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Sociology of & Muslim Societies Newsletter International & Global Studies

Fall 2008 Sociology of Islam & Muslim Societies, Newsletter No. 3

Tugrul Keskin Portland State University, [email protected]

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Contents

* Interview with Sherry Jones on Her Novel “The Jewel of Medina”, Islam and Free Speech * The Strange Case of the UIJ, or the evolutions of Uzbek Jihadism by Didier Chaudet * 'Hizb ut-Tahrir in Uzbekistan: A Postcolonial Perspective' by Reed Taylor * Islamic Banking by Husnul Amin

Dear All, would like ind out who she really is. cancelled the publication of her novel, It was a couple of weeks ago that I received The Jewel of Medina, as a result of a possible an email from a colleague of mine who was “terrorist” reprisal attack. On the other hand, telling me about a controversial novel written Pakistani‐born Kamran Pasha’s new novel, by Sherry Jones on the Prophet Muhammed’s Mother of the Believers will be released in (SAV) wife, . First, I thought that this April of 2009. As far as I know Pasha’s new was just another Islamophobic provocation. novel is not different than Sherry Jones’s The However, after conducting some more Jewel of Medina. I wonder why some people

extensive research on the topic; I decided to are suddenly interested in studying and interview Sherry Jones in order to writing about Prophet Muhammed’s personal understand what she really thinks and life, instead of writing in the constructive believes about Islam. Is she really framework. My intention is to understand the Islamophobic? Or is she a naïve Westerner motives behind these writings. I have only who is trying to promote herself by using the questions, no answers, but answers will be private life of the most sacred person in provided by the author herself, and you, the Islam? Or are there any political motivations readers will decide whether she is genuine or behind this novel? I believe that we as not. Muslims – either by culture or religion ‐ should understand and differentiate between the Orientalist framework which is based on Peace and Salam to you all, the imperialistic/racist approach similar to what happened in the Danish cartoon crisis in Tugrul Keskin the name of free speech; with people who October, 2008 / Blacksburg, Virginia may have good intentions but really do not understand cultural differences and sensitivities. I did not read her novel, I haven’t read any of her novels; however, personally I

[1] spiritual calling. She embodies the woman Interview with Sherry Jones that I would like to be: smart, strong, witty, on Her Novel “The Jewel of Medina” spiritual, loving, giving, and honest with Islam and Free Speech herself about her laws. As I wrote and researched, I developed a respect and regard for the Prophet and for Islam. At the same Tugrul Keskin: Thank you for accepting this time, I regard him as a human being, a interview. I will be very honest and “mortal man,” as he called himself. He must straightforward with you in this interview. have experienced the desires, hungers, fears, This is a very sensitive issue for Muslims and failings that we all struggle with. I that you have broached, in trying to dig up believe that, by bringing those qualities to and question the Prophet Muhammed's light, we honor as a being who (SAV) private life; and I believe that as a transcended his lawed humanity by the Muslim, you have a right to criticize Islam grace of God and so served as an example of and Muslims, however, there is thin line what is possible for us all, if we seek and between criticism and insult/racism, like in strive as he did. the case of the Danish cartoon crisis. Would Tugrul Keskin: Today, especially after 9/11, you please tell us about yourself and your many people call themselves an expert on recent novel, The Jewel of Medina? Islam and Muslim societies. We can ind Sherry Jones: I came across the story of these people in Washington DC or A’isha for the irst time shortly after the universities, or at think tanks as just a few World Trade Center attacks in 2001. As a examples. Even in my university, people who woman and a feminist, I was captivated by have never been in any Muslim populated her wit, intelligence, and strength. I began to countries and don't speak any languages are read more about A’isha and her sister‐wives, called ‘Middle East experts’ or ‘experts on and about Muhammad and the revealing of Muslim societies and Islam.’ Of course, many Islam, and I was hooked. My goal was to of these experts use books on Islam from a bring these tales, already familiar to Muslims negative viewpoint to "educate" students. in the rest of the world, to Western How much do you know about Islam and the audiences. I wanted to honor A’isha and the Prophet's Muhammed's (SAV) life? Where other wives by bringing them to life on the did you learn this? What sources did you use page and allowing their voices to be heard in for your book? a historical tradition that largely focuses on Sherry Jones: I am certainly no expert, only the men. an interested Westerner who is always Tugrul Keskin: I don't think that many learning. I have not been able to afford to Westerners understand the level or context travel to Saudi Arabia, where “The Jewel of of certain sensitivities in other cultures. Medina” takes place, and where travel has From my perspective, many Westerners not been so restricted. At any rate, 14 centuries only criticize, but also look down on Muslims have certainly altered the culture and the and demonize Islam in the name of free landscape a great deal. I did study two years speech. This is not the way to build bridges; of Arabic ‐‐ all that was offered at the time ‐‐ it is the way to destroy bridges. Are you one at the University of Montana, and I took an of these people? Basically, why did you write Islamic history course taught by Mehrdad the novel about the private life of the most Kia from Iran. sacred person in Islam? What was or is your As for my sources, I have read everything aim? written in English that I could ind. My Sherry Jones: As I said, my aim was simply to bibliography comprises some 30 books, tell A’isha’s story. I felt called to her, a including a four‐volume biography of the

