Abstract:In his critically acclaimed book, The Shi’a Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, Vali Nasr has suggested that traditional concepts and categories used to explicate the Middle East, such as modernity, democracy, fundamentalism and nationalism, no longer adequately explain the politics of the region. It “is rather the old feud between Shi’as and Sunnis that forges attitudes, defines prejudices, draws political boundary lines, and even decides whether and to what extent those other trends have relevance.” In keeping with this argument, President Obama has on numerous occasions invoked the phrase “ancient sectarian differences” to explain the turmoil and conflict in the Arab-Islamic world today. This raises the question how old is the feud between Shi’as and Sunnis and how far back in history can we trace the origins of sectarianism that is currently destabilizing the Middle East? Rejecting the paradigm of “ancient sectarian hatreds” this paper locates the roots of sectarian conflict in the late twentieth century and not in the seventh century. More specifically, the political context that illuminates the question of sectarianism is the persistence of authoritarianism – as the dominant feature of the politics of the Middle East – and the crisis of legitimacy facing ruling regimes that has followed as a consequence. The political mobilization and manipulation of sectarian identities, it will be argued, is a key strategy for regime survival and it is within this framework that the question of sectarianism can be better understood. Drawing on the literature of “ethnic political mobilization” and the literature in international relations that explains the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the question of sectarianism will be analyzed as the function of the “broken politics” of the Middle East and not due to irreconcilable theological differences between Sunnis and Shi’as.
{"title":"Toward a Political Theory of Sectarianism in the Middle East: The Salience of Authoritarianism over Theology","authors":"N. Hashemi","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.1.1.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.1.1.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In his critically acclaimed book, The Shi’a Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, Vali Nasr has suggested that traditional concepts and categories used to explicate the Middle East, such as modernity, democracy, fundamentalism and nationalism, no longer adequately explain the politics of the region. It “is rather the old feud between Shi’as and Sunnis that forges attitudes, defines prejudices, draws political boundary lines, and even decides whether and to what extent those other trends have relevance.” In keeping with this argument, President Obama has on numerous occasions invoked the phrase “ancient sectarian differences” to explain the turmoil and conflict in the Arab-Islamic world today. This raises the question how old is the feud between Shi’as and Sunnis and how far back in history can we trace the origins of sectarianism that is currently destabilizing the Middle East? Rejecting the paradigm of “ancient sectarian hatreds” this paper locates the roots of sectarian conflict in the late twentieth century and not in the seventh century. More specifically, the political context that illuminates the question of sectarianism is the persistence of authoritarianism – as the dominant feature of the politics of the Middle East – and the crisis of legitimacy facing ruling regimes that has followed as a consequence. The political mobilization and manipulation of sectarian identities, it will be argued, is a key strategy for regime survival and it is within this framework that the question of sectarianism can be better understood. Drawing on the literature of “ethnic political mobilization” and the literature in international relations that explains the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the question of sectarianism will be analyzed as the function of the “broken politics” of the Middle East and not due to irreconcilable theological differences between Sunnis and Shi’as.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121779437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Using digital humanities tools and methods, we extract, classify, and analyze 1,006 jihad fatwas from a corpus of 164,000 online fatwas. We use the questions and page hits to rank clusters of fatwas in order to discover what jihad questions Muslims ask, what jihad issues interest Muslims the most, and what the targets of jihad may be. We focus more on the questions than the answers, since it is the questions that give us a window into what may be called the "Muslim collective mind." The results show that jihad questions are interwoven with several key topics, from performance of prayers to expiation for homosexuality. While the Prophet Muhammad's military expeditions were the most asked about and most viewed category, since they provide a model of what jihad is, the second most important category was concubinage. When there was a specific target, Jews were found in 73% of the questions.
