bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Not Truth But Tolerance
Authors: Jackson Sherman A.
Published: October 2020

I should like to begin this essay with a sincere apology. More than five yearshave passed since Professor Atif Khalil penned his scholarly critique ofsome of my suggestive ruminations on intra-Islamic theological ecumenismin the introduction to my translation of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghâzalî’s Fayṣalal-Tafriqa.1 While scholarly convention – not to mention etiquette ‒ wouldcertainly demand a much more timely response than I have been able tomanage, I am afraid that I can plead no better than to throw myself on theunderstanding of those who have insight into and appreciation for the variousways in which the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 have skewedthe scholarly agenda of many an Islamicist. I sincerely hope that this delaywill not be construed as some kind of veiled or surreptitiously snide dismissalof Professor Khalil’s thoughtful analysis. I also hope that it will nothave gone so far as to suggest any inability on my part to respond to whatI shall argue amounts to a clever but ultimately wrong-minded critique ...
Classical Foundations of Islamic Educational Thought
Authors: Meisami Sayeh
Published: October 2020

Over the past decade, discussions on Islamic educational thought have becomepopular mainly due to the political situation particularly as it concernsthe interaction between Islam and the West. However, regardless ofpolitical considerations, most Western scholars seem to have paid less attentionto Islamic education as a concept worthy of attention. In this context,Classical Foundations of Islamic Educational Thought, which is arecent publication on this topic, plays an exceptional role. Making someof the major classics on Islamic education available in parallel English-Arabic texts, this volume is an indispensible compendium for students andscholars alike.The main editor, Bradley J. Cook, has a lot of practical experiencein the field of Islamic education. In addition to his academic endeavorsand remarkable publications on education, Cook has had the advantage ofteaching in a number of Muslim countries including Egypt and the UnitedArab Emirates, where he also held several executive positions. With theassistance of Fathi H. Malkawi, a Jordanian-born educator, Cook has managedto make a good selection of texts on a variety of educational subjects,which reflect both educational rules in classical Islamic thought and theholistic attitude of Muslim educators who consider learning as part of themoral and spiritual growth of those reading this volume ...
A Survey of Four Indo-Pakistani Scholars’ Perspectives on the Islam-Democracy Discourse
Authors: Parray Tauseef Ahmad
Published: October 2020

In contemporary times, the relationship between Islam and democracy –democracy and its Islamic heritage and the process of democratization inMuslim societies, and other related themes – is a hotly debated and discussedtopic. Throughout the Muslim world – from South, Southeast and CentralAsia to Middle East and North Africa – Muslim thinkers have undertakenthe effort of working within and cooperating with existing political regimesand authorities ‒ from republics, monarchies and authoritarian dictatorshipsto pluralistic and relativity homogeneous societies. With the desirefor democratization, along with the continuing resurgence of Islam in a dynamicglobal context, the demand and desire for democracy is widespread.Two of the major developments in the final decades of the twentiethcentury to present are “religious resurgence” and “democratization.” Thedebate over democracy and democratization in the Muslim societies, itsdefinition and fundamentals, has continued for a long time, but, as it hasacquired an impetus in recent years, and this debate has become highlyintensified.The Muslim world at present is the most diverse in the forms of the politicalsystems it employs. It has traditional and constitutional monarchies,dictatorships, Islamic republics, and secular and some liberal democracies‒ and due to the diverse interpretations of its laws and sources of law, Islampossesses intellectual and ideological resources that can provide justificationfor a wide range of governing models from monarchy to democracy ...
Muslims and Media Images
Authors: Oumlil Kenza
Published: October 2020

Ather Farouqi’s edited book Muslims and Media Images: News VersusViews examines the Hindi and Urdu press as well as Hindi and regional languagefilms. The uniqueness of the collection lies in the grounded approachtaken to study the topic of media images of Indian Muslims. Along with anintroduction and two appendices, this volume consists of nineteen mainlyshort chapters organized in four sections that highlight the experiences ofmedia practitioners, who provide their own accounts and testimonies. Consistingof journalists, newspaper editors, filmmakers, and academics ‒ thecontributors to this volume are writing from the field, while incorporatinghistorical components in a tone embedded in a storytelling style. Althoughcertain generalizations and scattered links between chapters might distractreaders, such grounded conversations are valuable to academics interestedin generating theory from the practice of making media. Most authors providedvivid examples here from their own involvement in the process ofwriting or editing news, while relying on a minimal use of citations, whichpresents an interesting alternative format to standard academic studies.This book offers relevant reading to scholars of Islamic studies, communication,journalism, cinema, political science, and readers interested inIndian media and Muslim representations ...
Between Creed and Qur’ān
Authors: Mohammed Khaleel
Published: October 2020

