همه نوشته های با برچسب: "دموکراسی"
Women in Islam
امیره Burghul
Despite major consensus amongst a large number of philosophers and historians that the
اصول و آموزه های اسلام باعث تحولی اساسی در جایگاه زن شد
در مقایسه با وضعیت حاکم بر کشورهای شرق و غرب در آن زمان, و با وجود
موافقت تعداد زیادی از متفکران و قانونگذاران که زنان در دوران
نبی - پیامبر (ص) به آنها حقوق و امتیازات قانونی اعطا شد که توسط قوانین ساخت بشر اعطا نشده بود
به تازگی, کمپین های تبلیغاتی غربی ها و افراد با دیدگاه غرب زدگی
پیوسته اسلام را به ظلم نسبت به زنان متهم می کنند, اعمال محدودیت برای آنها, و
به حاشیه راندن نقش آنها در جامعه.
این وضعیت به دلیل جو و شرایط حاکم در سراسر کشور بدتر شده است
جهان اسلام, جایی که جهل و فقر درک محدودی از دین ایجاد کرده است
و روابط خانوادگی و انسانی که مانع عدالت و سبک زندگی متمدن است, به ویژه
بین زن و مرد. گروه کوچکی از افرادی که به آنها فرصت داده شده است
به دست آوردن تحصیلات و توانایی ها نیز در دام اعتقاد به تحقق عدالت افتاده است
برای زنان و سرمایه گذاری بر توانایی های آنان در گرو نفی دین و تقوا و
اتخاذ سبک زندگی غربی, در نتیجه مطالعات سطحی آنها از اسلام از یک سو
و تأثیر انحرافات زندگی بر دیگری.
تنها تعداد بسیار کمی از افراد این دو گروه موفق به فرار و فرار شده اند
ردای جهل و سنت آنها. این افراد میراث خود را عمیقاً مطالعه کرده اند
و جزئیات, و با دیدی باز به نتایج تجربیات غربی نگاه کرده اند. آنها دارند
بین گندم و کاه در گذشته و حال تمایز قائل شد, و معامله کرده اند
علمی و عینی با مشکلات پیش آمده. باطل را رد کرده اند
اتهاماتی که علیه اسلام با دلایل شیوا مطرح می شود, و به عیوب پنهان اعتراف کرده اند.
همچنین احادیث و آداب معصومین را مورد بررسی مجدد قرار داده اند تا بتوانند
تمایز بین آنچه ثابت و مقدس است و آنچه تغییر یافته و تحریف شده است.
رفتار مسئولانه این گروه، جهت‌گیری‌ها و شیوه‌های نوین برخورد را ایجاد کرده است
با مسئله زن در جوامع اسلامی. آنها به وضوح هنوز به همه مشکلات رسیدگی نکرده اند
و راه حل های نهایی را برای بسیاری از خلاءها و کاستی های قانونی پیدا کرد, اما آنها گذاشته اند
زمینه ای برای ظهور الگویی جدید برای زنان مسلمان, که هم قوی هستند و هم
متعهد به مبانی قانونی و مؤثر جامعه خود هستند.
با پیروزی انقلاب اسلامی ایران و به برکت رهبران آن, که هست
مرجع اصلی دینی برای مشارکت زنان و مؤثر سیاسی و اجتماعی آنان
مشارکت, دامنه بحث های قوی در مورد زنان در اسلام به طور قابل توجهی گسترش یافته است.
الگوی زنان مسلمان در ایران به جنبش های مقاومت اسلامی در لبنان سرایت کرده است,
فلسطین دیگر کشورهای عربی و حتی جهان غرب, و در نتیجه, تبلیغات
مبارزات علیه اسلام تا حدودی کاهش یافته است.
