Sociology of islam

ÖZET Bu çalışmada İran devriminin ideologu olarak kabul edilen ve 1980'li yıllarda eserleriyle Türkiyedeki İslami düşünceyi etkileyen İranlı düşünür Ali Şeraiti'nin din, modernizm ve gelenek konusundaki düşünceleri ve özgürlükçü yorumları ele alınacaktır. Ali Şeriatî'nin kendine özgü düşüncelerini oluştuğu dönemler Fransa'da öğrenci olarak bulunduğu yıllardır. Fransa'da yaşadığı yıllarda, bir yandan solcu-marksist hareketlerle, Eksistansiyalist felsefe ve Cezayir kurtuluş mücadelesiyle, diğer yandan da Louis Massignon'un İslam tasavvufu ile ilgili çalışmalarıyla ilgilendiğini görüyoruz. Ali Şeriatî'nin çoğu konuşmalardan oluşan eserlerinde, tüm bu düşüncelerle Şii İslam anlayışının bir sentezini sergilediğini söyleyebiliriz. Ali Şeriatı entellektüel hayatı boyunca hiç bir zaman akademik bir kaygı taşımdaı. O hem İslam düşüncesinde hem de Batı düşüncesinde devrime giden, insanı özgürleştiren yolda işlev görecek özler aramakla meşguldü. Ali Şeriatî, insanın özgürleşmesi için sürekli devrimci kalması gerektiğini düşünüyordu. Bu bağlamda "dine karşı din" söylemiyle iki farklı din anlayışını karşı karşıya getirdi. Şeriatî İslam tarihini yorumlarken, gerici unsurlar ile özgürleştirici ya da devrimci unsurlar arasında bir ayrım yaptı. Örneklerini daha çok İslamın ilk dönemlerinden seçmeye özen gösterdi. Çünkü bu dönemlere dair oluşturulacak bir söylem hem daha anlaşılır ve muhalefet edilmeden kabul ediliyordu, hem de daha heyecan verici ve kolektif bilinçte daha fazla iz bırakıyordu. O, Tarihi aslında gerici güçlerle ilerici güçlerin, mazlumlarla zalimlerin mücadele alanı olarak gördüğü için , Firdevsi ve İbn Sina'yı bile devrim ve özgürlük karşıtı ya da feodalitenin temsilcileri olarak kabul ediyordu. Şeriatî, tarihte her zaman haksızlıklara karşı mücadele vermiş ve insanın özgürlüğüne ve onuruna vurgu yapan örnekleri öne çıkarmıştı. Ali Şeriatî'nin sadece geleneğe değil moderniteye de eleştirel gözle bakabilen yegane düşünürlerden biridir. Onun moderniteyi insanı kendisine ve dünyaya yabancılaştırması dolayısıyla kıyasıya eleştirdiğini görüyoruz.

«تشیع علوی و تشیع صفوی»، نظریه‌ای است که 44 سال قبل توسط علی شریعتی طرح شد و مباحث، نقدها و حتی تنش‌های قابل توجهی را برانگیخت. اینک، پس از گذشت بیش از چهار دهه از طرح این نظریه، شاید وقت آن باشد که با نگاهی به مختصات درونی این متن، به بررسی منتقدانه‌ی آن بنشینیم. چرا که فراتر از میزان دلبستگی، نوع ارزشگذاری و نقدهای سلبی و ایجابی وارد بر این نظریه و سایر آراء شریعتی، از یک واقعیت نمی‌توان چشم پوشید: این نظریه و برخی دیگر از نظریه‌های اجتماعی بومی در یک‌صد سال اخیر، بخشی مهم از میراث فکری، حافظه‌ی جمعی و سنت علمی مطالعات اجتماعی دین در ایران هستند.

Le discours religieux musulman est pris dans une fièvre idéologique depuis au moins deux siècles, réagissant avec une violence verbale aux évolutions sociales, ce qui atteste d'une crise culturelle profonde. La domination européenne a révélé la crise, mais elle n’en est pas la cause. Celle-ci est à rechercher dans l’histoire intellectuelle de la culture religieuse au cours de laquelle l’orthodoxie officielle avait interdit la philosophie comme activité intellectuelle autonome. Le rapport de l’islam à la philosophie est complexe, dans la mesure où 'ilm al kalam (l’étude de la parole de Dieu) est une philosophie religieuse ou théologie philosophique. C’est une riche construction intellectuelle qui a eu une influence structurante sur les représentations culturelles à travers lesquelles les croyants percevaient le monde et distinguaient le bien et le mal. Ces représentations sont encore actives dans la mémoire collective bien qu’elles subissent des changements à la suite des transformations sociales des deux derniers siècles. Elles donnent un sens à l’existence dans la mesure où elles enseignent ce qui est moral et ce qui ne l’est pas. Elles indiquent ce que doit être l’ordre symbolique en donnant à chacun le sentiment d’être en conformité avec la raison, la nature et Dieu. Auteur : Lahouari Addi.