Islam’s main document, the Qur’ān, is perceived as the foundation for thereligion’s creedal ideas. Throughout the ages, however, Qur’ānic exegesis(tafsīr), like its counterpart endeavors in other established religions, hasbecome subject to circularity. This means basically that while faith-basedscholars may declare that their exegeses are based upon reading scripturequa scripture, their interpretations are often conditioned by creedal constructsimposed upon the text. One such issue in Islam revolves around‘iṣmah, the concept of prophetic inerrancy.A prophet, in the Islamic worldview, is not simply someone who deliversGod’s message, but one who is also tasked with being an exemplar.Since the holder of such an office must have impeccable conduct,as well as proficiency in teaching and explaining what God wants for thefaith community, it might be assumed that a doctrine of prophetic inerrancywas a logical inevitability. There is a general agreement betweenSunnis and Shīʻahs—primarily by rational analysis—on the issue of theProphet (ṢAAS) being inerrant from major and minor sins. The conceptis not clearly spelled out in the Qur’ān, and based on their differences increedal perception, the two groups, while agreeing on a core idea, differ oncertain details ...
Jewish Identities in Iran
Authors: Goldin Farideh
Published: October 2020

In Jewish Identities in Iran, Mehrdad Amanat tries to unearth the roots of IranianJews converting to both Islam and the Baha’i faith starting with the Safavidperiod in the sixteenth century. Admitting a personal interest in the project(his family converted from Judaism to the Baha’i faith), Amanat searches foranswers in, among many other resources, autobiographies written by membersof all faiths. Included are the memoirs of Mash’allah Farivar, son of the chiefrabbi and dayan (judge) of the Jewish community of Shiraz, and Fazel Mazandarani’smulti-volume history of the Babi–Baha’is. Missing from the extensivefourteen-page bibliography, however, is the field research conducted by LaurenceLoeb in Shiraz, Outcast: Jewish Life in Southern Iran, and multiple volumesof The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews, edited by Homa andHuman Sarshar.Relatively short for a research of this magnitude (210 pages), the readermight feel rushed through the historical events. The first chapter, “The JewishPresence in Pre-Islamic and Medieval Iran,” covers centuries of Iranian Jewishlife in just twenty pages. Under such headings as “Jews in the pre-Islamic Period,”“Economic and Cultural Spheres,” “Encounters with Other Religions,”“The Early Islamic Period,” “The Militant Jews of Isfahan,” “Early Conversionsto Islam,” “Religious Diversity under Mongol Rule,” and “The Emergenceof Jewish Notables,” the author barely touches the surface of each issue.Amanat’s research is nevertheless meticulous and often cites multiple examplesto reveal a cause for conversion in the later chapters ...
Saint Francis and the Sultan
Authors: MacDonald Matthew A.
Published: October 2020

In August or September 1219 at the height of the Fifth Crusade, Francis ofAssisi audaciously set out to meet Sultan Malik al-Kâmil of Egypt. In SaintFrancis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian–Muslim Encounter,historian John Tolan has produced a fascinating volume on this ratherstrange episode, an encounter that has captivated writers and painters for centuries.In an age when religion has lost much of its traditional power, however,the author wonders how much we can really know about the experience ofFrancis and al-Kâmil meeting each other “in a tent in an armed camp on thebanks of the Nile, during a truce in the midst of a bloody war” (p. 4). Insteadof trying to locate the real Francis and al-Kâmil in the fragments of history,Tolan asks why this particular has fascinated so many different artists. He answers,quite simply, that “for them, it was not merely a curiosity, or a footnoteto the history of a crusade which failed on the banks of the Nile. It was muchmore: an emblematic encounter or confrontation between East and West” (p.326). Whether it was seen as an encounter or a confrontation, in turn, depended in part on the historical, religious, and political context within which the givenartist was working. In this sense, the book reads more like a metahistory ofhow, why, and to what effect a particular historical episode has been depictedover the years.Given the focus on such a momentous encounter between East and West,Islam and Christianity, Muslim and Christian, as well as how it has been portrayedand understood, this book should be of particular interest to students ofChristian–Muslim relations and dialogue. It should also be of interest to peopleinterested in the construction of East/West and Muslim/Christian identity ...
Good Governance in Islam
Authors: Willoughby Jay
Published: October 2020

The Summer Institute for Scholars 2012, held at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon,VA, from July 9-18, 2012, brought together twenty scholars to address“Good Governance in Islam: Classical and Contemporary Approaches.” Inorder to present as many of their ideas as possible, the wide-ranging andthought-provoking comments of the chairs and the discussants are not recountedhere ...
Why Muslims Will Always Sacrifice Animals on the Eid
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Recently, blogger Anila Muhammad posted “Should Muslims Reconsider AnimalSlaughter on Eid?” on the Canadian edition of the Huffington Post.1 Sheclaims that some animal advocates are asking this question. Of course it is anactivist’s right to raise such an issue, even though it could be offensive to practicingMuslims. In reality, however, the majority of Muslims neither know ofsuch a proposal, nor would they consider its possibility. Boldly claiming thatsome Muslims are calling “for an end to animal sacrifice,” she cites these “notableanimal advocates” and, full of passion and confidence, states that “manyMuslims do not see the tradition of sacrifice to be serving ‘their understandingof Islam.’” Intriguingly, she cites several Qur’anic verses and presents herown understanding of them – an understanding that happens to contrastsharply with the widely accepted narrative of Muslim scholars who base themselveson the Prophet’s actual practice and understanding.Although she presents the arguments from several perspectives (viz., intellectual,religious, social, and economic), I suggest that instead of “pretending”to know the Qur’an and Islamic worldview, she should have stuck withher activist perspective and thus avoided a response from Islamic intellectuals.But the way these activists keep citing the Qur’an to legitimize their argumentsand claiming to know better what Muslims should do not only suggests littlefamiliarity with Qur’anic content, but also exposes them to a rigorous and faircriticism from real scholars of the Qur’an and Islam ...
An Islam of Her Own
Authors: Seedat Fatima
Published: October 2020

