RSSLahat ng Entries sa "Mga Bagong Kilusang Sufi" Kategoryang

ISLAM, DEMOKRASYA & ANG USA:

Cordoba Foundation

Abdullah Faliq |

Intro ,


Sa kabila ng pagiging parehong pangmatagalan at kumplikadong debate, Ang Arches Quarterly ay muling nagsusuri mula sa teolohiko at praktikal na mga batayan, ang mahalagang debate tungkol sa relasyon at pagkakatugma sa pagitan ng Islam at Demokrasya, bilang echoed sa Barack Obama's agenda ng pag-asa at pagbabago. Habang marami ang nagdiriwang sa pag-akyat ni Obama sa Oval Office bilang isang pambansang catharsis para sa US, ang iba ay nananatiling hindi gaanong optimistiko sa pagbabago ng ideolohiya at diskarte sa internasyonal na arena. Habang ang karamihan sa tensyon at kawalan ng tiwala sa pagitan ng mundo ng Muslim at ng USA ay maaaring maiugnay sa diskarte ng pagtataguyod ng demokrasya, karaniwang pinapaboran ang mga diktadurya at papet na rehimen na nagbibigay ng lip-service sa mga demokratikong halaga at karapatang pantao, ang aftershock ng 9/11 ay tunay na pinatibay ang mga pag-aalinlangan sa pamamagitan ng posisyon ng Amerika sa politikal na Islam. Lumikha ito ng pader ng negatibiti gaya ng natagpuan ng worldpublicopinion.org, ayon sa kung saan 67% naniniwala ang mga taga-Ehipto na sa buong mundo ang America ay gumaganap ng isang "pangunahing negatibo" na papel.
Ang tugon ng Amerika ay naging angkop. Sa pamamagitan ng pagpili kay Obama, marami sa buong mundo ang umaasa sa pagbuo ng hindi gaanong palaaway, ngunit mas patas na patakarang panlabas patungo sa mundo ng Muslim. Ang pagsubok para kay Obama, habang tinatalakay natin, ay kung paano itaguyod ng Amerika at ng kanyang mga kaalyado ang demokrasya. Magiging facilitating ba ito o kahanga-hanga?
At saka, maaari ba itong maging isang matapat na broker sa matagal na mga lugar ng mga salungatan? Pagkuha ng kadalubhasaan at pananaw ng prolifi
c mga iskolar, akademya, mga batikang mamamahayag at pulitiko, Binibigyang liwanag ng Arches Quarterly ang ugnayan sa pagitan ng Islam at Demokrasya at ang papel ng Amerika – pati na rin ang mga pagbabagong dulot ni Obama, sa paghahanap ng karaniwang batayan. Anas Altikriti, ang CEO ng Th e Cordoba Foundation ay nagbibigay ng pambungad na sugal sa talakayang ito, kung saan siya ay sumasalamin sa mga pag-asa at hamon na nakasalalay sa landas ni Obama. Kasunod ng Altikriti, ang dating tagapayo ni Pangulong Nixon, Nag-aalok si Dr Robert Crane ng masusing pagsusuri sa prinsipyo ng Islam ng karapatan sa kalayaan. Anwar Ibrahim, dating Deputy Prime Minister ng Malaysia, pinayaman ang talakayan sa mga praktikal na katotohanan ng pagpapatupad ng demokrasya sa mga dominanteng lipunan ng Muslim, ibig sabihin, sa Indonesia at Malaysia.
Mayroon din kaming Dr Shireen Hunter, ng Georgetown University, USA, na gumagalugad sa mga bansang Muslim na nahuhuli sa demokratisasyon at modernisasyon. Ito ay kinukumpleto ng manunulat ng terorismo, Ang paliwanag ni Dr Nafeez Ahmed sa krisis ng post-modernity at ang
pagkamatay ng demokrasya. Dr. Daud Abdullah (Direktor ng Middle East Media Monitor), Alan Hart (dating ITN at BBC Panorama correspondent; may-akda ng Zionism: Ang Tunay na Kaaway ng mga Hudyo) at Asem Sondos (Editor ng Egypt's Sawt Al Omma linggu-linggo) tumutok kay Obama at sa kanyang tungkulin vis-à-vis democracy-promote sa Muslim world, gayundin ang relasyon ng US sa Israel at sa Muslim Brotherhood.
Minister of Foreign Aff airs, Maldives, Nag-isip si Ahmed Shaheed sa hinaharap ng Islam at Demokrasya; Cllr. Gerry Maclochlainn
– isang miyembro ng Sinn Féin na nagtiis ng apat na taon sa bilangguan para sa mga aktibidad ng Irish Republican at isang campaigner para sa Guildford 4 at Birmingham 6, sumasalamin sa kanyang kamakailang paglalakbay sa Gaza kung saan nasaksihan niya ang epekto ng kalupitan at kawalang-katarungang ginawa laban sa mga Palestinian; Dr Marie Breen-Smyth, Ang Direktor ng Center for the Study of Radicalization at Contemporary Political Violence ay tumatalakay sa mga hamon ng kritikal na pagsasaliksik ng politikal na terorismo; Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, manunulat at manunulat ng dula, tinatalakay ang mga prospect ng kapayapaan sa Darfur; at sa wakas ang mamamahayag at aktibistang karapatang pantao na si Ashur Shamis ay tumitingin nang kritikal sa demokratisasyon at pamumulitika ng mga Muslim ngayon.
Inaasahan namin na ang lahat ng ito ay gumagawa para sa isang komprehensibong pagbabasa at isang mapagkukunan para sa pagmumuni-muni sa mga isyu na nakakaapekto sa ating lahat sa isang bagong bukang-liwayway ng pag-asa.
salamat po

