bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Celebrating Ibn Rushd’s Eight-Hundredth Anniversary
Authors: Fakhry Majid
Published: December 2020

In the context of the world-wide celebrations of the eight-hundrthanniversary of Abu al-Walid Ibn Rushd, known to Western scholars asAverroes (1126-1198), the Tunisian Cultural Foundation (Bayt al-Hikmah) held an International Averroes Symposium, sponsored jointlywith UNESCO, in Carthage, Tunis, on February 16 to February 22,1998. The symposium was hosted by Abd al-Wahab Buhdiba, Directorof Bayt al-Hikmah, and was inaugurated by the President of Tunisia,Zayn al-Abidin Ali, who declared 1998 Ibn Rushd’s year. This symposiumwas attended by a large number of scholars from France, England,Spain, the United States, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Libya, andTunisia.It was my good fortune to open the symposium with a lecture titled“Averroes, Aquinas and the Rise of Latin Scholasticism in WesternEurope,” in which I tried to highlight the decisive role Ibn Rushd‘sCommentaries on Aristotle played in the rediscovery of Aristotle inWestern Europe, the resurgence of interest in Greek-Arabic philosophy,and the consequent rise of Latin Scholasticism. Through translations bysuch eminent scholars as Michael the Scot and Heman the German duringthe first decades of the thirteenth century, Ibn Rushd’s work triggereda genuine intellectual revolution in leamed circles. Before long, Latinphilosophers and theologians had split into two rival groups, the pro-Averroists, with Siger of Bradbant (d. 1281) at their head, and the anti-Averroists, with St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) at their head. ”he principalissues around which the controversy tumed were the unity of theintellect, the eternity of the world, the immortality of the soul and thedenial of divine providence. The confrontaton between the two rivalgroups became so acute that in 1270, the Bishop of Paris, Etienne ...
Understanding Modernity on One’s Own Terms
Authors: Yassine Abdel-Qader
Published: December 2020

How can the movements fighting for an Islamic state in which Shari’ah(the Islamic Law) rules supreme best be understood-as part of a worldwidereaction against modernist thought or as a broad and diverseattempt to understand and tackle the problems of modemity throughreconnecting with an indigenous system of references for producingmeaning? This is the main question discussed in this paper.Revolt Against the Modern Age?In his book Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against theModern Age,’ the American historian of religion Bruce B. Lawrence surveyswhat he identifies as “fundamentalist” movements within the threemajor religions of Semitic origin: Judaism, Christianity (AmericanProtestantism), and Islam. In seeking to understand how fundamentalistsrelate to the d i t i e s of the modem world, Lawrence makes a distinctionbetween modernity and modernism. Modernity is seen as the concretefacts of modem lie: the revolutions in production and communicationstechnalogy hu@ an by indusbialkm and the cowmnt changes inmaterial life and, to a certain extent, in social organization. Lawrence’sfundamentalists are not opposed to modernity, with the possible exception of the Natluei Karta group in Israel. They also are adept at utilizingthe most modem means of communications in their campaign or organizingactivities.Modernism, on the other hand, is what characterizes the new way ofthinking that has o c c d in the West as a result of, or at least alongside,the industrial and scientific revolutions. It is marked by a strong belief inthe powers of science and reason and by a basic skepticism toward anysubstantial, absolute truth. To the modernist mind no “truth” is immune ...
Globalization
Authors: Al'Alwani Taha Jabir
Published: December 2020

The term globalization often is used to describe the global nature ofcapital and the emergence of a single global economy in the contemporaryera. The term also suggests certain homogenizing tendencies in thesocial as well as political realms. These homogenizing tendencies mayrefer to something as banal as the ubiquitous acceptance of denim jeansor to something as profound as the globalization of the democratic processes.In this brief discussion, we shall limit our comments to the realmof normative values. However, this does not mean that culture and theglobalization of cultural practices is not important. Culture is important,but the basic normative values that underpin culture, as well as the politicaland social arenas, are more profound, and it is these upon which I willfocus my attention.We shall use the term globalism to describe the current on-goingglobal convergence of values. Globalism can be best understood by contrastingit with the idea of centralization. Centralization conceives of theworld as one, but clearly identifies what is the center and what constitutesthe periphery. In a system undergoing centralization, a globalpower asserts its domination over “others” by locating itself as the normative,political, and economic center of the universe. It marginalizesthe rest of the world, and simultaneously assumes, often through coercivemeans, the role of leader in moral as well as material terms. Thereis a clear hierarchy in the system, and the center is the undisputed “hegemon.”Thus when the periphery emulates the center, it often does so outof fear or insecurity, and the resulting homogenization is actually hegemonization.The centrality of the hegemon is based on an anthropological view ofthe universe, which distinguishes-or rather discriminates-behvxn thegood/powefil and the badweak. The centrality of the hegemon is amanifestation of its egocentric nature and its sense of superiority overothers. It sees itself as advanced, rational, creative, democratic, andpeaceful, and constructs others as underdeveloped, traditional, lazy,authoritarian, and therefore inferior. It assumes that it is the best and thatthe rest must emulate it in their political, socioeconomic, and culturalconstitution. Early attempts at global conquest, such as those by ...
Conceptualizing Globalization
Authors: Nyang Sulayman
Published: December 2020