As humanity enters a new era of climate‐induced unpredictability, research into the role of religion in shaping perceptions of, and responses to disaster will become increasingly important. This is particularly true of South Asia, which contains dense populations certain to be adversely affected by climate change. This contribution explores the way religion shapes and mediates responses to disaster in Pakistan. Where previous work in this field has focused on extremists and militants, mine considers currents of lived Islam that take explicit stances on questions of natural resource development. Drawing upon extensive primary data, I identify two distinct disaster cosmologies permeating state and society. First, I consider the official Islam of experts and policymakers, whose approach to development is derived from, but arguably surpasses the modernism of British and American colonial and Cold War paradigms in its dogmatic, faith‐based belief in the imperative of mastering and exploiting nature. The second is an altogether contrasting formation embedded in a political protest movement representing a marginalized constituency, the Siraiki speaking population of Southern Punjab, which mobilized flood affectees in the aftermath of the 2010 floods around issues of social and environmental justice.

Lucas Sablich -Coordinador Editorial Creemos que el conocimiento es un bien público y común. Por eso, los libros de CLACSO están disponibles en acceso abierto y gratuito. Si usted quiere comprar ejemplares de nuestras publicaciones en versión impresa, puede hacerlo en nuestra Librería Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Biblioteca Virtual de CLACSO www.biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar Librería Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales www.clacso.org.ar/libreria-latinoamericana CONOCIMIENTO ABIERTO, CONOCIMIENTO LIBRE. Primera edición Breviario multidisciplinario sobre el fenómeno religioso (Buenos Aires: CLACSO, febrero de 2019) ISBN 978-987-722-404-7 © Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales | Queda hecho el depósito que establece la Ley 11723. No se permite la reproducción total o parcial de este libro, ni su almacenamiento en un sistema informático, ni su transmisión en cualquier forma o por cualquier medio electrónico, mecánico, fotocopia u otros métodos, sin el permiso previo del editor. CLACSO Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales -Conselho Latino-americano de Ciências Sociais Estados Unidos 1168 | C1023AAB Ciudad de Buenos Aires | Argentina Tel [54 11] 4304 9145 | Fax [54 11] 4305 0875 | <[email protected]> | <www.clacso.org>

The expression of an Islamic political radicalism in Britain has been one of the most dramatic developments in recent decades. Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural Politics explores the nature of this phenomenon by analysing the origins of Islam and its historical contact with Western Europe and Britain, and the emergence of Islamic political radicalism in the Muslim world and in the West.

Tahir Abbas draws on historical analysis and contemporary case studies to explore the post-war immigration and integration of Muslim groups, the complex relations that exist between a secular liberal Britain and a diverse but multifaceted Islam, and the extent of social and economic inequalities that affect Muslims as individual citizens and in local area communities. He shows how violent extremism among British Muslims is in reality influenced by a range of issues, including the factors of globalisation and contemporary politics, media and culture. Analysing and dissecting public policy, Abbas offers suggestions for tackling the major social, political and economic questions facing British Muslims in the post-7/7 era.

An important contribution to the study of religion, ‘race’ and ethnicity in modern Britain, this accessible work will be of interest to anyone working in the field of Islamic studies, sociology and political radicalism.

Reviews

‘Much of the commentary on Islam today is shrill and one-dimensional which further widens the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. Because Tahir Abbas’ Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural Politics is reasoned, scholarly and aims to provide historical context it is a powerful corrective. Being both British and Muslim allows him to present us with a truly insider’s account.’ - Professor Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University

‘In the face of so many superficial denunciations of radical Islam in Britain, Tahir Abbas provides an account that is both broad in its historical coverage and profound in its social analysis. In his sweep of several centuries of South Asian Islamic thinking, Abbas includes the conflicts engendered by British colonialism, and the complex processes of immigration and settlement in Britain. He is especially good in his own speciality, the patterns of inequality in education and in the labour market, through which he shows how the global growth in radical thinking can articulate with domestic social disparities. Here is a distinctive voice entering the debate.’ - John R. Bowen, Washington University in St. Louis.

‘Terrorist incidents have created controversy about Islam and Muslims, and British Muslims have been part of this debate. Media and lay people take a very superficial view and blame Islam and Muslims for radicalisation. This book is an in-depth study of the causes of radicalisation of a section of British Muslims. It is a very useful study indeed and all those who want to understand this complex phenomenon should read the book: Dr Abbas has done a good job!’ - Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, India

‘A remarkable book, well researched, comprehensive in its coverage and highly relevant to contemporary British political concerns.’ - John Rex, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, Warwick University"

This paper attempts to present varying discourses pertaining to women's work and how it is impacted by interpretations of Islam.  This paper offers a window into the world of women's work and participation in Arab societies and how such participation is impacted by Islam, or its interpretations thereof. In addition to the English sources, this paper offers an opportunity for the reader to get a glimpse of the debate that has been going on in Arabic (especially when it comes to the little known religious discourse).

