Authors: Shehadeh Hala
Published: October 2020

Being Young and Muslim is a compilation of narratives that address thecultural politics of Muslim youth from multiple perspectives—youthfullifestyles, rebellion, and accommodations signify the “intricate relationshipbetween the young, youth identities and Islam” (19). The volume isdivided into five parts. Each part contains several chapters and contextualizesan aspect associated with being young and Muslim. Most of the chaptersin this volume were produced for two international workshops on the“Making of the Muslim Youth” that were presented in Leiden in February2005 and in The Hague in October 2006 (v). In the first chapter “Introduction:Being Young and Muslim in Neoliberal Times,” Linda Herrera andAsef Bayat present the focal points to be addressed throughout the volume:the approaches and directions Muslim youth will undertake in an era with“multiple constraints and opportunities of being young, Muslim, marginalized,and subjects of social control” (11) ...
The Butterfly Mosque
Authors: Rashid Hussein
Published: October 2020

Autobiography, as it relates to Muslims and to America, can be a difficultgenre in which to write. There are numerous works that have appearedsince 2001 that cover the spectrum from an anti-Islamic polemic to anapologia. G. Willow Wilson, author of the Butterfly Mosque, managesto avoid the extremes and writes a meaningful memoir that reflects thebeauty and ugliness of being a Muslim and an American. The difficultyin reviewing a memoir is that a sequential summary does not do it justice.Instead, a thematic approach seems to make more sense. For example,the subtitle of the book, “An American Woman’s Journey to Love andIslam,” could as easily read “An American Woman’s Journey to the Loveof Islam.” The work is highly personal, and it is an exploration of the loveaffair she had and was having with this phenomenon called “Islam.” ...
Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shi‘ism
Authors: Szanto Edith
Published: October 2020

In her book, Ingvild Flaskerud once and for all dispels the idea that Islamlacks and opposes all forms of visual art. Hers is a pioneering work, whichguides her readers through Twelver Shi‘i visual culture in Iran. She framesher discussion by drawing on semiotic theory, particularly Charles SandersPeirce and Roland Barthes, in order to show both the interpretive possibilitiesinherent in visual piety and the ways in which meaning is fixed.Flaskerud is uniquely positioned for writing about visual piety, as she hasalready produced an artistic visual film (“Standard Bearers of Hussein:Women Commemorating Karbala,” 2003) on Shi‘i women’s practices inIran. Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shi‘ism is a Geertzian “thick description”(Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures) composed of three parts,each of which is followed by black-and-white pictures analyzed in thatpart. The first two parts address two iconographic themes respectively. Thethird discusses the usage of pious art in votive practices and ritual spaces ...
Jihad in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Hamid Sadek
Published: October 2020

The explosion of books and reports on violent Muslim extremism by Western“terrorologists” and security institutes over the last ten years, should beread with caution for their tendency to be ideologically and politically loaded.However, Jihad in Saudi Arabia represents the more impartial, rigorousend of the spectrum. Based upon the PhD of a fellow of the Norwegian DefenseResearch Establishment, this work stands out as a significant contributionto understanding transnational jihadist networks and their manifestationin Saudi Arabia in the mid-2000s. The book sheds light on some of thehidden dimensions of Al-Qaida’s presence in a place not usually connectedwith violent radicalization. It addresses questions such as: “Why Saudi Arabiahas apparently produced so many militants?” “Has its government supportedviolent groups?” “How strong a foothold do they have in the kingdom?”“And why didn’t Bin Laden launch a campaign there before 2003?” ...
The Stigma of Extremism on Muslims
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

