RSSTotes les entrades etiquetades amb: "islam"

L'Islam i la creació del poder estatal

Seyyed Reza Vali Nasr

a 1979 General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, el governant militar del Pakistan, va declarar que el Pakistan es convertiria en un estat islàmic. Els valors i les normes islàmiques servirien com a fonament de la identitat nacional, Llei, economia, i les relacions socials, i inspiraria tota l'elaboració de polítiques. a 1980 Mahathir Muhammad, el nou primer ministre de Malàisia, va introduir un pla similar de base àmplia per ancorar l'elaboració de polítiques estatals als valors islàmics, i posar les lleis i pràctiques econòmiques del seu país en línia amb els ensenyaments de l'Islam. Per què aquests governants van triar el camí de la "islamització" per als seus països? I com es van convertir els estats postcolonials laics en un temps en els agents de la islamització i en el presagi del "vertader" estat islàmic?
Des de finals de la dècada de 1970 i principis de la dècada de 1980, Malàisia i Pakistan han seguit un camí únic cap al desenvolupament que divergeix de les experiències d'altres estats del Tercer Món.. En aquests dos països la identitat religiosa es va integrar a la ideologia estatal per informar l'objectiu i el procés de desenvolupament amb valors islàmics..
Aquesta empresa també ha presentat una imatge molt diferent de la relació entre l'islam i la política a les societats musulmanes. A Malàisia i Pakistan, han estat institucions estatals més que activistes islamistes (aquells que defensen una lectura política de l'islam; també coneguts com a revivalistes o fonamentalistes) that have been the guardians of Islam and the defenders of its interests. This suggests a
very different dynamic in the ebbs and flow of Islamic politics—in the least pointing to the importance of the state in the vicissitudes of this phenomenon.
What to make of secular states that turn Islamic? What does such a transformation mean for the state as well as for Islamic politics?
This book grapples with these questions. This is not a comprehensive account of Malaysia’s or Pakistan’s politics, nor does it cover all aspects of Islam’s role in their societies and politics, although the analytical narrative dwells on these issues considerably. This book is rather a social scientific inquiry into the phenomenon of secular postcolonial states becoming agents of Islamization, and more broadly how culture and religion serve the needs of state power and development. The analysis here relies on theoretical discussions
in the social sciences of state behavior and the role of culture and religion therein. More important, it draws inferences from the cases under examination to make broader conclusions of interest to the disciplines.

IRANIAN WOMEN AFTER THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

Ansiia Khaz Allii


More than thirty years have passed since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, yet there remain a number of questions and ambiguities about the way the Islamic Republic and its laws deal with contemporary problems and current circumstances, particularly with regard to women and women’s rights. This short paper will shed light on these issues and study the current position of women in various spheres, comparing this to the situation prior to the Islamic Revolution. Reliable and authenticated data has been used wherever possible. The introduction summarises a number of theoretical and legal studies which provide the basis for the subsequent more practical analysis and are the sources from where the data has been obtained.
The first section considers attitudes of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards women and women’s rights, and then takes a comprehensive look at the laws promulgated since the Islamic Revolution concerning women and their position in society. The second section considers women’s cultural and educational developments since the Revolution and compares these to the pre-revolutionary situation. la third section looks at women’s political, social and economic participation and considers both quantative and qualitative aspects of their employment. A continuació, la quarta secció examina les qüestions de la família, la relació entre la dona i la família, i el paper de la família a l'hora de limitar o augmentar els drets de les dones la República Islàmica de l'Iran.

Dones a l'Islam

Amira burghul

Malgrat el gran consens entre un gran nombre de filòsofs i historiadors que el

principis i ensenyaments de l'Islam van provocar un canvi fonamental en la posició de les dones

en comparació amb la situació imperant als països tant de l'Est com de l'Oest en aquell moment, i malgrat

l'acord d'un gran nombre de pensadors i legisladors que les dones durant l'època del

Profeta (PBUH) se'ls van concedir drets i privilegis legals no concedits per lleis creades per l'home fins que

recentment, campanyes de propaganda d'occidentals i gent amb una perspectiva occidentalitzada

consistently accuse Islam of being unjust to women, of imposing restrictions on them, i

marginalising their role in society.