An Islam of Her Own is a valuable addition to the growing literature on Muslimwomen’s pietistic subjectivities. Unlike others, however, Sherine Hafezis unsatisfied with the unitary portrayal of the identities of Muslim female activistsas a struggle between secular and religious subjectivities. Locating herselfand the women she studies at the permeable boundaries of these tropes,her study problematizes the neatly bordered parameters of each and argues, instead, for movement, mobility, and transition between religious and secularspaces. She moves the discussion of religious subjectivities from Saba Mahmood’sinfluential study of non-liberal subjectivity in the Egyptian women’smosque movements (p. 11) to “the complexity of negotiation” and the “inconsistentappropriation” of both secular and religious spaces in fashioningdesire among female activists (p. 5).The articulation between the secular and religious, Hafez explains, isseamless. Activists move easily in the spaces between “pious self-ameliorationand secular political values” (p. 5). They make “normalised distinctions betweenreligion and secularism” that are “liberal in principle and secular inpractice,” and yet simultaneously view “Islam as encompassing all aspects oflife” (p. 13). These slippages, she argues, confirm that the subjectivities of activistMuslim women in Egypt are “varied, heterogeneous and unstable” (p.13) and not fully understood when packaged as non-liberal ...
Islam in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan
Authors: DeWeese Devin
Published: October 2020

This volume is a good contribution to the growing body of ethnographic literatureon religious life in Central Asia; it adds substantively to the diverseperspectives on the practice of Islam in Uzbekistan that have begun to emergeas, in effect, pieces of a puzzle that no single study has yet attempted to integrateinto a fuller picture, yet it suffers from some of the problems thatplague nearly all recent ethnographic works on Central Asia, including anover-reliance on terminological discussion at the expense of the “voices” ofthe author’s informants, and a palpable reluctance to engage with any kindof historical perspective (beyond the Soviet era) that might illuminate religiouslife today. The book is at once a fine example of the recent advancesbeyond those facile approaches to religious life, and Islam, in Central Asia,that dominated the field in Soviet and early post-Soviet times, and a sign thatmuch more must be done, practically and conceptually, for this region toreach qualitative parity with other parts of the Muslim world in terms of thestudy of religion.The book is based on the author’s research stays from 1998-2000, andagain in 2003-2004, centered in the Farghana valley (in Andijan and in a villagefor which the author uses a pseudonym) and in Samarqand. The task hesets for himself is to assess the impact of strict, and in practice mostly arbitrary,limitations on acceptable religious activity imposed by the government ofUzbekistan upon citizens seeking to cultivate their religious, or “moral,” selvesin the aftermath of the Soviet state’s official hostility toward religion ...
The Emergence of Islam
Authors: Parray Tauseef Ahmad
Published: October 2020

Gabriel Said Reynolds’ The Emergence of Islam, with a new interpretation andnew (although somewhat critical and controversial) insights, is an illustrated,lucidly, and comprehensively contribution to the study and history of the “emergence”of Islam. Usually such an account is rather “straightforward,” whereasthe question of “how much of this story is historically accurate” is “less straightforward”(p. ix). The book’s three parts – “The Prophet Muhammad and theRightly Guided Caliphs” (chapters 1 through 3), “The Qur’an” (chapters 4through7), and “Contemporary Perspectives” (chapter 8) – discuss the emergenceof Islamic history from its origins to the contemporary views ...
Ibn Hazm
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

As one of history’s most prolific Muslim writers, the theologian and jurist IbnHazm (d. 1064) had a remarkably successful intellectual career. Scholars continueto argue over him, perhaps due to his own diverse perspectives, potentials,and achievements. I consider his multiple achievements, notwithstandingany deserved negative impressions, a cause for celebrating this intellectualgiant. Consequently, it is appropriate that he be profiled here. While this formatmay be restrictive, I hope to pursue some specific aspects in subsequent editorialsto paint a more comprehensive and coherent picture of this multifacetedscholar. Charles Pellat, in his article on “Ibn îazm al-Andalus¥” writes:“Ab´ Muúammad ‘Al¥ ibn Aúmad ibn Sa‘¥d ibn îazm, a poet, man-of-letters,historian, polemist, juriconsult, theologian, logician, metaphysician, and psychologist,was certainly one of the most refined and productive representativesof the Arab culture in Spain.” ..
Beyond the “Wild Tribes”
Authors: Shafi Sophia Rose
Published: October 2020

