bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Editorial
Authors: Bullock Katherine
Published: October 2020

Even though interdisciplinary approaches to the study of humanity are increasinglya preferred method of study, it is still easy for scholars to isolate themselves withintheir field and lose touch with developments in the rest of the academy. Therefore,interdisciplinary journals such as AJISS are vital tools for helping them to keepabreast of the latest developments in areas outside their discipline but still in theirrealm of interest – in the case ofAJISS, the study of Islam andMuslims, both historicallyand contemporaneously.This issue of AJISS features outstanding essays from several academic disciplines:history, Islamic studies, management, and philosophy.We open withMuhammadAziz’sstudy of the rise of Sufism inYemen, “AShort Survey of Yemeni Sufismfrom Its Inception to the Thirteenth Century.” Aziz argues that a tradition of asceticismby Yemeni Muslims, including such prominent Companions as Abu Hurayrah,developed into themore institutionalized Sufismthat appeared and was spread by theAyyubid dynasty during the eleventh to twelfth centuries. He maintains that tracingthe history of Yemeni asceticism and Sufism is important because of the political, aswell as religious, role that its leading practitioners had on Yemeni life ...
Modern Arab Art
Authors: Gaber Tammy
Published: October 2020

This book endeavors to define a specific term for modern Arab art, which ismost often considered a continuation of Islamic or ethnic art or a subordinatecopy of western trends. This academic text, which targets audiences interestedin contemporary art or the Arab world, or both, is divided into threeparts: “Background and Definitions,” “Modern Arab Aesthetics,” and “The Arabic Letter in Art.” It contains forty images within the text and thirty-twoplates of contemporary works of art by Arabs ...
Iran’s Intellectual Revolution
Authors: Morrow John Andrew
Published: October 2020

Iran’s Intellectual Revolution, by Mehran Kamrava, offers an overview ofthe three major political orientations that have evolved in Iran since theIslamic revolution of 1979, especially since the death of Khomeini in 1989.The first chapter examines the silent, and often not-so-silent, revolution that has taken place in Iran over the past few decades; the second and third chapterscontextualize these emerging Iranian discourses; and the fourth, fifth,and sixth chapters focus on the religious conservative, religious reformist,and secular-modernist discourses.Chapter three surveys the religious conservative discourse of Khomeini,Khamenei, Montazeri, Mesbah Yazdi, Rafsanjani, and Amoli. The authorfocuses on issues of interpretation, emulation, and the rule of the jurist (bothconditional and absolute), all of which are essential if one wishes to understandthe country’s current internal conflict and the varying conceptions ofIslamic government that exist ...
To Use “God” or “Allah”?
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Recently there was a discussion on the American Academy of Religion listserve’s“Islam” section on whether “Allah” is simply a noun or a proper nameof God and whether English-speaking Muslims should use “God” instead of“Allah.” As the majority seemed to agree that “Allah” is Arabic for God, as“Khoda” is in Urdu and Persian, there was no agreement on using “God”instead of “Allah.” But what I did not see discussed was howtheQur’an presentsthe term Allah; after all, it uses this term about 980 times.1 Admittedlythere was one attempt to bring in al-Ghazali’s theological stance, but it waspursued no further than “Allah is God’s proper name.” ...
A History of Iran
Authors: Mancini-Lander Derek J.
Published: October 2020

This survey of the history of Iranian civilization from ancient times to thepresent is intended for general audiences with little knowledge of Iranianhistory. The book’s nine chapters consist largely of chronological presentationsof political history, but occasionally make room for sections on religiousmovements, society, and the arts. The first two chapters briskly coverthe ancient period through the Sassanids. The third runs from the Islamicconquests through the fifteenth century and contains a long section on theevolution of Persian verse tradition. The fourth and fifth chapters cover theSafavids’ rise and fall, the development of early modern Twelver Shi`ism,and the tumultuous period leading up to the Qajars. The sixth surveys thelate Qajar period and the constitutional revolution, while the last three chaptersdetail the events of the twentieth century with an emphasis on the 1979Islamic revolution and what has happened since. As nearly a third of thebook deals with the twentieth century, the treatment of the ancient periodsand the first millennium of the Islamic era are comparatively spare.Axworthy’s main project is to trace the history of a sense of “Iranianness”or “Irananian identity” that he claims to have identified in ancientsources and uses to justify composing what he calls “a history of Iran.”Although he does not provide an explicit and comprehensive definition ofthis “Iranian identity,” he states clearly that he is not describing a sense ofnation (pp. xv-xvi and 117). Rather, he implies that this identity is a loosesense of affiliation based on the idea of a common land, language, andshared memory. But when he speaks, for example, of an “Iranian revival” inthe second century or an “Iranian reconquest” in the fourteenth, he uses thevery nation-centered paradigm of history that he seeks to avoid, even if herefrains from invoking a “national” sensibility ...
Stolen Honor
Authors: Newcomb Rachel
Published: October 2020