To be a “Shi‘at Ali” means to follow closely in the footsteps of ‘Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. For Shi‘is, ‘Ali was the rightful successor of Prophet Muhammad and the first Imam. Shi‘ism is the second largest denomination in Islam after Sunnism. Shi‘is constitute roughly 10–20% of all Muslims in the world. This chapter provides an overview of contemporary Shi‘is doctrines, bodily pious habits, as well as quotidian and annual rituals.

From the rapid pace of development and change the modern world continues to see, it is from the blessings of Allāh given to mankind through which they continue to benefit and enjoy the results from these technological and scientific advancements. Less than two hundred years ago and before the advent of the motorised vehicle, mankind was (still) riding beasts of transport such as horses and donkeys and cattle. We continue to engineer and produce a wide range and variety of motor vehicles that are better, stronger, faster and more efficient -in the form of cars and motorcycles -and other than them.

How do Muslims who grew up after September 11 balance their love for hip-hop with their devotion to Islam? How do they live the piety and modesty called for by their faith while celebrating an art form defined, in part, by overt sexuality, violence, and profanity?

In Representing Islam, Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir explores the tension between Islam and the global popularity of hip-hop, including attempts by the hip-hop ummah, or community, to draw from the struggles of African Americans in order to articulate the human rights abuses Muslims face. Nasir explores state management of hip-hop culture and how Muslim hip-hoppers are attempting to "Islamize" the genre's performance and jargon to bring the music more in line with religious requirements, which are perhaps even more fraught for female artists who struggle with who has the right to speak for Muslim women. Nasir also investigates the vibrant underground hip-hop culture that exists online. For fans living in conservative countries, social media offers an opportunity to explore and discuss hip-hop when more traditional avenues have been closed.

Representing Islam considers the complex and multifaceted rise of hip-hop on a global stage and, in doing so, asks broader questions about how Islam is represented in this global community.

صدر لي قبل أعوامٍ خمسة كتابٌ بعنوان: «أفكار خارج القفص»، وهو من نفس فصيلة الكتابة الشذريَّة التي ينتمي إليها هذا الكتابُ. وإنما دفعني إلى تبني هذا اللون من الكتابة الرغبةُ في إطلاع القارئ على بعض مراحِلِ التطور التي يمرُّ بها المفكرُ، لا أعني تطور الأفكار فحسب؛ وإنما تطور منهج النظر الكُلي الذي تُعَالَجُ به شتَّى الموضوعات أيضًا.

وتمثِّل هذه الطريقةُ الشذريَّة سُلَّمًا أساسيًّا في تطور منظومة أي مُفكرٍ حركي يؤمن بتمثُّل كل ما يعتقده وتجسيد كل ما يؤمن به، ككاتب هذه السطور؛ ويبغضُ التقاليدَ الأكاديميةَ المدرسيَّة الجوفاء، ولا يُهدِرُ أبدًا قيمة أنواعٍ أخرى من المعرفة؛ أسمى وأكثر ربانيَّة، ولا الطرائق المختلفة والمتنوعة في تحصيلها؛ مثل المعرفة الحدسيَّة والإلهام والمعرفة الإشراقيَّة (العرفان).

إن هذه الطريقة القرآنيَّة لا تجعل من الفكر الإنساني نسقًا مُنفتحًا دائم الانفتاح فحسب؛ بل تُبرهِنُ لكل ذي عقل موَّارٍ يتحرَّكُ بإدمان النظر، وكل ذي نفسٍ لوَّامةٍ تتحرَّكُ بمكابدة الذكر، وكل ذي جسدٍ أنهكته الحركةُ بالطاعة والامتثال؛ على أن التأمُّل والاستنباط في مواضعِهِ أبلغُ وأحكمُ وأنضجُ من عبثيَّة «الاستقراء»، ومن رصِّ المعلومات «الموثَّقة». بل إن التأمُّلات قد تصير في كثيرٍ من الأحيان هادِمًا مُناقِضًا للمعلومات «الصحيحة».

This study seeks to discuss the problem of intra-Muslim prejudice among Muslims in Singapore, namely towards the Shiite and liberal Muslims. These Muslims are perceived to be the deviant Other. Such prejudices point towards an increasingly exclusivist Muslim community in Singapore, who are largely influenced by regional experiences and sentiments. The prejudice stems from the belief that these groups are deviant and are threats to the Muslims from within. I aim to demonstrate how the growing exclusivism, manifested through such prejudices, point to the deeper problem of the fundamentalist religious orientation among contemporary Malay-Muslims in Singapore. This study thus seeks to understand the problem of fundamentalism through the traits of the prejudiced personality, such as authoritarianism, institutionalism and the need for definiteness. It will be argued that religious fundamentalism, as manifested through the traits of the prejudiced personality, reflect the deeper insecurities within the Malay-Muslim community.

Analysis on Islam and cultural diversity in the Malay world that covers the Islamic Southeast Asia with an empirical focus on Malaysia. Introducing the concept of 'knowledge baseline' to understand the evolution of plural society in the region and advancing yet again the 'embedded thesis' that informed the layering of many world religions in Southeast Asia.