The term globe in the English language enjoys the same meaning asthe English word world. The term globalization is now used to denote atrend in world affairs in which several factors and forces impact on theway we view ourselves, our world, societies, cultures, the physical world,and the rest of the universe. The Arabic word for this geographic world is‘ciZum; hence, the Qur’anic usage describing the Creator as Rabb uZ‘&zmSn (The Lord of the Worlds). This Islamic term conjures up animage that cuts across the vast range of beings and their domains of existencein creation.The understanding of globalization that is beginning to gain acceptancethroughout the world centers on the hegemony of the mass mediain the realm of human consciousness. To put the matter humorously, onecan say that the electron has now become the secret mediator betweenpeople located in one part of the world and their counterparts located elsewhereon the globe. It was this image that led the late Marshall MacLuhanto use the metaphor of the tele-village to describe what he believed washappening in the area of human communications.Globalization now manifests itself in five important ways. The firstinvolves the shortening of geographic distances and the ease of humantravel via faster means of locomotion, such as supersonic planes, nuclear-powered ships, high-speed cars, and bullet trains. These modem meansof travel have combined to create a new world order for humanity. Theworld is no longer a wild place where humans must battle with other zoologicalrivals; rather, it has become a place where human creativity andpower now reign supreme, if matters are seen through the eyes of nonhumanflora and fauna.The second manner in which globalization is shaping our world is inthe traversing of physical distances through the effective manipulation ofthe electron in the service of humanity. By virtue of humanity’s scientific ...
Christianity in the Arab World
Authors: Maqsood Ruqaiyyah Waris
Published: December 2020

As Prince Charles commented in his opening words, "Jordan has long been conspicuousas a land of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths,"a coexistence increasingly abused by extremists of all three faiths included in the phraseAhl al Kitiib (People of the Book). Prince Hassan 's original intent in writing this book wasto brief Muslim Arabs on the nature of Christianity and Christian religious institutions.His major focus is on the historical development of the Eastern Christian traditions in theMuslim Arab milieu and the standing of Christians in Arab society today. ft is his intentionto provide Muslim Arabs with accurate and concise information about the Christianswho historically have lived in their midst. The text was first published in English andArabic by the Royal Institute for Inter-faith studies in Amman, Jordan. and should be classifiedunder both historical and theological sections. It is in wide demand in the Westbecause of the paucity of easily accessible relevant information.The Arab Christian tradition goes back to Christianity's very earliest days, antedatingIslam by those six centuries that witnessed the growth of Christian Trinitarian theology,the spread of the Church, and the division of that Church into different communions.Some of these historical communions have survived in the Arab world and bear titles thatusually are greeted with complete ignorance on the part of Christian tourists encounteringChristianity in Arab lands for the first time.As an overall picture of the historical development of Christian doctrine, this bookpresents the main features and arguments with exceptional clarity and a highly admirabledepth of understanding of extremely confusing issues. A more clear, precise, concisegestalt picture of the subject does not exist, so far as I know. The reader can follow thereasons for the various theological developments, the schisms that arose, and the passionswith which various positions and views were defended.The text is academic, excellent at history and explanation, and displays a sensitiveawareness of words and concepts that require careful definition. The Prince has presentedthe world of religious scholars and the issues that were so important to them that theywere (and remain) willing to sacrifice everything, even life. It does not show the world ofactual church people who regard themselves as the body of the living Christ, the devotedfollowers who strive to live good, prayerful lives pleasing to God by imitating the way ofJesus to the best of their ability. This is not a criticism, but I felt the book would have beenimproved with a short section on Christian spirituality to counter all the nitpicking andskullduggery that went on in the theological realm ...
Globalization
Authors: Abu-Rabiʽ Ibrahim
Published: December 2020