[2] Prophet by , written in the 14th others, such as child pornography. These are century; various collections of considered prosecutable offenses under the ;“Women in Islam” by the Moroccan law. scholar Fatima Mernissi; and “Muhammad: A Biography” by the noted Western religious Tugrul Keskin: Do you think Muslims need historian Karen Armstrong. My complete another Rudyard Kipling's the White Man's bibliography is available on my weblog, Burden in order to reform Islam? http://sherryjones.blogspot.com. Sherry Jones: “Need” is not the issue here. I Tugrul Keskin: How do you deine free speech didn’t write my book because I thought according to your book? Do you have the right anyone “needed” it. I wrote it because I was to talk about my private life, do you think this excited about the remarkable A’isha bint Abi is free speech? Bakr and I thought others would like to read about her, too. However, I do think the world Sherry Jones: My right to free speech will beneit from learning about the compasses my right to artistic expression. In egalitarian underpinnings of Islam and the the United States, we grow up learning that crucial role of women in forming the Umma. the right to , thought, and expression are as fundamental as the right to Tugrul Keskin: Today, there are three types of breathe and live. people who study Islam in the Western Universities and Societies. First, Orientalists Tugrul Keskin: If this is a free speech issue, who are not genuine and are the politically then why did the West not pay attention to motivated crusaders; second, Populists who Norman Finkelstein when he could not get study Islam because Islam is an important tenure at DePauw University, or Ward subject to specialize in, in order to ind a job Churchill who was ired from the University and niche for their careers; third, people who of Colorado as a result of the free speech study Islam, who genuinely want to learn argument? Do you think that free speech is about Islam and Muslim Societies; I believe used as an excuse to insult and discriminate this third category of people are more against people and cultures who are not objective than the rest. Where do you place White/Christian/Western? yourself? Sherry Jones: I can’t speak to these cases, Sherry Jones: I’ll bet there are more than because I’m not familiar with them. However, three kinds! But I approached my research I can tell you that our First Amendment rights with a genuine interest in learning more. are always being debated and discussed in What I learned, I wanted to share with others. this country. Schools and libraries, publicly Of course, what I’ve written is just MY funded, ban books because they are deemed interpretation of what I’ve read. It’s not the offensive, and people protest. Racists make deinitive version of A’isha’s life, only my statements that offend certain groups; people vision of what her life could have been like. write books that offend others. But we tolerate these hateful forms of expression Tugrul Keskin: On September 30, 2005, because, if we start banning one form, then Jyllands‐Posten Newspaper from , where does it stop? published cartons of the Prophet Muhammed (SAV) and this fueled tensions between No one wants to live in a totalitarian regime, Muslims and West/Europe/US. Do you think where every word is monitored. that this was an honest mistake? Or was the publishing of these cartoons intentional with Exceptions would be forms of speech that political motivations behind it? Most endanger others, such as death threats, and importantly, how do you compare your book forms of expression that cause actual harm to with this incident?