ظهور جنبش های اسلامی سلفی مانند طالبان در افغانستان و مانند آن
جنبش های سلفی در عربستان سعودی و شمال آفریقا, و روش متعصبانه آنها در برخورد با زنان,
ناظران عصبی را برانگیخته اند که ترس از ظهور مجدد اسلامی برای راه اندازی تبلیغات جدید دارند
کمپین هایی که اسلام را به الهام بخشیدن به تروریسم و عقب ماندگی و ظلم نسبت به آنها متهم می کنند
زنان.
| سپتامبر 17, 2010 | نظرات 0
اسلام و چشم انداز سیاسی جدید
بازگشت, مایکل کیت, عذرا خان,
کلبیر شکرا و جان سولوموس
در پی حمله به مرکز تجارت جهانی در 11 سپتامبر 2001, و بمباران مادرید و لندن 2004 و 2005, ادبیاتی که به اشکال و روش‌های بیان دینی – به‌ویژه بیان دینی اسلامی – می‌پردازد، در مناطق نیمه‌جمعی که جریان اصلی علوم اجتماعی را به طراحی سیاست‌های اجتماعی مرتبط می‌کند، شکوفا شده است., اتاق های فکر و روزنامه نگاری. بسیاری از کارها تلاش کرده اند نگرش ها یا استعدادهای یک جمعیت مسلمان را در یک مکان خاص تنش مانند لندن یا بریتانیا تعریف کنند. (بارنز, 2006; مشاوره اتنوس, 2005; GFK, 2006; GLA, 2006; پوپولوس, 2006), یا اشکال خاصی از مداخله در سیاست اجتماعی را نقد کرد (روشن, 2006آ; میرزا و همکاران, 2007). مطالعات اسلام گرایی و جهادگرایی تمرکز ویژه ای بر پیوندهای ترکیبی و پیچیده بین ایمان دینی اسلامی و اشکال جنبش اجتماعی و بسیج سیاسی ایجاد کرده است. (حسین, 2007; کپل, 2004, 2006; مک روی, 2006; نویل جونز و همکاران, 2006, 2007; فیلیپس, 2006; روی, 2004, 2006). به صورت متعارف, تمرکز تحلیلی، فرهنگ اسلام را مورد توجه قرار داده است, سیستم های اعتقادی مؤمنان, و سیر تاریخی و جغرافیایی جمعیت های مسلمان در سراسر جهان به طور کلی و در غرب به طور خاص. (عباس, 2005; انصاری, 2002; ایاد و گاربین, 2002; حسین, 2006; حالت ها, 2005; رمضان, 1999, 2005). در این مقاله تاکید متفاوت است. ما استدلال می‌کنیم که مطالعات مشارکت سیاسی اسلامی بدون توسل به کلیات کلان در مورد فرهنگ و ایمان باید با دقت زمینه‌سازی شود.. این به این دلیل است که فرهنگ و ایمان هر دو توسط فرهنگ ساخته شده اند و به نوبه خود ساختار فرهنگی دارند, مناظر نهادی و مشورتی که از طریق آنها بیان می شوند. در مورد تجربه بریتانیا, ردپای پنهان مسیحیت در شکل گیری دولت رفاه در قرن گذشته, the rapidly changing cartography of spaces of the political and the role of ‘faith organizations’ in the restructuring of welfare provision generate the material social context determining the opportunities and the outlines of new forms of political participation.
| سپتامبر 08, 2010 | نظرات 0
The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam
دکتر. محمد اقبال
As a cultural movement Islam rejects the old static view of the universe, and reaches a dynamic view. As an emotional system of unification it recognizes the worth of the individual as such, and rejects bloodrelationship as a basis of human unity. Blood-relationship is earthrootedness. جست‌وجوی یک بنیان صرفاً روان‌شناختی برای وحدت انسانی تنها با این درک امکان‌پذیر می‌شود که همه زندگی انسان در منشأ خود معنوی است.1 چنین برداشتی خلاقانه از وفاداری‌های تازه و بدون هیچ تشریفاتی برای زنده نگه داشتن آنهاست., و رهایی انسان از زمین را ممکن می سازد. مسیحیت که در ابتدا به عنوان یک نظام رهبانی ظاهر شده بود توسط کنستانتین به عنوان یک سیستم وحدت آزموده شد. ناکامی آن در کارکردن به عنوان چنین سیستمی باعث شد امپراتور جولیان3 به خدایان قدیمی روم بازگردد، زیرا او تلاش کرد تا تفاسیر فلسفی را بر روی آنها بگذارد.. یک مورخ مدرن تمدن، بدین ترتیب، وضعیت جهان متمدن را در مورد زمانی که اسلام در صحنه تاریخ ظاهر شد، به تصویر کشیده است.: It seemed then that the great civilization that it had taken four thousand years to construct was on the verge of disintegration, and that mankind was likely to return to that condition of barbarism where every tribe and sect was against the next, and law and order were unknown . . . The