Neoliberalism, as a global system, is a new war in theconquest of territory. The end of the Third World War, orCold War, certainly does not mean that the world hasovercome bipolarity and rediscovered stability under thedomination of the victor. Whereas there was a defeatedside (the socialist camp), it is difficult to identify the winningside. The United States? The European Union?Japan? Or all three? ... Thanks to computers, the financialmarkets, fiom the trading floor and according to theirwhims, impose their laws and precepts on the planet.Globalization is nothing more than the totalitarian extensionof their logic to every aspect of life. The UnitedStates, formerly the ruler of the economy, is now governed- tele-governed - by the very dynamic of financialpower: commercial free trade. And this logic has madeuse of the porosity produced by the development oftelecommunications to take over every aspect of activityin the social spectrum. The result is an all-out war.'In the 1950s and the 1960s, a phase in the history [of theThird World] that the supporters of globalization wish tomarginalize and assassinate, culture was in fact made upof two kinds: imperialisthegemonic culture and liberationisthationalistculture. Those influenced by the ideologyof globalization desire to create a new genre of culture:the culture of opening and renewal and that of withdrawaland stagnation. - Muhammad 'Abid al Jiibiri ...
Islamization of Psychology
Authors: Safi Louay M.
Published: December 2020

This article argues that modern secular psychology with its antireligiousorigins depends on a limited ontology of human nature whichexcludes human volition as well as its transcendental and unchangingelements. This article challenges the negation of human nature bydemonstrating how the metaphysical presuppositions of Freud andSkinner actually assume a specific conception of human nature whiledenying its existence. This conception of human nature undermines thepossibility of human volition, effectively excluding responsibility, selfdetermination,and moral choice as factors that shape human action.This article then turns to the ideas on psychology embedded in theworks of classical Muslim scholars to argue that Islamic psychology isbased on volition and sublimation.
The AIDS Crisis
Authors: Watanabe Sabeena M.
Published: December 2020

Dr. Malik Badri has done it again. In his earlier book The Dilemma of theMuslim Psychologists, published in 1978, he warned Muslim psychologists notto fall into the arms of Western secular psychology. This was at a time whenMuslims were uncritically plunging headlong into any body of knowledge thatcame out of the West. In his latest book The AIDS Crisis: An IslamicSociocultural Perspective, Badri is again ahead of his time in warning us aboutthe futility of adopting secular methods in dealing with the crisis of AIDS.He explains the biological basis of HN and AIDS and the misconceptionsabout its origins. American scientists are desperately trying to prove that AIDSoriginated outside the United States. The author demolishes all these theorieswith powerful arguments in which he cites studies and says:I should like to conclude this chapter by saying that to believe that the genemutation of HIV took place from green monkeys to Africans and fromAfricans to Haitians, and from Haitians to Americans in order to avoid theobvious fact that the mutation might have taken place in the insulted, germridden rectums of San Francisco homosexuals, is indeed an extremely farfetched,racist, and unfair way to ward off stigmatism and ease cognitivedissonance. (p. 128-29)He further analyzes the thinkiig of various psychologists and influentialwriters that contributed to the sexual revolution, from Freud, the father of thesexual revolution to Maslow, Ellis, and Skinner. “After the sexual revolutionimplemented it’s new morality, it was necessary for it to change the terms inthe language to pave the way for sex.” Thus, adultery became known as extramaritalrelations and sodomizers became known as guy, which expressescheerfulness and joviality.He suggests:Knowing fully well why the Western sexual revolution is changing terminology,they [refening to Muslim workers] should always call a spade aspade. For example, they should use the proper Islamic terms such as ...
Freudian Fraud
Authors: Alawneh Shafiq F.
Published: December 2020

Freudian Fraud can be categorized in the field of granular psychology andgeneral education. Containing ten chapters, it addresses a varied audience: psychologists,educators, physicians, journalists, priests, and preachers. Chapter one lays out the basics of Freud’s theory, the immigration of the theoryto America, and the characteristics of Freud himself: his relationship withsexual freedom, social reform, his orientation toward fame and cocaine, and hisstrong belief in occultism. Chapter two discusses the nature-nurture debate andthe issues of immigration and race in America during his time.Chapter three concentrates on the efforts of Margaret Mead and RuthBenedict in popularizing sexual freedom, including bisexuality, homosexuality,and lesbianism. In chapter four, the author shows how Freud and Marxjoined forces in order to stand against Hitler’s resolution of the nature-nurturedebate. Chapter five pictures the shining days of Freud in America after thepostwar propagation of his faith. It shows how Freud became the star of stage,screen, and radio.Chapters six, seven, and eight deal with Freud’s effect on American life-innurseries, schools, jails, and prisons as well as among the intellectual elite, inpolitical parties, mental health centers, universities, and the publishing and filmindustries.Chapter nine presents an indepth discussion of the scientific bases ofFreudian theory and challenges these bases, especially after the evidence forgenetic determinants of personality had been well-established. It presentsFreud’s credits and debits. The chapter ends with a discussion of Freud’s theoryas a religion.Freud’s central theory revolves around the idea that early childhood experiencesand practices (especially those related to the mother) are very crucial indetermining the adult personality later. According to Freud, the core of thoseexperiences is that of sexual development. In addition to his interest in sex,Freud was interested in fame, occultism, and cocaine. Nevertheless, in thebeginning of the twentieth century most Americans were introduced to Freudas an apostle of sexual freedom (p. 13). The author contests that this achievementis a major asset of Freud‘s effect on American life (p. 257).Journalists, social reformers, physicians, and anthropologists contributed tothe popularization of Freud‘s ideas. Some of the well-known names areAbraham Brill, the first psychoanalyst in New York; Max Easman, editor ofthe Masses; Walter Lippman, a famous political analyst; Mable Dodge, a wellknownbusinesswoman; and Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, the renownedanthropologists ...
Cultural Psychology
Authors: Shakoor Muhyiddin
Published: December 2020

