Thesis Chapters by Manfred Sing
Demystifying the Sacred. Blasphemy and Violence from the French Revolution to Today, ed. Eveline G. Bouwers and David Nash , 2022
Cursor, 2021
Der Islam ist seit jeher eng mit der europäischen Religionsgeschichte verflochten. Neuere wissens... more Der Islam ist seit jeher eng mit der europäischen Religionsgeschichte verflochten. Neuere wissenschaftliche Zugänge rücken die interreligiösen und transkulturellen Verflechtungen stärker als bisher in den Blickpunkt.
Routledge Handbook of Citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa, Edited By Roel Meijer, James N. Sater, Zahra R. Babar, 2020
The struggle for political participation, social justice and legal equality was a key element of ... more The struggle for political participation, social justice and legal equality was a key element of radical socialist and communist movements that emerged in Arab countries before and after World War I. These movements mobilized the masses, organized the workers, formed political parties and called for political demonstrations or, in some instances, for armed revolution. The spread of radical ideas among workers, the middle class, and intellectuals mirrored the growing integration of Arab societies into a globalized economy from the nineteenth century onwards. It shows the trans-regional mobility of actors and ideas that was characteristic for networks of the radical left with nodes in cities such as Tangier, Alexandria or Aden.
Säkularisierung und Religion: Europäische Wechselwirkungen , 2019
Muslime werden in der europäischen Öffentlichkeit heutzutage oftmals auf ihre Religionszugehörigk... more Muslime werden in der europäischen Öffentlichkeit heutzutage oftmals auf ihre Religionszugehörigkeit reduziert und als relativ einheitlich angesehen, nämlich als religiös definierbare und auch gläubige Gruppe. Durch diese Vereinheitlichung bildet »der« Islam nicht nur einen natürlichen Gegenspieler zum Säkularismus, sondern Säkularisierungsprozesse unter Muslimen und Differenzen zwischen ihnen bleiben grundsätzlich unterbelichtet. Der folgende Beitrag problematisiert derartige Sichtweisen und zwei daraus resultierende Schieflagen: zum einen warnen nicht mehr nur Rechtspopulisten vor einer »Islamisierung« Europas«; zum anderen werden politische und soziale Probleme von der Migration bis zur politischen Gewalt pauschal dem Islam als Religion zugerechnet.
Entangled Religions (Special Issue: The Changing Landscapes of Cross-Faith Places and Practices), 2019
Narratives of the origins, the history, and the present state of Islam always entail spatial clai... more Narratives of the origins, the history, and the present state of Islam always entail spatial claims. Accordingly, Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula, spread over its so-called heartlands, and became a world religion. A common understanding inscribes Islam onto the Orient and opposes it to Europe, the Occident, or the West. Such spatial claims are faced with fundamental challenges and epistemological shortcomings because neither Islam nor space are naturally given, bounded entities. Rather, different historical actors and observers produce spatialized Islam. In this chapter, I challenge the notion that “Muslim space” is a useful analytical concept, and scrutinize the ways in which academic discourses inscribe Islam onto space and history. As an alternative, I propose a topology that understands the production of space as a multi-dimensional social process, including Muslim and non-Muslim perspectives at the same time. Thus, I delineate the topology of Islam as variegated, dynamic, and multi-religious from its inception. My argument is that Islam’s trans-regional spread turned it into a polycentric, mutable mobile characterized by internal and external diversity. I further argue that images of Islam are an integral, yet often concealed part of European and Western knowledge production and self-understanding. Epistemologically, this perspective argues that the “Islamization of Islam” is nowhere better visible than in the spatial ramifications of discourses that marginalize, exclude, or obfuscate both the multi-religious experiences in Islamic contexts and the continuous presence of Islam in European history.
