همه نوشته های با برچسب: "اسلام"
Islam and the Making of State Power
سید ولی رضا نصر
In 1979 General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, the military ruler of Pakistan, declared that Pakistan would become an Islamic state. Islamic values and norms would serve as the foundation of national identity, law, economy, and social relations, and would inspire all policy making. In 1980 Mahathir Muhammad, the new prime minister of Malaysia, introduced a similar broad-based plan to anchor state policy making in Islamic values, and to bring his country’s laws and economic practices in line with the teachings of Islam. Why did these rulers choose the path of “Islamization” for their countries? و چگونه دولتهای سکولار پسااستعماری، عامل اسلامیسازی و منادی دولت اسلامی واقعی شدند.?
مالزی و پاکستان از اواخر دهه 1970 تا اوایل دهه 1980 مسیر منحصر به فردی را برای توسعه دنبال کرده اند که با تجربیات سایر کشورهای جهان سوم متفاوت است.. در این دو کشور هویت دینی در ایدئولوژی دولتی ادغام شد تا هدف و روند توسعه را با ارزش های اسلامی بیان کند.
این اقدام همچنین تصویر بسیار متفاوتی از رابطه اسلام و سیاست در جوامع مسلمان ارائه کرده است. در مالزی و پاکستان, این نهادهای دولتی بوده اند تا فعالان اسلامگرا (کسانی که طرفدار قرائت سیاسی از اسلام هستند; به احیاگرها یا بنیادگرایان نیز معروف است) 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, و به طور گسترده تر چگونه فرهنگ و مذهب در خدمت نیازهای قدرت و توسعه دولتی است. تحلیل در اینجا متکی بر مباحث نظری است
در علوم اجتماعی رفتار دولتی و نقش فرهنگ و مذهب در آن. مهمتر, از موارد مورد بررسی استنباط می کند تا نتیجه گیری های گسترده تری را که مورد علاقه رشته ها است، بدست آورد.
| سپتامبر 25, 2010 | نظرات 0
زنان ایرانی پس از انقلاب اسلامی
Ansiia Khaz Allii
بیش از سی سال از پیروزی انقلاب اسلامی ایران می گذرد, هنوز وجود دارد a سوالات و ابهامات متعددی در مورد نحوه برخورد جمهوری اسلامی و قوانین آن وجود دارد مشکلات معاصر و شرایط کنونی, به ویژه در مورد زنان و حقوق زنان. این مقاله کوتاه به روشنگری این موضوعات و بررسی جایگاه کنونی زنان در عرصه های مختلف می پردازد, در مقایسه با وضعیت قبل از انقلاب اسلامی. داده های معتبر و تایید شده استفاده شده است هر جا که ممکن است. مقدمه تعدادی از مطالعات نظری و حقوقی را خلاصه می کند مبنایی برای تحلیل عملی بعدی و منابعی هستند که داده ها از آنجا به دست آمده اند.
بخش اول به نگرش رهبری جمهوری اسلامی ایران نسبت به زنان و حقوق زنان, 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. The third section looks at women’s political, social and economic participation and considers both quantative and qualitative aspects of their employment. The fourth section then examines questions of the family, the relationship between women and the family, and the family’s role in limiting or increasing women’s rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
| سپتامبر 19, 2010 | نظرات 0
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
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
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
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
Islam and Islamism in Afghanistan
کریستین مندوزا
The last half-century in particular has seen the recurrent use of religious Islam as
ايدئولوژي, 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. با این حال, 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. سپس, 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, and the
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.
| 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
Roots Of Nationalism In The Muslim World
شبیر احمد
The Muslim world has been characterised by failure, disunity, bloodshed, oppression and backwardness. At present, no Muslim country in the world can rightly claim to be a leader in any field of human activity. در واقع, the non-Muslims of the East and the West
now dictate the social, economic and political agenda for the Muslim Ummah.
علاوه بر این, the Muslims identify themselves as Turkish, عرب, African and Pakistani. If this is not enough, Muslims are further sub-divided within each country or continent. For example, 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. Rather, 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.
| اوت 28, 2010 | نظرات 0
ISLAMIC FAITH in AMERICA
JAMES A. بورلی
AMERICA BEGINS A NEW MILLENNIUM AS ONE OF THE MOST RELIGIOUSLY diverse nations of all time. Nowhere else in the world do so many people—offered a choice free from government influence—identify with such a wide range of religious and spiritual communities. Nowhere else has the human search for meaning been so varied. In America today, there are communities and centers for worship representing all of the world’s religions.