We have come to expect nothing but bad news about Afghanistan, nothingbut negative prognoses of that troubled state from policymakers, pundits, andjournalists. Only rarely do we hear what scholars of Afghan studies have tosay. In Beyond the “Wild Tribes”: Understanding Modern Afghanistan andIts Diaspora, the country and its people are presented in a far more complicatedfashion than the usual this-place-is-doomed mantra. Contributions includea review and critique of research methodologies in Afghanistan and thediaspora, the role of gender in community-based justice, models of nationaland local governance, the refugee warrior, and migration. There is much tolike about this book, and even those knowledgeable about the complex problemsplaguing the fledgling state will learn something ...
Civil Society and Women Activists in the Middle East
Authors: Kayaoglu Turan
Published: October 2020

While much of the literature related to women and democratization in the MiddleEast neglects the role of women in this process, Wanda Krause persuasivelyargues that the grassroots activism of Middle Eastern women plays a vital rolein democratizing the region. Krause contends that this scholarly neglect is aresult of the literature’s (1) prioritizing the state (over civil society) and secularism(over religious groups), (2) ignoring the feminine (at the expense of thefeminist) and the practical (at the expense of the political), and (3) relegatingwomen’s concerns, like family issues, to “the private sphere and overlookedas having any meaning to the public” (p. 49). She further criticizes this literaturefor what she considers its orientalist attitude, which often manifests itself asexcessive attention to women’s dress, segregation, polygamy, and female genitalmutilation (FGM) and thus constructs a passive and oppressed image ofMuslim women. To fully understand the role of Middle Eastern women, Krauseurges scholars to focus not just on the government’s formal structures, but alsoto pay attention to civil society and investigate how beliefs, values, and everydaypractices both expand it and advance democratic values ...
Localizing Islam in Europe
Authors: Sahin Emrah
Published: October 2020

During April 2012, Salafi Muslims in Germany launched a Qur’an giveawayprogram to save non-Muslims from hell. Soon after, public debates emergedin the national media concerning broader Muslim transgressions in Europe.Especially the Turks, 3 million strong and two-thirds of Germany’s Muslimsaccording to the Federal Migration and Refugees Office, underwent furtherscrutiny. The August 17, 2012, issue of the popular news magazine Der Spiegelposited why Turkish Muslims escaped the backlash against Islamist radicalismthis time: Despite their proud Muslim identity, Turks living in Europe yearn tobe integrated and feel at home in Germany. Until recently, migration scholarsemphasized the incompatibility between Islam and western values, therebyportraying European Turks as another Muslim community that defied assimilation.Localizing Islam challenges this scholarship and explains why Turksfeel at home in Europe. It compares several Turkish Sunni organizations inGermany and the Netherlands, reinvents ways they interpret Islam, and arguesthat Islam’s inner diversity has endured within the European context ...
Ibn Hazm’s Legal Contribution
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

In profiling Ibn Hazm, the previous editorial shed some light on his genealogy,

early life and education, and breadth of knowledge. In this issue, I concentrate

only on his legal dimensions.

A Shot at a Political Career?

Ibn Hazm’s childhood of luxury ended abruptly when his family estate was

destroyed in 1013 and the family fled to Jativa. Like his father, Ibn Hazm’s

early career began in political arena. Sympathetic to the the Umayyads, he

was imprisoned after Sulayman’s overthrow in 1016.1A few years later, however,

Abd al-Rahman IV al-Murtada appointed Ibn Hazm his vizier, which

caused him to fight in the battle of Granada. In 1023, released after years in

jail, he returned to Cordoba and, in 1023, was again appointed vizier by Abd

al-Rahman V al-Mustazhir. Seven weeks later the caliph was murdered and

Ibn Hazm was again imprisoned. Upon his release, he became an academic

and withdrew from political and public life ...
Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States
Authors: Ahmad Junaid S.
Published: October 2020

To label Adam Hanieh’s Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States an afterstudy

of the 2008 financial crisis is a grossly unfair assessment. While the

book does explore the implications of the Gulf states’ financial slump, it also

provides a nuanced analysis of their class structures and relation to the global

capital system. The exponential growth of the Gulf Cooperation Council

(GCC) states is the book’s main subject; however, Hanieh dexterously avoids

the common errors involved in the region’s economic analysis and thus adds

to the corpus of literature pertaining to both the GCC and the wider global

economy.

The class structures and wealth prevailing in the GCC are often seen as

an outcome of the states being oil rich. Hanieh problematizes this narrative

by positing that this wealth and structuring is not “accidental” and that while

oil is undeniably important, it is not the sole reason for the region’s situation.

He urges the reader to look beyond the hydrocarbon wealth, because “much

like its desert cousin, the mirage – what visitors actually see in the oil-fueled

boom is not the full picture” (p. 2).

Hanieh’s choice of viewing the GCC holistically, instead of addressing

specific nation-states, is significant. The “internationalization” of the local

economy and class structure results in the dissolution of class boundaries

among the states and paves the way for capitalism. But at the same time, however,

capitalism needs to be valorized in a coherent and material time and

space. This valorization has taken the special form of the regional GCC and

becomes the study’s focal point. This regionalization has displaced “power

upwards to the regional scale, weakening the ability of the individual member

states to control the movement of goods and capital within the intra-GCC

space” (p. 104).