[3] Sherry Jones: The publishing of the Danish of Afghanistan and Iraq. I want us to reject this cartoons was another exercise of freedom of culture of fear imposed upon us both by expression. The message was clear: Islam has violent religious fanatics and our own become perceived, in the Western world, as a government. I wish for us all courageous lives. religion of violence and destruction. Those who protested with violence did nothing to Sherry Jones: A journalist for 28 years, Sherry change that perception. Jones has worked as a staff reporter for newspapers in suburban Philadelphia, North My book is a book of women’s empowerment Carolina, and Montana, and has published in that also attempts to promote Western numerous magazines including Newsweek, understanding of a religion that is illed with Southwest Art, CMJ, American Cowboy, and misperceptions in the States. I feel uniquely Rider. She is a freelance correspondent for situated to write this book, and its sequel, BNA Inc., an international news agency in the because I held those same erroneous notions Washington, D.C. area and Platt's Metals Week of Islam before I began my research. and Women's eNews in New York. "The Jewel of Medina" is her debut novel. Tugrul Keskin: Do you believe Islam is a peaceful religion or a religion of war as some About the Novel: "The Jewel of Medina" by Western conservative “crusaders” claim? Sherry Jones is a historical novel about the life of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, the youngest, and Sherry Jones: Islam in its pure form is a favorite, wife of the Prophet Muhammad. Set religion of peace, in my opinion. Muhammad in 7th‐century Saudi Arabia, it details the admonished Believers to ight in self‐defense founding of Islam, complete with battles and only, and he practiced that. He forgave his political intrigue, and examines the role of enemies ‐‐ even those, such as Abu Sufyan’s women in the early Islamic community. wife, Hind, who didn’t ask for it. He said, “We are all created from the same soul.” You can’t Announcement: MESA get- get much more peaceful, and egalitarian, than together that. Unfortunately for moderate Muslims, violent extremists within the faith have Dear Mideast sociologists and fellow- created a negative portrait of Islam in the travelers, Western world. Some believe that Muslims I hope that you will join me for an informal want to conquer and rule the world under get-together at the Middle East Studies Sharia law. I hope my book will help those who Association conference at 3 p.m., Monday, read it to understand the true Islam, as November 24, 2008. We will meet at the Muhammad intended it. lobby of the conference hotel and, depending on our numbers, grab refreshments at the hotel cafe or a nearby eatery while learning Tugrul Keskin: Do you think that the current about each others' research and concocting US foreign policy toward Islam and Muslim potential collaborations. Societies are based on an imperialist agenda? I realize that some of you have sessions at Sherry Jones: Yes, I do. And it is a real tragedy. this time, and I apologize for the inevitable scheduling conflicts! The United States is now perceived ‐‐ a -- misperception based on the actions of our Charles Kurzman government ‐‐ as a bully. Most people I know Department of Sociology don’t agree with our foreign policy concerning CB#3210, 155 Hamilton Hall University of North Carolina the Middle East. I’ve participated in several Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA protests and vigils for peace, and I hold great Phone: (1) (919) 962-1241 hope that a new president will bring change. Fax: (1) (919) 962-7568 E-mail: [email protected] Killing only begets killing, and produces Web: http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman nothing but hatred and fear. I want the U.S. out