{"title":"What Jihad Questions Do Muslims Ask?","authors":"E. Mohamed, Bakinaz Abdalla","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.2.1.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.2.1.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Using digital humanities tools and methods, we extract, classify, and analyze 1,006 jihad fatwas from a corpus of 164,000 online fatwas. We use the questions and page hits to rank clusters of fatwas in order to discover what jihad questions Muslims ask, what jihad issues interest Muslims the most, and what the targets of jihad may be. We focus more on the questions than the answers, since it is the questions that give us a window into what may be called the \"Muslim collective mind.\" The results show that jihad questions are interwoven with several key topics, from performance of prayers to expiation for homosexuality. While the Prophet Muhammad's military expeditions were the most asked about and most viewed category, since they provide a model of what jihad is, the second most important category was concubinage. When there was a specific target, Jews were found in 73% of the questions.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129583383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Most accounts of the Sufi practice of annihilation in the Messenger (fanāʾ fīʾl-rasūl) have presented it as a step in the process to annihilation in God (fanāʾ fīʾllāh). However, this article will examine contemporary and classical Sufi accounts of annihilation in the Messenger (fanāʾ fīʾl-rasūl) that describe this state or station coming after the state of annihilation in God (fanāʾ fīʾllāh), constituting the beginning of the station of subsistence (al-baqāʾ). After analyzing these accounts, and the relationship between these two schemas of annihilation (annihilation in the Messenger leads to annihilation in God; annihilation in God is prior to annihilation in the Messenger), this article will conclude with an examination of some of the doctrinal implications of this alternate schema and its significance for debates surrounding the evolution and interpretation of Sufi practice and theory.
摘要:大多数关于苏菲在使者(fanu āh ā f ā ā l-rasūl)中湮灭的实践都将其作为在真主(fanu āh ā f ā ā llāh)中湮灭过程中的一个步骤。然而，本文将研究当代和古典的苏菲派关于《使者》中湮灭的描述(fanahu - f - ā ā l-rasūl)，这些描述了在真主(fanahu - f - ā ā llāh)中湮灭状态之后的这种状态或状态，构成了生存状态(al- baqahu - ā)的开始。在分析了这些描述之后，以及这两种湮灭模式之间的关系(使者的湮灭导致真主的湮灭;真主的湮灭先于使者的湮灭)，本文将以这种替代模式的一些教义含义及其对围绕苏菲实践和理论的演变和解释的辩论的意义进行检查来结束。
{"title":"Annihilation in the Messenger Revisited: Clarifications on a Contemporary Sufi Practice and its Precedents","authors":"Oludamini Ogunnaike","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.1.2.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.1.2.03","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Abstract:</p><p>Most accounts of the Sufi practice of annihilation in the Messenger (<i>fanā</i>ʾ<i> fī</i>ʾ<i>l-rasūl</i>) have presented it as a step in the process to annihilation in God (<i>fanā</i>ʾ<i> fī</i>ʾ<i>llāh</i>). However, this article will examine contemporary and classical Sufi accounts of annihilation in the Messenger (<i>fanā</i>ʾ<i> fī</i>ʾ<i>l-rasūl</i>) that describe this state or station coming after the state of annihilation in God (<i>fanā</i>ʾ<i> fī</i>ʾ<i>llāh</i>), constituting the beginning of the station of subsistence (<i>al-baqā</i>ʾ). After analyzing these accounts, and the relationship between these two schemas of annihilation (annihilation in the Messenger leads to annihilation in God; annihilation in God is prior to annihilation in the Messenger), this article will conclude with an examination of some of the doctrinal implications of this alternate schema and its significance for debates surrounding the evolution and interpretation of Sufi practice and theory.</p>","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"48 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127384647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Although many studies have explored the dissemination of Sayyid Quṭb’s thought and the impact of his works on the formation of Islamist ideology in the Sunni world, little attention has been paid to the influence of Quṭb on the Islamic revolution in Iran. This article argues that Sayyid Quṭb was an influential figure among the Iranian revolutionaries and his ideas played an instrumental role in shaping the discourse of Islamism in pre-revolutionary Iran and the Islamic Republic. The article starts by exploring the personal and ideological connections between Sayyid Quṭb and pre-revolutionary Iranian Islamists. Next, it examines how these connections led to an extensive translation movement that popularized Quṭb’s ideas in Iran. With this translation movement, all of Quṭb’s major works were rendered into Persian by prominent Islamists of the time, such as Iran’s future supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These works are still in print in the Islamic Republic of Iran today. Finally, the article discusses the legacy of Quṭb in contemporary Iran, where his writings are being reinterpreted in the light of contemporary political developments, such as the rise of Salafi jihadism. Toward this end, a conference on Sayyid Quṭb held in Tehran in 2015 attended by many prominent scholars and intellectuals. This conference is not only a good indicator of Quṭb’s continued importance in Iran but it also provides a view of the changes and continuities in the perception of Quṭb in Iranian intellectual circles.