For the past thirty years, Michael Cole has been a prolific writer, researcher,and creative thinker in the field of developmental psychology. In CulturalPsychology: A Once and Future Discipline, he attempts to synthesize what hehas learned and to set forth an approach to developmental psychology from anhistorical and culrural perspective. Hence, a culturally sensitive science ofhuman development appears to be Cole's objective. He describes cultural psychologyas "the study of culture's role in the mental life of human beings." Hissubtitle suggests that culrural psychology was a discipline which existed in formertimes and will exist again in the future. Cole argues in favor of what isknown as a "second psychology," which moves beyond the confines of traditionaland contemporary psychological thinking about how the human mind isunderstood. The former psychology, described as naturalistic, has focused onthe familiar and more classical views. Such views evolved from our analysis ofmental phenomena developed from ideas, sensations, reflexes, and experienceswith sensorimotor connections. Alternately, the latter approach, "second psychology,"looks at the higher mental processes formed by cultures. Theseinclude things such as languages, myths, and social practices within the individual'ssocial context. The author reviews the evolution of thought throughseveral contemporary thinkers who, in his view, have contributed the substanceof a scientific, second psychology-oriented methodology necessary for aviable, efficacious culrural psychology. That is to say a psychology which issensitive to social and culrural contexts. The context includes such things aslanguage, riruals, and routines as they contribute to understanding people interms of their interdependence, cooperation, and essential humanity ...
The Place of Music in Quranic Recitation
Authors: Catin Abdumahman
Published: December 2020

This paper revisits the debate on the rhythmic recitation of the Quran.It examines the arguments made by those who favor rhythmic recitationand those who oppose it by scrutinizing their Quranic and traditionalsources. The paper examines all the ahadith and the Quranic ayahs thatrelate to the subject and concludes that as long as the rules of tajwid arefollowed it is permissible to embellish the recitation of the Quran withrhythm as well as modulated voice.
Multiplicity of Knowledge Forms
Authors: Mir Ali Raza
Published: December 2020

And say (O Mohammed): My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.(20:114)In the above verse from the Qur'an, God enjoins the Prophet Muhammadto literally plead for knowledge. I believe that this verse has very significantimplications for the topic of Islamic epistemology. Not only does Godmake a categorical statement about the importance of the pursuit of knowledgein human endeavor,' but He also declares Himself to be the fountainheadof all knowledge in the universe.Does all knowledge come from God? If so, what is the nature of humanity'spursuit of knowledge? Can we discern between various forms ofknowledge and make qualitative or moral distinctions between them?These are fundamental questions that constitute the building blocks ofIslamic epistemology. In traditional Western philosophical circles, however,Islamic epistemology has been relegated to the status of a historical artifact,an older fonn of inquiry which has been supplanted in the current ageby Western concerns. The importance of Mama Mehdi Ha'ii Yazdi'sbook The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy: Knowledge byPresence is precisely that it reintroduces Islamic epistemology as a living,vibrant, and practiced tradition. For that reason alone, this is a very importantbookI am not a philosopher by training; as a consequence, I found this bookto be heavy going. But to the extent that I was able to understand it, it wasa very illuminating experience. This article addresses people such asmyself, who are concerned with issues of epistemology and yet would bemore comfomble with a weaker dose of philosophical terminology. In my ...
Megamedia
Authors: McCarron Kevin
Published: December 2020