It is a fact that the majority of Muslims are peace-loving citizens, whodo not share or condone the motives, objectives, and activities of the violentminority. The former may not even hesitate to declare the latter as“not Muslims” due to their activities that are boldly antithetical to basicIslamic teachings and worldview. That would be, understandably, a religiopoliticalperspective. But theologically ‒ it is not advisable, nor indeed,effectual to consider not as Muslim, anyone who truly believes in onenessof God, commits himself to following Prophet Muḥammad (ṢAAS)and actually performs the fundamentals of Islam, deviation and perversionnotwithstanding. On the other hand, those extremist minority ‒ a fractionof the 7 percent of the global Muslim population considered to be“politically radicalized,” including sympathizers1 ‒ will surely considertheir majority detractors not “true and sincere” Muslims. They certainlydon’t believe the majority has the religious and moral authority over them.Unfortunately, from this perspective, the extremists remain, admittedly,part and parcel of Muslim fold ‒ regardless of whether or not the majoritywill accept it. And from this perspective of identity and actions thatI will contend that not only are the extremists an inescapable nuisance,they remain a regrettable stigma that effects the larger Muslim majority ...
Black Mecca
Authors: Sodiq Yushau
Published: October 2020

Black Mecca undoubtedly is a new contribution to the literature on Islamin America. It contributes to a better understanding of AfricanMuslim immigrants in the United States. Only a few books have beenpublished on African immigrants in the United States, and Black Meccadefinitely adds a new dimension to the discussions of African immigrantroles in the United States and to Islamic thought in general.This work will allow readers to recognize that West African Muslimsare not just earning incomeh in the United States; they are actually contributingto the development of Harlem in New York. Often times, many immigrantswould reside in low-class residences until they become affluent, then they would leave the area. These African Muslims consider Harlemtheir home; they have turned it into a thriving business area; they residethere and develop it by building schools and mosques for their community ...
I Speak for Myself
Authors: Rashid Hussein
Published: October 2020

The anthology, I Speak for Myself, is the first in a series of books that allowMuslims to write about themselves. This volume is about Americanwomen describing their experiences of being a Muslima ‒ with one from aman, and further volumes in the series will focus on the American Muslimmale perspective and voices from the Arab Spring. Like most anthologies,the submissions are uneven, and with forty essays, there are more than afew poor essays. The editors indicate that they wanted the authors to writeessays that reflected their comfortable relationship to country and faith, butotherwise they left the theme open.Although the editors seem to have hoped for a diverse outpouring ofessays, and there is a great deal of diversity, there are certain commonthemes. Most notably were a series of essays by women who only talkedabout the hijab, as though that was their identity. These essays were fairlysimilar to one another, which may be the result of the short length of thesepieces. There is value in keeping the contributions brief, as stories movealong and ideas develop quickly, but is a problem when several peoplewrite on the same issue.Despite this general criticism, this book is a natural fit for any courseon Islam in America, gender and religion, or even as an introduction toIslam course. There are some absolutely delightful and fascinating essaysin this collection. The strongest ones dealt with the implicit nature of beingMuslim and American. Rather than discussing either or both identifications,authors simply talked about their lives. Following are several examplesof these types of essays ...
Babylon of Egypt
Authors: Gaber Tammy
Published: October 2020

Cairo is an overwhelming, intense, and unforgettable city that imprints immediatelyupon anyone who has visited or lived there. The city itself is aresult of the impressions and marks left by two millennia of settlements,conquests, and immigration. Three books recently published cover differentlayers of this city, and within each layer are multiples of layers of historyimpressing on each other and revealing a most complex and intertwinedamalgam of histories evidenced in the architecture extant today. All three books not only center around works from Cairo, but the contributorsand authors have all lived in this city of a “thousand minarets”for certain periods of time. Just as Nagib Mahfouz’s works bring to life themultifaceted city in novel form, creating characters that are never forgotten,so to do these books begin to bring to life and to communicate someof the fantastic histories that can be read from the buildings that mark theskyline and can never be forgotten.
The Levant Reconciling a Century of Contradictions
Authors: Hashem Mazen
Published: October 2020