The author also problematizes the “rentier-state” theory through a Marxian

framework. He urges the reader not to consider the state, and particularly

the states of the Gulf nations, as a “thing” or an automatic reflection of the

capitalist class, but rather as “a particular expression of class formation” (p.

12). This also implies that the state has greatly facilitated the development of

the GCC’s prevailing “hot-house” economy (p. 15).

The study’s regional nature culminates in the analysis of “Khaliji” capital.

In the Gulf states, the internationalization of capital manifests itself in a

regional form as the “circuits of capital are themselves elaborated at the ...
Reading the Qur’an Contextually
Authors: Willoughby Jay
Published: October 2020

On June 6, 2013, at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon, VA, Abdulla Saeed

(Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne,

Australia), spoke to the audience about how a “contextualist” reading

of the Qur’an is becoming popular among those Muslims who are often referred

to as “progressives,” “ijtihadis,” or “contextualists.”

Saeed began his presentation by defining context, which he said goes hand

in hand with text, in two ways: (1) the linguistic context of the text in which

the verse actually functions and (2) the macro-context of the text, which encompasses

the social, politicial, economic, intellectual, and cultural milieux in

which a particular text functions. But despite the importance of this latter approach,

many Qur’anic scholars do not use it because they have traditionally

been far more interested in a word for word analysis, examining particular

phrases, and maybe providing some explanations in light of hadith or juristic

understandings. Thus it has never really been part of the tafs¥r tradition. The

science of asbOEb al-nuz´l (the occasions of the revelation) is of some help, but

only gives a rather limited and insufficient understanding of the context.

He then moved to what he terms the textualist and contextualist approaches.

People who follow the first one are very focused on the text’s linguistic

meaning and see it as the basis – and maybe the only way – to

understanding the text. Those who follow the second one are more interested

in keeping an eye on the linguistic meaning as well as the macro-context in

which the text functions. A grey area, which can be thought of as a continuum,

exists between them ...
Arab Spring, Islamist Ice Age
Authors: El-Affendi Abdelwahab
Published: October 2020

Between June 30th, the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Islamist military takeover

in Sudan, and July 4th, Independence Day in the United States, something

miraculous happened in the Middle East. Suddenly everyone was in agreement,

and – almost – everyone was happy. President Bashar al-Assad was ecstatic.

In an interview with the Baath Party’s newspaper Al-Thawra shortly after the

army deposed Muhammad Morsi, Egypt’s first-ever freely elected civilian president,

on July 3, Assad applauded the coup as marking “essentially the fall of

political Islam.”1 In his lengthy interview, he categorized his enemies into two

groups: those “who completely abandoned their identity and embraced a ‘Western

Dream’ even with all its flaws” and those “who went in exactly the opposite

direction and abandoned their identity and embraced religious extremism.”2

The latter he alternatively designated as “Wahhabis” or “Takfiris.”

In the presumed bastions of Wahhabism in the Gulf, Morsi’s downfall

was received with even more elation. Within days, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and

the UAE pledged an aid package worth USD 12 billion to cash-strapped

Egypt, showing how much they appreciated this outcome.3 And while Israel

joined its sworn enemy Hamas in maintaining a guarded silence,4 its media

(and some politicians) did not hide their glee at Morsi’s political demise.5

As usual, the Obama administration was either unable to make up its mind

or was too embarrassed to say what it believed. But that was in itself a clear

stance, since the United States was happy to permit its key allies to provide

massive cash injections to the new army-backed regime. It also refrained from ...
Modern Islamist Movements
Authors: Cory Stephen
Published: October 2020

Jon Armajani’s book seeks to explain developments within Islam that have

led to the rise of such radical Islamist groups as al-Qaida and the Taliban. The

text provides an intellectual background for these movements in an attempt

to explain how groups that profess to pursue religious objectives could justify

engaging in horrific acts of terror.

Armajani opens with a thirty-six-page introduction (including notes) in

which he lays out the book’s theoretical foundations. He begins by defining

Islamism as a subset of Islamic fundamentalism. His interest in al-Qaida and

9/11 quickly becomes clear, particularly in his discussion on whether or not

the September 11 attacks could legitimately be viewed as acts of self-defense ...
The Essentials of Ibāḍī Islam
Authors: Woodlock Rachel
Published: October 2020

When writing about Islamic sectarian diversity, the vast majority of authorspay attention only to Sunni and Shi‘i Islam. Yet there exists a third groupdrawn from the earliest conflicts that rent the Muslim ummah apart: the Ibadis.If they are mentioned at all, it is usually little more than a footnote remarkingthat this group is the remnant of the Khariji secession in 657. Yet this thirdgroup – today predominant in Oman and Zanzibar, with populations also inAlgeria, Libya, and Tunisia – played an important political and theologicalrole in the immediate post-Prophetic period. Due to this word’s negative connotation,however, Ibadis do not refer to themselves as Kharijis, a group historicallyviewed as religious extremists by other Muslims. Instead, “Ibadi”comes from the enigmatic Abdullah ibn Ibad/Abad who died early in theeighth century, although, as the author notes, it is likely that his successor Jabiribn Zayd played a more important role in founding the group.Addressing the dearth of English-language resources on Ibadi beliefs, ValerieJ. Hoffman has written The Essentials of Ibāḍī Islam in “an attempt tointroduce Ibadi Islamic theology to students and scholars of Islam” (p. 4) – atask in which she succeeds admirably. Her book is primarily a translation ofa theological primer and supplementary text, preceded by a short introductionon the origins and history of Ibadi Islam to orient the readers and prepare them ...
Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. On Arithmetic and geometry
Authors: Rizvi Sajjad H.
Published: October 2020