With Stolen Honor: Stigmatizing Muslim Men in Berlin, anthropologistKatherine Ewing has made a timely and valuable contribution to the literatureon Muslims in Europe. Ewing explores the stigmatization of Muslimsof Turkish origin in light of multiple societal controversies ranging fromhonor killings to citizenship tests meant to determine who can belong to theGerman nation.While the focus in both the popularmedia and social scienceliterature has typically been on Muslim women in western societies, StolenHonor offers a novel perspective on men, who are usually overlooked bysocial scientists and demonized by the media ...
Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11
Authors: Kamal Rabia
Published: October 2020

The present American moment has been hailed by some as inaugurating anera of “post-black” politics with the candidacy and election of PresidentBarack Obama. Obama’s election, in the words of Manning Marable, indicatesthe possibility that America has entered “an age of post-racial politics,in which leadership and major public policy debates would not be distortedby factors of race and ethnicity” (“Racializing Obama: The Enigmaof Post-Black Politics and Leadership,” Souls 11, no. 1 [2009]: 1-15). Whilehis campaign and victory heralded the message of hope in a “post-racial”landscape, the dangers of stumbling blindly onto the bandwagon could, andin some cases have, result(ed) in erasing race’s enduring presence in contemporaryAmericanpolitics.Thus, there is perhaps no better time for the publication of Race andArab Americans Before and After 9/11, as it counters contemporary publicamnesia by reminding us that race and inequality still permeate the lives ofminority populations. Speaking to an interdisciplinary audience and seekingto fill a critical gap in the field ofAmerican racial and ethnic studies, this collectionof essays highlights the complex and slippery ways in which race permeatesArab andArab-American engagements with the American socialhierarchy.Foregrounding the complexities of Arab-American racial formationas a critical site of inquiry in the introduction, Nadine Naber calls formoving beyond the usual liberal multiculturalist “add on” approach in orderto consider “the shifting and contradictory historical contexts throughwhichArabAmericans have engaged with immigration, assimilation, andracialization” (p. 4). In a concise but evocative historical précis, she showshow “anti-Arab racism represents a recurring process of the constructionof the Other within U.S. liberal politics in which long-term trends of racialexclusion become intensifiedwithinmoments of crisis in the body politic…”(p. 31) ...
“Earned Europeanness”
Authors: Erdogan M. Murat
Published: October 2020

Although the young and beautiful Europa was kidnapped by Zeus, the mostimportant hero of Greek mythology, she has given a general identity to thatcontinent which bears her name. Debates about the exact location of“Europe” and the definition of “Europeanness” have been going on for centuries.1 Europe has borne its complex identity as a continent until recenttimes; however, due to its surrounding regions and especially its culturopoliticaldefinitions, it does not have either geographically or culturallyexact boundaries. In fact, the positive meaning given in general to “Europe”and “Europeanness” in modern times has increased the number of countriesor population groups that wish to share this identity. But “otherness,” theunavoidable face of identity, has created an even more complex situationthat is now intertwined with this positive meaning.As distinct from “Westernism,” the concept of “Europeanness” hasdeveloped not only in terms of identity but also in terms of values, especiallyafter the Second World War.2 The performance shown in such issuesas the continuity of welfare and peace, stability, and democracy, as well asthe respect for human rights, cultural richness, and individual development,has had a great impact upon it.Although in the recent past Europe was a continentof horrible atrocity, intolerance, and war, it can be said that within thespace of fifty years, it has largely effaced this negativity and is actively tryingto be accepted as the symbol of “what is right and good.” ...
Iran and World Contemporary Developments
Authors: Navazeni Bahram
Published: October 2020

This conference (www.iranoworld.ir), the first one to be organized by thefaculty of the Department of Political Science at Imam Khomeini InternationalUniversity (IKIU) and will be held continuously in the followingyears, sought to develop knowledge and making the ground suitable for discussingand analyzing the work of researchers both inside and outside Iran.Despite the antiquity of Iran’s history, rich oil and gas resources, andmonitoring of the strategic Persian Gulf, the country has enjoyed stability inits blend of religion and politics of social affairs in the face of profoundchange. Contemporary international relations, known for its dominatingprinciples of equal sovereignty and self-determination, is also undergoingchange, the most obvious ones being the Soviet collapse, the “new worldorder,” and globalization, all of which have affected Iran ...
Evil and Islamic Theodicy
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