Entangled Religions (Special Issue: The Changing Landscapes of Cross-Faith Places and Practices), 2019
The revelation of Islam in Arabic, its emergence in the Western Arabian Peninsula, and its acquai... more The revelation of Islam in Arabic, its emergence in the Western Arabian Peninsula, and its acquaintance with Biblical literature seem to be clear indications for Islam’s birthplace and its religious foundations. While the majority of academic scholarship accepts the historicity of the revelation in Mecca and Medina, revisionist scholars have started questioning the location of early Islam with increasing fervour in recent years. Drawing on the isolation of Mecca and the lack of clear references to Mecca in ancient and non-Muslim literature before the mid-eighth century, these scholars have cast doubt on the claim that Mecca was already a trading outpost and a pilgrimage site prior to Islam, questioning the traditional Islamic and Orientalist view. Space, thus, plays a prominent role in the debate on the origins of Islam, although space is almost never conceptually discussed. In the following paper, I challenge the limited understanding of space in revisionist as well as mainstream scholarship. For the most part, this scholarship is not really interested in the multi-religious landscape sui generis, but understands early Islam either as a stable or an unstable entity that either reworked or digested the impact of Judaism and Christianity. In contrast, my contention is based on the view that Islam emerged neither “in” Mecca nor anywhere else, but that Muslims’ practical and symbolic actions produced such places as Mecca, Medina, and the Ḥijāz as the central places of Islam. My argument is threefold: Firstly, the production of the Meccan space and its central meaning for Islam were mutually dependant, gradual processes. Secondly, the creation of an exclusively Muslim space in the Ḥijāz conversely inscribed multi-religiosity into the general topology of early Islam. Thirdly, the early history of Islam hints at practices of un/doing differences, exemplified by instances of sharing, the creation of ambivalence, and processes of purification. Moreover, my contribution questions the way in which research on the origins of Islam has become a meaningful object of knowledge about the “true” nature of Islam against the background of populist discourses on Islam.
Entangled Religions (The Changing Landscapes of Cross-Faith Places and Practices), 2019
Multi-religious cohabitation bears immense social and political implications, since the question ... more Multi-religious cohabitation bears immense social and political implications, since the question of how multi-religiosity should be organized has become a hotly debated topic all over Europe. Although religious diversity has turned into an everyday experience in many parts of the world today, a perception that understands conflict between religions as inevitable still holds sway and has maybe even grown stronger, especially after violent events such as the terror attacks of 9/11 and the recent upsurge of political populism in Europe and the Americas. A historically informed perspective that illustrates the widespread dissemination of religious mixture and the commonness of religious interaction throughout the centuries, however, may help us to see current debates in a different light. The present focus edition is dedicated to this purpose.
Religionen im Gespräch, 2006
The Power of Description: A Guide to Edward Said’s Orientalism.
Because of the widespread stereot... more The Power of Description: A Guide to Edward Said’s Orientalism.
Because of the widespread stereotypes of Islam, Edward Said’s criticism of “Orientalism” seems to be more up-to-date than ever. Said explained the eternal recurrence of prejudices by hinting at the Western interest to create an Orient in order to de-humanize, colonize and exploit it. Said’s explanation for the function and efficacy of stereotypes provides useful insights. Yet, his blame of Western manipulation also serves the notion of “the clash of civilizations”, because Said de-scribed the West as the total power and the Orient as the eternal victim. However, by a critical reading of Edward Said’s theses, inter-cultural dialogue can learn that the asymmetries between the West and Islam should neither be neglected nor totalized. The worldwide disparities are neither an explanation nor an excuse for human action, whatsoever. Yet, most Islam experts today draw pictures of global asymmetry, thus contributing to the victimization of one side and justifying the use of (counter)-violence. Inter-cultural dialogue cannot accept these pictures of total power or total powerlessness; it has to take global asymmetries into consideration without exaggerating them. Dialogue aims at symmetry between criticism and self-criticism. From a European perspective, the adequate response to global asymmetry lies neither in humility, because of the existence of anti-Islamic “Orientalism”, nor in accusation, because of the existence of anti-Western “Occidentalism;” otherwise dialogue would be blind in one eye or deaf in one ear.