old tribal sanctions had lost their power. Hence the old imperial methods would no longer operate. The new sanctions created by
Christianity were working division and destruction instead of unity and order. It was a time fraught with tragedy. Civilization, like a gigantic tree whose foliage had overarched the world and whose branches had borne the golden fruits of art and science and literature, stood tottering, its trunk no longer alive with the flowing sap of devotion and reverence, but rotted to the core, غرق در طوفان های جنگ, و تنها با طناب های آداب و رسوم و قوانین باستانی به هم چسبیده است, که هر لحظه ممکن است خراب شود. آیا فرهنگ عاطفی وجود داشت که بتوان وارد کرد؟, تا بار دیگر بشریت را در وحدت جمع کند و تمدن را نجات دهد? این فرهنگ باید از نوع جدیدی باشد, زیرا تحریم ها و تشریفات قدیمی مرده بودند, و ساختن دیگران از همین نوع کار کار خواهد بود
سپس نویسنده به ما می گوید که جهان به فرهنگ جدیدی نیاز دارد تا جای فرهنگ تاج و تخت را بگیرد., و نظام های اتحاد که بر اساس رابطه خونی استوار بود.
شگفت انگیز است, او اضافه می کند, که چنین فرهنگی باید درست در زمانی که بیشتر به آن نیاز بود، از عربستان برخاسته باشد. وجود دارد, با این حال, هیچ چیز شگفت انگیزی در این پدیده وجود ندارد. زندگی جهانی به طور شهودی نیازهای خود را می بیند, و در لحظات حساس جهت خود را مشخص می کند. این چیزی است که, به زبان دین, ما وحی نبوی می نامیم. طبیعی است که اسلام باید در آگاهی مردم ساده و دست نخورده به هیچ یک از فرهنگ های باستانی بتابد., و اشغال یک موقعیت جغرافیایی که در آن سه قاره در کنار هم قرار می گیرند. فرهنگ جدید اساس وحدت جهانی را در اصل توحد می‌یابد.»5 اسلام, به عنوان یک سیاست, تنها وسیله ای عملی برای تبدیل این اصل به عاملی زنده در زندگی فکری و عاطفی بشر است. وفاداری به خدا را می طلبد, نه به تاج و تخت. و از آنجایی که خدا اساس معنوی نهایی تمام زندگی است, وفاداری به خدا عملاً معادل وفاداری انسان به فطرت آرمانی خود است. اساس معنوی نهایی تمام زندگی, همانطور که اسلام تصور می کند, جاودانه است و در تنوع و تغییر خود را نشان می دهد. جامعه ای که مبتنی بر چنین تصوری از واقعیت است، باید آشتی کند, در زندگی اش, مقوله های ماندگاری و تغییر. برای تنظیم زندگی جمعی خود باید دارای اصول ابدی باشد, زیرا امر ابدی به ما جای پایی در دنیای تغییر دائمی می دهد.
| سپتامبر 08, 2010 | نظرات 0
اصلاحات در جهان اسلام
عدنان خان
نخست وزیر ایتالیا, سیلویو برلوسکونی پس از حوادث 9/11:
ما باید از برتری تمدن خود آگاه باشیم, سیستمی که تضمین کرده است
تندرستی, احترام به حقوق بشر و – برخلاف کشورهای اسلامی – توجه
برای حقوق دینی و سیاسی, سیستمی که دارای درک ارزشی از تنوع است
و مدارا... غرب مردم را تسخیر خواهد کرد, like it conquered communism, even if it
means a confrontation with another civilisation, the Islamic one, stuck where it was
1,400 years ago…”1
And in a 2007 report the RAND institute declared:
“The struggle underway throughout much of the Muslim world is essentially a war of
ideas. Its outcome will determine the future direction of the Muslim world.”