La obra Kitáb a!-'lbar del gran historiador árabe del siglo XIV, de origen andalusí, Ibn Jaldún; el cual describe al fundador del movimiento almohade como «un jurista versado en la ciencia, que daba consejos y practicaba la enseñanza». Mientras que, desde el punto de vista externo, ofrece este sobrio retrato del fundador almohade: «Llevaba un vestido de lana remendada, se dedicaba con frecuencia a ejercicios ascéticos y a prácticas piadosas».

This article begins to fill a gap in recent discussions of the future of Islamic studies with an account of the nature and significance of Anthropological and Ethnographic contributions to the study of Islam and Muslims. Drawing attention to both the problem of essence in Orientalism and the dissolution
of Islam’s significance for Muslims in Said’s (1978) anti-Orientalism, the article examines how shifts between essence and silence have been played out in the short history of Anthropology, from colonial ethnography through functionalism to the relationship between so-called Great and
Little Traditions, the fresh impetus of Geertz’s (1968) Islam Observed and subsequent debates about Islam and plural islams. My account culminates with discussion of an increasingly specialised and interdisciplinary body of work on the reproduction and transmission of Islamic discursive traditions published mainly in American Anthropology since the 1970s and 1980s. I contend that such literature suggests a theoretical starting point for ‘Muslim studies’ which allows for the configuring power of social structure and the efficacy of history/tradition as Muslim habitus, as well as the contextual improvisations of human agents with diverse social positions and cultural capitals. Ultimately, my argument is that although this concern for structure, tradition and agency can be combined and emphasized in different ways, attentiveness to both similarity and difference, continuity and change, suggests one way forward beyond the essence/silence impasse in Orientalist/anti-Orientalist thinking about Muslim cultures and societies.

جدول المحتويات

المقدّمة
الباب الأوّل. تجديد في العلوم الشرعية
الفصل الأوّل. نحو إعادة بناء الدراسات الإسلامية: مراجعات نقدية، رضوان السيّد
الفصل الثاني. العلوم الإسلامية: بعض أهمّ الإشكالات وآفاق التجديد، أحمد عبادي
الفصل الثالث. تجديد التفسير وإشكالية المعاصرة، حميدة النيفر
الفصل الرابع. تطوّر المناهج في الدراسات القرآنية، محمّد المنتار
الفصل الخامس. مستقبل التصوّف في الدراسات الإسلامية، سعاد الحكيم

الباب  الثاني. ربط العلوم الشرعية مع العلوم الاجتماعية والإنسانية
الفصل السادس. علاقة العلوم الاجتماعية بالعلوم الشرعية: منافسة أم تجاهل؟، ساري حنفي 
الفصل السابع. حقل الدراسات الإسلامية: مقاربة للوصل بعد عصور الفصل، مسفر بن عليّ القحطاني
الفصل  الثامن. كيف يمكن للنسويّة الإسلامية أن تكون جزءًا فعّالًا في الدراسات الإسلامية؟، حُسن عبّود
الفصل التاسع. الفقه الإسلامي والأدب: التنوخي نموذجًا، انتصار راب و بلال الأرفه لي
الباب الثالث: إصلاح دراسات الدين: نماذج متعدّدة في العالم
الفصل العاشر. الإسلام وكيفية مقاربته في الدراسات المعاصرة: وفرة المنهجيات، ألكسندر كنيش
الفصل الحادي عشر. قضايا تدريس الإسلام في الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية-ماليزيا: تأمّلات وتوصيات عملية في إصلاح مناهج العلوم الإسلامية والإنسانية، إبراهيم محمّد زين
الفصل الثاني عشر. الدراسات الإسلامية: حتميّة التجديد، حسام سباط
الفصل الثالث عشر. ما هي التحدّيات الرئيسة للدراسات الدينية للمجتمع المسلم في فرنسا؟، نبيل الناصري
المساهمون في هذا الكتاب