This situation has been made worse by the atmosphere and conditions prevalent across the

Muslim world, where ignorance and poverty have produced a limited understanding of religion

and family and human relations which occlude justice and a civilised way of life, particularly

between men and women. The small group of people who have been granted opportunities to

acquire an education and abilities have also fallen into the trap of believing that achieving justice

for women and capitalising on their abilities is dependent upon rejecting religion and piety and

adopting a Western way of life, as a result of their superficial studies of Islam on the one hand

and the effect of life’s diversions on the other.

Only a very small number of people from these two groups have managed to escape and cast off

their cloaks of ignorance and tradition. These people have studied their heritage in great depth

and detail, and have looked at the results of Western experiences with an open mind. They have

distinguished between the wheat and the chaff in both the past and the present, and have dealt

scientifically and objectively with the problems which have arisen. They have refuted the false

charges made against Islam with eloquent arguments, and have admitted to concealed flaws.

They have also re-examined the sayings and customs of the Infallible Ones in order to

distinguish between what is established and holy and what has been altered and distorted.

The responsible behaviour of this group has established new directions and new ways of dealing

with the question of women in Islamic societies. They have clearly not yet tackled all problems

and found final solutions for the many legislative gaps and deficiencies, but they have laid the

ground for the emergence of a new model for Muslim women, who are both strong and

committed to the legal and effective foundations of their society.

With the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the blessing of its leaders, which is the

main religious authority for the participation of women and their effective political and social

participation, the scope for strong debate over women in Islam has been significantly expanded.

The model of Muslim women in Iran has spread to Islamic resistance movements in Lebanon,

Palestine other Arab countries and even the Western world, and as a result, propaganda

campaigns against Islam have abated to some extent.

The emergence of Salafi Islamic movements such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and similar

Salafi movements in Saudi Arabia and North Africa, and their fanatical way of treating women,

have provoked nervous onlookers fearing an Islamic resurgence into launching new propaganda

campaigns accusing Islam of inspiring terrorism and being backwards and unjust towards

women.

ISLAM, DEMOCRÀCIA & ELS ESTATS UNITS D'AMÈRICA:

Fundació Còrdova

Abdullah Faliq

Introducció ,


Tot i que és alhora un debat perenne i complex, Arches Quarterly reexamina des de motius teològics i pràctics, l'important debat sobre la relació i la compatibilitat entre l'islam i la democràcia, tal com es fa ressò a l'agenda d'esperança i canvi de Barack Obama. Mentre que molts celebren l'ascens d'Obama a l'Oficina Oval com a catarsi nacional dels EUA, d'altres continuen sent menys optimistes pel que fa a un canvi d'ideologia i d'enfocament en l'àmbit internacional. Si bé bona part de la tensió i desconfiança entre el món musulmà i els EUA es pot atribuir a l'enfocament de promoció de la democràcia, normalment afavoreixen dictadures i règims titella que presten la boca als valors democràtics i als drets humans, la rèplica de 9/11 ha consolidat realment els recels a través de la posició dels Estats Units sobre l'islam polític. Ha creat un mur de negativitat tal com ha trobat worldpublicopinion.org, segons el qual 67% dels egipcis creuen que a nivell mundial Amèrica està jugant un paper "principalment negatiu"..
Per tant, la resposta dels Estats Units ha estat encertada. Amb l'elecció d'Obama, molts d'arreu del món estan tenint les seves esperances per desenvolupar un país menys bel·ligerant, però una política exterior més justa envers el món musulmà. La prova per a Obama, mentre comentem, és com Amèrica i els seus aliats promouen la democràcia. Serà facilitador o imposant?
A més, Pot ser important ser un corredor honest en zones prolongades de confl ictes? Reclutar l'experiència i la visió de prolifi
c estudiosos, acadèmics, periodistes i polítics experimentats, Arches Quarterly treu a la llum la relació entre l'islam i la democràcia i el paper d'Amèrica, així com els canvis provocats per Obama, en la recerca del terreny comú. Anas Altikriti, el conseller delegat de la Fundació Còrdova ofereix el punt d'obertura d'aquesta discussió, on reflexiona sobre les esperances i els reptes que descansa en el camí d'Obama. Seguint Altikriti, l'antic assessor del president Nixon, El doctor Robert Crane ofereix una anàlisi exhaustiva del principi islàmic del dret a la llibertat. Anwar Ibrahim, exviceprimer ministre de Malàisia, enriqueix la discussió amb les realitats pràctiques de la implementació de la democràcia a les societats dominants musulmanes, és a dir, a Indonèsia i Malàisia.
També tenim la doctora Shireen Hunter, de la Universitat de Georgetown, EUA, que explora els països musulmans endarrerits en la democratització i la modernització. Això es complementa amb l'escriptor de terrorisme, L'explicació del doctor Nafeez Ahmed de la crisi de la postmodernitat i la
desaparició de la democràcia. Dr. Daud Abdullah (Director de Middle East Media Monitor), Alan Hart (antic corresponsal d'ITN i BBC Panorama; autor del sionisme: El veritable enemic dels jueus) i Asem Sondos (Editor del setmanari egipci Sawt Al Omma) concentrar-se en Obama i el seu paper en la promoció de la democràcia al món musulmà, així com les relacions dels EUA amb Israel i els Germans Musulmans.
Ministre d'Afers Exteriors, Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed especula sobre el futur de l'islam i la democràcia; Cllr. Gerry Maclochlainn
– membre del Sinn Féin que va suportar quatre anys de presó per activitats republicanes irlandeses i activista de Guildford 4 i Birmingham 6, reflexiona sobre el seu recent viatge a Gaza, on va presenciar l'impacte de la brutalitat i la injustícia contra els palestins.; Dr. Marie Breen-Smyth, El director del Centre per a l'Estudi de la Radicalització i la Violència Política Contemporània parla dels reptes de la investigació crítica del terror polític; Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, escriptor i dramaturg, discuteix les perspectives de pau a Darfur; i, finalment, el periodista i activista dels drets humans Ashur Shamis mira de manera crítica la democratització i la politització dels musulmans d'avui.
Esperem que tot això sigui una lectura exhaustiva i una font de reflexió sobre temes que ens afecten a tots en una nova alborada d'esperança..
Gràcies

Cultura política islàmica, democràcia, i Drets Humans

Daniel I. preu

S'ha argumentat que l'islam facilita l'autoritarisme, contradiu els valors de les societats occidentals, i afecta significativament els resultats polítics importants a les nacions musulmanes. conseqüentment, erudits, comentaristes, i els funcionaris governamentals assenyalen sovint el "fonamentalisme islàmic" com la propera amenaça ideològica per a les democràcies liberals.. Aquesta vista, malgrat això, es basa principalment en l'anàlisi de textos, Teoria política islàmica, i estudis ad hoc de països individuals, que no tenen en compte altres factors. És el meu argument que els textos i les tradicions de l'Islam, com els d'altres religions, es pot utilitzar per donar suport a una varietat de sistemes i polítiques polítiques. Els estudis descriptius i específics del país no ens ajuden a trobar patrons que ens ajudin a explicar les diferents relacions entre l'islam i la política entre els països del món musulmà.. Per tant, un nou enfocament de l'estudi de la
Es demana connexió entre l'islam i la política.
suggereixo, mitjançant una avaluació rigorosa de la relació entre l'Islam, democràcia, i els drets humans a nivell transnacional, que s'està posant massa èmfasi en el poder de l'Islam com a força política. Primer faig servir estudis de casos comparatius, que se centren en factors relacionats amb la interacció entre grups i règims islàmics, influències econòmiques, clivages ètnics, i desenvolupament de la societat, per explicar la variació de la influència de l'Islam en la política a vuit nacions. Defenso que gran part del poder
atribuït a l'islam com a força impulsora de les polítiques i sistemes polítics a les nacions musulmanes es pot explicar millor pels factors esmentats anteriorment.. Jo també trobo, contràriament a la creença comuna, que la força creixent dels grups polítics islàmics s'ha associat sovint amb una modesta pluralització dels sistemes polítics.
He construït un índex de la cultura política islàmica, en funció de la mesura en què s'utilitza la llei islàmica i si i, si és així, com,Idees occidentals, institucions, i les tecnologies estan implementades, provar la naturalesa de la relació entre l'Islam i la democràcia i l'Islam i els drets humans. Aquest indicador s'utilitza en l'anàlisi estadística, que inclou una mostra de vint-i-tres països predominantment musulmans i un grup de control de vint-i-tres nacions en desenvolupament no musulmanes. A més de comparar
Nacions islàmiques a nacions en desenvolupament no islàmiques, l'anàlisi estadística em permet controlar la influència d'altres variables que s'ha trobat que afecten els nivells de democràcia i la protecció dels drets individuals.. El resultat hauria de ser una imatge més realista i precisa de la influència de l'Islam en la política i les polítiques.