Although the revolution in Syria is unfolding within the modern politicalboundaries of this country, its proper understanding is not attainablewithout putting it in a larger historical context, which includes the adjacentgeographical areas of the Levant, Bilad al-Sham. Without such a broaderview, the appreciation of the complexity of the Syrian case is not possible,nor accounting for its consequences and anticipating its future.Probably, in no case, is the mess of colonial legacy more visible than itis in Syria. The pathway of this legacy marks the future development of thecountry, and its implications are facing the revolution today with arduouschallenges. The complexity of the Syria case is not limited to the politicaldimension; it is also complex at the meta-cultural level. Furthermore, thechange in Syria has consequences for the region as whole ‒ it will institutionalizethe Arab Spring as an unavoidable political force, and it will energizethe process of cultural reformation and the recovery of a civilizationalMuslim identity ...
Naẓarīyat al-Mukhāṭarah fī al-Iqtiṣād al-Islāmī
Authors: Cebeci Ismail
Published: October 2020

“Risk” is one of the key concepts in understanding modern Islamic economics.Its importance does not only stem from its place in the classicalfiqh, but also from its close relation to discussions in modern Islamic financeabout permissible ḥalāl (gain) and ribā (usury). Risk has been seenas one of the key differences between ribā and non-ribā transactions andconventional finance and Islamic finance mechanisms. While modern economicsaims to eliminate the risk entirely, principles of Islamic economicsaim to establish a balance among parties through risk sharing. Becausegaining money from money is ḥarām, the risk issue is more critical in debt-based finance. In this context, it’s a controversial issue among Islamic finance scholars that Islamic banks take several precautions to completelyeliminate the risk from their transactions – although Islamic finance isknown as a profit-loss-sharing system.Adnan ‘Uwaidah’s book Risk Theory in Islamic Economics, which isbased on his doctoral dissertation, aims at theorizing risk in a legal andeconomic framework and explaining its functions. The book, which claimsto be the first academic book about risk from the Islamic legal point ofview, consists of an introduction and six main chapters. The author has a PhD from the Department of Islamic Economics and Islamic Banking atYarmouk University in Jordan, which is one of the leading institutions in this field. He shows his mastery of the topic through his academic approachto the issue, use of legal terminology, and a vast bibliography that includesclassical and modern resources ...
Sayyid Qutb on the Qur’an’s Artistic and Activist Dimensions
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Sayyid Qutb’s reputation as one of the finest Muslim writers of all time isbased on the quality of his writings in terms of their eloquence and ideas. Forexample, his F¥ ~ilOEl al-Qur’OEn is one of the best, captivating, and most widelyread Qur’anic commentaries in the Middle East. But in the West his reputationas a writer has been effectively eclipsed mainly because of political considerations.Here, he is generally portrayed as the leading ideologue for the MuslimBrotherhood or al-Qaeda. Rather than perpetuate this negative impression,this editorial seeks to highlight the literary and artistic dimensions of his ~ilOEl.
Cosmopolitans and Heretics
Authors: Browers Michaelle
Published: October 2020

It is a rare treat to find an English-language work of intellectual history by ascholar who is proficient in Arabic, Indonesian, and French – and thus capableof bringing together the Indonesian Islamicist Nurcholish Madjid (1939-2005), the Egyptian philosopher Hasan Hanafi (1935-), and the French-Algerian Islamicist Mohamed Arkoun (1928-2010). Carool Kersten offersthe first systematic treatment in English of these three figures’ thought andconvincing arguments for why they not only deserve consideration together,but also why, when taken together, they represent a significant developmentin Islamic thought.Kersten argues that these three Islamic thinkers form part of “the first generationof Muslim thinkers reaching intellectual maturity in the postcolonialage” and are “representative of a new type of Muslim intellectual emergingin the 1960s” (p. xiv). Despite the enthusiastic language he associates withthese “pioneers” and “trailblazers” (p. xvi), the author wisely takes care todraw attention to what these figures owe to earlier scholars and thinkers atmany points. He also avoids overstated claims about how they either exemplifyor hold great influence over their generation as a whole ...
The Levant
Authors: Hashem Mazen
Published: October 2020