PRECISION IN THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR:

Sherifa zuhur

Seven years after the September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks, many experts believe al-Qa’ida has regained strength and that its copycats or affiliates are more lethal than before. The National Intelligence Estimate of 2007 asserted that al-Qa’ida is more dangerous now than before 9/11.1 Al-Qa’ida’s emulators continue to threaten Western, Middle Eastern, and European nations, as in the plot foiled in September 2007 in Germany. Bruce Riedel states: Thanks largely to Washington’s eagerness to go into Iraq rather than hunting down al Qaeda’s leaders, the organization now has a solid base of operations in the badlands of Pakistan and an effective franchise in western Iraq. Its reach has spread throughout the Muslim world and in Europe . . . Osama bin Laden has mounted a successful propaganda campaign. . . . His ideas now attract more followers than ever.
It is true that various salafi-jihadist organizations are still emerging throughout the Islamic world. Why have heavily resourced responses to the Islamist terrorism that we are calling global jihad not proven extremely effective?
Moving to the tools of “soft power,” what about the efficacy of Western efforts to bolster Muslims in the Global War on Terror (GWOT)? Why has the United States won so few “hearts and minds” in the broader Islamic world? Why do American strategic messages on this issue play so badly in the region? Why, despite broad Muslim disapproval of extremism as shown in surveys and official utterances by key Muslim leaders, has support for bin Ladin actually increased in Jordan and in Pakistan?
This monograph will not revisit the origins of Islamist violence. It is instead concerned with a type of conceptual failure that wrongly constructs the GWOT and which discourages Muslims from supporting it. They are unable to identify with the proposed transformative countermeasures because they discern some of their core beliefs and institutions as targets in
this endeavor.
Several deeply problematic trends confound the American conceptualizations of the GWOT and the strategic messages crafted to fight that War. These evolve from (1) post-colonial political approaches to Muslims and Muslim majority nations that vary greatly and therefore produce conflicting and confusing impressions and effects; at (2) residual generalized ignorance of and prejudice toward Islam and subregional cultures. Add to this American anger, fear, and anxiety about the deadly events of 9/11, and certain elements that, despite the urgings of cooler heads, hold Muslims and their religion accountable for the misdeeds of their coreligionists, or who find it useful to do so for political reasons.