The significance of the epistles on a range of intellectual disciplines by thegroup of scholars known as the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa’) has beenknown for some time, although one might argue that their significance for aproper assessment of Islamic intellectual history has been neglected. The116 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 31:1book under review is part of an exciting new project initiated by the Instituteof Ismaili Studies in London to re-edit the whole text with critical analyticaltranslations and annotations undertaken by a number of specialists aroundthe world. For those of us who specialize in Islamic intellectual history andneed texts to use in the classroom, this is an excellent and most welcome development.The companion volume edited by el-Bizri, which attempts notonly to make sense of who the Ikhwan were but also to assess their impact,demonstrates that their significance was recognized by later traditions evenwhen it was occluded. One small quibble – it would have been good to seethe Arabic and English on facing pages, which may have been logisticallyproblematic. As it is, it makes the comparison of the original text with theEnglish a bit more difficult.The two epistles translated here are the first in the sequence and constitutepart of the first section of the Rasā’il on the mathematical and propaedeuticalsciences (al-‘ulūm al-riyādīyah al-ta‘līmīyah). Nader el-Bizri, thetranslator and editor of the series, is a historian of philosophy and science inthe Islamic world and has recently been focusing on the history of geometry,mathematics, and optics and publishing widely on Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1040).These two epistles form part of the ancient quadrivium that constituted amore advanced stage of study associated with Boethius (d. 524) and wasbased upon the mathematics of Nicomachus of Gerasa, a Neopythagoreanof the first century CE: training in arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomywere considered to be the very heart of a scientific education. After the firsttwo epistles, epistle 3 deals with astronomy, epistle 4 with cosmography,epistle 5 with music, and epistle 6 with proportions (that ties the quadriviumtogether) – and that is before they move onto the next set of propaeduetics,namely the logical organon beginning with epistles 7 and 8 (the theoreticaland practical arts) that provide a classification of the sciences on which theapproach to holism is based ...
Mennonite Engagement with Iran
Authors: Martin Ed
Published: October 2020

The Mennonites relationship ongoing with Iran has developedover a period of more than twenty years. This essay traces the developmentof our relationships with Iranians and our program withIran, how it began with relief and reconstruction and progressedthrough a student exchange to an ongoing interfaith dialogue andvisiting scholars. The roles of several key Iranians, to whom muchcredit must be given, will also be discussed. The views expressedherein concerning the development of Mennonite engagementwith Iran are the personal views of the author and do not representthose of any Mennonite institution.
Turkish Islamism in the Post-gezi Park Era
Authors: Yenigun Halil Ibrahim
Published: October 2020

The Gezi Park protests have stirred serious controversy both insideand outside Turkey on the JDP’s ruling style and ideology. By drawingon el-Affendi’s distinction between the Medina and Damascusmodels, I discuss the Islamist opposition to Erdoğan during the Gezievents. I argue that notwithstanding his recent Islamization policies,Erdoğan’s JDP is a conservative party that caters to Muslim nationalismwhile a new Islamism as an ethico-political ideal has been inthe making by the praxis of the new Islamist youth.
Muslim Cosmopolitanism
Authors: Willoughby Jay
Published: October 2020

On November 8, 2013, Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied (National Universityof Singapore; Fulbright Fellow, Columbia University) addressed the topic of“Muslim Cosmopolitanism.” The event was held at the IIIT headquarters inHerndon, Virginia.He began his talk with a personal example: He is the child of an Arab fatherand an Indian mother, his culture is Malay, he prefers to talk in eitherMalay or English, and he understands Chinese. Thus, he is a living exampleof his assertion that “being Muslim is part and parcel of being able to appreciate many cultures … We are all hybrids,” and therefore it is only natural forMuslims to embrace diversity. While this was true for the first millennium ofIslamic civilization, it is, unfortunately, “not the case today.”Aljunied cited several examples of how contemporary Muslims have putthis reality aside. For example, he raised the question of why, when a Muslimengages in something that is clearly wrong, do Muslims apologize by sayingthat he/she is a “bad Muslim,” instead of a “bad person,” or become offensiveby saying that the action was somehow justified. He noted that this is “an unhealthydevelopment in the world in general, and especially in the UnitedStates” – one that Muslims should abandon. Instead, Muslims need to studytheir history and understand exactly who they are. With this goal in mind, hepraised AbdulHamid AbuSulayman’s Crisis in the Muslim Mind (IIIT: 1993)for its analysis of such concerns ...
Pax Syriana
Authors: Abboud Samer
Published: October 2020