Although the revolution in Syria is unfolding within the country’smodern political borders, what is going on can only be understoodby placing it in a larger historical context, which includes the adjacentgeographical areas of Bilad al-Sham. Without such abroader view, the complexity of Syria’s current reality can neitherbe appreciated, nor can its consequences be accounted for and itsfuture anticipated.Probably in no country is the mess of a land’s colonial legacymore visible than it is in Syria. This legacy’s pathway marks thecountry’s future development, and its implications are facing therevolution today with arduous challenges. The resulting complexityextends beyond the political dimension, for a similar level ofcomplexity exists at the meta-cultural level as well. Furthermore,the change in Syria has regional consequences: It will institutionalizethe Arab revolution as an unavoidable political force and energizethe process of cultural reformation and the recovery of acivilizational Muslim identity.This essay first examines the region’s historical background andthe consequences of the Ottoman order’s disintegration. Second,it analyzes the national identity dilemmas faced by the Arab worldafter colonialism, how non-Muslims reacted to them, and the twopolitical paths that those countries pursued. Third, the essay discussesthe formation of grievances among Syrian minorities in particular. Fourth, the politics of the post-independence era arepresented, highlighting the promise of the development uponwhich Syria was embarking. The essay then investigates the politicsand social conditions that led to a dictatorship of three overlappingtypes: ideological left, sectarian, and neoliberal. Beforefocusing on the ongoing revolution, a note on Islamic activism ispresented due to the fact that Islamic meanings have always beenthe impetus propelling the people’s resistance. The revolutionaryrealities on the ground are then elaborated upon, emphasizing howthe regime’s extreme violence against peaceful protest intersectswith historical social alignments. Lastly, the essay discusses thegeopolitical context in which the Syrian revolution is taking place,which at once makes it hard to prevail and makes any of its outcomeshighly consequential for the whole region.
Interview with Zaleha Kamaruddin
Authors: Yousif Ahmad
Published: October 2020

In Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the Muslim world, academicinstitutions – particularly in the humanities and social sciences –often ignore the potential leadership role of women. This is especiallyevident in Islamic studies, where women play a minor rolein research, teaching, and course management. Generally speakingunlike in the Middle East, many public and private SoutheastAsian schools of higher learning, as well as “Islamic” schools,feature female Muslim scholars in their administrational structures.Indonesia boasts several woman serving as leaders in Islamiceducational organizations, and Masnon Ibrahim is thecurrent rector of Brunei’s Seri Begawan Religious Teachers UniversityCollege. On the international level, Zaleha Kamaruddin,the recently appointed rector of the International Islamic UniversityMalaysia (IIUM), remains the world’s first and only femalerector of an Islamic institution of higher learning.This short article seeks to address her feelings, style, and role, aswell the challenges in managing an international Islamic institution.It is based on her written answers to written questions, a recentunstructured interview, and personal contact gained whileworking together as administrators at IIUM during the 1990s.
Suicide of a Superpower
Authors: Sabet Amr
Published: October 2020

Both a book of lamentation about the presumably collapsing American wayof life and a populist right-wing anti-establishment agenda of ethno-nationalistxenophobia, euphemistically referred to as “ethno-pluralism,” author PatrickBuchanan presents an alarmist message of doom and gloom about the fate ofhis country. He adopts this “master frame,” which allows him and the currenthe represents to mobilize anti-immigrant sentiments as well as politicalprotest in ways that limit vulnerabilities to accusations of racism or of beingantidemocratic (Rydgren 2004).1Buchanan starts his book by asserting that this generation of Americansis witnessing “one of the most stunning declines of a great power in the historyof the world” (p. 10). His thesis is that “America is disintegrating” and thatthe “centrifugal forces pulling [it] apart are growing inexorably. What onceunited us is dissolving. And this is true of Western civilization” (p. 7; my emphasis).The explanation he offers for this is framed within the context of theUnited States losing its Christian character, implying that non-Christians donot belong there; the breakdown of society’s moral, cultural, and social fabric,read as opposition to multiculturalism as well as to liberal values and policies;and the dying of the people who created this nation, which is now being overwhelmedby a rapidly increasing flow of immigrants and members of otherraces and ethnicities. Having rung the alarm, whether true or false, Buchananproceeds in the following eleven chapters to make his case, addressing sensitiveissues of religion, race and ethnicity, demography, multiculturalism, expansivegovernment, values of equality, and foreign relations – all of whichhe has something to say about in what appears to be some kind of an ideologicaltract ...
The Burdah as a Sufi and Healing Document
Authors: Ibrahim Mohammad Saani
Published: October 2020