On 12 January 2010, the world witnessed the complete devastation of Haiti, thishemisphere’s first black independent nation. That this is evil in its nature is disputedby none (Plato uses evil to refer to poverty, disease, pain, sickness, harm, injustice,badness, discord, chaos, disorder, ugliness, weakness, deformity, and other things).1What is deliberated, however, are the causes, effects, and what to do next. Moreappropriately, the international community rallied to help the innocent and helplessHaitians instead of trying to justify why this particular earthquake occurred. In thiseditorial, I seek to provoke philosophical debate and refocus theological attention onevil in the world, while hoping to raise more pointed questions about those whoattempted to provide absolute answers for this particular earthquake.The very next day, the infamous televangelist Pat Robertson of the “700 Club”dared to offer an apparent justification and cause of this earthquake.2 Much has beenstated about his insensitivity and the fabricated story he cited. But the absurdity of hisargument and the underlying ideology are even more troubling. He concluded thatGod was punishing the Haitians because their ancestors had made a “pact with theDevil” to help them gain independence from France. Thus, God has cursed all generationsof Haitians.Setting aside his lack of consideration of how this pact could have been made,the underlying conclusion is that the Haitians’ ancestors abandoned God in favor ofthe Devil (who had become effective in their quest for independence) and since thenGod has been taking revenge upon them, even on those citizens who follow otherreligions and thus have nothing to do with that alleged sin, either then or now. Whatdoes that say about God and His omnipotence and justice? Philosophers and theologianshave long struggled with these questions ...
Three Decades of Iran’s Policy of Exporting the Islamic Revolution
Authors: Navazeni Bahram
Published: October 2020

Three decades after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s foreignpolicy remains committed to “exporting the revolution” (sodoureenqelab). Through this policy, the Islamic Republic of Iran wantsto make the world safe for not only Islam and Muslims, but for alloppressed people around the world. The idea is based on the ideologyof Imam Khomeini, who presented it in a general way in hisimportant work on jurisprudence. To him, the role of Imam is topreserve the Islamic ummah’s unity, liberate the Islamic homelandfrom the seizure and influence of the colonizers and their puppetgovernments, and initiate the just Islamic government.In this article, I explore the politics, ends, and means of exportingthe revolution in the overall context of Iran’s foreign policyas well as show how the divinely inspired nature of the revolutionwas to bring Islamic justice to humanity and the variouspeaceful and coercive means it adopted to provide happiness,well-being, and salvation to all nations. To Imam Khomeini andhis followers, the final end of “great Islamic community” couldnot be achieved in the current arrogant international society withouthelping the disintegrated Muslim nations to unite with eachother and using adequate force.
Religion, the Public Good, and the Research University
Authors: Rosengarten Richard A.
Published: October 2020

I am delighted to be with you today and to have this opportunity to sharewith you some thoughts about “Religion, the Public Good, and the ResearchUniversity.” Of course it is important to acknowledge at the outset that anyone of these terms probably merits at least the full thirty-five minutes of thisspeaker’s time and also the fifteen minutes allotted today for discussion. SoI am not going to attempt to do justice to any one of the three. Rather I aminterested in their intersection and what that might itself create.Is there a place where religion, the public good, and the research universityintersect? I believe that there is; and I propose in what follows totry to describe that place for you. As an intellectual location, what I will bedescribing is a mental rather than a physical space. It is attitudinal. Nonethelessit most emphatically is a space. It is of interest itself, but it is also, toresort to metaphor, the “core” for what makes civil society possible. So thismental space has purely intellectual interest, and getting it right is in importantways a matter of thinking clearly and well – it is a fun puzzle to workout. But it also is absolutely vital to how we live together. Its magic is thisdual character, and its existence is a matter of preserving both parts of thatcharacter.I need to note two qualifications about what follows. My frame of referencein this talk will explicitly concern the American experiment in civilsociety. I am aware that this is a limitation. I also fear that it could be a danger.It is a limitation that I am insufficiently versed in other versions of civilsociety. For that I can only acknowledge my ignorance and invite those whoknow more to contribute. It is a danger in that it provides an opening for misunderstanding.I hope I shall not risk this danger in what follows, but let mesay here that none of what follows is meant to imply in any simple sense acommitment to the American model of democracy for the entire world community. I love American democracy and consider myself privileged to be acitizen under its governance. But the world is a complex place, and I amunwilling to operate on the assumption that the form of government I enjoyand deeply love is axiomatically the best for all peoples in all places ...
Globalization
Authors: Haron Muhammed
Published: October 2020

More than thirty years ago, the first World Conference on Muslim Educationembarked upon the “Islamization of Knowledge,” a process articulated andexpounded upon by the late Ismail Raji al-Faruqi (Temple University) andNaguib al-Attas, retired (ISTAC, Malaysia). The organizers of this conference,the seventh in this series, hoped to continue in this spirit by aiming “tobe as dynamic and as influential as its predecessors” and to develop themesdiscussed in earlier conferences by locating them within “the current globalizedatmosphere.” Moreover, it “expected to usher in a new era of Muslimeducation which will counteract the negative effects of globalization…”The organizers listed three special themes: “Curriculum for MuslimEducation,” “Making Basic Teachings of Islam Relevant,” and “Religionand Youth” and twelve subthemes, among them “Integration of Knowledge,”“Madrasah Education,” “Quality of Muslim Education,” “Non-Muslim Perspectives on Muslim Education,” and “Principles of Critical andCreative Thinking in Muslim Education.” They also invited particular individualsto present papers, such as Wahbah Zuhayli (dean, Faculty of IslamicLaw, University of Damascus [Syria]), Anis Ahmad (Riphah InternationalUniversity [Pakistan]; editor, The Quarterly Journal of the West & Islam),and Alparslan Acikgenc (Fatih University [Turkey]). Since the conferencecovered a variety of keynote speeches, presentations by well-known Malaysianscholars such as Osman Bakar (International Institute of AdvancedIslamic Studies, Malaysia) and Kamal Hassan (International Islamic UniversityMalaysia) and parallel sessions, I will comment briefly on the sessionsand more extensively on some of the keynote speeches that set the tonefor the discussions at the conference ...
Gender, Identity, and Islam
Authors: Gandolfo K. Luisa
Published: October 2020