The uncompromising subtitle of Dean Alger's Megamedia makes his position onmedia monopoly absolutely clear. Although Alger has an impressive academicbackground, the book is intended for an intelligent general audience as well as forthose with more specialist or professional interests in media and public affairs.Underlying the book is Alger's fierce commitment to the First Amendment to theU.S. Constitution, which he regards as "the prime pillar of the Bill of Rights" (p.1). Alger notes that the news merua are absolutely central to the functioning ofdemocracy, while entertainment and other features and programs in the massmedia have powerful effects on society more generally. For Alger, the essence ofthe First Amendment's central provision is to ensure that the principal sources ofinformation and ideas directed at the public are genuinely independent and diverse voices which will maintain and promote a healthy democratic society. He writes.‘We should be greatly concerned if much or most of the main media fall increasinglyunder the control of a small number of giant corporations and extremelywealthy and willful people, especially when such people are inclined to use thepowerful media of mass communication for their own political and ecofKlmic pur-Of course for Alger there is no “if.” Megumedia is a highly readable aocount ofhow it in fact did happen, the implications of the m n t situation, and the implicationsfor democracy should the present process not be stopped. The book is clearlywritten and coherently structured. Composed of nine chapters, each one is logicallyconnected to its predecessor: chapter one details the growth of “megamedia,”chapter two investigates the meaning of democracy and the ways in which developmentsin the mass media affect the democratic process, chapter three offers adetailed account of the structure of ownership and control of the media, chapterfour reviews the key elements of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which significantlychanged telephone and mass media law in the United States, chapters fiveand six discuss and analyze the consequences of the patterns of ownership and controlof the media, chapter six focuses on news operations that are part of conglomeratesand other large multimedia corporations, chapter seven examines megamediapatterns in various nations around the world, chapter eight attempts to put inperspective the patterns and trends in the ownership and control of the mass mediaand their relation to our societies and the democratic process, and chapter nine discussesa number of ways to assure a true diversity of independent sources of newsand opinion ...
The International Symposium on Islam and Democracy
Authors: Bardakoglu Ali
Published: December 2020

The Foundation for Research in Islamic Sciences, (known as ISAV inTurkish) has organized over tf.llrty academic, national, and intemationalconferences on the issues facing the Muslim world today and has publishedthe proceedings of these conferences. ISAV organized the last internationalconference in this series on November 27-29, 1998, on “Islam andDemocracy.”At the outset of the symposium, Ali Ozek, the current president of ISAV,and Ali Bardakoglu, the coordinator of the symposium, made openingspeeches. The representatives of some political parties and institutionsmade protocol speeches on behalf of their parties and institutions.Mehmet Aydm, former Dean of the School of Religion, D o h EyiilUniversity, Izmir, gave the first talk, titled “Religion, Politics andDemocracy,” which set the tone for the conference. He dealt with threeconflicting orientations on the issue. The first orientation claims that thereis an intimate relationship between religion and politics; therefore, Islamrequires establishment of an Islamic state. The second orientation arguesthat there is no relationship between digion and politics, nor should therebe one. The third orientation argues that the religious may be involved inpolitics, that is, they may repxtsent the moral and religious values in thepolitical arena; analogous to the Christian Democrats in some Westerncountries, politics should be canied on while protecting “Muslim-Democrat” identity.According to Aydm it is not appropriate to defend the first thesis becauseit reflects the tendency to legitimize, as the historical experience shows, anintolerant and rigid ruling system. The existence of the social demands ofIslam weakens the second thesis. Likewise, the argument that Islam isincompatible with democracy because absolute rule belongs to Allah issimilarly weak, it harms Islam and hinders a healthy development ofdemocracy in Muslim societies within the framework of the rule of lawbecause it reduced Islam to the level of secular ideologies. Similarly, it isobservable that secularism has been mispemived by the two extreme ...
Ismail Raji al-Faruqi
Authors: Siddiqui Ataullah
Published: December 2020

The author highlights some of al-Faruqi's perceptions and approaches to the understanding of other faiths, his views on rasawwuf, his initia­tive for the movement for Islamization of Knowledge, and his concerns about the Ummah and da'wah. Although a brief article cannot do full justice to a lifetime of scholarship, this review may provide insights into, and also an overview of, al-Faruqi's thought: his understanding of other faiths, particularly the Abrahamic faiths; his treatment of differ­ent approaches to Islam, in particular, the Sufi perspective of tasawwuf and its relationship with other faiths; and his contributions as a Muslim intellectual seeking to spread the Islamic message in America and to harness Muslim intellectual resources in pursuit of Islamization of knowledge.
Islam, Modernism and the West
Authors: Robinson Francis
Published: December 2020