The author of this article proposes that the Burdah of al-Busiri isa multi-thematic poetical work with multi-functional uses. It isfirst and foremost a book of eulogies to Prophet Mohammad, extendinginto panegyric. But it also serves as a source of blessingto Sufi oriented-Muslims, for whom its recitation confers spiritualand physical therapeutic benefits. In addition, the Burdah can beread as a versed historical narrative of the life of the Prophet, althoughin a highly stylized form. And for others, it serves as asourcebook of Sufi doctrinal beliefs. The scholar must bear inmind its plural significance when treating the work under any ofthe above categories, as these intersect at many levels.
The Authority of the Sunnah According to the Qur’anic Text
Authors: Cleaver Ahmad Eldridge
Published: October 2020

This study analyzes what the Qur’an ascribes to the Sunnah ofMuhammad and highlights the existence of indicators within theQur’anic text as to the Sunnah’s significance, role, and legal authority.Insight into its place and role is researched according tothe Qur’an, and answers are sought as to its significance in Islamiclaw and thought. The answers presented are the onesfound in the Qur’anic discourse circulating around Muhammad.The analysis, which examines thirty-five Qur’anic verses thatmention Muhammad, is organized according to several themes,among them obedience to God and to Muhammad and the latter’sjudicial role.
Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran
Authors: Marie Farzana
Published: October 2020

Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran represents a significant momentin artistic resurrection and re-vision. It examines the life and work of a discardedIranian female popular artist known as Shahrzad (b. 1946). Throughcritical attention previously denied to Shahrzad, Talattof honors her creativecontributions and, by extension, recognizes and honors artists like her whohave been marginalized for the last several decades, their art labeled as“shameful” or “profane” due to their unacceptable sexual roles as dancers,singers, and actresses. Through the lens of her life and legacy, he argues thattrue modernity can never fully emerge without space for the discussion ofsexuality – especially that of women.The author takes a risk in offering critical analysis of this artist’s life andwork, for Shahrazad is recognized neither in the canon, nor by the giants ofcommitted literature in Iran, the dominant style when she was writing in the1970s. While detailing and noting the significance of her accomplishments,he asks why she has not been so recognized and locates that question along aline of inquiry as regards Iran’s “missing” modernity. He asks why a nationwith such a long tradition of the scientific and socio-cultural accomplishmentsseems suddenly stuck in a medieval mindset, selectively applying modernityin such a way that it serves only to fortify the establishment in its extremepolicies – through such “modern” means as technology ...
Hallaq’s Challenge
Authors: Anjum Ovamir
Published: October 2020