Muslims and Capitalism, ed. by Béatrice Hendrich, 2018
The relation between Marxism and religion has been complicated and ambivalent, theoretically as w... more The relation between Marxism and religion has been complicated and ambivalent, theoretically as well as practically, ever since Karl Marx stated in 1844 that “the criticism of religion has been essentially completed, and the criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.” Although Marxists have a long record of being atheistic and anti-religious, it is striking that academic discussions in particular often deal with Marxism as something religious or rather similar to it and even use categories from the studies of religions to describe it as a “political religion” staging “quasi-religious rituals,” as a “messianic religion” seeking for inner-worldly salvation, as a “political creed” offering “opium for the intellectuals,” or as a kind of dogmatic “fundamentalism.” In recent years, academic scholars as well as Marxists have tried to come to grips with the intersections between Marxism, religion, spirituality, atheism, and revolution. Islam and Muslims are largely absent in these new debates on Marxism and religion, although political Islam forms a major driving force in the background of the scholarly rethinking of the relations between politics, ideology, and religion in the 21st century. One reason for this neglect, apart from a lack of knowledge, is that Marx and Engels did not discuss Islam or Muslim societies in any systematic manner. Their scattered remarks encompass some sentences on Islamic history, the “Asiatic mode of production,” “Oriental despotism,” and developments in colonial Algeria, Egypt, and India. The following chapter aims at de-provincializing the study of Marxism and religion in several respects. Firstly, I will argue that under the umbrella term of “religion” Islam is often neglected, although its relation to Marxism is important and somewhat different from Christianity’s. Secondly, a focus on the relations between Marxists and Muslims contributes to our understanding of Marxism as a global movement and sheds light on understudied parts of European, Russian, Chinese, Asian, African, and Arab histories. Thirdly, against the prejudice that issues pertaining to Islam should mainly be explained by Islam itself, this chapter brings to the forefront the impact of socialist ideas on the Middle East and discusses the hybrid forms of Arab socialism and Islamic socialism as political rivals of communism. Fourthly, against a post-colonial critique that depicts Marx—and his followers—as Westernizers importing a foreign ideology, a historical overview sketches the different forms of adoption and adaptation of Marxist ideas by different Middle Eastern groups since the late 19th century, many of whom looked—and are still looking—for a “third way” beyond capitalism and communism.
Kulturelle Souveränität. Politische Deutungs- und Handlungsmacht jenseits des Staates im 20. Jahrhundert, herausgegeben von Gregor Feindt, Bernhard Gißibl und Johannes Paulmann, 2017
Die Vorstellung eines »Niedergangs« des Islams bildete sich in akademischen und populärwissenscha... more Die Vorstellung eines »Niedergangs« des Islams bildete sich in akademischen und populärwissenschaftlichen Darstellungen im Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts heraus. Sie besagte, dass die »islamische Zivilisation« ab einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt ihre einstige Führungsrolle verloren habe und nicht mehr mit dem Fortschritt Europas und der modernen Welt habe Schritt halten können. Diese Idee stand Pate bei der Etablierung akademischer Fächer wie der Religions- und Islamwissenschaft in Europa und in den USA, in denen sich ein neuer, universeller Gebrauch des Konzepts »Religion« zur Deutung und Bewertung von Kulturen und menschlichem Verhalten widerspiegelte und sich ein globaler Diskurs über »den« Islam herausbildete. Da im europäischen Denken des 19. Jahrhunderts Religion den Wesenskern einer Kultur oder Zivilisation bildete, fungierten für die Mehrzahl europäischer Gelehrter im 19. Jahrhundert »Islam« und »Verfall« geradezu als Synonyme. Ihnen erschien der Islam als nicht-schöpferische Religion, die zwar ehedem eine höhere Zivilisation habe entwickeln können, deren Rolle sich aber darin erschöpfe, das klassische griechische Erbe tradiert zu haben. Weit verbreitet war die Ansicht des französischen Historikers und Religionswissenschaftlers Ernest Renan (gest. 1892), die Blüte des »klassischen« Islams habe trotz seines Wesens stattgefunden, während der zeitgenössische Verfall wegen seines Wesens erfolge. Dass der Islam hierbei über seine Differenz zum Christentum als »politische Religion« definiert wurde, wirkt bis in die Gegenwart fort, etwa in Analysen, die den »politischen Islam« und den Gebrauch von religiös legitimierter Gewalt als Ressentiment gegenüber dem Westen und als psychologisch schlecht verarbeitete Reaktion auf den Verlust der einstigen Führungsrolle deuten.