The American landscape is dotted with churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques. Zen Buddhist zendos sit next to Pentecostal tabernacles. Hasidic Jews walk the streets with Hindu swamis. Most amazing of all, relatively little conflict has occurred among religions in America. This fact, combined with a high level of tolerance of each other’s beliefs and practices, has let America produce people of goodwill ready to try to resolve any tensions that might emerge. The Faith in America series celebrates America’s diverse religious heritage.
People of faith and ideals who longed for a better world have created a unique society where freedom of religious expression is a keynote of culture. The freedom that America offers to people of faith means that not only have ancient religions found a home
اینجا, but that newer ways of expressing spirituality have also taken root. From huge churches in large cities to small spiritual communities in towns and villages, faith in America has never been stronger. The paths that different religions have taken through
American history is just one of the stories readers will find in this series. Like anything people create, religion is far from perfect. با این حال, its contribution to the culture and its ability to help people are impressive, and these accomplishments will be found in all the books in the series. Meanwhile, awareness and tolerance of the different paths our neighbors take to the spiritual life has become an increasingly important part of citizenship in America.
Today, more than ever, America as a whole puts its faith in freedom—the freedom to believe.
| اوت 21, 2010 | نظرات 0
Islamist Opposition Parties and the Potential for EU Engagement
توبی آرچر
هایدی 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, it
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
حقوق بشر, while others see engagement as a realistic necessity due to the growing
اهمیت داخلی احزاب اسلام گرا و مشارکت فزاینده آنها در عرصه بین الملل
امور. دیدگاه دیگر این است که دموکراتیک شدن در جهان اسلام افزایش خواهد یافت
امنیت اروپا. اعتبار این استدلال ها و دلایل دیگر در مورد اینکه آیا و چگونه
اتحادیه اروپا باید درگیر شود تنها با مطالعه جنبشهای اسلامگرای مختلف قابل آزمایش است
شرایط سیاسی آنها, کشور به کشور.
دموکراتیک شدن موضوع اصلی اقدامات مشترک سیاست خارجی اتحادیه اروپا است, همانطور که گذاشته شد
در مقاله 11 معاهده اتحادیه اروپا. بسیاری از ایالات در نظر گرفته شده در این
گزارش ها دموکراتیک نیستند, یا کاملاً دموکراتیک نیست. در اکثر این کشورها, اسلام گرا
احزاب و جنبشها اپوزیسیون قابل توجهی با رژیمهای حاکم تشکیل میدهند, و
در برخی آنها بزرگترین بلوک مخالف را تشکیل می دهند. دموکراسی های اروپایی مدت هاست که مجبور بوده اند
deal with governing regimes that are authoritarian, but it is a new phenomenon to press
for democratic reform in states where the most likely beneficiaries might have, from the
EU’s point of view, different and sometimes problematic approaches to democracy and its
related values, such as minority and women’s rights and the rule of law. These charges are
often laid against Islamist movements, so it is important for European policy-makers to
have an accurate picture of the policies and philosophies of potential partners.
Experiences from different countries tends to suggest that the more freedom Islamist
parties are allowed, the more moderate they are in their actions and ideas. In many
cases Islamist parties and groups have long since shifted away from their original aim
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.
| اوت 21, 2010 | نظرات 0
Political Islam in the Middle East
می نادسن
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, که در
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. Nonetheless, 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.
| اوت 20, 2010 | نظرات 0
ISLAM, ISLAMISTS, AND THE ELECTORAL PRINCIPLE I N THE MIDDLE EAST
جیمز 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.
| اوت 17, 2010 | نظرات 0
Rethinking International Relations Theory in Islam
محمد ابو 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 (سنت). 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) Accordingly, 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.
| اوت 13, 2010 | نظرات 0
German Converts to Islam and Their Ambivalent Relations with Immigrant Muslims
از Esra Özyürek
“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.
| اوت 12, 2010 | نظرات 0
Progressive Thinking in Contemporary Islam
Prof. دکتر. مسیحی W. ترول
It seems sensible to start by shedding light on the background context and then to define the broader framework within which the “progressive thinking” in 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.
| اوت 12, 2010 | نظرات 0
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