GLOBALIZATION AND POLITICAL ISLAM: THE SOCIAL BASES OF TURKEY’S WELFARE PARTY

Haldun Gulalp

Political Islam has gained heightened visibility in recent decades in Turkey. Large numbers of female students have begun to demonstrate their commitment by wearing the banned Islamic headdress on university campuses, and influential pro-Islamist TV
channels have proliferated. This paper focuses on the Welfare (Refah) Party as the foremost institutional representative of political Islam in Turkey.
The Welfare Party’s brief tenure in power as the leading coalition partner from mid-1996 to mid-1997 was the culmination of a decade of steady growth that was aided by other Islamist organizations and institutions. These organizations and institutions
included newspapers and publishing houses that attracted Islamist writers, numerous Islamic foundations, an Islamist labor-union confederation, and an Islamist businessmen’s association. These institutions worked in tandem with, and in support of, Welfare as the undisputed leader and representative of political Islam in Turkey, even though they had their own particularistic goals and ideals, which often diverged from Welfare’s political projects. Focusing on the Welfare Party, then, allows for an analysis of the wider social base upon which the Islamist political movement rose in Turkey. Since Welfare’s ouster from power and its eventual closure, the Islamist movement has been in disarray. This paper will, therefore, be confined to the Welfare Party period.
Welfare’s predecessor, the National Salvation Party, was active in the 1970s but was closed down by the military regime in 1980. Welfare was founded in 1983 and gained great popularity in the 1990s. Starting with a 4.4 percent vote in the municipal elections of 1984, the Welfare Party steadily increased its showing and multiplied its vote nearly five times in twelve years. It alarmed Turkey’s secular establishment first in the municipal elections of 1994, with 19 percent of all votes nationwide and the mayor’s seats in both Istanbul and Ankara, then in the general elections of 1995 when it won a plurality with 21.4 percent of the national vote. Nevertheless, the Welfare Party was only briefly able to lead a coalition government in partnership with the right-wing True Path Party of Tansu C¸ iller.

Demokrasya sa Kaisipang Pampulitika ng Islam

Azzam S. Tamimi

Ang demokrasya ay pinagkakaabalahan ng mga Arabong nag-iisip sa pulitika simula pa noong simula ng modernong Arab renaissance mga dalawang siglo na ang nakararaan.. Simula noon, ang konsepto ng demokrasya ay nagbago at umunlad sa ilalim ng impluwensya ng iba't ibang panlipunan at pampulitika na pag-unlad.Ang talakayan ng demokrasya sa Arab Islamic literatura ay maaaring traced pabalik sa Rifa'a Tahtawi, ang ama ng Egyptian democracy ayon kay Lewis Awad,[3] na ilang sandali matapos ang kanyang pagbabalik sa Cairo mula sa Paris ay naglathala ng kanyang unang libro, Takhlis Al-Ibriz Ila Talkhis Bariz, sa 1834. Binubuod ng aklat ang kanyang mga obserbasyon sa mga asal at kaugalian ng modernong Pranses,[4] at pinuri ang konsepto ng demokrasya tulad ng nakita niya ito sa France at habang nasaksihan niya ang pagtatanggol at muling paninindigan nito sa pamamagitan ng 1830 Rebolusyon laban kay Haring Charles X.[5] Sinubukan ni Tahtawi na ipakita na ang demokratikong konsepto na ipinapaliwanag niya sa kanyang mga mambabasa ay tugma sa batas ng Islam. Inihambing niya ang political pluralism sa mga anyo ng ideological at jurisprudential pluralism na umiral sa karanasang Islamiko.:
Ang kalayaan sa relihiyon ay ang kalayaan ng paniniwala, ng opinyon at ng sekta, basta't hindi ito sumasalungat sa mga batayan ng relihiyon . . . Ang parehong ay naaangkop sa kalayaan ng pampulitikang kasanayan at opinyon ng mga nangungunang administrador, na nagsisikap na bigyang-kahulugan at ilapat ang mga tuntunin at probisyon alinsunod sa mga batas ng kanilang sariling mga bansa. Ang mga hari at mga ministro ay may lisensya sa larangan ng pulitika upang ituloy ang iba't ibang ruta na sa huli ay nagsisilbing isang layunin: mabuting administrasyon at hustisya.[6] Isang mahalagang palatandaan sa bagay na ito ay ang kontribusyon ni Khairuddin At-Tunisi (1810- 99), pinuno ng kilusang reporma noong ika-19 na siglo sa Tunisia, WHO, sa 1867, bumuo ng pangkalahatang plano para sa reporma sa isang aklat na pinamagatang Aqwam Al-Masalik Fi Taqwim Al- bumalik (Ang Tuwid na Daan sa Pagrereporma ng mga Pamahalaan). Ang pangunahing pinagkakaabalahan ng aklat ay sa pagharap sa usapin ng repormang pampulitika sa mundo ng Arabo. Habang sumasamo sa mga pulitiko at iskolar sa kanyang panahon na hanapin ang lahat ng posibleng paraan upang mapabuti ang katayuan ng
pamayanan at paunlarin ang pagkamagalang nito, binalaan niya ang pangkalahatang publikong Muslim laban sa pag-iwas sa mga karanasan ng ibang mga bansa batay sa maling kuru-kuro na ang lahat ng mga akda, mga imbensyon, ang mga karanasan o saloobin ng mga di-Muslim ay dapat tanggihan o balewalain.
Nanawagan pa si Khairuddin na wakasan ang absolutist rule, na sinisi niya sa pang-aapi ng mga bansa at pagkasira ng mga sibilisasyon.