Wael Hallaq, a leading western scholar of Islamic law, throws

down the gauntlet in this daring book, challenging not only Orientalist

distortions of Islam but also turning the tables on modernity,

the ubiquitous and ineluctable paradigm that informs nearly all

thinking, Muslim and non-Muslim, about the Shari‘ah. An Islamic

state is impossible, Hallaq contends, not because the Shari‘ah is

undesirable, but because the modern state is inherently contradictory

to Islam’s metaphysics as well as its historical manifestation

as the Shari‘ah. Today’s economic and environmental cataclysms

make it urgent, he insists, to recover the moral universe of the

Shari‘ah and to do so in conversation with other erstwhile and

growing western critiques of modernity.
The Martin Luther of Islam?
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Although I did not study under Isma’il al-Faruqi (d. 1986) directly as didscholars like John Esposito and many others, I have, nonetheless, had thepleasure of teaching and introducing my students to his person and ideas forthe past decade. His former students have convened two conferences (London[2010] and Kuala Lumpur [2013]) to celebrate his intellectual contribution,from which came a book and a special issue of this journal. Could all of thisbe sentimental hero worship, or a life worthy of sincere celebration and emulation?Studying his intellectual publications and tracing his academic andsocial activities make it abundantly clear that he was unique and committedto improving the lot of Islam and Muslims.John Esposito and John Voll narrate in their Makers of ContemporaryIslam a brief story: “An old Christian acquaintance of al-Faruqi once commentedthat al-Faruqi believed that Islam was in need of reformation and, hebelieved, al-Faruqi aspired to be its Luther.”1 Even though this was a sincereassessment, Esposito and Voll speculate that al-Faruqi would have preferredthe word mujāhid. Esposito prefers to use this term to describe al-Faruqi, ashe did in his “Memoirs of a Scholar and a Mujahid.”2 Although al-Faruqinever referred to himself in this way, portraying him as Islam’s Martin Lutherdoes have some significance to contemporary Islam and Islamic thought.Luther appeared on the Christian intellectual and religious scene duringthe 1500s, a time when Christian theology and thought were perceived as profoundlycorrupt. There were indulgences, essentially “get out of purgatoryfree” cards, that only the rich and powerful could afford. Championed bypopes and princes, this practice undermined the Christian’s role of personalresponsibility and Jesus’ message (peace be upon him).Church leaders sought to monopolize religious knowledge by prohibitingtranslations of the Bible and to stifle the pursuit of knowledge by publishingtheir Index of Forbidden Books (from 1559 to 1966, when Pope Paul VI abolishedit). The church hierarchy also began teaching that following the Bible ...
Towards an Islamic Enlightenment
Authors: Tee Caroline
Published: October 2020

M. Hakan Yavuz was one of the early contributors to the literature on theGülen movement, co-editing a major volume on the subject with John Espositoin 2003 (Hakan Yavuz and John Esposito, Turkish Islam and the SecularState: The Gülen Movement [Syracuse University Press: 2003]). In the interveningdecade the movement has grown considerably in size and influenceboth within Turkey and beyond, and has emerged as a major source of interestand apparently perennial controversy. Towards an Islamic Enlightenment istherefore a timely if ambitious book, for it sets out to provide a comprehensiveaccount of the movement. The author opens with an analysis of FethullahGülen’s theological teachings and then explores the movement’s structure andorganization, as well as its emergence and development in the context of Turkishsocial, religious, and political history. No other scholar has attempted sucha holistic analysis, for others tend to focus on just one of its many areas of influence,namely, education (Bekim Agai, Zwischen Netzwerk und Diskurs -Das Bildungsnetzwerk um Fethullah Gülen (geb. 1938): Die flexible Umsetzungmodernen islamischen Gedankengutes [EB-Verlag, 2004]), politics(Berna Turam, Between Islam and the State: The Politics of Engagement[Stanford University Press: 2007]), and economic enterprise (Joshua D. Hendrick,Gülen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World[New York Press: 2013]).Yavuz lays out his thesis of “Islamic Enlightenment” in the introductionby drawing a paradigmatic distinction between the Muslim intellectual tradition’sliteralist/fundamentalists and modernist/reformists. He acknowledgesthe impact of Enlightenment ideas on the major thinkers in the latter category,but notes that those ideas have historically remained the preserve of the Muslimelite and never “penetrated the masses” (p. 6). According to Yavuz, the ...
Tripping with Allah
Authors: Schubel Vernon James
Published: October 2020