{"title":"Sayyid Quṭb in Iran: Translating the Islamist Ideologue in the Islamic Republic","authors":"Y. Ünal","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.1.2.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.1.2.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Although many studies have explored the dissemination of Sayyid Quṭb’s thought and the impact of his works on the formation of Islamist ideology in the Sunni world, little attention has been paid to the influence of Quṭb on the Islamic revolution in Iran. This article argues that Sayyid Quṭb was an influential figure among the Iranian revolutionaries and his ideas played an instrumental role in shaping the discourse of Islamism in pre-revolutionary Iran and the Islamic Republic. The article starts by exploring the personal and ideological connections between Sayyid Quṭb and pre-revolutionary Iranian Islamists. Next, it examines how these connections led to an extensive translation movement that popularized Quṭb’s ideas in Iran. With this translation movement, all of Quṭb’s major works were rendered into Persian by prominent Islamists of the time, such as Iran’s future supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These works are still in print in the Islamic Republic of Iran today. Finally, the article discusses the legacy of Quṭb in contemporary Iran, where his writings are being reinterpreted in the light of contemporary political developments, such as the rise of Salafi jihadism. Toward this end, a conference on Sayyid Quṭb held in Tehran in 2015 attended by many prominent scholars and intellectuals. This conference is not only a good indicator of Quṭb’s continued importance in Iran but it also provides a view of the changes and continuities in the perception of Quṭb in Iranian intellectual circles.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"69 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129655494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"War and Peace in Islam","authors":"Layla Sein","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.1.2.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.1.2.13","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"86 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126171510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:After attending Professor Rustom's advanced seminar on Ibn Sina at Carleton University in winter 2017, doctoral candidate Soroosh Shahriari of McGill University, Canada, "brought up the possibility of . . . [posing] some 'hard' questions concerning the contemporary study of Islamic philosophy." Rustom's in-depth knowledge of the method and spirit of traditional Islamic education and Islamic metaphysics helps us navigate the complexities inherent in the study of Islamic philosophy in the modern academy. What follows is an edited version of this interview, which took place in Ottawa, Canada, February 2017.
{"title":"Neo-Orientalism and the Study of Islamic Philosophy: An Interview with Professor Mohammed Rustom","authors":"M. Rustom","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.3.1.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.3.1.11","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:After attending Professor Rustom's advanced seminar on Ibn Sina at Carleton University in winter 2017, doctoral candidate Soroosh Shahriari of McGill University, Canada, \"brought up the possibility of . . . [posing] some 'hard' questions concerning the contemporary study of Islamic philosophy.\" Rustom's in-depth knowledge of the method and spirit of traditional Islamic education and Islamic metaphysics helps us navigate the complexities inherent in the study of Islamic philosophy in the modern academy. What follows is an edited version of this interview, which took place in Ottawa, Canada, February 2017.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129135101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:At the turn of the twentieth century, the lawfulness of film, like other modern innovations, posed a challenge for many Muslim ‘ulamā’. The fact that the film camera was a foreign invention coming from colonialist Europe complicated the challenge. Focusing on the formative years of Egyptian cinema, I analyze Islamic public discourses and legal opinions on the lawfulness of photography and acting, the two principal components of cinema production. I argue that the use of the Islamic legal concept of “public interest” (maṣlaḥa) enabled reformist ‘ulamā’ to positively sanction photography and acting, thereby permitting the production of motion pictures. However, maṣlaḥa was also used as a covert form of censorship. This seeming contradiction resulted from the fact that maṣlaḥa was sometimes reduced to a utilitarian tool that accepted this new medium of communication as a means of promoting Islamic cultural hegemony but disregarded the innovative aspects of film as a domain for creativity and freedom of expression.