A la recerca del constitucionalisme islàmic

Nadirsyah Hosen

Mentre que el constitucionalisme a Occident s'identifica majoritàriament amb el pensament laic, Constitucionalisme islàmic, que incorpora alguns elements religiosos, ha despertat un interès creixent en els últims anys. Per exemple, la resposta de l'administració Bush als esdeveniments de 9/11 va transformar radicalment la situació a l'Iraq i l'Afganistan, i tots dos països estan reescrivint les seves constitucions. Com
assenyala Ann Elizabeth Mayer, El constitucionalisme islàmic és constitucionalisme, és a dir, d'alguna forma, basat en els principis islàmics, 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. malgrat això, 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.
Primer, 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

Islam and Islamism in Afghanistan

Kristin Mendoza

The last half-century in particular has seen the recurrent use of religious Islam as

ideologia, often referred to as political Islam or Islamism, in groups espousing the

establishment of an Islamic state. Attention was drawn to Afghanistan when it became

the rallying point for Islamists in the 1980s. malgrat això, the earlier appearance of an

Islamist movement in Afghanistan in the 1960s and its subsequent development offer an

instructive, unique lesson in understanding Islam and Islamism in Afghan society.

This overview of the Islamist movement in Afghanistan is divided into three

parts: It begins by defining the differing manifestations of Islam in Afghanistan,

indicating how Islamism differs from or draws upon each manifestation in constructing

its own vision. Then, the broader context of Islamism elsewhere in the Muslim world is

discussed and analyzed. Although the theoretical basis for Islamism was constructed in

the 1960s by Abu ‘Ala Mawdudi in Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb in Egypt, this paper will

show that the Islamist movement in Afghanistan did not mirror those in either of these

countries. To this end, this paper reviews the thought of the above-mentioned

theoreticians of Islamism, and outlines historical and social conditions that colored the

implementation of their models in their respective countries. This leads back to a

discussion of the Afghan context, which makes up the final part of the paper. It is

necessary to review salient aspects of the traditional structure of Afghan society, i la

role Islam has historically played in Afghanistan to understand how the Islamist

experience was shaped and constrained by this structure, as well as how the Islamist

experience has altered it.
As Afghanistan is now faced with the monumental task of rebuilding a state and

legal system, Islamists are attempting to influence the reconstruction. This overview will

underscore for those observing and participating in this process the importance of

understanding the Afghan Islamist perspective, its historical underpinnings, and current

demands.


Egypt at the Tipping Point ?

David B. Ottaway
A principis de la dècada de 1980, 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, Hosni Mubarak, 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 per 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.