I should begin by confessing that I have been a fan of Michael MuhammadKnight’s work ever since I first read his novel, The Taqwacores, and his travelmemoir, Blue-Eyed Devi: A Road Odyssey through Islamic America, back in2007. I have since read all of his books and have taught several of them in mycourses on contemporary Islam and Islam in North America. I regularly teachhis account of the hajj from Journey to the End of Islam in my first-year “Introductionto Religion” course. I consider his book on the Five-Percent Nation,The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip Hop, and the Gods of New York, to be one ofthe finest ethnographies of a religious community ever penned. I was thereforepleased to find I have a blurb on the back of Tripping with Allah in which Ipraise him for his talent, his authenticity, and his passion. I consider the authora great writer. I envy his skill with language, his creative intellect, and, mostof all, his formidable work ethic. After all, this is his ninth book since the publicationof The Taqwacores (Soft Skull Press: 2004). However, I sometimeswonder exactly for whom he is writing because his books assume a sophisticatedaudience with backgrounds in a wide range of topics from the historyof Islam to American popular culture.In the final pages of Tripping with Allah, Knight sums up his career sofar with this remarkable paragraph.I’ve spent roughly twenty years as a Muslim of some form or other, a crazyconvert and then an ex-Muslim, progressive Muslim, ghulat Shi’a, Nimatullahidervish, Azrael Wisdom, Mikail El, Islamic Gonzo, “godfather ofMuslim punk rock,” Seal of Muslim Pseudo and now Pharmakon Allah,Muhammadus Prine, Quetzalcoatl Farrakhan who trips and says FatimaKubra but has this goofy idea of taking up the way of the salaf, and Dr. BruceLawrence just called me a malamatiyyah at a lecture in Vancouver. (p. 248)This paragraph is striking because it assumes so much of its reader, includinga rather encyclopedic knowledge of Islam, African-American religioustraditions, pop-culture, and what Frank Zappa might have called the “conceptualcontinuity” of the author’s entire body of work. The line that grabbed memost powerfully was the image of Bruce Lawrence, the eminent scholar ofIslam and Sufism, referring to Michael Knight as a malāmatīyah. This term, ...
Moving the Mountain
Authors: Kayaoglu Turan
Published: October 2020

Few are as qualified as Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to articulate a vision forAmerican Muslims. He has been involved with several major institutionbuildingprojects to address the concerns of American Muslims; his wife,Daisy Khan, has also participated in some of these projects. Since 1983, hehas served as imam of New York City’s al-Farah Mosque and thus is ratherfamiliar with the achievements, struggles, and diversity of the American-Muslim experience. His involvement with one of this community’s mostformative post-9/11 undertakings, the Cordoba House Project (also knownas Park 51 and the Ground Zero Mosque), attracted national and internationalattention.Several other American Muslims have written about the community. Forexample, James Yee’s For God and Country (2005), Sumbul Ali-Karamali’sThe Muslims Next Door (2008), and Asma Nomani’s Standing Alone in Mecca(2006) have experienced modest mainstream success. Mucahit Bilici’s FindingMecca in America (2012) is a notable, although a more academic, work.Imam Rauf’s book belongs to the first genre. Aimed at a general audience, itprovides a good understanding of such issues as jihad and gender relations inIslam, the Shari‘ah, and American-Muslim identity formation.Book Reviews 127The author’s key idea is that American Muslims are on their way to creatinga unique identity, one that is true to the spirit of Islam and also fits intoAmerican cultural norms. If fully realized, this identity would have threemajor potential benefits: making the United States more tolerant and just,healing the wounds between it and the broader Muslim world, and inspiringMuslims everywhere to reclaim Islam from the extremists. According toRauf, this identity can only be fully realized if Muslims have a good understandingof Islam, uphold American laws, and engage in the country’s ongoingmulti-faith projects ...
IIIT Intellectual Panels at the ISNA 50th Annual Convention
Authors: Willoughby Jay
Published: October 2020