{"title":"The Maṣlaḥa of Film Production in Pre-Revolutionary Egypt, 1896–1952: A Sanctioning Apparatus or Covert Censorship?","authors":"Heba Arafa Abdelfattah","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.2.2.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.2.2.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:At the turn of the twentieth century, the lawfulness of film, like other modern innovations, posed a challenge for many Muslim ‘ulamā’. The fact that the film camera was a foreign invention coming from colonialist Europe complicated the challenge. Focusing on the formative years of Egyptian cinema, I analyze Islamic public discourses and legal opinions on the lawfulness of photography and acting, the two principal components of cinema production. I argue that the use of the Islamic legal concept of “public interest” (maṣlaḥa) enabled reformist ‘ulamā’ to positively sanction photography and acting, thereby permitting the production of motion pictures. However, maṣlaḥa was also used as a covert form of censorship. This seeming contradiction resulted from the fact that maṣlaḥa was sometimes reduced to a utilitarian tool that accepted this new medium of communication as a means of promoting Islamic cultural hegemony but disregarded the innovative aspects of film as a domain for creativity and freedom of expression.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131752823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Transnational Mosque: Architecture and Historical Memory in the Contemporary Middle East by Kishwar Rizvi (review)","authors":"Mohamed Elshahed","doi":"10.5860/choice.195904","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.195904","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117243196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Peace in Islam, Islam in Peace","authors":"Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell","doi":"10.2979/jims.2.1.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.2.1.10","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123318418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:In this essay I argue that Muslims across the board have internalized the Western discourse of the need to reform as a type of self-surveillance and as a means of living and being in the world. I examine the transnational Islamic political group Hizb ut-Tahrir's criticisms of British governmental and media-political pressures on Muslims to reform, and the Marrakech Declaration where "hundreds of Muslim scholars and intellectuals from over 120 countries … gathered in Marrakesh … to reaffirm the principles of the Charter of Medina." According to the declaration, non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries are to be accorded freedom to live and practice their religions, in keeping with the Prophetic example. I also examine a discussion between the director of the "anti-extremism think tank" The Quilliam Foundation, Maajid Nawaz, and Sam Harris—one of the "Four Horsemen of New Atheism"—published as Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue, in which the question of the need for Islamic reform is central.
{"title":"Woolwich Terror, Surveillance, and the (Im)Possibility of Islamic Reform","authors":"Hasan Azad","doi":"10.2979/JIMS.2.1.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/JIMS.2.1.09","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In this essay I argue that Muslims across the board have internalized the Western discourse of the need to reform as a type of self-surveillance and as a means of living and being in the world. I examine the transnational Islamic political group Hizb ut-Tahrir's criticisms of British governmental and media-political pressures on Muslims to reform, and the Marrakech Declaration where \"hundreds of Muslim scholars and intellectuals from over 120 countries … gathered in Marrakesh … to reaffirm the principles of the Charter of Medina.\" According to the declaration, non-Muslims in Muslim-majority countries are to be accorded freedom to live and practice their religions, in keeping with the Prophetic example. I also examine a discussion between the director of the \"anti-extremism think tank\" The Quilliam Foundation, Maajid Nawaz, and Sam Harris—one of the \"Four Horsemen of New Atheism\"—published as Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue, in which the question of the need for Islamic reform is central.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130054324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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