Building moderate Muslim Networks, RAND Institute
The concept of ‘islah’ (reform) is a concept unknown to Muslims. It never existed throughout the
history of the Islamic civilisation; it was never debated or even considered. A cursory glance at classical
Islamic literature shows us that when the classical scholars laid the foundations of usul, and codified
their Islamic rulings (fiqh) آنها فقط به دنبال درک احکام اسلامی بودند تا بتوانند
آنها را اعمال کنید. زمانی که احکامی برای حدیث وضع شد، وضعیت مشابهی رخ داد, تفسیر و
زبان عربی. عالمان, متفکران و روشنفکران در طول تاریخ اسلام زمان زیادی را صرف کردند
درک وحی خداوند - قرآن و تطبیق آیات بر حقایق و ابداع
اصول و رشته ها به منظور تسهیل درک. از این رو قرآن اساس آن باقی ماند
مطالعه و همه رشته‌های تکاملی همیشه بر اساس قرآن بوده است. کسانی که شدند
مورد ضرب و شتم فلسفه یونانی مانند فیلسوفان مسلمان و برخی از معتزله ها
در نظر گرفته می‌شدند که اسلام را ترک کرده‌اند، زیرا قرآن پایه‌ی مطالعه‌ی آنها نبود. بنابراین برای
هر مسلمانی که تلاش می کند قوانینی را استنباط کند یا بفهمد که چه موضعی باید در قبال یک موضوع خاص اتخاذ کند
موضوع قرآن اساس این پژوهش است.
اولین تلاش برای اصلاح اسلام در اواخر قرن نوزدهم صورت گرفت. با نوبت از
قرن، امت در یک دوره طولانی افول قرار داشت که در آن موازنه جهانی قدرت تغییر کرد
از خلافت تا انگلیس. در حالی که اروپای غربی در آن حضور داشت، مشکلات فزاینده ای دامنگیر خلافت شد
در بحبوحه انقلاب صنعتی. امت، درک بکر خود از اسلام را از دست داد, و
در تلاش برای معکوس کردن انحطاط عثمانیان (عثمانی ها) عده ای از مسلمانان به این کشور اعزام شدند
غرب, و در نتیجه از آنچه دیدند متأثر شدند. رفاع رفیع الطحطاوی مصری (1801-1873),
در بازگشت از پاریس, کتاب زندگینامه ای به نام تخلص العبریز اله صحبت بریز نوشت (The
استخراج طلا, یا مروری بر پاریس, 1834), ستایش پاکیزگی آنها, عشق به کار, و بالاتر
تمام اخلاق اجتماعی. او اعلام کرد که باید از آنچه در پاریس انجام می شود تقلید کنیم, حمایت از تغییرات در
جامعه اسلامی از آزادسازی زنان تا نظام های حاکمیتی. این فکر, و دیگران مانند آن,
آغاز روند ابداع مجدد در اسلام بود.
| سپتامبر 07, 2010 | نظرات 0
Islam in the West
جوسلین سزاری
The immigration of Muslims to Europe, North America, and Australia and the complex socioreligious dynamics that have subsequently developed have made Islam in the West a compelling new ªeld of research. The Salman Rushdie affair, hijab controversies, the attacks on the World Trade Center, and the furor over the Danish cartoons are all examples of international crises that have brought to light the connections between Muslims in the West and the global Muslim world. These new situations entail theoretical and methodological challenges for the study of contemporary Islam, and it has become crucial that we avoid essentializing either Islam or Muslims and resist the rhetorical structures of discourses that are preoccupied with security and terrorism.
In this article, I argue that Islam as a religious tradition is a terra incognita. A preliminary reason for this situation is that there is no consensus on religion as an object of research. Religion, as an academic discipline, has become torn between historical, sociological, and hermeneutical methodologies. With Islam, the situation is even more intricate. In the West, the study of Islam began as a branch of Orientalist studies and therefore followed a separate and distinctive path from the study of religions. Even though the critique of Orientalism has been central to the emergence of the study of Islam in the ªeld of social sciences, tensions remain strong between Islamicists and both anthropologists and sociologists. The topic of Islam and Muslims in the West is embedded in this struggle. One implication of this methodological tension is that students of Islam who began their academic career studying Islam in France, Germany, or America ªnd it challenging to establish credibility as scholars of Islam, particularly in the North American academic
context.