Kulturang Pampulitika ng Islam, Demokrasya, at Karapatang Pantao

Si Daniele. Presyo

Pinagtatalunan na pinapadali ng Islam ang authoritarianism, sumasalungat sa

pagpapahalaga ng mga lipunang Kanluranin, at makabuluhang nakakaapekto sa mahahalagang resulta ng pulitika

sa mga bansang Muslim. Dahil dito, mga iskolar, mga komentarista, at pamahalaan

ang mga opisyal ay madalas na tumuturo sa '' Islamic fundamentalism '' bilang ang susunod

banta ng ideolohiya sa mga liberal na demokrasya. Ang view na ito, gayunpaman, ay pangunahing nakabatay

sa pagsusuri ng mga teksto, teoryang pampulitika ng Islam, at ad hoc na pag-aaral

ng mga indibidwal na bansa, na hindi isinasaalang-alang ang iba pang mga kadahilanan. Ito ay aking pagtatalo

na ang mga teksto at tradisyon ng Islam, tulad ng sa ibang relihiyon,

maaaring gamitin upang suportahan ang iba't ibang sistema at patakarang pampulitika. Bansa

ang mga tiyak at deskriptibong pag-aaral ay hindi nakakatulong sa atin na makahanap ng mga pattern na makakatulong

ipinapaliwanag namin ang iba't ibang ugnayan sa pagitan ng Islam at pulitika sa buong

mga bansa sa mundo ng Muslim. Kaya naman, isang bagong diskarte sa pag-aaral ng

Ang koneksyon sa pagitan ng Islam at pulitika ay tinatawag.
I suggest, sa pamamagitan ng mahigpit na pagsusuri ng ugnayan sa pagitan ng Islam,

demokrasya, at karapatang pantao sa cross-national level, sobra na yan

binibigyang-diin ang kapangyarihan ng Islam bilang puwersang pampulitika. ako muna

gumamit ng comparative case study, na nakatutok sa mga salik na may kaugnayan sa interplay

sa pagitan ng mga grupo at rehimeng Islam, mga impluwensyang pang-ekonomiya, pagkakahati ng etniko,

at pag-unlad ng lipunan, upang ipaliwanag ang pagkakaiba sa impluwensya ng

Islam sa pulitika sa walong bansa.

Kulturang Pampulitika ng Islam, Demokrasya, at Karapatang Pantao

Si Daniele. Presyo

Pinagtatalunan na pinapadali ng Islam ang authoritarianism, sumasalungat sa

pagpapahalaga ng mga lipunang Kanluranin, at makabuluhang nakakaapekto sa mahahalagang resulta ng pulitika
sa mga bansang Muslim. Dahil dito, mga iskolar, mga komentarista, at pamahalaan
ang mga opisyal ay madalas na tumuturo sa '' Islamic fundamentalism '' bilang ang susunod
banta ng ideolohiya sa mga liberal na demokrasya. Ang view na ito, gayunpaman, ay pangunahing nakabatay
sa pagsusuri ng mga teksto, teoryang pampulitika ng Islam, at ad hoc na pag-aaral
ng mga indibidwal na bansa, na hindi isinasaalang-alang ang iba pang mga kadahilanan. Ito ay aking pagtatalo
na ang mga teksto at tradisyon ng Islam, tulad ng sa ibang relihiyon,
maaaring gamitin upang suportahan ang iba't ibang sistema at patakarang pampulitika. Bansa
ang mga tiyak at deskriptibong pag-aaral ay hindi nakakatulong sa atin na makahanap ng mga pattern na makakatulong
ipinapaliwanag namin ang iba't ibang ugnayan sa pagitan ng Islam at pulitika sa buong
mga bansa sa mundo ng Muslim. Kaya naman, isang bagong diskarte sa pag-aaral ng
Ang koneksyon sa pagitan ng Islam at pulitika ay tinatawag.
I suggest, sa pamamagitan ng mahigpit na pagsusuri ng ugnayan sa pagitan ng Islam,
demokrasya, at karapatang pantao sa cross-national level, sobra na yan
binibigyang-diin ang kapangyarihan ng Islam bilang puwersang pampulitika. ako muna
gumamit ng comparative case study, na nakatutok sa mga salik na may kaugnayan sa interplay
sa pagitan ng mga grupo at rehimeng Islam, mga impluwensyang pang-ekonomiya, pagkakahati ng etniko,

at pag-unlad ng lipunan, upang ipaliwanag ang pagkakaiba sa impluwensya ng

Islam sa pulitika sa walong bansa.

ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN THE ARAB WORLD: Exploring the Gray Zones

Si Nathan J. Kayumanggi, Amr Hamzawy,

Marina Ottaway

During the last decade, Islamist movements have established themselves as major political players in the Middle East. Together with the governments, Islamist movements, moderate as well as radical, will determine how the politics of the region unfold in the foreseeable future. Th ey have shown the ability not only to craft messages with widespread popular appeal but also, and most importantly, to create organizations with genuine social bases and develop coherent political strategies. Other parties,
by and large, have failed on all accounts.
Th e public in the West and, in particular, the United States, has only become aware of the importance of Islamist movements after dramatic events, such as the revolution in Iran and the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat in Egypt. Attention has been far more sustained since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As a result, Islamist movements are widely regarded as dangerous and hostile. While such a characterization is accurate regarding organizations at the radical end of the Islamist spectrum, which are dangerous because of their willingness to resort to indiscriminate violence in pursuing their goals, it is not an accurate characterization of the many groups that have renounced or avoided violence. Because terrorist organizations pose an immediate
threat, gayunpaman, policy makers in all countries have paid disproportionate attention to the violent organizations.
It is the mainstream Islamist organizations, not the radical ones, that will have the greatest impact on the future political evolution of the Middle East. Th e radicals’ grandiose goals of re-establishing a caliphate uniting the entire Arab world, or even of imposing on individual Arab countries laws and social customs inspired by a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam are simply too far removed from today’s reality to be realized. Th is does not mean that terrorist groups are not dangerous—they could cause great loss of life even in the pursuit of impossible goals—but that they are unlikely to change the face of the Middle East. Mainstream Islamist organizations are generally a diff erent matter. Th ey already have had a powerful impact on social customs in many countries, halting and reversing secularist trends and changing the way many Arabs dress and behave. And their immediate political goal, to become a powerful force by participating in the normal politics of their country, is not an impossible one. It is already being realized in countries such as Morocco, Jordan, and even Egypt, which still bans all Islamist political organizations but now has eighty-eight Muslim Brothers in the Parliament. Pulitika, not violence, is what gives mainstream Islamists their infl uence.

ISLAMIST RADICALISATION

PREFACE
RICHARD YOUNGS
MICHAEL EMERSON

Issues relating to political Islam continue to present challenges to European foreign policies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As EU policy has sought to come to terms with such challenges during the last decade or so political Islam itself has evolved. Experts point to the growing complexity and variety of trends within political Islam. Some Islamist organisations have strengthened their commitment to democratic norms and engaged fully in peaceable, mainstream national politics. Others remain wedded to violent means. And still others have drifted towards a more quietist form of Islam, disengaged from political activity. Ang Political Islam sa rehiyon ng MENA ay nagpapakita ng walang pare-parehong kalakaran sa mga gumagawa ng patakaran sa Europa. Ang debate ng Analytical ay lumago sa paligid ng konsepto ng 'radicalization'. Ito naman ang nagbigay ng pananaliksik sa mga salik na nagtutulak ng ‘de-radicalization’, at kabaligtaran, 'Re-radicalization'. Karamihan sa pagiging kumplikado ay nagmula sa malawak na pananaw na ang lahat ng tatlong mga phenomena na ito ay nangyayari nang sabay. Kahit na ang mga tuntunin mismo ay pinaglalaban. Madalas na maituro na ang katamtaman – radikal na dichotomy ay nabigo na ganap na makuha ang mga nuances ng mga trend sa loob ng pampulitika Islam. Ang ilang mga analista ay nagreklamo din na ang pag-uusap tungkol sa 'radicalism' ay ideolohikal na na-load. Sa antas ng terminolohiya, nauunawaan namin ang radicalization na maiugnay sa ekstremismo, ngunit ang mga pananaw ay naiiba sa gitna ng sentralidad ng kanyang relihiyosong – fundamentalistiko kumpara sa nilalamang pampulitika, at higit sa kung ang pagpayag na gumamit ng karahasan ay ipinahiwatig o hindi.