Jihadi Theology and Theory. Jihadism and Terrorism, volume 1, ed. by Rüdiger Lohlker, Tamara Abu-Hamdeh, 2013
Journal of Religious Ethics , 2008
People everywhere search for answers by using the resources of their traditions. They wish to do ... more People everywhere search for answers by using the resources of their traditions. They wish to do so in a legitimate way, and so they consult official institutions, specialists, and skilled individuals for their opinions; regardless of religious or cultural contexts, the common aim of these experts is to produce security, unity, and trust. Therefore, the norm-finding processes in Islamic and Western contexts share fundamental similarities: the problem of finding a final ground for judgment, the strategies of constructing coherence and of organizing consensus, and the difficulties of obtaining legitimacy. What makes one debate "Islamic" and the other one "Western" is the different semantic materials, the different authorities, the different languages, and the different juridical frameworks. In my comparison of Muslim and Western discourses and practices, I conclude that Muslim and non-Muslim scholars tend to overemphasize the uniqueness of Muslim legal and practical responses to bioethical challenges, because they restrict their purview to legal opinions, ignoring larger dynamics of legitimization.
European History Yearbook, 2017
The central place that Muslims and Islam are accorded in the European media and public debates to... more The central place that Muslims and Islam are accorded in the European media and public debates today contrasts with their near-complete absence in parts of European historiography until recently. While right-wing demagogues campaign against refugees, Muslims and the supposed Islamization of Europe, their argument that Islam does not belong to Europe is, at least partially, supported by the rather patchy awareness of a continuous and multi-facetted Islamic history in European societies and, horrible dictu, even in some history departments. Recent research challenges this neglect, tries to overcome the "Othering" of Islam, and demands a new conceptualization of European history that leaves behind the Europe/Islam binary. As the construction of a European identity and a European space is based on "Othering"-a definition of what is not European-, the conscious and visible integration of Muslims into European history poses a systematic challenge to narratives of Europeanization. The article draws attention to the difficulties that spring from this challenge and discusses new approaches in scholarship that try to overcome them.
Inhitat - The Decline Paradigm: Its Influence and Persistence in the Writing of Arab Cultural History, edited by Syrinx von Hees, 2017
Welt.Raum.Körper. Transformationen und Entgrenzungen von Körper und Raum, 2007
Angesichts der anhaltenden Diskussionen über die Integrationsfähigkeit des Islams lohnt sich ein ... more Angesichts der anhaltenden Diskussionen über die Integrationsfähigkeit des Islams lohnt sich ein Rückblick auf die sogenannte Kopftuch-Debatte, die seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre in Deutschland geführt wurde. Pars pro toto steht die Kopftuch-Debatte für den Umgang der Mehrheitsgesellschaft mit dem Islam oder den Muslimen, aber auch für die Selbstwahrnehmung von Muslimen in europäischen Gesellschaften.
Durchschaut. Der Kommunismus in seiner Epoche (=Osteuropa 5/6), hg. von Manfred Sapper und Volker Weichsel, 2013
Jugoslawien-Libanon. Verhandlungen von Zugehörigkeit in Literatur und Kunst fragmentierter Gesellschaften, hg. von Andreas Pflitsch, Miranda Jakiša, 2012
Nestwärme mag sich nicht unbedingt als Begriff aufdrängen, um die
Zugehörigkeit zu einer im Bürge... more Nestwärme mag sich nicht unbedingt als Begriff aufdrängen, um die
Zugehörigkeit zu einer im Bürgerkrieg kämpfenden Zelle der kommunistisch
en Partei zu beschreiben. Auch der Hühnerstall mag nicht die
allererste Wahl sein, um einer gefühlten Unbehaustheit ein Bild von
Geborgenheit gegenüberzusetzen. Doch gerade mit solchen Assoziationen
eröffnet Maher Abi Samra in seinem Dokumentarfilm Shuyu’iyin
kinna ("We were Communists") die Suche nach seiner verlorenen Zeit. In
dem 2010 fertiggestellten, teils autobiographisch en Film begibt sich der
Regisseur auf eine Selbstfindungsreise, die gleichzeitig in die Vergangenheit
und Gegenwart führt, und lässt dabei auch drei Mitstreiter ihren
Lebensweg seit den 1980er Jahren Revue passieren.