المقدّمة
إعادة بناء الدراسات الإسلامية

بدعوةٍ من كرسيّ الشيخ زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان للدراسات العربية والإسلامية بالجامعة الأميركية في بيروت، انعقد في مايو/أيّار عام 2018 مؤتمرٌ أكاديمي، حضره أساتذةٌ وباحثون من الشرق والغرب في العلوم الإسلامية، ودارت خلاله مناقشاتٌ غنيّة تناولت بشكلٍ رئيس أربعة موضوعات: إجراء مراجعات شاملة للتخصّص خلال العقود الأربعة الماضية، ومناقشة الأوضاع الحالية للتخصّص في  شتّى مجالاته، ودراسة إمكانيات التطوير والتغيير من خلال علائق جديدة بالدراسات التاريخية والسوسيولوجية والفلسفية، وتقييم التوجّهات الجديدة في مسائل نقد النصّ، والقراءات الجديدة للحضارة الإسلامية، والتيّارات الإسلامية المعاصرة.
منذ السبعينات من القرن الماضي، وبسبب الثورات في العلوم التاريخية والاجتماعية، وعلوم نقد النصّ، عانت الدراسات الإسلامية من ضياعٍ للهويّة، ومن انقسامٍ بين الدارسين تفرّع على نقد الاستشراق باعتباره خطابًا استعماريًّا من جهة، واعتبار هذا التخصّص من قِبَل كثيرٍ من المشارقة علمًا دينيًّا همُّهُ معالجة قضايا تطبيق الشريعة، وعلاقة الدين بالدولة؛ من جهةٍ أخرى. ولذلك فإنّ بعض المحاضرين في المؤتمر قاموا بمراجعاتٍ لتأثير تلك التوجّهات الأيديولوجية على التخصّص؛ بما في ذلك النظر في مسالك الخروج من الأيديولوجيا، واستعادة الأكاديميا. أمّا في الجانب الثاني، جانب الأوضاع الحاليّة للتخصّص: فقد قدّم الدارسون عروضًا للوجوه الجديدة للقراءة في شتّى الفروع من التفسير وعلوم القرآن، وإلى الحديث وعلومه، والفقه وأصوله، وعلوم الكلام والفلسفة، والظواهر المعاصرة.
وفي جانب آفاق التغيير والتجديد، كانت هناك محاضراتٌ في الأبعاد السوسيولوجية والأنثروبولوجية لدراسات الإسلام، وإمكانيات الإضافة التي تقدّمها السوسيولوجيا في فهم الظواهر التاريخية والمعاصرة. بينما مضى باحثون آخرون باتّجاه النظر في إمكان اعتبار دراسات الإسلام مجالًا من مجالات فلسفة الدين أو أخلاقيات الدين.
وكان هناك أخيرًا من ركّز على القراءات الجديدة في تاريخية النصّ وحيواته الحاضرة، وضرورة الاستمرار في تطوير التفكير الجديد بمسائل الحضارة الإسلامية، ونقد مقولات انحطاط الألف عام، والإشكاليّات المحيطة بالأفهام الأيديولوجية عند بعض تيّارات الهويّة، وبخاصّةٍ عندما يتعلّق الأمر بتصوّر الموروث في ضوء المشكلات المعاصرة.
لقد التقى في مؤتمر بناء الدراسات الإسلامية دارسون من مختلف مجالات الدراسات الإسلامية، ومن مختلف التوجّهات الفكرية والثقافية. وكان المقصود أن تجتمع هذه النخبة الفكرية والأكاديمية، والتي تتوزّع في أقسام الدراسات الإسلامية وكلّياتها بالجامعات الغربية والعربية والإسلامية، ليكون التأمّل إيذانًا بالخروج من التأزّم، وجهدًا مقدّرًا في تجديد دراسات الإسلام.

قبل أيام عن "الشبكة العربية للأبحاث"، وفيه يتنقّل الكاتب في مدى واسع من    الدراسات النقدية والقضايا النظرية، تتناول الدين والأخلاق، العقلنة والتبرير والسلطة، في حقبة ممتدة من ولادة العالم الإسلامي وحتى الزمن المعاصر.
يُعتبر العمل مرجعياً لمن يريد دراسة متعمقّة في سوسيولوجيا الإسلام، وكذلك لمن يسعى إلى فهم علاقة هذه بالدين والأخلاق والحداثة والتقاليد والحضارات المختلفة وتأثيراتها.       
من المعروف أن سوسيولوجيا الإسلام كحقل معرفي، ليس بقديم، لا سيما وأنه أصبح موضع نقد في "الاستشراق"، وبعد أحداث 11 سبتمبر بات كل ما يتعلّق بالمجتمعات الإسلامية مسيّساً على نحو يجرّده من نظرة سوسيوثقافية فاحصة. وزاد من حدة هذه التفسيرات في السنوات الأربع الأخيرة، الترويج لـ صورة المجتمعات الإسلامية الدارجة في الإعلام وجنوح مهاجرين في أوروبا وغيرها إلى التطرف.
لذلك نجد سالفاتوري في المجلد الأول يقدّم مساراً حذراً تحاشى فيه كل ما هو مألوف وشائع وغير محقق، حيث انتصر الأكاديمي للجمع بين الرؤية التاريخية الواسعة للإسلام وكيفية تطور المجتمعات الإسلامية ضمن مؤثرات أخرى، وفي إطار تحليلي يشكّل قاعدة قوية للمجلدات الأخرى المنتظرة من العمل البحثي الكبير.
يركّز سالفاتوري في عمله على ترابط النظريات ومقارناتها، وينهمك في معظم أعماله بمفهوم "عملية التحضّر" في المجتمعات من منظور عالمي. وإضافة إلى كتابه "سوسيولوجيا الإسلام"، يقوم حالياً بتحرير عمل موسوعي بعنوان "تاريخ الإسلام" الذي ستصدره دار نشر "ويلي بلاكويل" أيضاً.