Ang nasabing mga pagkakaiba ay makikita sa mga pananaw na hinawakan mismo ng mga Islamista, pati na rin sa pananaw ng mga tagalabas.

ISLAM, ISLAMISTS, AT ANG PRINSIPYO NG Elektronikong LALAKI AY HINDI AKO SA Gitnang Silangan

James Piscatori

Para sa isang ideya na ang oras ay dapat nang dumating, Ang ÒdemokrasyaÓ ay nagtatakip ng kamangha-mangha

bilang ng mga hindi nasagot na katanungan at, sa mundong muslim, ay nakabuo

isang kapansin-pansin na halaga ng init. Ito ba ay isang term na tukoy sa kultura, sumasalamin sa Kanluranin

Ang mga karanasan sa Europa sa loob ng maraming siglo? Nagmamay-ari ba ng mga lipunan na hindi Kanluranin

kanilang sariling mga pamantayan ng pakikilahok at pananagutanÑat tunay na kanilang sarili

ritmo ng kaunlaranÑna nag-uutos ng pansin, kung hindi respeto? Ang Islam ba,

na binibigyang diin ang awtoridad sa banal na kasulatan at ang sentro ng sagradong batas, payagan

para sa kakayahang umangkop na politika at nakikilahok na pamahalaan?

Ang mga sagot sa mga katanungang ito ay bahagi ng isang salaysay at kontra-salaysay

na ang kanilang mga sarili ay isang mahalagang bahagi ng isang pinagtatalunang diskurso. Ang mas malaking kwento

alalahanin kung ang ÒIslamÓ ay bumubuo ng isang banta sa Kanluran, at ang pandagdag

Ang kwento ay nagsasangkot ng pagiging tugma ng Islam sa demokrasya. Ang intelektuwal

bagahe, upang baguhin ang talinghaga, ay bahagyang walang kinikilingan. Ang talakayan mismo ay mayroon

maging matalas na namulitika, nahuli sa mga kaugnay na kontrobersya tungkol sa orientalismo,

ang bukod-tangi sa Gitnang Silangan lalo na at ang mundong Muslim sa pangkalahatan,

at ang modernismo ng mga kilusang relihiyosong undfundamentalistÓ.

To Be A Muslim

Fathi Yakan

All praises to Allah, and blessings and peace to His Messenger.This book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the characteristics that every single Muslim should portray in order to fulfill the conditions of being a Muslim in both belief and practice. Many people are Muslim by identity,because they were ”born Muslim” from Muslim parents. Theymay not know what Islam really means or its requirements, an dso may lead a very secular life. The purpose of this first partis to explain the responsibility of every Muslim to become aknowledgeable and true believer in Islam.The second part of this book discusses the responsibility to become an activist for Islam and participate in the Islamic Movement. It explains the nature of this movement and its goals, philosophy, strategy, and tactics, as well as the desirable characteristics of it members.The failure of various movements in the Islamic world, and especially in the Arab countries, result from a spiritual emptiness in these movements as well as in society generally. In sucha situation the principles and institutions of Islam are forgotten.The westernized leaders and movements collapse when they encounter serious challenges. These leaders and movements and the systems of government and economics they try to imposehave fallen because they lacked a solid base. They fell becausethey were artificial constructs copied from alien cultures anddid not represent the Muslim community. Therefore they wererejected by it. This situation is comparable to a kidney transplantin a human body. Although the body is able to tolerate it painfully for a short period of time, eventually the kidney willbe rejected and die.When the sickness of the Muslim Ummah became acute few Muslims thought of building a new society on Islamic principles.Instead many tried to import man made systems and principles, which looked good but really were grossly defectiveand so could be easily toppled and crushed.