Papers by Manfred Sing
Stehnie Hiittgen "Gestaltung des Anpassungsdrucks", " Rückkehr zu bewährt er Ccwcrkschaftspolirik... more Stehnie Hiittgen "Gestaltung des Anpassungsdrucks", " Rückkehr zu bewährt er Ccwcrkschaftspolirik" oder "Kamp f um soziale Transfo rmation"? Gewerkschaftl iche Positio nen zur Globalisieru ng in Deutsch land und Frankreich 158 Frank M eißn er Wandel von Arbeit un d Partizipation : Der Arbeitskrafiu nte rnehmer 179 M ichael Brodowskl Kritische Betrac htu ng der Lernm öglichkeiten von Mitgliedern in Arbeitsorganisa tionen Gedan ken zur Einschrä nkung von Partizipation durch fremdintendierte. inszenierte Lernprozesse Stefan Matysiak Arbeitgeberverband gepäppelt. Als es 1945 für den Aufba u der Arbeitsbeziehungen nötig war, half eine Journalistengewerkschaft kurzer hand, einen Arbeitgeberverband zu gründen Die Zukunftsdebatte der IG Metallein Beispiel für Partizipation und Demokratie? Klaus Lang/Jupp Legrand Alte Pfa de verlassen-neue Wege wagen? Eine Zwischenbilanz der Zu kunftsdebatt e der IG Metall Jochen Gestet Wie zukunftsfähig ist die "Z uku nfisdeba tt e der IG Metall"? Utsule Schumm-Garling Die Zukunft gewinnen. Anmerkungen zur Zukunftsde batt e der IG Me tall Zukunft ja-nur mit wem und wohin? Eine Kontroverse um die Zukunftsdebatt e der IG Metallmit Jochen Gester, jupp Legrand und Ursula Schu mm-Garling Partizipation in der Komm una lpoli tik Clavis R Zimmermann Partizipation bei den Entsc heidungen der Stadtverwaltung Das funktionierende Modell der Partizipation in der brasilianischen Millionenstadt Port o Alegre Kstrin Grotlm snn/.'Andteas Nolting Der Dinosaurier regt sich ... Schrumpfende Städte als Chance für eine D emokratisierung kommunaler Planungsproze sse? 28 1 Karsten Strasser D er Ö ffentl iche Stralsenpersonenverkehr im Umbruch. Was passiert auf dem Weg von der kommunalen Eigenpro duktion zum Ausschrei bungswet tbewerb? Cloudie Dörffcl Nachhaltige Regiona lentwicklung in der kommunalen Abfallwirtschaft Reduzierung smöglichkeiten für die Meng e an Restabfällen in H aushalten 310 Bildung und soziale Teilha be Mike Thiedkc "Subsidiarität ernst nehmen ..." Wissen für Europa und die Relevanz von Regionalräumen für ein Konzept europäischer Bildung in der Grundschule
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Thesis Chapters by Manfred Sing
Because of the widespread stereotypes of Islam, Edward Said’s criticism of “Orientalism” seems to be more up-to-date than ever. Said explained the eternal recurrence of prejudices by hinting at the Western interest to create an Orient in order to de-humanize, colonize and exploit it. Said’s explanation for the function and efficacy of stereotypes provides useful insights. Yet, his blame of Western manipulation also serves the notion of “the clash of civilizations”, because Said de-scribed the West as the total power and the Orient as the eternal victim. However, by a critical reading of Edward Said’s theses, inter-cultural dialogue can learn that the asymmetries between the West and Islam should neither be neglected nor totalized. The worldwide disparities are neither an explanation nor an excuse for human action, whatsoever. Yet, most Islam experts today draw pictures of global asymmetry, thus contributing to the victimization of one side and justifying the use of (counter)-violence. Inter-cultural dialogue cannot accept these pictures of total power or total powerlessness; it has to take global asymmetries into consideration without exaggerating them. Dialogue aims at symmetry between criticism and self-criticism. From a European perspective, the adequate response to global asymmetry lies neither in humility, because of the existence of anti-Islamic “Orientalism”, nor in accusation, because of the existence of anti-Western “Occidentalism;” otherwise dialogue would be blind in one eye or deaf in one ear.