There has rarely been a dull period in Lebanon’s post-Ottoman political history.Its central geographic, if not political, position within the Arab region,along with its penetrable political system, has made the country vulnerable toregional and international pressures. These pressures have manifested themselvesin both spectacular (e.g., the civil war and Israeli occupation) and moresubtle ways (e.g., the sustained brain drain and continued socioeconomic deprivationof rural communities). Despite these changes, however, the country’spolitical system has remained resilient and the sectarian power-sharing system104 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 31:2forming the core of national politics and distribution of (formal and informal)political power has changed only in style, not substance.Rola el-Husseini’s inquiry into the country’s political elite background,structure, politics, recruitment patterns, and discourses is layered against theresiliency of its confessional system. Her core concern is to trace theLebanese elite’s interactions and their major structural determinants. As such,the inquiry has to ask how the period of Syrian control – Pax Syriana – creatednew possibilities and limitations for elite politics in Lebanon. Thus,while the text is rich in historical analysis and sound in its treatment ofLebanon’s postcolonial politics, the main period of focus is on 1991 to 2005,when Syrian influence was at its peak. As one would expect, Syria’s influenceon elite recruitment and this class’ politics and discourses was profound duringthis period ...
Islam in the Hinterlands
Authors: Takim Liyakat
Published: October 2020

There have been few studies on Islam in Canada. Hence this publication is awelcome addition to the list. Its ten chapters, divided into four sections, examinediverse issues regarding Muslim cultural politics in the Canadian hinterlands.More specifically, it seeks to understand how they have been affectedby the post-9/11 era of wars, domestic security policies, calls for reformation,and media sensationalism, as well as how these, combined with racial and re-ligious profiling, have impacted Muslims in the Canadian diaspora. The booktries to construct multiple readings of Islam and Muslims by examining thiscommunity within its social, cultural, educational, and political settings andthe integration of these diverse factors in the formation of the national Islamicmosaic.The first section covers gender, race, the Shari‘ah debate, and Muslimwomen’s political engagement. Section 2 focusses on media representationand examines the construction of the “Muslim other” post-9/11, the politicsof reform as articulated by two Muslim female journalists, and the representationof Canadian Islam in a popular Muslim sitcom. An important theme insection 3 is the civic engagement of the country’s Islamic schools. The lastsection looks at security issues and the targeting and profiling of Muslims inpost-9/11 Canada.As Jasmine Zine correctly points out in the introduction, Muslims havebeen living peacefully in Canada since the middle of the nineteenth centuryand are proud to be Canadian. However, since 9/11 the debate on their integrationinto the mosaic and their appropriation of Canadian values has intensified,especially in Quebec, where discrimination and prejudice haveincreased due to the issue of veiling. Women who choose to veil are exiledfrom public services and space by means of Bill 94. In essence they are portrayedas victims of patriarchal violence ...
The Construction of Muslim Identities in Contemporary Brazil
Authors: Karam John Tofik
Published: October 2020

This sociological study on the plural and often contested construction of Muslimidentities in Brazil contributes to a growing scholarship on Islam and thepolitics of religious difference across the Atlantic. Focusing on two institutionsin São Paulo state – the Islamic Center of Campinas (Centro Islâmico de Campinas)and the Islamic Charity Youth League of Brazil (Liga da Juventude IslâmicaBeneficente do Brasil), located in the Brás neighborhood of São Paulocity – Cristina Maria de Castro’s book frames the negotiation of what it meansto be Muslim in Brazil and in the wider ummah not only with regard to thehistorical longue durée and plural religious field, but also in terms of genderand ethnic politics. By focusing on this “range and diversity of [an] Islamicdiaspora,”1 to use the words of Gayatri Spivak, this book will help “undo thepolitically monolithized view of Islam that rules the globe today.”Based on a doctoral dissertation at the Federal University of São Carlos(UFSCar, São Paulo state) and post-doctoral research at the International Institutefor the Study of Islam in the Modern World (Leiden University), Castro’swork also speaks to the increasing internationalization of the Braziliansocial sciences. During the twentieth century, many sociologists, anthropologists,and others in Brazil were limited by what Andrew Wimmer and NinaGlick-Schiller have criticized as “methodological nationalism,” namely, car-rying out their research within the nation’s boundaries.2 Now based at theFederal University of Minas Gerais, Castro studied Islam in Brazil with regardto not only the transnational networks, imagined or otherwise, of twoMuslim institutions located in São Paulo state, but also the equally far-flungcirculation of orientalist, Islamophobic images that members of these and ...
Sufi Narratives of Intimacy
Authors: Schubel Vernon James
Published: October 2020