[4] The Strange Case of the UIJ, or the the country fell into civil war. So from the evolutions of Uzbek Jihadism beginning of the 1990s, for the outside world, Uzbekistan looked like an example of stability in Central Asia. But nothing could have been Didier Chaudet further from the truth. In fact, the 1990s were the time of an The French Institute of International Relations extreme radicalisation of Uzbek Salafism. First, [email protected] one can easily make the case, through the actions of Adolat, that the Uzbek movement was already Historically, Uzbek Salafism is, to some prone to violence. But once in exile, the Islamists extent, unique in Central Asia. It is the only one could not get the peace of the defeated. Indeed, in the area that has stayed strongly revolutionary, the Uzbek regime continued its fight regionally uncompromising, and prone to violence from its against its opposition, sending secret services to beginning in the Ferghana Valley at the target Islamist and non-Islamist enemies of the beginning of the 1990s to its new safe heaven in state. The regime was only beginning to stabilize Waziristan, Pakistan. Like their Tajik itself, and the fear of a Tajik fate made Tashkent counterparts, they had the desire to conquer choose drastic methods to avoid destabilization. power, but contrary to them, their path made As explained by Islam Karimov himself in July them go further and further from the Islamist 1992: “It is necessary to straighten out the brains mainstream to an “al qaedan” way of thinking. of one hundred people in order to save the lives Its final result is the Islamic Jihad Union. This of thousands”. It meant, by the end of the 1990s, group is probably not very important in terms of a strong repression against the religious and numbers, but it can organize itself from Greater independent part of the population, without Central Asia to Europe, and it sees its fight as an distinction between simple believers and possible international one. Such an evolution makes it a suspects. Such politics reinforce tensions inside potential global security threat in the future. How the country, making it easier for the Islamists in come a local islamist fight in Central Asia can exile to organize sleeper cells. Outside evolve in such an “unnatural” way? Uzbekistan they clearly positioned themselves as The Islamist situation in Uzbekistan was struggling in a regional, and not only national, no different from the one in Tajikistan after the war, fighting the Tajik government with the local independence. Groups like Islam Lashkarlari IRP (Islamic Revival Party). They clearly (Warriors Of Islam) and its military wing Adolat appeared as hardliners, refusing the inter-Tajik (Justice) wanted to create an Islamic state, peace in 1997. They also opposed their allies on something that meant nothing else than a state nationalism: the Tajik Islamists were in favor of able to deal with the post-Soviet situation. the Afghan Tajik Ahmad Shah Masoud, when the Indeed, the people in Uzbekistan lost a lot with Uzbeks, on purely ideological ground, preferred the fall of the Soviet Union: free medical to support the Taliban. Those divergences services, free education, and more importantly, explain the formal birth of the IMU (Islamic control of the prices of primary goods. They saw Movement of Uzbekistan) in 1996. From 1999 to mafia getting stronger, being able to challenge 2001, this group has been able to put pressure on the state, and the society becoming more and all the countries surrounding the Ferghana more unequal and unsecured. But from 1992, the Valley. Indeed, its military commander, Juma path of Tajik and Uzbek Islamists went in very Namangani, was able to use the Tajik part of the different paths: during this year already, Islam Valley, and the Afghan Emirate of the Taliban, as Karimov had been able to reaffirm its power and his bases, and to strike forcefully in Kyrgyzstan to strike hard against any kind of opposition. and in Uzbekistan. He was also able to play those Tajik official power has not been that strong, and three Central Asian countries against one another

[5] through his military actions, making them 2004), and the first attacks against the Far distrust one another, and pushing Tashkent to Enemy in the area, i.e. the US and Israel extreme reactions, this time against its (suicide attacks against the embassies, June neighbours. For example, Islam Karimov did 2004). It has to be connected with suicide not hesitate to order the bombings of Kyrgyz bombings of Uzbeks against the Coalition in territory, or to mine the Uzbek borders with Afghanistan, expressing a deeper involvement those two countries. During this period, against the Far Enemy than ever before. The Namangani has been able to organize effective choice of this new group to see the war in a sleeper cells, in Kyrgyzstan in particular, as well broader sense was proved again in November as to continue to use rug trafficking in order to 2006, when an IJU plot failed, this time in finance his war against the Uzbek regime. Islamabad, with Pakistani recruits, who tried to Without the American campaign against attack government buildings. Last, but not least, Afghanistan by the end of 2001, this is very September 2007 saw the discovery of IJU possible to imagine a Central Asian region being sleeper cells in , recruiting German- more and more disrupted by the consequences Turks and German converts in order to strike of IMU’s military actions. The loss of the this European ally of the US in the war for Afghan safe heaven has clearly been a terrible Afghanistan. At the same period, the group blow for the IMU: Juma Namangani died in engaged itself in an intense propaganda Afghanistan fighting for the Taliban, the campaign on Turkish Islamist sites in order to organization lost its training camps, and the make it better known. The leadership is still other leader of the IMU, Tahir Yuldashev, has Uzbek, but it is now clear that the IJU became a not been able to keep the group united. kind of Turkic Al Qaeda: clearly internationalist Numerous fighters decided to abandon the in its vision, its first goal is a revival of the movement at that time. This is interesting to Afghan Emirate of mullah Omar. Such a note that those who did so disapprove the focus situation is particularly disturbing, as it is a on other targets than the “Near Enemy”, i.e. the proof that local politics in Greater Central Asia, Uzbek regime. They did not see the fight for the and the support received for them from the Taliban, or against others than Islam Karimov, Great Powers made such a radicalisation as relevant. It means that the ones who kept possible. their affiliation, and their desire to fight, were much closer of the al qaedan vision of a total war against the Near and the Far Enemy. In his speeches, Tahir Yuldashev still tried to keep a balance between those interested in a concrete fight against the post-Soviet Central Asian regimes of the Ferghana Valley, and those who saw the war in much broader terms. Some in the latter group grew disillusioned with this approach and decided to Didier Chaudet is a Research Fellow at IFRI split from the original movement. They formed (The French Institute of International Relations together the Islamic Jihad Union, or Islamic – IFRI is one of the main think tanks in the Jihad Group, in 2002. If numerous Islamist European Union). He is a Lecturer at the groups in Central Asia seem to exist only on Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences paper and in the head of the members of Uzbek Po Paris) on Security in Greater Central Asia secret services, this one is very real. It appears (Post-Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, that this group has been responsible of the first Pakistan). He was a Fox Fellow at Yale suicide bombings in Central Asia (March-April University