Books Reviewed: Valentine M. Moghadam, ed., From Patriarchy to Empowerment:Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East,North Africa, and South Asia. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,2007; Ida Lichter, Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices againstOppression. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009; Wahida Shaffi, ed.,Our Stories, Our Lives: Inspiring Muslim Women’s Voices. Bristol, UK: ThePolicy Press for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2009.The realm of gender studies is rife with potential research foci: to comprisethe geographical, political, and ethical breadth that spans North Africa toSouth Asia, war novels and Iranian cinema to dowries and hudud is, then,a veritable feat. Assuming the concept of patriarchy as the nexus fromwhich to assess the multidimensional subjugation of women within thepolitical, socioeconomic, and ethnic spheres, Valentine M. Moghadamaffords a sweeping, yet insightful, collection of nineteen articles originatingfrom the “Women in the Global Community” conference hosted in Istanbulby the Fulbright Commission in September 2002 ...
Islam and Disability
Authors: Rispler-Chaim Vardit
Published: October 2020

Dr. Ghaly’s Islam and Disability is an important contribution to the study ofdisability in Islamic law and theology, especially since only in recent years(according to Ghaly, since 1997 [p. 3]) has this subject been treated as anindependent field of research and not much has been published on it so far.This book, based on the author’s Ph.D. dissertation, combines the results ofthorough, intelligent, and meticulous research in Islamic theology, jurisprudence,ethics, and medicine – all in respect of people with disabilities. It iswell written and almost flawless, its wealth of transliterations and endnotesnotwithstanding. The author uses classical as well as contemporary sourcesin Arabic, whereby he surveys and compares a wide range of opinions ontopics related to law, theology, history, Hadith, Qur’an commentaries, andmore (pp. 219-34). A long list of references in other languages was also consulted(pp. 235-46), as well as a few unpublished manuscripts (pp. 234-35) ...
Peace Strengthens Human Prosperity
Authors: Kayadibi Saim
Published: October 2020

This conference, organized by the Faculty of Usuluddin at Sultan Sharif AliIslamic University (UNISSA), was held on 24-25 February 2010 at theRizqun International Hotel in Gadong, Brunei. The 119 local and 40 internationalparticipants presented 78 working papers. Local and internationalmedia outlets and representatives of government bodies, as well as officersfrom the Department of Community Development, the Ministry of ReligiousAffairs’ Syariah Affairs Department, and the Brunei Economic DevelopmentBoard, also attended. One of the main objectives was to clear upmisconceptions about Islam in order to bridge the gap and strengthen relationshipsand cooperation between Muslim and western countries.Abdul Muthalif Afuwardeen (conference co-chairman; dean, Facultyof Usuluddin, UNISSA) welcomed the audience and spoke of the importanceof religion and peace and how Islam and Muslims have been wronglyportrayed as symbols of terrorism, underdevelopment, and mockery. UstazHj Abdul Aziz Juned (state mufti) opened the event on behalf of SultanHas-sanal Bolkiah and urged participants to spread the truth about Islamworldwide. Keynote speaker Ismail Ibrahim (chariman of Islam Hadhari,National University of Malaysia), analyzed how many westerners considerIslam a religion of violence, war, and suppression due to their misunderstandingof jihad. He also called for mutual understanding among allparties ...
Islam, Muslims, and the Media
Authors: Zohdy Nada
Published: October 2020

On 26 February 2009, scholars, students, and journalists gathered at MichiganState University (MSU) to hear experts’ perspectives on “Islam, Muslims,and the Media.” Organized by MSU’s Muslim Studies Program andthe Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), it was kicked offthe previous evening with the short documentary “Arabs, Jews, and theNews” and a performance by comedian Azhar Usman of the “Allah MadeMe Funny” tour. The Social Science Research Council; the MSU UniversityActivities Board; the MSU Center for European, Russian, and EurasianStudies; and the Michigan State University-University of Wisconsin Consortiumfor Middle Eastern Studies also provided support. A brief summary ofthe different panels follows ...
Islam and the Army in Colonial India
Authors: Rizvi Sajjad H.
Published: October 2020

