Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Volume 14, Winter 2015 Center for Sociological Studies In Cooperation with London Academy of Iranian Studies Chairman: Seyed G. Safavi, SOAS University, UK Editor-in-Chief: Seyed Javad Miri, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Iran Book Review Editor: Yoginder Singh Sikand, National Law School, Bangalore, India Managing Editor: Vahideh Sadeghi, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (IHCS), Iran Editorial Board Akbar Ahmed, American University, USA Rohit Barot, Bristol University, England Kenneth MacKendrick, University of Manitoba, Canada Faegheh Shirazi, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Judith Blau, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA Warren S. Goldstein, Center for Critical Research on Religion, USA Oleg V. Kuznetsov, State University of Chita, Siberia, Russia Syed Farid al-Attas, National University of Singapore, Singapore Seyed G. Safavi, SOAS University, UK Richard Foltz, Concordia University, Canada John Herlihy, Petroleum Institute, UAE Margarita Karamihova, Sofia University, Bulgaria Gary Wood, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, USA Seyed Javad Miri, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Iran Husain Heriyanto, ICAS, Indonesia Eleanor Finnegan, University of Florida, USA Tugrul Keskin, Portland State University, USA Advisory Board George Ritzer, University of Maryland, USA Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, USA William I. Robinson, University of California-Santa Barbara, USA Omid Safi, University of North Carolina, USA Charles Butterworth, University of Maryland, College Park, USA Mahmud Keyvanara, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran Zivar Huseynova, Xezer University, Republic of Azerbayjan Yoginder Singh Sikand, National Law School, Bangalore, India Rachel Woodlock, Monash University, Australia Ejder Okumuş, Eskişehir osmangazi University, Turkey Manuscript Submission Submissions of articles, book reviews and other correspondence should be sent to: Seyed Javad Miri at [email protected]. Aims & Scope The Journal of Islamic Perspective is a peer reviewed publication of the Center for Sociological Studies, affiliated to the London Academy of Iranian Studies (LAIS) and aims to create a dialogue between intellectuals, thinkers and writers from the Islamic World and academics, intellectuals, thinkers and writers from other parts of the Globe. Issues in the context of Culture, Islamic Thoughts & Civilizations, and other relevant areas of social sciences, humanities and cultural studies are of interest and we hope to create a global platform to deepen and develop these issues in the frame of a Critical Perspective. Our motto is homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto. Contributions to Islamic Perspective do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board or the Center for Humanities and Sociological Studies. The mailing address of the journal is: Dr. S. J. Miri, Islamic Perspective Center for Sociological Studies, 121 Royal Langford, 2 Greville Road, London NW6 5HT, UK, Tel: (+44) 020 7692 2491, Fax: (+44) 020 7209 4727, Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2015 by London Academy of Iranian Studies. All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This Journal was printed in the UK. ISSN-1946-8946 To order additional copies of this Journal, contact London Academy of Iranian Studies, 121 Royal Langford, 2 Greville Rd, London NW6 5HT, UK. www.iranianstudies.org [email protected] Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Volume 14, Winter 2015 Contents Articles Is there an Islamic Nation-State? Nassef Manabilang Adiong / 1 Few years after the Arab Spring in the eyes of young Moroccans and Egyptians living abroad: are there transnational links Roberta Ricucci / 19 Insights into the Qur’an, 4:34 Ruling as Regard Wife Beating in Islam Kamal- deen Olawale SULAIMAN / 37 Modern Muslim: A Possibility or Paradox Vildan Özertürk Sofu / 61 Time and Relativity beyond verses of the Quran Vahideh Sadeghi / 95 Malcolm X on Violence, Religion and Extremism Seyed Javad Miri / 109 Book Reviews Islamisation of Pakistani Social Studies Textbooks Yoginder Sikand / 127 Windows on Dialogue Roshan Shah/ 132 Islamic Perspective, Vol. 14, 1-18 Center for Sociological Studies, 2015 Is there an Islamic Nation-State? Nassef Manabilang Adiong Founder, Co-IRIS International Relations and Islamic Studies Research Cohort Ankara, Turkey Abstract The defining problem lies in the vagueness of interpretations in the conceptualization of nation-state in International Relations (IR) and Islamic Studies (IslStud). The proponent