[6] 'Hizb ut-Tahrir in Uzbekistan: A condition that, I would argue, has had a much Postcolonial Perspective' larger influence on the formation of HT and its appeal in a postcolonial context. Beyond explaining the development and structure of HT, Reed Taylor postcolonial theory points towards a reification of a neo-colonialist mentality by internalizing The Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and and negating a hybridized identity between the Cultural Thought colonizer and the colonized. If one agrees with Virginia Tech the thesis proposed in this paper, it can be [email protected] argued that there is another threat of neocolonialism that emerges from within. We This article is a summary of a study that should consider changing our discourse to focus began from a research project on Hizb ut Tahrir on the postcolonial conditions of HT in (HT) in Indonesia, where I sought to explain the Uzbekistan and less on the call for an authentic appeal of the organization using a post-colonial Islamic identity. approach. While I was doing research on this Hizb ut-Tahrir is a modern political organization through Hizb ut Tahrir Indonesia Islamic movement that aims at establishing a (HIT) website, I came across an article on the global Islamic state that is meant to subvert the plight of HT members in Uzbekistan and how current postcolonial conditions in predominantly important it was for HTI to support its fellow Muslim regions of the world. Hizb ut-Tahrir members. This is interesting because most does not want to work from within the current Indonesians do not know where Uzbekistan is, political arrangements to establish political and or feel a connection to the people in Uzbekistan social change; instead it is trying to form a because of its Muslim population. In contrast, viable alternative in the form of a transnational HTI has disseminated several articles on the state. What is not being overtly stated in Hizb importance of solidarity between Indonesian ut-Tahrir’s writings is the underlying connection members and Uzbekistan members. And from between the colonized psyche and mimicry of this, I began to question a common assertion the colonizer as an attempt to reverse the pre- that HT is a relatively disconnected political determined roles that are being questioned in movement based primarily on regional and Hizb ut-Tahrir’s ideology (Bhabha, 1994). national borders. Instead, I propose that as a A postcolonial critique offers several pan-Islamic movement, HT should be advantages over approaching Hizb ut-Tahrir understood as a group whose members see from the perspective of a ‘Clash of Civilizations themselves as belonging to an identity that with the West.It has been customary to refer to crosses regional and national boundaries. an impending battle between civilizations in the Therefore, I argue that the post-colonial discussions of Hizb ut-Tahrir and even within approach that I have used in the case of Hizb ut Hizb ut-Tahrir’s own discourse presented on Tahrir Indonesia can also shed some light, at online on their websites and in their texts (Hizb least in part, on the case of Hizb ut Tahrir ut-Tahrir, 1998, 1999, 2001, n.d.). However, if Uzbekistan. we consider the historical development of Hizb Currently, HT in Uzbekistan is explained ut-Tahrir’s ideology and if we reconsider their in terms of a clash of civilization model, or in texts form a postcolonial critique, Hizb ut-Tahrir terms of a resurgent Marxist-Leninist model. I no longer embodies a homogenous Islamic argue that both of these theories are antagonistic culture that is purportedly antagonistic to a and coming from Eurocentric perspectives. An modern Western culture. Instead of creating a alternative is to consider the postcolonial divide between Islamic populations and Western