After what seems like a strange absence of academic interest, the study ofMuslims in South Asia is catching up – and not all of that interest is motivatedby the contemporary concerns of counter-terrorism and Af-Pak strategy.Part of this intellectual revival has been focused on the Deccan, andone of the best and brightest young historians working in the area is NileGreen, who now teaches at UCLA.The author posits three primary contributions to wider historiographicaldebates. First, it engages the social history of how empire impingedupon communities and practices and often co-opted and promoted them,thereby allowing us greater insight into its workings to suggest that partnershipswere essential to perpetuating power, especially in India, wherethe number of actual British soldiers and administrators on the ground wasnever sufficient for an absolutist colonial empire. As such, it allows us topeek into an alternative form of subaltern interaction and agency. This issignificant, given the neglect to a large extent of the study of religion onthe part of subalternists. Second, the book demonstrates how cultural practicesand the invention of norms were central to fostering military cultureand performance of the British Indian Army, which involves the selectivepromotion of certain forms of religiosity. It provides further evidence for ...
Veiled Constellations
Authors: MacDonald Megan
Published: October 2020

The “Veiled Constellations: The Veil, Critical Theory, Politics, and ContemporarySociety” conference took place at York University’s Keele Campusand at the University of Toronto on 3-5 June 2010. Sponsors included theSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the TorontoInitiative for Iranian Studies, the Noor Cultural Centre, the Canadian Councilof Muslim Women, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations,and multiple departments and associations at both universities. The two graduate students who co-organized the conference, Melissa Finn and ArshavezMozafari, did an excellent job in choosing papers that highlighted the veil’smulti-faceted appearances both in contemporary society and academic discoursesas something that is under-theorized and overlooked at the same time.The event’s advertising and signage played with the tropes of overwrittenand overlooked, suggesting that veiled women can be both silenced andsubjected to “therapeutic, punitive attention” (Edward Said, Covering Islam,xxxv-vi). For example, www.veiledconstellations.com shows two facelesswomen veiled in black, a torrent of water flooding the scene and pouring overthem and through the ovals where their faces should be. This serves as a kindof natural disaster or Armageddon trope on the body of Muslim women. Aprominent poster pictured a profiled woman wearing hijab, her face overwrittenwith overlapping Arabic words, while alternating pink lines radiatefrom behind her face, as if it were giving off light. A third poster offers thecommon image of the exotic woman behind-the-veil, a partial photo of awoman wearing niqab, her perfectly arched eyebrows perhaps challengingthe viewer to respond with the intrigued gaze, the desire to unveil her. Whilethese posters meant to undo tired images of Muslim women, their ambiguousnature sometimes reinforced those very stereotypes ...
The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan
Authors: Robinson Francis
Published: October 2020

The latest estimate by Afghan expert Gilles Dorronsoro (International HeraldTribune, 15 September 2010) states that no state structure remains in 80percent of Afghanistan’s districts, that the Taliban are rapidly filling the vacuum,that the NATO surge in the south has failed, and that the allies shouldnegotiate a settlement with them in order to achieve what assurances theycan about discouraging the presence of al-Qaeda before it is too late. Thisbook explains why such a limited success is the likely outcome of NATO’sattempt to build a working central Afghan state. It contains essays by ten leading scholars in the field who met at a conference in 2004. Most of thepapers have been extended to a cut-off date of 2007.The book sets out to answer several questions: Are the Taliban, usuallyconsidered a militantly traditionalist movement, in fact a new phenomenonin Afghan history? Are they no more than a foreign creation, an instrumentof Pakistan’s geopolitical interests in a post-cold war world? At the sametime, given their utopian theology that looks back to an imagined period ofearly Islamic purity, should they be seen as essentially “medieval” and “antimodern”?Are these sufficient characterizations of this extraordinarily effectivemovement, or should more attention be paid to other factors, such as thelong history of state-society relations in Afghanistan and how they haveinteracted with the great powers? ...
Authentication of Hadith
Authors: Hashim Ahmed M.
Published: October 2020

This book attempts to construct criteria whereby one can validate (reject oraccept) Prophetic traditions (hadiths) that are considered questionable. Suchan attempt reflects Israr Ahmad Khan’s opinion that many of the hadiths inthe canonical Sunni collections, which traditional hadith scholars considerto be authentic, are in fact, not so. Thus, Muslim scholars need to revisitthese hadiths and apply a different methodology to demonstrate that theyare fabricated. To this end, the author gives different criteria to aid in thissifting ...
To Revolt or Not to Revolt
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Although—with a long way to go—the eighteen-day demonstrations inEgypt from January 25, 2011 to February 11, 2011, which toppled PresidentHosni Mubarak will ultimately go down in history as one of the great revolutions.This event stands alongside the French Revolution (1789–1799)and the Russian Revolutions (1917–1918). Almost everybody will agreethat it was not a religiously motivated one, even though it was executedthrough an unprecedented cooperation between different religious groupsand affiliations. In fact, this revolution was inspired by social, political, andeconomic concerns.However, with the majority of the Egyptians being Muslim (perhaps,because of that), and despite being un-Islamic itself, the Mubarak regimecouldn’t resist both unleashing Islamic propaganda and appealing to Islamicsensibilities of the demonstrators in its effort to foil the demonstrations.Could or should these demonstrations have been thwarted by justifiableIslamic injunctions?This came through the Grand Mufti (the formal, highest Muslim authority)of Egypt, Dr. Ali Jum`ah, who made several pronouncements todiscourage Muslim youth and their families from continuing to participatein the demonstrations. This brings forward some important questions: arepeaceful demonstrations to remove a “despotic” leader and a “corrupt”government allowed (even if riddled with potential chaos)? Or shouldMuslims allow themselves to be ruled in perpetual tyranny and oppressionin order to foster a lack of obvious chaos (not peace; as a tyrannical rulecannot be peaceful to the people themselves in the first place)? This editorial ...
Timothy Daniels, Islamic Spectrum in Java
Authors: Sunardi Christina
Published: October 2020