| سپتامبر 07, 2010 | نظرات 0
ISLAM, DEMOCRACY & THE USA:
Cordoba Foundation
عبدالله Faliq
Intro ,
In spite of it being both a perennial and a complex debate, Arches Quarterly reexamines from theological and practical grounds, the important debate about the relationship and compatibility between Islam and Democracy, as echoed in Barack Obama’s agenda of hope and change. Whilst many celebrate Obama’s ascendancy to the Oval Office as a national catharsis for the US, others remain less optimistic of a shift in ideology and approach in the international arena. While much of the tension and distrust between the Muslim world and the USA can be attributed to the approach of promoting democracy, typically favoring dictatorships and puppet regimes that pay lip-service to democratic values and human rights, the aftershock of 9/11 has truly cemented the misgivings further through America’s position on political Islam. It has created a wall of negativity as found by worldpublicopinion.org, according to which 67% of Egyptians believe that globally America is playing a “mainly negative” role.
America’s response has thus been apt. By electing Obama, many around the world are pinning their hopes for developing a less belligerent, but fairer foreign policy towards the Muslim world. Th e test for Obama, as we discuss, is how America and her allies promote democracy. Will it be facilitating or imposing?
علاوه بر این, can it importantly be an honest broker in prolonged zones of confl icts? Enlisting the expertise and insight of prolifi
c scholars, academics, seasoned journalists and politicians, Arches Quarterly brings to light the relationship between Islam and Democracy and the role of America – as well as the changes brought about by Obama, in seeking the common ground. Anas Altikriti, the CEO of Th e Cordoba Foundation provides the opening gambit to this discussion, where he refl ects on the hopes and challenges that rests on Obama’s path. Following Altikriti, the former advisor to President Nixon, Dr Robert Crane off ers a thorough analysis of the Islamic principle of the right to freedom. Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, enriches the discussion with the practical realities of implementing democracy in Muslim dominant societies, برای مثال, in Indonesia and Malaysia.
We also have Dr Shireen Hunter, of Georgetown University, ایالات متحده آمریکا, who explores Muslim countries lagging in democratisation and modernisation. Th is is complemented by terrorism writer, Dr Nafeez Ahmed’s explanation of the crisis of post-modernity and the
demise of democracy. Dr Daud Abdullah (Director of Middle East Media Monitor), Alan Hart (former ITN and BBC Panorama correspondent; author of Zionism: Th e Real Enemy of the Jews) and Asem Sondos (Editor of Egypt’s Sawt Al Omma weekly) concentrate on Obama and his role vis-à-vis democracy-promotion in the Muslim world, as well as US relations with Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Minister of Foreign Aff airs, Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed speculates on the future of Islam and Democracy; Cllr. Gerry Maclochlainn
– a Sinn Féin member who endured four years in prison for Irish Republican activities and a campaigner for the Guildford 4 and Birmingham 6, refl ects on his recent trip to Gaza where he witnessed the impact of the brutality and injustice meted out against Palestinians; Dr Marie Breen-Smyth, Director of the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Contemporary Political Violence discusses the challenges of critically researching political terror; Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, writer and playwright, discusses prospects of peace in Darfur; and fi nally journalist and human rights activist Ashur Shamis looks critically at the democratisation and politicisation of Muslims today.
We hope all this makes for a comprehensive reading and a source for refl ection on issues that aff ect us all in a new dawn of hope.
Thank you
| سپتامبر 07, 2010 | نظرات 0
US Hamas policy blocks Middle East peace
هنری Siegman
Failed bilateral talks over these past 16 years have shown that a Middle East peace accord can never be reached by the parties themselves. Israeli governments believe they can defy international condemnation of their illegal colonial project in the West Bank because they can count on the US to oppose international sanctions. Bilateral talks that are not framed by US-formulated parameters (based on Security Council resolutions, the Oslo accords, the Arab Peace Initiative, the “road map” and other previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements) cannot succeed. Israel’s government believes that the US Congress will not permit an American president to issue such parameters and demand their acceptance. What hope there is for the bilateral talks that resume in Washington DC on September 2 depends entirely on President Obama proving that belief to be wrong, and on whether the “bridging proposals” he has promised, should the talks reach an impasse, are a euphemism for the submission of American parameters. Such a US initiative must offer Israel iron-clad assurances for its security within its pre-1967 borders, but at the same time must make it clear these assurances are not available if Israel insists on denying Palestinians a viable and sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza. This paper focuses on the other major obstacle to a permanent status agreement: the absence of an effective Palestinian interlocutor. Addressing Hamas’ legitimate grievances – and as noted in a recent CENTCOM report, Hamas has legitimate grievances – could lead to its return to a Palestinian coalition government that would provide Israel with a credible peace partner. If that outreach fails because of Hamas’ rejectionism, the organization’s ability to prevent a reasonable accord negotiated by other Palestinian political parties will have been significantly impeded. If the Obama administration will not lead an international initiative to define the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and actively promote Palestinian political reconciliation, Europe must do so, and hope America will follow. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that can guarantee the goal of “two states living side by side in peace and security.”