The relations between Muslim peoples and the West, and between Muslimpeoples and forms of modernity, have become increasingly pressing issues ofscholarly and political concern over the past twenty-five years. In part, this isdue to the growing power of Islamism in the lives and politics of many Muslimsocieties and, in part, to the fact that some fonns of Islamism can appear to beprofoundly hostile to all that the West represents. The growing presence ofMuslim peoples in Western societies and the many assumptions which thatpresence calls into question has also caused scholars and politicians to focus onthese relations. Add to this the fact that some leading members of the Westernpolicy establishment, most notably the US political scientist S. P. Huntington, have come to talk in the post-cold war era of a “clash of civilizations” in whichthe clash between Islam and the West is the most profound and the most dangerousfor world p e .This book, which contains sixteen essays by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars,mainly from institutions in Europe and the Arab world, sets out to addresskey issues in the relations between Muslims, modernity, and the West. It is theoutcome of a symposium held in Toledo, Spain, in April 1996, which wasprompted by the Eleni Nakou Foundation for the promotion of cultural contactand understanding among European peoples, and held under the auspices of theJose Ortega y Gasset Foundation. &ma Martin Muiioz, professor of Sociologyof the Arab and Islamic World at the Autonoma University of Madrid was theintellectual “playmaker” of the occasion. Due to its Islamic past and the fundamentalrole it played in transmitting Islamic learning and culture for thedevelopment of Christian Europe, Spain was a goad choice of location for theaonference ...
International Conference on Islamic Economics in the 21st Century
Authors: Kamal Omar M.
Published: December 2020

The International Conference on Islamic Economics in the 21st Century was the second international conference organized by the International Islamic University Malaysia {IIUM), in cooperation with the Islamic Research and Training Institute {IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The conference was held 9- 12 August 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Malaysian Minister of Education Dato' Sri Mohd and the president of the IIUM, Najib Tun Abdul Razak, officially opened the conference. Several ambassadors to Malaysia from Islamic countries, academicians, and prominent Islamic bankers attended the opening session. Over 200 del­egates from more than 15 Muslim and non-Muslim countries attended the conference. Delegates represented academicians from private and public institutions of higher learning and officials from central banks and mone­tary authorities. The delegates included economists, corporate executives, government officials, officers involved in Islamic banking, investment bankers, fund managers, officials from zakat and waqf institutions, researchers in Islamic economics and related areas, and students of eco­nomics. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of the attendants were delegates representing countries other than Malaysia. Speakers and discussants included members of various universities and institutions such as the International Institute of Islamic Economics (Pakistan), the Islamic University of Palestine, Kausar University of Sciences (Pakistan), Rajshashi University (Bangladesh), King Abdel Aziz ...
The Annual Convention of the Association of Muslim Social scientists
Authors: Khan M. A. Muqtedar
Published: December 2020

The Annual Convention of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists(AMSS), was held at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciencesin Leesburg, VA 29-31 October.By all accounts, this convention was a success and heralds a resurgenceof the Association. The convention generated an air of excitement andexpectations about the Association’s immediate future. Over 150 participantsattended and 70 presentations were made. In addition, the conventionwas graced by nine foreign scholars: two from India, one from Brunei, onefrom Malaysia, three from Canada, one from France, and one from Turkey.The Faruqi memorial lecture was delivered by AbdulHameedAbuSulayman, the president of the International Institute of IslamicThought (IIlT). He focused on the Muslim communities’ need to focus onthe intellectual development of children because it is an important aspect ofthe revival of the ummah. The keynote address at the banquet was given byTariq Ramadan a prominent Muslim social scientist and community leaderfrom France. His talk brought a Efreshing focus to what it means to be anengaged Western Muslim.In many ways this convention was a turning point in the history ofAMSS. Here, the old and the new met and had a meaningfid dialogue aboutthe direction of the Association. The convention also marked a change ofguard as many new and younger Muslim scholars, particularly graduatestudents, joined the board. Faizan Haq, a B.D. student at SUNY Buffalowas elected general secretary and is also in charge of the AMSS outreach ...
Behavioral Science Foundations of Organization Development
Authors: Al-Junaid Syed Abdul Hamid , Anwar Syed Aziz
Published: December 2020

This article seeks to advance an Islamic perspective on OrganizationDevelopment. Arguing that OD interventions not only seek to instituteplanned change within organizations, but also change individuals, culturesand societies, the authors suggest that OD interventions canbecome useful tools for bringing about comprehensive development insociety. The authors advance an Islamic perspective on OD in the hopeof transforming Muslim organizations and precipitate comprehensivedevelopment of Muslim societies.
The Development of Civil Society in Indonesia and the Role of Voluntary Organizations
Authors: Chirzin M. Habib
Published: December 2020

This article describes the evolution of Indonesia's voluntary sector andthe role of nongovernmental and private voluntary organizations in thedevelopment of Indonesia's civil society. The paper describes howNGOs and PYOs complement and supplement the role of governmentin the social and economic development of the society. It also discusseshow these organizations manage their responsibility in challengingthe government while often remaining financially dependent on thegovernment for their existence. The paper also advances discussionsabout the organizational theory of voluntary organizations and theirparticular development in Indonesia.
The First Annual Conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (UK)
Authors: Nyang Sulayman S.
Published: December 2020