ang 500 most influential muslims

John Esposito

Ibrahim Kalin

The publication you have in your hands is the first of what we hope will be anannual series that provides a window into the movers and shakers of the Muslimworld. We have strived to highlight people who are influential as Muslims, thatis, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the factthat they are Muslim. We think that this gives valuable insight into the differentways that Muslims impact the world, and also shows the diversity of how peopleare living as Muslims today.Influence is a tricky concept. Its meaning derives from the Latin word influensmeaning to flow-in, pointing to an old astrological idea that unseen forces (like themoon) affect humanity. The figures on this list have the ability to affect humanitytoo. In a variety of different ways each person on this list has influence over thelives of a large number of people on the earth. Ang 50 most influential figuresare profiled. Their influence comes from a variety of sources; however they areunified by the fact that they each affect huge swathes of humanity.We have then broken up the 500 leaders into 15 categories—Scholarly, Political,Administrative, Lineage, Preachers, Mga babae, Youth, Philanthropy, Development,Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Media, Radicals, International IslamicNetworks, and Issues of the Day—to help you understand the different kinds ofways Islam and Muslims impact the world today.Two composite lists show how influence works in different ways: InternationalIslamic Networks shows people who are at the head of important transnationalnetworks of Muslims, and Issues of the Day highlights individuals whoseimportance is due to current issues affecting humanity.

Beyond Post-Islamism

Ihsan Yilmaz


With the increased international prominence of Turkey and its successful and internationallyrespected AK Party government, the Academia’s attention has focused on the Turkish Islamistexperience. Turkey had already been seen as an almost unique case as far Islam-state-secularismdemocracyrelations were concerned but the recent transformation of Turkish Islamism coupledwith the global turmoil in the post-9/11 world has made the Turkish case much more important.While Turkish Islamists’ recent transformation that has brought about their rise to the power hasbeen applauded at home and abroad, there are relatively very few studies that analyze theirtransformation by taking into account the unique experience of Turkish Islamism starting from the18th & 19th centuries’ Ottoman secularization, Young Ottomans of the 1860s and the Ottomanconstitutionalism and democracy. At saka, some dynamics that affected the change in theTurkish Islamists’ Islamic normative framework have not been analyzed in detail. Sa gayon, this studyendeavors to analyze the main factors behind the newly emerged tolerant normative framework ofthe AK Party leaders who were formerly Islamists. After showing that there are good historicalreasons arising from the Ottoman experience of secularism and democracy and arguing based on abrief theoretical discussion of the plurality of Islamisms, it argues that the Turkish Islamism hasalways differed from the other Islamist experiences. Samakatuwid, in this study, a detailed evaluationof the Turkish Islamist experience starting from the Young Ottomans is undertaken. Then, thispaper attempts to show that Islamic groups’ physical and discursive interaction has been a crucialfactor in the Turkish Islamism’s transformation. Main premise of this paper is that the Gülenmovement has been the most influential factor that has helped the AK Party leaders to develop amore tolerant normative framework and to eventually jettison their Islamism. It is of coursedifficult to establish casual relationship between two social phenomena but one can underscorecorrelations. As the main hypothesis is that the Gülen movement has been the most influentialfactor in the normative transformation of the former Islamists’ mental frameworks and theirreligio-political worldviews, this paper provides a comparative discourse analysis betweenFethullah Gülen’s and Islamists’ ideas on several issues that have been relevant for both Islamismand newly-emerged post-Islamism. To identify these relevant issues (secularism, pluralism,demokrasya, rule of law, nationalism, state, Islamismo, religiosity, the other, borders and dialogue),the paper provides a brief theoretical discussion of Islamism and post-Islamism that will also helpthe reader to understand the fundamental differences between Islamism and the Gülenian thought.

ISLAMIC MODERNITIES: FETHULLAH GULEN and CONTEMPORARY ISLAM

FAHRI CAKI

The Nurju movement1, being the oldest moderate Islamist movement which is probably peculiar to Modern Turkey, was broken into several groups since Said Nursi, the founder of the movement, passed away in 1960. At the present time, there are more than ten nurcu groups with different agendas and strategies. Despite all their differences, today the Nurju groups seem to acknowledge each other’s identity and try to keep a certain level of solidarity. Theplace of the Fethullah Gulen group within the Nurju movement, gayunpaman, seems to be a bit shaky.Fethullah Gulen (b.1938) split himself, at least in appearance, from the overall Nurju movement in 1972 and succeeded in establishing his own group with a strong organizational structure in the 1980’s and the 90’s. Due to the development of its broad school network both in Turkey and abroad2, his group attracted attention. Those schools fascinated not only Islamist businessmen and middle classes but also a large number of secularist intellectuals and politicians. Although it originally emerged out of the overall Nurju movement, some believe that the number of the followers of the Fethullah Gulen group is much larger than that of the total of the rest of the nurju groups. Pa, there seems to be enough reason to think that there was a price to pay for this success: alienation from other Islamist groups as well as from the overall Nurju movement of which the Fethullah Gulen group3 itself is supposed to be a part.