But President Obama’s present course absolutely precludes it.
| سپتامبر 07, 2010 | نظرات 0
Islamic Political Culture, دموکراسی, and Human Rights
دانیل E. قیمت
It has been argued that Islam facilitates authoritarianism, contradicts the values of Western societies, and significantly affects important political outcomes in Muslim nations. در نتیجه, عالمان, commentators, and government officials frequently point to ‘‘Islamic fundamentalism’’ as the next ideological threat to liberal democracies. This view, با این حال, is based primarily on the analysis of texts, Islamic political theory, and ad hoc studies of individual countries, which do not consider other factors. It is my contention that the texts and traditions of Islam, like those of other religions, can be used to support a variety of political systems and policies. Country specific and descriptive studies do not help us to find patterns that will help us explain the varying relationships between Islam and politics across the countries of the Muslim world. Hence, a new approach to the study of the
connection between Islam and politics is called for.
I suggest, through rigorous evaluation of the relationship between Islam, democracy, and human rights at the cross-national level, that too much emphasis is being placed on the power of Islam as a political force. I first use comparative case studies, which focus on factors relating to the interplay between Islamic groups and regimes, economic influences, ethnic cleavages, and societal development, to explain the variance in the influence of Islam on politics across eight nations. I argue that much of the power
attributed to Islam as the driving force behind policies and political systems in Muslim nations can be better explained by the previously mentioned factors. I also find, contrary to common belief, that the increasing strength of Islamic political groups has often been associated with modest pluralization of political systems.
I have constructed an index of Islamic political culture, based on the extent to which Islamic law is utilized and whether and, if so, how,Western ideas, institutions, and technologies are implemented, to test the nature of the relationship between Islam and democracy and Islam and human rights. This indicator is used in statistical analysis, which includes a sample of twenty-three predominantly Muslim countries and a control group of twenty-three non-Muslim developing nations. In addition to comparing
Islamic nations to non-Islamic developing nations, statistical analysis allows me to control for the influence of other variables that have been found to affect levels of democracy and the protection of individual rights. The result should be a more realistic and accurate picture of the influence of Islam on politics and policies.
| سپتامبر 06, 2010 | نظرات 0
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 (سهمیه)? 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; و (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.
| سپتامبر 06, 2010 | نظرات 0
DEBATING DEMOCRACY IN THE ARAB WORLD
ابتسام ابراهیم
What is Democracy?
Western scholars define democracy a method for protecting individuals’ civil and political rights. It provides for freedom of speech, press, ایمان, opinion, ownership, and assembly, as well as the right to vote, nominate and seek public office. Huntington (1984) argues that a political system is democratic to the extent that its most powerful collective decision makers are selected through
periodic elections in which candidates freely compete for votes and in which virtually all adults are eligible to vote. Rothstein (1995) states that democracy is a form of government and a process of governance that changes and adapts in response to circumstances. He also adds that the Western definition of democracy — in addition to accountability, competition, some degree of participation — contains a guarantee of important civil and political rights. Anderson (1995) argues that the term democracy means a system in which the most powerful collective decision makers are selected through periodic elections in which candidates freely compete for votes and in which virtually all the adult population is eligible to vote. سعد الدین ابراهیم (1995), an Egyptian scholar, sees democracy that might apply to the Arab world as a set of rules and institutions designed to enable governance through the peaceful
management of competing groups and/or conflicting interests. با این حال, Samir Amin (1991) based his definition of democracy on the social Marxist perspective. He divides democracy into two categories: bourgeois democracy which is based on individual rights and freedom for the individual, but without having social equality; and political democracy which entitles all people in society the right to vote and to elect their government and institutional representatives which will help to obtain their equal social rights.