Roots Of Nationalism In The Muslim World

Shabir Ahmed

The Muslim world has been characterised by failure, disunity, bloodshed, oppression and backwardness. Al present, no Muslim country in the world can rightly claim to be a leader in any field of human activity. En efecte, the non-Muslims of the East and the West
now dictate the social, economic and political agenda for the Muslim Ummah.
a més, the Muslims identify themselves as Turkish, àrab, African and Pakistani. If this is not enough, Muslims are further sub-divided within each country or continent. Per exemple, in Pakistan people are classed as Punjabis, Sindhis, Balauchis and
Pathans. The Muslim Ummah was never faced with such a dilemma in the past during Islamic rule. They never suffered from disunity, widespread oppression, stagnation in science and technology and certainly not from the internal conflicts that we have witnessed this century like the Iran-Iraq war. So what has gone wrong with the Muslims this century? Why are there so many feuds between them and why are they seen to be fighting each other? What has caused their weakness and how will they ever recover from the present stagnation?
There are many factors that contributed to the present state of affairs, but the main ones are the abandoning of the Arabic language as the language of understanding Islam correctly and performing ijtihad, the absorption of foreign cultures such as the philosophies of the Greeks, Persian and the Hindus, the gradual loss of central authority over some of the provinces, and the rise of nationalism since the 19th Century.
This book focuses on the origins of nationalism in the Muslim world. Nationalism did not arise in the Muslim world naturally, nor did it came about in response to any hardships faced by the people, nor due to the frustration they felt when Europe started to dominate the world after the industrial revolution. Més aviat, nationalism was implanted in the minds of the Muslims through a well thought out scheme by the European powers, after their failure to destroy the Islamic State by force. The book also presents the Islamic verdict on nationalism and practical steps that can be taken to eradicate the disease of nationalism from the Muslim Ummah so as to restore it back to its former glory.

FE ISLÀMICA A AMÈRICA

James A. Beverley

AMÈRICA COMENÇA UN NOU MIL·LENI COM UNA DE LES nacions amb més diversitat religiosa de tots els temps. En cap altre lloc del món s'identifiquen tanta gent, on se li ofereix una opció lliure de la influència del govern, amb una gamma tan àmplia de comunitats religioses i espirituals.. En cap altre lloc la recerca humana de sentit ha estat tan variada. Avui a Amèrica, hi ha comunitats i centres de culte que representen totes les religions del món.
El paisatge americà està esquitxat d'esglésies, temples, sinagogues, i mesquites. Els zendos budistes zen es troben al costat dels tabernacles pentecostals. Els jueus hassídics passegen pels carrers amb swamis hindús. El més sorprenent de tots, S'ha produït relativament poc conflicte entre les religions a Amèrica. Aquest fet, combinat amb un alt nivell de tolerància de les creences i pràctiques dels altres, ha deixat que Amèrica produeixi gent de bona voluntat disposada a tractar de resoldre les tensions que poguessin sorgir. La sèrie Faith in America celebra la diversa herència religiosa dels Estats Units.
Les persones de fe i ideals que anhelaven un món millor han creat una societat única on la llibertat d'expressió religiosa és una clau de la cultura.. La llibertat que Amèrica ofereix a les persones de fe significa que no només les antigues religions han trobat una llar
aquí, però que també s'han arrelat noves maneres d'expressar l'espiritualitat. Des d'enormes esglésies a les grans ciutats fins a petites comunitats espirituals a les ciutats i pobles, la fe en Amèrica mai ha estat més forta. Els camins que han recorregut les diferents religions
La història nord-americana és només una de les històries que els lectors trobaran en aquesta sèrie. Com qualsevol cosa que la gent crea, la religió està lluny de ser perfecta. malgrat això, la seva contribució a la cultura i la seva capacitat per ajudar la gent són impressionants, i aquests èxits es trobaran en tots els llibres de la sèrie. Mentrestant, la consciència i la tolerància dels diferents camins que prenen els nostres veïns cap a la vida espiritual s'ha convertit en una part cada cop més important de la ciutadania a Amèrica..
avui, més que mai, Amèrica en conjunt confia en la llibertat: la llibertat de creure.

Islamist Opposition Parties and the Potential for EU Engagement

Toby Archer

Heidi Huuhtanen

In light of the increasing importance of Islamist movements in the Muslim world and

the way that radicalisation has influenced global events since the turn of the century, això

is important for the EU to evaluate its policies towards actors within what can be loosely

termed the ‘Islamic world’. It is particularly important to ask whether and how to engage

with the various Islamist groups.

This remains controversial even within the EU. Some feel that the Islamic values that

lie behind Islamist parties are simply incompatible with western ideals of democracy and

drets humans, while others see engagement as a realistic necessity due to the growing

domestic importance of Islamist parties and their increasing involvement in international

affairs. Another perspective is that democratisation in the Muslim world would increase

European security. The validity of these and other arguments over whether and how the

EU should engage can only be tested by studying the different Islamist movements and

their political circumstances, country by country.