In the mid-90s, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Iranian Ayatollah Khamene’i both banned bloody forms of self-flagellation such as tatbir (cutting the forehead with a sword), calling them backward and un-Islamic. They argued that Shi‘a Muslims ought to imitate Husayn by actively fighting against oppressors rather than passively mourning Husayn’s martyrdom. This prohibition has not been unanimously applied in all Muslim
countries, including Syria, where such practices persisted until the Arab Spring (when virtually all Shi‘a Muslims left the shrine-town where these practices were performed). By closely reading the linguistic, conceptual, and juridical discourses that circulated in Syria in order to justify this position, the paper shows that the performers of tatbir conceived of these rituals in revolutionary, rather than reactionary, terms. By examining the performance and reception of flagellation processions in terms of differing modalities of affect, the paper opens up spaces for rethinking ‘revolution’ and ‘redemption’ in contemporary Twelver Shi‘ism.

هذا الكتاب ليس للمتعة الذهنيّة المجرّدة، وليس الغرض منه نيل رضا القارئ وموافقته وتصفيقه واستحسانه؛ بل الغرض منه تعليمه التفكُّر، ومساعدته على تكوين ملكة للنظر والنقد والحكم. كل ذلك بطريقة غير مباشرة. فحين يُعاين القارئ المتفحّص منهج النظر ذاته وهو يُفكك الفكر السياسي ثم يُقرأ به الأدب ثم تناقش به بعض مسائل العقيدة والفلسفة ثم يتشكّل به دُعاء يستلهم سير الأنبياء؛ فإنه سيُدرك  -ولو بشكل غير واع- وحدة المعارف الإنسانيّة، ومن ثم أهميّة وحدة منهج النظر والرؤية الكونيّة الحاكمة والمهيمنة على التناول. وسيُدرك أيضًا أن الفصل المصطنع بين العلوم والمعارف الإنسانية مُجرّد فصل مدرسي إجرائي لا قيمة له، ولا يتم تكريسه إلا لتوثين حقل من المعارف أو الافتراضات التي بُنيت عليها بعض النظريّات "العلميّة".

Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

This is the Introduction to the book The Sociology of Islam, which provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The study is located at the crucial intersection between a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. It discusses the long-term dynamics of Islam as both a religion and as a social, political and cultural force.
The volume focuses on ideas of knowledge, power and civility to provide students and readers with analytic and critical thinking frameworks for understanding the complex social facets of Islamic traditions and institutions. The study of the sociology of Islam improves the understanding of Islam as a diverse force that drives a variety of social and political arrangements.
Delving into both conceptual questions and historical interpretations, The Sociology of Islam is a transdisciplinary, comparative resource for students, scholars, and policy makers seeking to understand Islam’s complex changes throughout history and its impact on the modern world.

“Kurdish Islam” – what is that? The adjective is derived from a noun that names a people and their languages living in Eastern Anatolia, Northeastern Syria, Northern Iraq, and Northwestern Iran. However, here it refers to only Iraqi Kurdistan. The noun refers to a religion. What a religion is and what Islam means is a much larger debate, which unfortunately cannot be covered here. For the purposes of this chapter “Islam in Kurdistan” actually refers to Muslim Kurdish society going back to the Tanzimat, an Ottoman set of legal reforms, which organized communities along religious divides. In particular, this article will examine what practices are considered outside of the scope of Islam and why. What constitutes the boundary? Unfortunately, a more detailed discussion of intra-Islamic discourses is beyond the scope of this chapter. Instead, it will focus on communal boundaries, social structures as they relate to religious institutions and authority, shifting  alliances and their influences on religious beliefs and practices, and, finally, popular practices.

The anthropology of Islam aims to examine the ways in which religious, ethical, and theological teachings are instituted and work within the social world. For example, how these teachings are negotiated by Muslims within networks of social relationships and how these negotiations affect the peculiarities of everyday life and vice versa. In order to provide a better grasp of the relevance of anthropology for the study of Islam, it is prudent to gain first a thorough understanding of the methods and concepts utilized in social and cultural anthropology. This introductory essay outlines the theoretical and disciplinary foundations for the anthropology of Islam by exploring the following questions: What is distinctive about anthropological research? What can anthropology contribute to the study of Islam? How can the reading of anthropological texts enhance the understanding of Islam? How can reading ethnographic accounts help refine the methods of anthropological fieldwork? This conceptual framework allows an outline of this Reader’s design and explains how its contributions are arranged.

Mala-Mawlid literatures along with their collective reciting culture, have played a great role in the formation of sociocultural identity of Kerala Muslims. More than little religiously or locally considerable composition or presentation, they bridge the gap between Muslim minds and rituals, as these presentations stood as a median for worship itself. Now, there are some newfangled feelings to this, as some Muslim groups of Kerala, such as Mujahids and Jamaa't-e-Islami, who question the credibility of Mala-Mawlids, on the standards of Shirk or un-Islamic. Sunni Muslims, a major, prominent group of Kerala Muslims, on the other hand, has retained their ciphers and signs through such ritual practices. The issue has further stretched in to the conflict of polytheism (Shirk) and monotheism too, as David Parkin illustrates in the study of Swalihis (1994). Recent studies have emphasized that the arguments over religious rituals turn on disagreements to the correct method of rituals/prayers. This paper examines how these Mala/Mawlids mobilize the Sunni groups of Kerala Muslims, to a self-identified movement. It tries to figure out the spaces on which the questions of identity and belongingness emerge very prominently in Muslim minds. It also analyses, if at all, the other Muslim religious groups and movements, in the present context feel hurt and claim for the "True Islam".

Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press.

This is my first book, based on my PhD thesis that won the MESA Malcolm Kerr Award in the Social Sciences, 1994. The book provides a 'genealogical' background to more recent work of mine, particularly the volume The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility.

Preface Part 1 Conceptualising Modernity 1. Tradition and Modernity within Islamic Civilisation and the West, Armando Salvatore 2. Western Scholars of Islam on the Issue of Modernity, Muhammad Khalid Masud and Armando Salvatore Part 2 Negotiating Modernity 3. Political Modernity in the Middle East, Sami Zubaida 4. Islam, Modernity and the Politics of Gender: Perspectives from the Middle East, Central Asia and Afghanistan, Deniz Kandiyoti 5. Sufism, &#39;Popular&#39; Islam and the Encounter with Modernity, Martin van Bruinessen 6. Colonialism and Islamic Law, Ebrahim Moosa Part 3 Debating Modernity 7. The Reform Project in the Emerging Public Spheres, Armando Salvatore 8. The Ulama and Contestations of Religious Authority under Modern Conditions, Muhammad Qasim Zaman 9. Islamic Modernism, Muhammad Khalid Masud 10. The Shifting Politics of Identity, Abdulkader Tayob List of Contributors.

The Tablighi Jama'at (TJ) is widely regarded as the largest movement of grassroots Islamic revival in the world yet remains significantly under-researched. This thesis examines the British branch of the movement based on sustained ethnographic fieldwork conducted over 18 months. Intensive participant observation was combined with 59 semi-structured interviews to present a detailed typology and topography of the movement's organisational structure in Britain. Further, the issue of intergenerational transmission is explored – based on an analysis of the cultural identity markers of language, clothing and food – with clear shifts identified between the first-generation 'Old Guard' and the British-born 'Avant-Garde.' The thesis argues that TJ should best be characterised as a movement in transition located within broader processes of indigenisation operative within British Islam more generally.

Theoretically, the thesis augments Berger and Luckmann's sociology of knowledge with insights derived from Bhaskar’s critical realism to propose the twin 'generative mechanisms' of secularity and spirituality from which empirically accessible social phenomena emerge. These are used to anatomise the process of 'intra-religious conversion' which emerges as a key motif of contemporary TJ experience. Turner's concept of liminality and Schutz's phenomenology of consciousness are further deployed to examine ritual and semantic dimensions of conversion that see the neophyte’s attachment to religion transition from a nominal to a passionate state. Generic theories in the sociology of religion are also consulted to explore issues of retention and post-conversion strategies of commitment-maintenance.

Finally, utilising insights from Peter Berger’s vast oeuvre, the thesis explores the intersection of 'Islamic Revival' with secularisation theory in Europe. It argues that, in the context of contemporary ‘Eurosecularity,’ the willed and conscious exercise of agency in ways which publicly affirm faith is intrinsically imbued with a disconcerting ‘debunking’ potential for those who have unthinkingly imbibed into interior consciousness the taken-for-granted suppositions of a secular nomos.

In 1979 Iran, the establishment of a durable Islamic state system demanded the utilitarian use of Ayatollah Khomeini's charismatic appeal with references to messianic sensitivities. However, to fulfil his own concepts of an ideal Islamic state, Khomeini had to remain an ordinary human being and nothing more than the hero of the revolution. In my paper I shall illustrate the complexity of the interrelations and transitions between the macro level of system behaviour and the micro level of individual action by dint of the depiction of a widely known episode of late 1978 in which it is said that the believer would be able to see Khomeini’s face in the moon, and the Ayatollah’s later refusal of this ‘natural phenomenon’. After depicting this episode through references in several autobiographical accounts as well as contemporary newspaper articles, its interpretation has to be read against the background of the meaning of symbols in the Iranian-Shi’ite community. In doing so, the analysis of Ayatollah Khomeini’s deeds and words will show that he deliberately relinquished the claim to be sent by God, as offered to him by the people of Iran. Further, it will be shown that shortly after his return to Iran, he was zealous in building up a legitimation which invoked notions of rational-legal authority in a Weberian sense. In doing so, Khomeini presented himself as acting as the sovereign on the authority of the people, hence, as being the hero of the people’s struggle and the leader of the community – and not being sent from God, or representing an aloof saint reflected in the moon.

Quote as:
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (eds). 2029. Islamicate Secularities: Past and Present, in Historical Social Research 44(3). 