To conclude this section, I would say that there is no one single definition of democracy that indicates precisely what it is or what is not. با این حال, as we noticed, most of the definitions mentioned above have essential similar elements – accountability, competition, and some degree of participation – which have become dominant in the Western world and internationally.
| سپتامبر 05, 2010 | نظرات 0
دموکراسی, Elections and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
Israel Elad-Altman
The American-led Middle East reform and democratization campaign of the last two years has helped shape a new political reality in Egypt. Opportunities have opened up for dissent. With U.S. and European support, local opposition groups have been able to take initiative, advance their causes and extract concessions from the state. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement (MB), which has been officially outlawed as a political organization, is now among the groups facing both new opportunities
and new risks.
Western governments, including the government of the United States, are considering the MB and other “moderate Islamist” groups as potential partners in helping to advance democracy in their countries, and perhaps also in eradicating Islamist terrorism. Could the Egyptian MB fill that role? Could it follow the track of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Indonesian Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), two Islamist parties that, according to some analysts, are successfully adapting to the rules of liberal democracy and leading their countries toward greater integration with, respectively, Europe and a “pagan” Asia?
This article examines how the MB has responded to the new reality, how it has handled the ideological and practical challenges and dilemmas that have arisen during the past two years. To what extent has the movement accommodated its outlook to new circumstances? What are its objectives and its vision of the political order? How has it reacted to U.S. overtures and to the reform and democratization campaign?
How has it navigated its relations with the Egyptian regime on one hand, and other opposition forces on the other, as the country headed toward two dramatic elections in autumn 2005? To what extent can the MB be considered a force that might lead Egypt
toward liberal democracy?
| سپتامبر 05, 2010 | نظرات 0
EGYPT’S MUSLIM BROTHERS: CONFRONTATION OR INTEGRATION?
Research
The Society of Muslim Brothers’ success in the November-December 2005 elections for the People’s Assembly sent shockwaves through Egypt’s political system. In response, the regime cracked down on the movement, harassed other potential rivals and reversed its fledging reform process. This is dangerously short-sighted. There is reason to be concerned about the Muslim Brothers’ political program, and they owe the people genuine clarifications about several of its aspects. But the ruling National Democratic
Party’s (NDP) refusal to loosen its grip risks exacerbating tensions at a time of both political uncertainty surrounding the presidential succession and serious socio-economic unrest. Though this likely will be a prolonged, gradual process, the regime should take preliminary steps to normalise the Muslim Brothers’ participation in political life. The Muslim Brothers, whose social activities have long been tolerated but whose role in formal politics is strictly limited, won an unprecedented 20 per cent of parliamentary seats in the 2005 انتخابات. They did so despite competing for only a third of available seats and notwithstanding considerable obstacles, including police repression and electoral fraud. This success confirmed their position as an extremely wellorganised and deeply rooted political force. همزمان, it underscored the weaknesses of both the legal opposition and ruling party. The regime might well have wagered that a modest increase in the Muslim Brothers’ parliamentary representation could be used to stoke fears of an Islamist takeover and thereby serve as a reason to stall reform. If so, the strategy is at heavy risk of backfiring.
| سپتامبر 05, 2010 | نظرات 0
Islam and Democracy
ITAC
If one reads the press or listens to commentators on international affairs, it is often said – and even more often implied but not said – that Islam is not compatible with democracy. In the nineties, Samuel Huntington set off an intellectual firestorm when he published The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, in which he presents his forecasts for the world – writ large. In the political realm, he notes that while Turkey and Pakistan might have some small claim to “democratic legitimacy” all other “… Muslim countries were overwhelmingly non-democratic: monarchies, one-party systems, military regimes, personal dictatorships or some combination of these, usually resting on a limited family, clan, or tribal base”. The premise on which his argument is founded is that they are not only ‘not like us’, they are actually opposed to our essential democratic values. He believes, as do others, that while the idea of Western democratization is being resisted in other parts of the world, the confrontation is most notable in those regions where Islam is the dominant faith.