Democratisation is a central theme of the EU’s common foreign policy actions, as laid

out in Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union. Many of the states considered in this

report are not democratic, or not fully democratic. In most of these countries, islamista

parties and movements constitute a significant opposition to the prevailing regimes, i

in some they form the largest opposition bloc. European democracies have long had to

tractar amb règims de govern que són autoritaris, però és un fenomen nou de premsa

per a la reforma democràtica als estats on els beneficiaris més probables podrien tenir, des del

punt de vista de la UE, enfocaments diferents i de vegades problemàtics de la democràcia i la seva

valors relacionats, com ara els drets de les minories i de les dones i l'estat de dret. Aquests càrrecs són

sovint contra els moviments islamistes, per tant, és important que els responsables polítics europeus ho facin

tenir una imatge precisa de les polítiques i les filosofies dels possibles socis.

Les experiències de diferents països tendeixen a suggerir que més llibertat és islamista

es permeten festes, més moderats són en les seves accions i idees. En molts

casos, els partits i grups islamistes fa temps que s'han allunyat del seu objectiu original

of establishing an Islamic state governed by Islamic law, and have come to accept basic

democratic principles of electoral competition for power, the existence of other political

competitors, and political pluralism.

Political Islam in the Middle East

són Knudsen

This report provides an introduction to selected aspects of the phenomenon commonly

referred to as “political Islam”. The report gives special emphasis to the Middle East, en

particular the Levantine countries, and outlines two aspects of the Islamist movement that may

be considered polar opposites: democracy and political violence. In the third section the report

reviews some of the main theories used to explain the Islamic resurgence in the Middle East

(Figure 1). In brief, the report shows that Islam need not be incompatible with democracy and

that there is a tendency to neglect the fact that many Middle Eastern countries have been

engaged in a brutal suppression of Islamist movements, causing them, some argue, to take up

arms against the state, and more rarely, foreign countries. The use of political violence is

widespread in the Middle East, but is neither illogical nor irrational. In many cases even

Islamist groups known for their use of violence have been transformed into peaceful political

parties successfully contesting municipal and national elections. No obstant això, the Islamist

revival in the Middle East remains in part unexplained despite a number of theories seeking to

account for its growth and popular appeal. In general, most theories hold that Islamism is a

reaction to relative deprivation, especially social inequality and political oppression. Alternative

theories seek the answer to the Islamist revival within the confines of religion itself and the

powerful, evocative potential of religious symbolism.

The conclusion argues in favour of moving beyond the “gloom and doom” approach that

portrays Islamism as an illegitimate political expression and a potential threat to the West (“Old

Islamism”), and of a more nuanced understanding of the current democratisation of the Islamist

movement that is now taking place throughout the Middle East (“New Islamism”). This

importance of understanding the ideological roots of the “New Islamism” is foregrounded

along with the need for thorough first-hand knowledge of Islamist movements and their

adherents. As social movements, its is argued that more emphasis needs to be placed on

understanding the ways in which they have been capable of harnessing the aspirations not only

of the poorer sections of society but also of the middle class.

ISLAM, ISLAMISTS, AND THE ELECTORAL PRINCIPLE I N THE MIDDLE EAST

James Piscatori

For an idea whose time has supposedly come, ÒdemocracyÓ masks an astonishing

number of unanswered questions and, in the Muslim world, has generated

a remarkable amount of heat. Is it a culturally specific term, reflecting Western

European experiences over several centuries? Do non-Western societies possess

their own standards of participation and accountabilityÑand indeed their own

rhythms of developmentÑwhich command attention, if not respect? Does Islam,

with its emphasis on scriptural authority and the centrality of sacred law, allow

for flexible politics and participatory government?

The answers to these questions form part of a narrative and counter-narrative

that themselves are an integral part of a contested discourse. The larger story

concerns whether or not ÒIslamÓ constitutes a threat to the West, and the supplementary

story involves IslamÕs compatibility with democracy. The intellectual

baggage, to change the metaphor, is scarcely neutral. The discussion itself has

become acutely politicised, caught in the related controversies over Orientalism,

the exceptionalism of the Middle East in particular and the Muslim world in general,

and the modernism of religious ÒfundamentalistÓ movements.