Timothy Daniels’ Islamic Spectrum in Java critically examines the myriadof ways in which Javanese Muslims draw on religious and secular ideas toproject desirable futures for their local societies, for the Indonesian nation,and for Indonesia’s place in the global economic, political, and culturalstructures of the twenty-first century. This book identifies a broad rangeof desirable futures projected by Javanese Muslims, as well as a range ofbeliefs and practices that comprise Javanese Islam (12). While this engagingwork is very likely to appeal to scholars in many fields, theoreticallyand methodologically it is foremost an anthropological study. Synthesizingsymbolic and cognitive anthropology in order to “provide ‘thick description’1 symbols . . . and to ascertain the social distribution of knowledgeand formation of mental representations in various contexts (4).” Danielsdraws primarily on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Yogyakartaarea of south-central Java from 2003 to 2004 ...
Islam in the Nordic and Baltic Countries (Islamic Studies Series)
Authors: Shayan Fatemeh
Published: October 2020

Until recently, scholarly writing on Islam in the Nordic and Baltic regionshas proved to be a woefully scant enterprise. Most works that have emergedon the topic of Islam in Europe focus on the United Kingdom and France,leaving northern and eastern European regions largely underanalyzed. It isin this respect that Göran Larssonʼs edited volume is to be welcomed as animportant and long overdue contribution to the topic ...
War on Sacred Grounds
Authors: Naama Ben Ami
Published: October 2020

Holy places have frequently been the focus of religious and political conflict.Ron E. Hassner analyzes the causes, the course, and the outcomes ofsuch conflicts. His prologue, “A Terrifying and Fascinating Mystery,” isan account of his visit to Jerusalem’s Old City, which the three revealedfaiths share. The reader is made acquainted with the city’s human and linguisticdiversity, the narrow alleys, the smells of the bazaar, the monumentalbuildings, the security checks, and the risks and hardships that visitorsmay face.The first of the book’s nine chapters is an introduction. The remainingeight are divided into two parts: part 1 is “Understanding Conflictsover Sacred Spaces,” while part 2 deals with “Managing Conflicts over SacredSpaces.” Each part consists of four chapters. Photographs are mostlyplaced between the chapters. The book ends with acknowledgments, followedby notes with references and clarifications, and an index of terms,people, and places ...
The Mantle Odes
Authors: Robinson Francis
Published: October 2020

Non-Muslims, perhaps blinded by the claims of their own faiths, have longunderestimated Muslim reverence for the Prophet Muhammad. By thesame token, they have paid relatively little attention to Muslim traditionsof praising the Prophet, whether it be the naths sung by Sufi qawwali musiciansin South Asia, the maulid lectures on the first twelve days of Rabi al-Awwal ‒ or the biographies of the Prophet, which have become so numerousover the past century. This is unfortunate because, intermingled withpraise for the Prophet, there are often other messages, which non-Muslimsneed to note if they are better to understand their Muslim neighbors.The Mantle Odes contains translations, and interpretations in their context,of three of the most highly prized poems in the Arab-Islamic traditionin praise of the Prophet. One poem dates from the time of the Prophet, thesecond from the thirteenth century AC under the Mamluks, and the thirdfrom Egypt under colonial rule in the early twentieth century. The author’saim is “to bring these Islamic devotional masterpieces into the purview ofcontemporary literary interpretation in a way that makes them culturallyrelevant and poetically effective for the modern reader, whether Muslim ornon-Muslim” (xi) ...
Political Islam, Iran, and the Enlightenment: Philosophies of Hope and Despair
Authors: Dastmalchian Amir
Published: October 2020