The argument has also been made from the other side as well. An Iranian religious scholar, reflecting on an early twentieth-century constitutional crisis in his country, declared that Islam and democracy are not compatible because people are not equal and a legislative body is unnecessary because of the inclusive nature of Islamic religious law. A similar position was taken more recently by Ali Belhadj, an Algerian high school teacher, preacher and (in this context) leader of the FIS, when he declared “democracy was not an Islamic concept”. Perhaps the most dramatic statement to this effect was that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of the Sunni insurgents in Iraq who, when faced with the prospect of an election, denounced democracy as “an evil principle”.
But according to some Muslim scholars, democracy remains an important ideal in Islam, with the caveat that it is always subject to the religious law. The emphasis on the paramount place of the shari’a is an element of almost every Islamic comment on governance, moderate or extremist. Only if the ruler, who receives his authority from God, limits his actions to the “supervision of the administration of the shari’a” is he to be obeyed. If he does other than this, he is a non-believer and committed Muslims are to rebel against him. Herein lies the justification for much of the violence that has plagued the Muslim world in such struggles as that prevailing in Algeria during the 90s
| سپتامبر 04, 2010 | نظرات 0
In Search of Islamic Constitutionalism
Nadirsyah علیرضا واحدی
While constitutionalism in the West is mostly identified with secular thought, Islamic constitutionalism, which incorporates some religious elements, has attracted growing interest in recent years. برای مثال, the Bush administration’s response to the events of 9/11 radically transformed the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and both countries are now rewriting their constitutions. As
Ann Elizabeth Mayer points out, Islamic constitutionalism is constitutionalism that is, in some form, based on Islamic principles, as opposed to the constitutionalism developed in countries that happen to be Muslim but which has not been informed by distinctively Islamic principles. Several Muslim scholars, among them Muhammad Asad3 and Abul A`la al-Maududi, have written on such aspects of constitutional issues as human rights and the separation of powers. با این حال, in general their works fall into apologetics, as Chibli Mallat points out:
Whether for the classical age or for the contemporary Muslim world, scholarly research on public law must respect a set of axiomatic requirements.
First, the perusal of the tradition cannot be construed as a mere retrospective reading. By simply projecting present-day concepts backwards, it is all too easy to force the present into the past either in an apologetically contrived or haughtily dismissive manner. The approach is apologetic and contrived when Bills of Rights are read into, say, the Caliphate of `Umar, with the presupposition that the “just” qualities of `Umar included the complex and articulate precepts of constitutional balance one finds in modern texts
| سپتامبر 03, 2010 | نظرات 0
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, با 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.
| سپتامبر 03, 2010 | نظرات 0
Egypt at the Tipping Point ?
دیوید B. Ottaway
In the early 1980s, I lived in Cairo as bureau chief of The Washington Post covering such historic events as the withdrawal of the last
Israeli forces from Egyptian territory occupied during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the assassination of President
Anwar Sadat by Islamic fanatics in October 1981.
The latter national drama, which I witnessed personally, had proven to be a wrenching milestone. It forced Sadat’s successor, حسنی مبارک, to turn inwards to deal with an Islamist challenge of unknown proportions and effectively ended Egypt’s leadership role in the Arab world.
Mubarak immediately showed himself to be a highly cautious, unimaginative leader, maddeningly reactive rather than pro-active in dealing with the social and economic problems overwhelming his nation like its explosive population growth (1.2 million more Egyptians a year) and economic decline.
In a four-part Washington Post series written as I was departing in early 1985, I noted the new Egyptian leader was still pretty much
a total enigma to his own people, offering no vision and commanding what seemed a rudderless ship of state. The socialist economy
inherited from the era of President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952 به 1970) was a mess. The country’s currency, the pound, was operating
on eight different exchange rates; its state-run factories were unproductive, uncompetitive and deep in debt; and the government was heading for bankruptcy partly because subsidies for food, electricity and gasoline were consuming one-third ($7 billion) of its budget. Cairo had sunk into a hopeless morass of gridlocked traffic and teeming humanity—12 million people squeezed into a narrow band of land bordering the Nile River, most living cheek by jowl in ramshackle tenements in the city’s ever-expanding slums.
| سپتامبر 02, 2010 | نظرات 0
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