Rethinking International Relations Theory in Islam

Mohammad Abo-Kazleh

The legal foundation of foreign relations in Islam is based on Sharīy’ah. The original sources ofSharīy’ah are the Quran and the Prophetic traditions (Sunnah). Derived from Sharīy’ah is theFiqh or Islamic jurisprudence which covers the myriad of problems and issues that arise in thecourse of man’s life. (al-Mawdūdī, 2002) Among the main issues which the contemporaryIslamic jurisprudence attempt to deal with are foreign relations in Islam. Muslim jurists havedeveloped different opinions about the organizing principle of foreign relations in Islam. Some(hereafter referred to as traditionalists) who were influenced by the realistic tendency of Islamicstate, particularly during the periods of Conquest, believe that foreign relations in Islamoriginally depend on the attitude of non-Muslim groups or states toward Islam and Muslims.Therefore, the basis of foreign relations of Islamic state is fight, but under certain conditions. Incontrast, other jurists (hereafter referred to as pacifists or non-traditionalists) believe that theorigin of foreign relations in Islam is peace, because the Quran unambiguously states “there isno compulsion in religion.”(2: 256) D'acord amb, the principle of war advocated bytraditionalists is, non-traditionalists believe, not compatible with this unrelenting Quranic rule.The differences over the original principle of foreign relations in Islam are usually attributed tothe fact that exegetes of the Quran most often diverge in their approach to analyze andunderstand the related Quranic verses, and this create a dilemma in Islamic jurisprudence. Theproblem is complicated because proponents of both approaches depend on Quranic verses tojustify their claims.

German Converts to Islam and Their Ambivalent Relations with Immigrant Muslims

Esra Ozyurek

“I would never have become a Muslim if I had met Muslims before I met Islam.” I heard these words over and over again during my yearlong ethnographic research among ethnic German converts to Islam in Berlin.1 The first time, it was uttered by a self-declared German imam who had converted to Islam while trying to convert Arabs and Turks to Christianity. The second time, the speaker was a twenty-five-year-old former East German woman who came to Islam through her Bosnian boyfriend, whose family never accepted her. The third time, the comment was made by a fifty-year-old man who converted to Islam about thirty years ago after meeting Iranians who came to Europe to collect money and organize for the Iranian revolution. After that I stopped counting. Although all of the several dozen German converts I talked to (and the dozens of converts whose narratives I read on the internet) claim that they embraced Islam in a context of significant personal relationships with Muslims,2 a substantial portion of German Muslims are quite discontented with born Muslims, especially those of immigrant backgrounds. This paper is an attempt to comprehend the paradoxical feelings of love and hate for Islam and Muslims that many German Muslims experience. My aim in exploring this issue is to understand what it takes to be a (supposed) Islamophile in a political and social context that is highly Islamophobic.

Progressive Thinking in Contemporary Islam

Prof. dr. christian W. Troll

It seems sensible to start by shedding light on the background context and then to define the broader framework within which theprogressive thinkingin contemporary Islam which we want to discuss is embedded. The movements and trends which are shaping the contemporary Islamic world can be analyzed and assessed in the light of two conflicting forces, namely the notions of authenticity on the one hand and modernity on the other.
Such an approach perceives contemporary Islam as being torn between the authenticity in matters of life and doctrine which it derives from its past and the modernity which refers it to a present (and a future) in which Muslims no longer hold the reins of power and are therefore no longer able to control the development of thought.
Islam is centred on a scripture which it holds in faith to be the revelation of God. This scripture, the Qur’an, is believed to be eternal and immutable in form and content and thus to be valid for every place and time, to contain a truth which obtains for ever. Modernity, by contrast, is characterized by the relativity and the progressive nature of all truth. For the modernists there is nothing, spoken or written, which cannot be construed and questioned, which cannot and indeed should not be further refined by the human mind.
Islam thus sees itself positioned between the authenticity of a truth – that of the Qur’an as a – so to speak – naked, irrefutable fact – and a modernity whose knowledge in all fields is constantly being reconstructed. Is the solution to be found in modernizing Islam or in Islamizing modernity? It is the task of the Muslims to answer this question.