The first annual conference of the Association of Muslim SocialScientists of the United Kingdom took place on October 30-31, 1999, at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science in London, England.The attendees came from various British and continental European universities.There were also a few participants from outside the European continent.This conference was a follow-up to the December 1996 seminar at theOxford Academy for Advanced Studies that led to the creation of theAMSS(UK) for the specific purpose of promoting Islamic perspectives invarious academic disciplines. According to the conference program, theplanners of the conference chose an "open theme," inviting presenters towrite on topics in their own field of expertise. Because of this open invitationto the participants, papers on philosophy, sociology, political science,economics, law, education, religious studies, literature, art, media, andecology were presented at the conference.On the opening day, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham ( one of four Muslims sittingin the House of Lords) delivered the keynote address. He encouragedthe Muslim scholars to study the Muslim experience in the British Isles andto contribute to the better understanding of the Muslim minority in Britishsociety. He underscored the persistence of racism and anti-Islamic sentimentsin the country and urged his fellow believers to keep the faith and tomaintain their vigilance against the detractors of Islam in the West. Heargued for greater Muslim involvement in the political process in Britishsociety and urged the younger generation to do everything within theirpower to assert their rights as citizens and to maintain their Islamic identity.Professor Sulayman S. Nyang, a former President of the Association ofMuslim Social Scientists of the United States and Canada, addressed themeeting after Lord Ahmed's keynote address. Invited purposely to share theexperiences of the American AMSS with members of the British AMSS, ...
Globalization’s Vulnerabilities and the Response of Islamic Economics
Authors: Beg Tahir
Published: December 2020

The philosophical-theoretical premise of globalization is ignorant of thevalues of justice, equity, and oneness of humanity, hence it leads to verticalintegration of humanity, systemic vacuum in global governance,drastic erosion in national policy autonomy, and accountability-freeempowerment of global capital. The Islamic worldview provides analternative paradigm for globalization and offers wide scope for refprmof contemporary globalization by re-exploring the interrelationshipbetween the concepts ‘Ummah’ and ‘one humanity.’ This suggests thatoperational re-orientation of Islamic economic institutions is greatlyneeded to protect the Ummah and humanity against the vulnerabilitiesof contemporary globalization
Shattering the Myth
Authors: Sabet Amr
Published: December 2020

Shaffering the Myfh is a claim by Bruce B. Lawrence at severing the almostinextricable link, in western perceptions, between Islam and violence.Lawrence’s argument is simple and seemingly straightforward, although, as heprofesses, at odds with most popular and academic understandings of Islam.Comprehending Islam, as he puts it, requires a clear discernment of its integratedmetaphysical and circumstantial dimensions which over time has givenrise to distinct forms of Islamic sociopolitical manifestations. Changing globalconditions in the economic sphere have further propelled new forces andsociopolitical actors onto the public scene. Thus women may be expected toplay a different and more important role in Muslim civic space in the nearfuture. This changing role of women serves to offer hope, rather than despair,about the role of Islam in the 21st century (p. 3).Through a deconstructive process of reversal and re-inscription, Lawrenceattempts to expose the privileged violent/peaceful male/female violence hierarchythat supports and justifies such perceptions of Islam. To reverse the firsthierarchy and ‘disconnect’ Islam from violence (p. 9) he adopts a double stratagem,one definitional, the other discursive. In the former, Islam, as well asbeing a religion, is stressed as a modem day ideology subordinated to that ofnationalism-nationalism doing for the modem era what religion did or triedto do, in premodern times (p. 15). In the second strategy Lawrence discoursesthrough the violent colonial legacy perpetrated by the West and its brutalimpact on its victims (pp. 9-10).To reverse the second hierarchy, Lawrence, less candidly, stresses a feministperspective. Whereas the Muslim ‘enemy’ is invariably depicted in Westernstereotypes as a ‘male’ warrior from the past or a modem-day ‘male’ terrorist(p. 5), the feminist re-inscription depicts women as an “index of Muslim identity.”The purpose is to include a perspective on Muslim women that adds complexityto the typical rendition of Muslim norms and values (p. 6). Lawrenceseeks to reconstruct the ‘determinist’ interpretations of Islam, pertaining to violenceand the subjugation of women, and to link it to the Western colonial era.The logic is that by reversing and reconstructing certain violent hierarchicalcategorizations so as to transform particular Western understandings and perceptionsand hence attitudes toward Muslims, the latter may become lessinclined to react defensively or violently. This would allow for a broader morepeaceful exploratory interdisciplinary, international, cross-cultural approach(p. 12). In this sense and throughout his work, Lawrence subordinates andmarginalizes Islam in favor of three determining, competing, and challenging ...
All in the Family
Authors: McDuffee Allen
Published: December 2020