Zugehörigkeit zu einer im Bürgerkrieg kämpfenden Zelle der kommunistisch
en Partei zu beschreiben. Auch der Hühnerstall mag nicht die
allererste Wahl sein, um einer gefühlten Unbehaustheit ein Bild von
Geborgenheit gegenüberzusetzen. Doch gerade mit solchen Assoziationen
eröffnet Maher Abi Samra in seinem Dokumentarfilm Shuyu’iyin
kinna ("We were Communists") die Suche nach seiner verlorenen Zeit. In
dem 2010 fertiggestellten, teils autobiographisch en Film begibt sich der
Regisseur auf eine Selbstfindungsreise, die gleichzeitig in die Vergangenheit
und Gegenwart führt, und lässt dabei auch drei Mitstreiter ihren
Lebensweg seit den 1980er Jahren Revue passieren.
Papers by Manfred Sing
Because of the widespread stereotypes of Islam, Edward Said’s criticism of “Orientalism” seems to be more up-to-date than ever. Said explained the eternal recurrence of prejudices by hinting at the Western interest to create an Orient in order to de-humanize, colonize and exploit it. Said’s explanation for the function and efficacy of stereotypes provides useful insights. Yet, his blame of Western manipulation also serves the notion of “the clash of civilizations”, because Said de-scribed the West as the total power and the Orient as the eternal victim. However, by a critical reading of Edward Said’s theses, inter-cultural dialogue can learn that the asymmetries between the West and Islam should neither be neglected nor totalized. The worldwide disparities are neither an explanation nor an excuse for human action, whatsoever. Yet, most Islam experts today draw pictures of global asymmetry, thus contributing to the victimization of one side and justifying the use of (counter)-violence. Inter-cultural dialogue cannot accept these pictures of total power or total powerlessness; it has to take global asymmetries into consideration without exaggerating them. Dialogue aims at symmetry between criticism and self-criticism. From a European perspective, the adequate response to global asymmetry lies neither in humility, because of the existence of anti-Islamic “Orientalism”, nor in accusation, because of the existence of anti-Western “Occidentalism;” otherwise dialogue would be blind in one eye or deaf in one ear.
Zugehörigkeit zu einer im Bürgerkrieg kämpfenden Zelle der kommunistisch
en Partei zu beschreiben. Auch der Hühnerstall mag nicht die
allererste Wahl sein, um einer gefühlten Unbehaustheit ein Bild von
Geborgenheit gegenüberzusetzen. Doch gerade mit solchen Assoziationen
eröffnet Maher Abi Samra in seinem Dokumentarfilm Shuyu’iyin
kinna ("We were Communists") die Suche nach seiner verlorenen Zeit. In
dem 2010 fertiggestellten, teils autobiographisch en Film begibt sich der
Regisseur auf eine Selbstfindungsreise, die gleichzeitig in die Vergangenheit
und Gegenwart führt, und lässt dabei auch drei Mitstreiter ihren
Lebensweg seit den 1980er Jahren Revue passieren.
modern medicine and Muslim-majority countries can be traced back to the 1970s
and 1980s respectively. Yet it remains difficult to determine the exact, and
often contested, beginnings of the term and the field. It seems, therefore, more
adequate to understand the emergence and institutionalization of bioethics as a
gradual, international, and also rapidly developing process that has responded
to different concerns, interests, and challenges resulting from advancements in
biotechnology and medicine.
The following remarks are meant to give an overview of the institutionalization
of bioethical deliberations in four respects: (a) the emergence of Islamic
bioethics as a recognized field of research and practice; (b) the processes of
norm finding and decision making, which help to fence in moral uncertainties in
Muslim-majority countries and in Western societies with Muslim participation;
(c) the broader socio-political contexts of bioethical reasoning; and (d) a
final summary.