selected two frameworks: 1) selected mainstream theoretical IR survey, i.e. Realism, Liberalism, and Social Constructivism, and 2) Islamic political understanding. It will humbly try to examine, analyze, and decipher the origin, idea, and operationalization of nation-state by the usage of Comparative Analysis Method (CAM). Three data analytical or coding stages under CAM will be utilized: 1) Textual Codes via alpha-numerical representation, 2) Arithmetical Codes, and 3) Categorical Codes. The probable outcome is to locate areas of via media between IR and IslStud. Keywords: Nation-State, International Relations, Islamic Studies, Islam, Politics Initially Building an Approach to the Study This initiative is a deliberated mental effort of contemplating whether there is an Islamic impact in today’s praxis of international relations, i.e. the trends, events, and related dominions (directly or not) influenced by the practices, actions or movements in the international community or arena. One way to look at it is to specifically consider one element that has had a significant role in conceiving international relations as an academic discipline, whereby debates (major and minor) and 2 Is there an Islamic Nation-State? discourses (mainstream and periphery) were centred upon that element. The element of Nation-State played a prominent part in conceptualizing international theories (including International Relations, International Law, and Philosophy), particularly on the political spectrum, and has been, and will always be, a contentious issue, particularly on its complex characterizations and its relations with other elements, i.e., system, structure, agency, actor, society, civilization, etc. Nation-State is a kind of polity or political unit of analysis. It comprised the elements of authority (form of government), nationality (large number of people called citizens), territoriality (juridical set of legal boundaries), and sovereignty (supreme or final authority of a political entity over its own affairs and is recognized externally) (Diez, 2011: 215). Moreover, it is a modern entity (mostly secular in nature) that evolved from Greek/Italian city-states, Roman’s res publika (public affairs) to the Western nation-state system, which was conceived by European political elites and commonly attributed by some political/social scientists as a product of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. In spite of that understanding, Western scholars (orientalists) oftentimes and consciously overlook the contributions of Asian or Middle Eastern scholars, particularly Islam cists (those who passionately study Islam and its civilizations based on different bodies of knowledge), to the literature on the study of the nation-state. The Prophet Muhammad, subsequent members of ulama (scholars), and jurists, have also contributed to the conception and evolution of the nation-state phenomenon. Tracing the Significance of the Research Problem The idea will primarily focus on the vagueness of interpretations and understanding on the conceptualization of nation-state in both disciplines: International Relations (IR) and Islamic Studies (IslStud),1 and how a via media (middle way) of linkage of understanding may be reached. The primal research inquiries are how the nation-state originated, was conceptualized, and operationalized in IR and Islamic Studies. While the secondary (supporting) query is what the similarities and differences of IR’s and IslStud’s understanding on the conceptualization of nation-state are so as to locate a probable via media of understanding. The proponent hopes to discover an area or element that will show a profound and explicit relation between Islam and IR by studying the significant role and meaning of nation-state. Thus, in comparing the concept of nation-state in both disciplines, the author may lead to the discovery of their probable mutuality or reciprocity with support of the method (which will be further elaborated at the Nassef Manabilang Adiong 3 methodological section). The null hypothesis is the opposite of it, i.e. it will not help him provide answers to the posited statement of the problem. This idea is particularly concerned with contributing to the expanding (and exclusively extant) literature and significantly emerging sub-discipline in the form of relations between ‘Religion’ and ‘International Relations’. How religion interacts with IR and vice-versa, especially on the current waves of religious movements affecting the behaviour of nation-states and their relations with one another. An imperative example is the 9/11 event that changed the relations of mostly Western countries (US and Europe, geographically