Political Islam, Iran, and the Enlightenment is Mirsepassi’s latest treatisethat focuses on the Iranian intellectual and political climate. Mirsepassiis concerned to show the German and French intellectual influences of Islamistintellectuals as they search for an appropriate response to modernity.With Iran taken as a case study, Mirsepassi’s discussion is intended to underminethose analyses of Muslim political aspirations which deem theseaspirations to be inherently anti-Western. Comprising an introduction andseven chapters, Mirsepassi’s work speaks to those researchers in a range ofsociopolitical disciplines concerned with coming to grips with intellectualdevelopments in the Muslim world. The book might also interest thoseinterested in understanding the impact of continental philosophy on theMuslim world. Although the emphasis is on Iran, an attempt is made inthe final chapter, especially, to broaden the discussion by dealing with theIndian experience of modernity.According to Mirsepassi, the Muslim understanding of modernity andsecularism was influenced by the specific visions of modern society heldby Kemal Ataturk and the “Shah of Iran” (presumably the ambitious RezaShah). These two figures were in turn influenced by the antireligious fervorof French secularism. The attempt of Muslim intellectuals, therefore, toestablish a correct vision of society was informed by the radical Counter-Enlightenment figures of German and French philosophy. Furthermore,Muslim intellectuals overlooked Western visions of modern society whichwere not antireligious. Political Islam, Iran, and the Enlightenment, therefore,constructs a narrative that leads to examining the experience of British-style secularism in India. Mirsepassi’s fear is that a lack of appreciationof the European heritage of Islamists ‒ who Mirsepassi sees as intellectuallyand politically totalitarian and as representing all Muslims ‒ will leadto the sidelining of two groups from within the Muslim world. These twogroups are the quietist ulama and the reformist intellectuals, the latter ofwhich offer Mirsepassi the hope of an Islamic response to modernity thatis consistent with democratic principles ...
Crescent and Dove
Authors: Hamid Sadek
Published: October 2020

What can be learned from Islamic teachings on questions of nonviolenceand peace building? Quite a lot according to the contributors of this newcollection of essays from Muslim theologians, academics, and peace activists.This is a timely contribution to the nascent field of Islamically in spired peacemaking and conflict-resolution studies, offering both intellectualand practical applications for those interested in engaging this difficultbut important task. The volume is divided in to two sections and containsten chapters. Part one presents theoretical discussions, which contextualizenotions of peace and conflict resolution from Islamic textual sourcesand analyses the concepts of peace, jihad, war, and martyrdom within theIslamic tradition. The second part is more empirical and profiles case studiesfrom human-rights activists, peacemaking organizations, and the workof prominent Islamic thinkers. It also has a glossary of conflict-resolutionterms and four appendixes, which provide useful resources. This volumeaddress three areas: the ethics of violence in Islam, nonviolence in the Islamictradition, and contemporary efforts at Islamic peacemaking ...
The Question of (Mis)interpreting the Qur’ān by Muslims
Authors: Ibrahim Zakyi
Published: October 2020

Although the Qur’ān calls Muslims to make peace with their enemies(Qur’ān 8:61‒62), some early Qur’ān exegetes1 interpret that to be abrogatedby subsequent war verses (Qur’ān 9:5; Qur’ān 9:12‒13). This,according to a sound methodology, is a misinterpretation. So why is theQur’ān often taken out of context on many issues, and on peace and warinjunctions in particular? In other words, why does misunderstanding seemso pervasive among Muslims of different generations on different matters?This is certainly one of the most important questions in the context of intellectualdiscussion about the Qur’ān and Islam for at least two reasons:1. The consequences of this question effectively undermine all genuineefforts to both divorce Qur’ān or Islam from the misconducts ofsome Muslims on several fronts, and to convey its universallypositive messages.2. The implications of this question appear to lend some credence tothe claims and analyses of those who see the pervasive nature ofthis misunderstanding as truly representing Islam ‒ one that, in theireyes, has to be considered rather genuine. Here, their underlyingpresumption is that there is no “misunderstanding” of the Qur’ān,for the very fact of its pervasiveness means that it must be the truerepresentation.The following are some honest attempts to offer a much-needed explanationin the face of these two potent and critical observations, but notas a way to justify the problem. Although the pervasive nature of misunderstandingthe Qur’ān may be overplayed (one always finds dissentingvoices that tend to offer more logical and supported opinions ‒ in thiscase, al-Ṭabarī or Ibn al-ʻArabī, the Jurist), it is true that Muslims rarelyacknowledge it as a problem, hardly address it adequately, or even contemplateits negative implications for Islam. The misguided understanding ofthe verses of peace and war, for example, came about through a delicate interplayof at least three factors ‒ namely, interpretive methodology, culturalenvironment, and ideological pursuits ‒ each of which is analyzed below ...
Secret Affairs
Authors: Sabet Amr G. E.
Published: October 2020

This book deals with the old-new issue pertaining to the dialectics of Western,particularly the British“Islamists” collusion during the decades of thetwentieth century and into the twenty-first century. The issue is old becausemuch of such collaboration has been either known or suspected, especiallyduring the era of the visible rise of threatening communist ideology sincethe Russian Revolution of 1917, as well as other socialist ideas. It is newbecause of the twists it has taken in the context of the sudden disappearanceof the common Soviet ideological enemy, which had glued both partiesto each other—and the ensuing so-called war on global terrorism. Theissue is also dialectical as it pertains to the seeming love-hate relationshipthat permeated Western-Islamist interaction, and which despite all soundingsof mutual vituperations and appearances of alleged resentment, neverreally stood in the way of both finding reasons and ways for colluding ...
Editorial
Authors: Mufti Malik , Bullock Katherine
Published: October 2020