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) organized a two-day seriesof intellectual panels at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) 50thannual convention, held in Washington, DC, over the Labor Day weekend(Aug. 31–Sept. 1, 2103). These events were hosted in the institute’s hospitalitysuite on the main floor of the Washington Convention Center. Recently publishedIIIT books and other selected publications were prominently displayed.A documentary on IIIT and its goals was shown before each session.
Performing Piety
Authors: Salois Kendra
Published: October 2020

Anthropologist Karin van Nieuwkerk’s latest book-length study addresses thephenomenon, widely discussed in Egyptian media since the 1990s, of celebratedsingers, actors, and dancers who withdraw from their professions to liveaccording to what they believe are Islamically sound principles. The author of“A Trade Like Any Other”: Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt (Austin:University of Texas Press, 1995), van Nieuwkerk draws on experience andcontacts from over two decades of research. But this project, as well as its subjectsand issues, presents new challenges for the ethnographer.Each of the three main sections describes the trends of a particular decade.The first wave of famous women to retire began in the late 1980s, and thusthe first section focuses on the shared rhetorics, ideologies, and activities of“repentant” artists. From the beginning, artists cannot be read as simply adoptingwholesale Salafist ideologies, since their personal turning points bore asmuch influence from “popular” or “Sufi” religiosity as from the “rationalist”tendencies of Islamists (p. 30). In the early 1990s, as retirements peaked,Egyptian media became central to both celebrities’ and fans’ understandingof this new trend. In this section, the author focuses on debates over secular(ist)aesthetics and changing discourses on women’s participation in public life.Two generations of preachers offer different rationales for women’s retirementsor re-entry into art, reflecting the sea change incited by a generation ofMuslim Brotherhood-allied “lay preachers” such as Amr Khalid during the1990s.The 2000s are depicted as a time of experimentation. Some veiled womenchoose to return to entertainment on their own terms; their productions caterto a growing market for entertainment that reflects elite consumption habitsand piety, overcoming a longstanding association of overt piety with impoverishedCairenes and villagers. Noting other authors’ commentaries and terminology,van Nieuwkerk follows Asef Bayat in calling this market“post-Islamist” – explicitly pious but unconnected to an Islamist dream of remakingthe state (p. 203). I particularly appreciated how her insights into thesimultaneous influence of American and Gulf consumer culture dislodge easyreadings of globalization as synonymous with Americanization (pp. 227-28).The full sweep of all three sections provides a cultural history of the Islamic ...
The Triumph of Mercy
Authors: Ali Mukhtar H.
Published: October 2020

Muhammad Rustom’s outstanding The Triumph of Mercy is a beautifullywritten study on the celebrated Islamic philosopher Mulla Sadra (d.1050/1640). The author presents the essence of Sadra’s thought in the contextof Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, his commentary on the Qur’an’s opening chapter,and discusses his methodology, influences, and spiritual outlook. From themyriad discussions in each chapter, which display the author’s depth andbreadth of scholarship, the work is not only a study of Mulla Sadra’s thoughtbut also a précis of the Islamic spiritual tradition itself. This should come asno surprise since the point of departure is Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, which embracesthe entirety of the Qur’anic message within its seven verses.Each chapter is a pithy and fascinating window into the Sadrian synthesisbetween the “transmitted” and “intellectual” sciences, the Qur’an and burhān(reason), and philosophy and mysticism. It covers Qur’anic hermeneutics,metaphysics, cosmology, theology, and soteriology, respectively. The workfurther sheds light on Sadra’s profound attachment to the great master of Sufism,Ibn ‘Arabi, including, in the appendix, passages from the latter’sFutūḥāt al-Makkīyah reworked in the Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. In my view,the success of this work lies in, among other things, the author’s exceptionalability to convey complex ideas with a clear and cogent vision, therebywidening the readership far beyond the scholar and expert.The book immediately commands our attention in the introduction, wherethe author provides critical background on the Qur’anic hermeneutical ...