Speaking for Islam : religious authorities in Muslim societies Annotation Who speaks for Islam To whom do Muslims turn when they look for guidance To what extent do individual scholars and preachers exert religious authority and how can it be assessed The upsurge of Islamism has lent new urgency to these questions but they have deeper roots and a much longer history and they certainly should not be considered in the light of present concerns only. The present volume grown out of an international symposium at the Free University Berlin in 2002 is not so much concerned with religious authority but with religious authorities men and women claiming projecting and exerting religious authority within a given context. It addresses issues such as the relationship of knowledge conduct and charisma the social functions of the schools of law and theology and the efforts on the part of governments and rulers to organize religious scholars and to implement state centred hierarchies. The volume focuses on Middle Eastern Muslim majority societies in the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries and the individual papers offer case studies elucidating important aspects of the wider phenomenon. Individually and collectively they highlight the scope and variety of religious authorities in past and present Muslim societies. Readership: Al those interested in Islamic societies and history of ideas Introduction: Religious authority and religious authorities in Muslim societies. A critical overview Gudrun Kramer and Sabine Schmidtke This day have I perfected your religion for you : A Zahiri conception of religious authority Camilla Adang The epistemology of excellence: Sunni Shii dialectics on legitimate leadership Asma Afsaruddin The relationship between Chief Qadi and Chief Dai under the Fatimids Paul E. Walker Forms and functions of licences to transmit (Ijazas) in 18th century Iran: Abd Allah al Musawi al Jazairi al Tustaris (1112 73 1701 59) Ijaza Kabira Sabine Schmidtke Asserting religious authority in late 19th early 20th century Morocco: Muhammad b. Jafar alKattani (d. 1927) and his Kitab Salwat al Anfas Bettina Dennerlein Consensus and religious authority in modern Islam: The discourses of the Ulama Muhammad Qasism Zaman Drawing boundaries: Yusuf al Qaradawi on Apostasy Gudrun Kramer A doctrine in the making Velayat e faqih in post revolutionary Iran Katajun Amirpur Religious authority in transnational Sufi networks: Shaykh Nazim al Qubrusi al Haqqani al Naqshbandi Annabelle Bottcher The modern Dede: Changing parameters for religious authority in contemporary Turkish alevism Markus Dressler