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Muslim world is undergoing a political upheaval of historic proportions. The Arab Spring is one of the most recent and dramatic manifestations, with millions of men and women across the Arab world taking to the streets – often in the face of brutal repression ‒ to demand the reform or overthrow of their authoritarian governments.Their bravery has already led to the ouster of four dictators – in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen – and the process is still far from over. But this uprising is only part of a much broader phenomenon, as a reviewof just the past five years demonstrates. In late 2008, largely free and fairelections ended two years of military-backed emergency rule in Bangladesh,and put the country back on a democratic track. In 2009, similarelections in Indonesia consolidated the democratic regime that had beenin place there for just over a decade. That same year in Iran, by contrast, national elections, which were widely viewed as having been rigged, ledto the so-called “Green Revolution” – the biggest prodemocratic uprisingagainst the authoritarian regime there since the revolution of 1979. In2010, Iraq held its second, and far more representative, elections since theoverthrow of the Ba’athist regime. In 2011, national elections in Turkey that returned the AK Party to power with its largest electoral victory yet, coupled with ongoing judicial investigations into subversive activities byhard-line authoritarian elements, marked a decisive turning point in Turkey’s democratic evolution. In 2012, the willingness of Senegal’s president to step down peacefully after losing an election there seemed to confirm thevictory of democracy in that country as well.As the suppression of Iran’s Green Revolution, the 2012 military coupthat interrupted Mali’s democratic experiment, and the ongoing violencein several of the other transitioning polities, indicate the process is neithersmooth nor unidirectional. Several aspects of the current upheaval, however, are already clear. First and foremost, the political mobilization of theMuslim masses – the eruption of “people power” – is now an irreversiblereality for the foreseeable future, so that only regimes that are genuinelyrepresentative and accountable can hope to enjoy any legitimacy in thefuture. Second, as public opinion poll after poll has demonstrated, democracyhas become a hegemonic concept throughout the Muslim world aswell ‒ meaning that effective governance and opposition will need to take place within its institutional and normative parameters. Third, as Table 1shows, judging by the most recent election results, in most of the Middle Eastern states at least, political parties rooted in an Islamist background are likely to garner the lion’s share of electoral support for some time to come ...
Foreigners and Their Food
Authors: Afridi Mehnaz M.
Published: October 2020

Are dietary religious laws an obstacle to community relations between membersof the Abrahamic faiths? The new edition of Pierre Birnbaum’s Le Peupleet Les Gros, under the title Genèse du Populisme (Hachette Pluriel: 2012) exploreshow eating pork in Paris and other cities can be read as a sign of identitycrisis in French society, as a way of excluding from the public space thosewho are different, in this case Jews and/or Muslims who follow dietary lawsforbidding its consumption. Similarly, in Foreigners and Their Food: ConstructingOtherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law, the question ofcommunity, religious laws about food, and a thorough analysis of the relevantsacred texts is revealing. This book explores how the Abrahamic faiths conceptualize“us” and “them” through the rules related to food preparation bythose who are not “us” and the precise act of eating with “them.” Moreover,it echoes an important marker of how communities remain segregated at mealtime even though sharing food is seen as a familial, communal, and, most importantly,a sacred act.Foreigners and Their Food opens with Freidenreich’s personal strugglewith food and its significance in deconstructing boundaries between differenttraditions. The author, an ordained rabbi, readily admits to a bias of comparativeanalysis when interpreting the texts and laws; however, this admissionaccentuates and delineates a thorough analysis and rich interpretation that thestudy of religion is yearning for in intertexual analysis.The book begins with a discussion of “imagining otherness,” one thatalerts readers to the significance of food, its symbolic nature of inclusion/exclusion, and the absence of any analysis as to how it impacts so many religiousadherents who rely upon these laws but cannot critically reflect uponthem as markers of “us” and “them.” Freidenreich looks at what Leviticus,Deuteronomy, and similar traditional texts state, but he is clearly reaching formeanings that lie beyond the text. He points out as a general theme that “Absentfrom Biblical passages regarding these dietary laws, however, is any suggestionthat the norms enjoined upon Israelites stand in opposition tonon-Israelite practices” (p. 21) ...
Mamluk History through Architecture
Authors: Gaber Tammy
Published: October 2020

This exhaustive series of fifteen essays, all produced by the author during1989-2005, covers many relevant facets of the Mamluk slave dynasty (1250–1517). By collecting these previously published essays in a single volume, atrajectory of interpretation can be contextualized and understood. Nasser Rabbat,a key figure in the contemporary study of Islamic architecture, is directorof the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. The essays, organizedinto four thematic parts, begin with a conceptual understanding of the Mamluks and their role and then look at their architecture through the lensesof history, language, and cultural index ...