Despite the instability usually attributed to the Middle East, today one finds anunusual level of stability in eight of its monarchies. When mosl countries of theworld are converting to some form of "democracy," what has led this type ofstate system to such stability? In his book, All in the Family, Michael Herb,Assistant Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University, providesthe most thought-provoking work on Middle Eastern monarchies since rentierstate theory became fashionable. Herb determines that "there are two distinctforms of monarchism in the Middle East. One is resilient and the other is not''(p. 235). His basic thesis is that the key to the survival, persistence, andresilience of monarchies in the Middle East is the willingness and ability of theruling families to saturate the most important positions in the state apparatus.He terms this "dynastic monarchism"-the idea that "the ruling family formsitself into a ruling institution, monopolizing the key offices of the state" (p.235). In the unsuccessful type of monarchy, the king "maneuvers among variousforces-the army, the parliament, and the parties-and when he loses balancethe monarchy falls" (p. 235). Case studies are used to illustrate bothmonarchical models: dynastic (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United ArabEmirates, Bahrain, and Oman) and nondynastic (Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran.Morocco, Jordan, and Afghanistan - usually excluded from studies on theMiddle East). This book relies on comparative analysis and is based not onlyon archival research, but also on interviews and secondary sources.In the second and third chapters, "The Emergence of Dynastic Monarchy andthe Causes of Its Persistence" and "Arabian Society and the Emergence of thePetro-State," respectively, the reader gets a sense of the rise of the petro-stateand how it enabled dynastic monarchies to emerge. He asserts that theyemerged because the ruler's relatives "had powerful bargaining resourceswhich they could use to help rulers stay in power, to aid aspiring rulers inachieving power, or to attack and depose sitting rulers" (p. 22). Tims, the emergenceof the petro-state added another dimension in intrafamily negotiations.Dynasties consolidate power by limiting the status of any individual or clique.Coalitions are built by the rulers through distribution of government positionsto relatives as a means of assuring their cooperation. Dynasties are strengthenedby forming consensus on the issue of succession rather than depending onprimogeniture. As a result, a ruler is held accountable to his family who ...
The Psychology of Religion
Authors: Haque Amber
Published: December 2020

The areas of psychology and religion have been traditionally viewed as mutuallyexclusive and the relationship between them seen as one of paradox and impossibility.The book under review offers a wide coverage of the subject from its troubledhistory to the latest developments in the field in easy to understand language.In an overview of the book, the author points out how religion can be a powerfulforce in human society leading to admirable and often horrible consequences.Citing a few research studies, the author shows how the situation has changed overthe years and how the psychology of religion is emerging as a completely new fieldof study. The book is divided into seven chapters.Chapter one begins with the daunting task of defining both psychology and religionfrom the author's own perspective, after a review of some popular definitions.After presenting a couple of questionnaires to measure religious beliefs, the authorpresents a short history of the uneasy relationship between psychology, religionand discusses the concept of spirituality. The author points out that although spiritualityis common to most religions and cultural traditions, it can be a divisiveissue and is actually outside the context of organized religion. Concern is raised bythe author regarding the lack of attention given to the possible differences betweenthe religious experiences and behaviors of men and women.Chapter two focuses on how traditions outside of the western Christian context,e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism view the psychology-religionrelationship. This chapter also describes "Syncretic Religions" in which differentreligious traditions are blended, and the new religious movements starting in the1960s. The chapter stresses that although psychological emphases and consequencesmay differ, psychological themes are common to all or most religions, andthese emphases and consequences need further investigation.Chapter three discusses religious behavior and examines in detail the effects ofprayer. The author gives definitions and quotations of prominent scholars andcites empirical studies showing effects and perceived effects of prayer. The use of ...
Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies
Authors: Haleem Irm
Published: December 2020

The aim of the authors in this book was to provide a supplementary text for studieson gender issues in Islamic societies. Ruggles Fairchild (editor) notes that amore significant aim of the book was to broaden not only the geographical realmbut the scope and the time frame of analysis of the studies on gender in Islamicsocieties. This book examines the implicit economic, social and political influenceof elite Muslim women in their respective societies by shedding light on thewomen's patronage of architecture, clothing and art. Authors argue that suchvisible expressions - products of women who were otherwise invisible in society -were, and are, reflective of women's implicit agency (means of exerting power insociety) in ancient Islamic societies. The main premise of the authors is that whilewomen have been absent in the explicit representation (depiction) of art,architecture and society, they have in fact been very much present in thebackground of these realms of Islamic society.While other studies of gender have emerged from consideration of social,economic and political structures in Muslim societies, few (if at all, argue theauthors) have emerged from an examination of "visual arts" or "visual culture" (p.2). This is the void the book seeks to fill. In this sense this book is very important,as it sheds light on the subtle agency of women in ancient Islamic societies andchallenges the stereotypical notion that women were (are) subservient, mutedentities in Islamic societies (past or present). In their challenge of the stereotypicalview of Muslim women in ancient Islamic societies, the authors also question the ...