All papers are accessible through
https://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/full-text-archive/2019/443-islamicate-secularities-in-past-and-present

Partly as a product of encounters with Europe, accelerated in the last 150 years, Islamicate societies developed new epistemic distinctions and structural differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres and practices. This special issue conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations as “Islamicate secularities”, thereby connecting Marshall Hodgson’s notion of the “Islamicate” with the concept of “Multiple Secularities”. The individual contributions address the question of secularity in relation to Islam with a variety of spatial and temporal foci that range from Turkey to China and Indonesia, from the present to the colonial era and even precolonial contexts. The issue thus provides an array of perspectives on how Muslims have engaged with religion in relation to social and political conflicts and how this has led to contested reifications of ‘Islam’ and its boundaries, especially in relation to politics. As preliminary result, a tendency towards ‘soft distinctions’, kept under the umbrella of ‘Islam,’ emerges.

Quote the Introduction as:
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore, A., and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. 2019. Islamicate Secularities: New Perspectives on a Contested Concept. Historical Social Research, 44(3), 7-34.

In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction
conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson’s concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for
our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories
and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.

Keywords: Secularity, multiple secularities, Islamicate secularities, Islam and politics, Marshall Hodgson.

À première vue, les récentes actions terroristes en Côte d’Ivoire et au Burkina Faso ont laissé croire à une radicalisation de l’islam dans ces deux pays. Cependant, la grande attention médiatique portée sur ces craintes et les nombreuses analyses qui ont été publiées sur les risques d’une montée de l’extrémisme, bien qu’elles soient importantes, éclipsent d’autres dynamiques récentes et plus anciennes caractérisant l’islam ivoirien et burkinabè. Il s’agit de présenter un portrait plus nuancé et dans la longue durée des réalités caractérisant ces communautés musulmanes, qui sont moins couvertes, mais plus prégnantes telles que la participation des musulmans issus de catégories sociales d’ordinaire marginalisées, principalement les jeunes et les femmes, dans les mutations de l’islam à travers leur engagement militant.

À travers une étude comparative des cas ivoirien et burkinabè, cette thèse entend donc emprunter une avenue encore peu exploitée en proposant une recherche sur des cadets sociaux, appartenant à des modèles culturels différentiés (francophone/arabophone, islam fondamentaliste/réformiste, etc.). Nous verrons de quelles manières ces acteurs, depuis les années 1970, sont parvenus à renégocier les rapports de pouvoir et les modalités hiérarchiques, voire à les bousculer, pour revendiquer une place plus importante dans le champ religieux et la sphère publique au point de reconfigurer progressivement des associations islamiques nationales. Trois grandes hypothèses sont défendues.

D’abord, la première hypothèse pose que jusqu’à la fin des années 1980, les cadets restèrent grandement en retrait des principales associations islamiques, qui étaient dominées par des ainés sociaux tant en Côte d’Ivoire qu’au Burkina Faso, sans que cela soit à l’origine de véritables tensions ouvertes ou de conflits intergénérationnels. Au cours de cette période, la prépondérance des rivalités sur la base de la « politique du ventre » entre dirigeants d’organisations islamiques des deux pays consolida la position des ainés, qui maitrisaient les procédures administratives de l’État tout en pouvant mettre de l’avant des stratégies d’extraversion. Dans ce contexte, l’émergence d’une nouvelle cohorte de jeunes arabisants ivoirien et burkinabè ne permit pas un renouvèlement des leaders associatifs malgré l’important capital religieux dont ils disposaient.

Une deuxième hypothèse défend l’idée que des jeunes et des femmes jouèrent un rôle plus significatif au sein de l’islam associatif ivoirien et burkinabè à partir des années 1990 et 2000, à la faveur de négociations, de compromis et de coopération entre ainés et cadets dans le cadre d’un processus sinueux marqué par des avancées – beaucoup plus importantes en Côte d’Ivoire – et des reculs selon les structures associatives. Dans les deux pays, les cadets des organisations de musulmans francophones bénéficièrent d’un cadre particulièrement favorable pour exprimer leur agencéité. À partir des années 2000, les changements survenus dans les mouvements salafistes des deux pays et la grande place faite aux jeunes et aux femmes dans des radios islamiques, surtout en Côte d’Ivoire, illustrèrent bien le fait que les ainés furent aussi amenés à revoir les responsabilités dévolues aux cadets dans la da‘wa. Cependant, les relations entre les ainés et les cadets au sein des structures reconnues comme étant les principales interlocutrices des musulmans auprès de l’État furent particulièrement évocatrices du caractère encore grandement gérontocratique de l’islam au Burkina Faso contrairement à la Côte d’Ivoire.

Enfin, la dernière hypothèse postule que la maitrise du langage de l’État et le savoir religieux ne sont plus suffisants pour s’affirmer dans le champ de plus en plus concurrentiel des associations musulmanes et revendiquer la légitimité de pouvoir s’exprimer au nom de la « communauté ». Si le savoir religieux demeure important, la légitimité et l’autorité des responsables d’organisations islamiques découlent de plus en plus de la capacité à véhiculer un « islam civil » et à s’engager sur le plan du développement socioéconomique. Ce phénomène, qui eut pour conséquence de favoriser entre autres la montée de jeunes scolarisés dans le système éducatif francophone, se manifesta beaucoup plus rapidement en Côte d’Ivoire qu’au Burkina Faso.