Sa’diyya Shaikh’s groundbreaking Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn Arabi,Gender, and Sexuality not only makes a significant contribution to the growingbody of scholarship on issues of gender and Islam, but also serves as an eloquentand accessible introduction to the life and work of Muhyi al-Din ibnArabi, unquestionably one of the most important voices in the Islamic tradition.Moreover, it is a rigorous piece of academic scholarship rooted in a thoroughknowledge of Islam’s primary sources and a sophisticated understandingof contemporary methodology, both in the academic study of religion andwomen and gender studies. At the same time, it adds significantly to normativediscussions within Islam – the crucial debates about gender and sexuality, theongoing arguments on the nature of authority in Islam, and the role of fiqh,kalām, and Sufism within the Muslim tradition. It succeeds brilliantly as ascholarly examination of Ibn Arabi’s work and as an example of feministscholarship at its very best.For me, the most important aspect is how the book functions as an introductionto the thought of Ibn Arabi, a notoriously demanding thinker whosework can sometimes appear impenetrable. As a result, much of the previousscholarship on him, including the essential and pioneering work of William ...
Islam and the University Curriculum
Authors: Haron Muhammed
Published: October 2020

This special academic event was organized by the Sociology of Religion(Socrel) Study Group of the British Sociological Association in London on December7, 2013. One of its main objectives was to discuss, in the light of negativepublicity and the increasing number of Muslim students pursuing certainprofessions, whether “Islam” as a module or a course has been adequatelywoven and integrated into the university teaching and learning contexts.The organizers, Socrel chair Abby Day (Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths,University of London) and Sarah-Jane Page (School of Languages andSocial Sciences, Aston University), sought answers to the following questions:To what extent are higher education institutions responding to this relationship?How do Muslim students feel that Islam is represented in higher education?Does a Christianized curriculum still dominate the way these courses are designed?How do non-Muslim students respond to the content of courses thatmainly deal with Islam and Muslims? How do teachers respond to a more diversestudent body that hails from various socio-cultural backgrounds?Sociologists of religion have realized the importance of reflecting criticallyupon the study and teaching of religion. Publications such as Robert Orsi’s editedThe Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies (New York: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2012) has paid attention to these and related aspects. A qualitativeshift of scholary endeavors has been noted; scholars and researchershave now turned their lenses to specific religious traditions that have comeunder the spotlight because of their adherents’ apparent “violent” acts. Since9/11, Islam and Muslims have naturally become one of the targeted traditions(see “The Muslim World after 9/11,” Rand report at www.rand.org).This scholarly attention has resulted in the spread of Islamophobia in westernEurope and elsewhere, not to mention the gradual securitization of Muslimcommunities. This latter development seems to have enormous implicationsfor the academic arena where courses/modules on aspects of “Muslim extremism”in countries such as the United Kingdom have been closely watched and ...
Voice of Islamic Moderation from the Malay World
Authors: Miharja Nurhidayahti Mohammad
Published: October 2020

Mohd Kamal Hassan’s Voice of Islamic Moderation from the Malay Worldpresents a selection of eleven essays written over the past decade in responseto the challenges from a globalization steeped in the post-9/11 climate. Intendedmainly for a non-Muslim audience, it seeks to represent the voice ofIslamic moderation (al-wasaṭīyah) from the multi-ethnic, multi-religiousMalaysian context. One hopes that discussions on this important character ofIslam will provide a collective vision of holistic wellbeing and, at the sametime, recognize Malaysia’s pluralistic nature. The Islamic perspective on theunifying theme of moderation’s universal ethos pervades its three sections –“Promoting the Common Ground amongst Religions and Cultures,” “Changingthe Muslim Mindset: A Civilizational Approach,” and “The Meaning andImplications of Islamic Moderation” – with a focus on the search for its progressiveintegration into all aspects of life.The first section opens with an analysis of “The Expanding Spiritual-Moral Role of World Religions in the New Millennium.” This chapter raisesmultiple social, moral, environmental, political, and economic concerns relatedto pursuing an aggressive economic agenda within the folds of globalizationwhile ignoring religion-based ethics and the human need for a spiritualguiding vision. Under the siege conditions of globalization’s “swiftness, totalityand irreligious mission” (p. 83), there is an urgent need for world religionsto play – as well as be given – a more assertive role in formulatingholistic action plans. States are thus urged to allow religious-based ethics andspiritual values to expand into public life, from business to international tradeand relations, politics and educational institutions.Hassan, however, notes that both proponents and opponents of the separationbetween spiritual values (private) and this-worldly affairs (public)need to fully understand each other’s position in order to appreciate the ...
Taking to the Streets
Authors: Høigilt Jacob
Published: October 2020

This edited volume consists of ten case studies framed by an introductionwritten by the two editors and a postscript written by Larry Diamond, a leadingscholar of democracy studies today. The Introduction, which places thevolume within the tradition of political sociology and political science, relatesexplicitly to the study of contentious politics and social movements.In doing so, it contributes to a trend in Middle Eastern studies that startedduring the early 2000s in analyses of Islamism and that seeks to add insightsto a field that has so far been relatively neglectful of the Middle Easterncontext.The book promises to “illuminate the concept of activism as an ongoingprocess, rather than a sudden burst of defiance” (back cover) by critically examiningthe ideas that the Arab Spring emerged “from nowhere” and wasdriven by “tech-savvy, disgruntled youth” (p. 2). It sets out to explore the natureof activism before, during, and after the uprisings, as well as how the ...