[7] countries, a postcolonial critique is applied to replacing of one cultural language for another destabilize and decenter these fixed borders to and it is not simply the incorporation of one move beyond a reification of colonialism. By cultural language into another; it is the appealing to Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial negotiation between interconnected cultural discourse, the emphasis is placed on identity languages with drastically different relations to formation and the violent effects on the psyche power. However, power is not clearly defined; it for both the colonized and colonizer. It is the is distorted such that the colonizer/colonized are decentering of these binaries within colonialism both trapped by having to define themselves of the Self/Other, black/white, core/periphery, based on the interstices of the Other, neither etc. that creates the foundation for postcolonial escapes unharmed (Bhabha, p. 153-154). movements such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. Another important concept found in In Hizb ut-Tahrir’s writings, there are Bhabha that is an aspect of cultural hybridity is several important concepts that have been mimicry. Part of the structure of colonialism is appropriated from modern political Islamists that a segment of the colonized population is discussed above that are used to justify a global needed to act as a middleman between the Islamic state. The most important concept is colonizer/colonized; they are required to mimic Khalifa, which is used by Hizb ut-Tahrir to the colonizer by copying his language, customs, appeal to the nostalgia of a return to the time of and dispositions. From the colonizer’s the first four Caliphs as way to remove the perspective, it is not enough to simply dress and contemporary Muslim from the coercive powers act like him; they must hold the same values and of secularism, democracy, and capitalism. In appreciate the world as he does. However, this addition to Khalifa, Hizb ut-Tahrir appropriates can never be an exact replica of one cultural several other terms in making their argument for language for another because of the a global Islamic state, including the concepts of ambivalence and power inequalities of the ummah, kuffar, and ijtihad; each corresponding interaction. For the colonized, mimicry is a to a wider discourse of anti-democracy, anti- further depersonalization and suppression of the human rights, and anti-individualism ‘I’ in identity because it only validates the respectively. Through the use of each of these colonizer’s Self and leaves the colonized with terms, I argue that Hizb ut-Tahrir is reacting to an empty shell of the Other that is only visible the colonial model rather than attempting to through the colonizer’s eyes. return to a more egalitarian and pious past. Bhabha’s discussion centers on the In Homi Bhabha’s (1994) The Location ongoing legacy of colonialism that continues to of Culture, Bhabha wrote that the identity of have a profound effect on the formation of a someone colonized is not simply defined by contemporary Muslim identity. He prescribes a being marked as other to the colonizer, but it is a renewal of a historically informed cultural decentering of the ‘I’ as the intervening space of identity that can potentially overcome the the Other as an enunciation that is inscribing the legacies of colonialism. However, Hizb ut- colonizer’s Self. Hybridity for Bhabha can only Tahrir rejects a negotiation between cultural occur in this ‘in-between’ state of fluidity, where languages and calls for an outright égation of antagonistic binaries of self/other, black/white, Western culture, in a similar vein to the core/periphery, etc. are being rearticulated as, colonialist model that Hizb ut-Tahrir is trying to “neither the One … nor the Other … but overcome. The basis for this application is a something else besides” ((Bhabha, p. 41). It is in desire to form a uniquely non-Western Islamic this Third Space that the lens of the Self and identity ; however, such an identity cannot Other are dissolved and a transformative process ignore the mental and material reality of the of hybridity takes place. What should be postcoloniality within the égatio. Instead, Hizb becoming clear is that hybridity is not the ut-Tahrir ends up reversing the ‘I’ from Other to

[8] Self without escaping the fundamental Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia. 02 Aug. 2008. dynamic that égationes this colonialist model. “Empat Muslimah Uzbekistan Ditahan Antara It is due to this lack of negotiation that Hizb 3 dan 5 Tahun Penjara Karena Menyebarkan ut-Tahrir is unable move beyond colonialism. Islam” 14 Sept. 2008. The problem is that by not negotiating Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia. 11 Sept. 2008. between a contemporary Muslim identity and “Pejabat Uzbek Perintahkan Polisi Awasi a Western hegemonic cultural identity, Hizb Kaum Muslim Beribadah di Masjid” Hizb ut- ut-Tahrir is re-inscribing through mimicry the Tahrir Indonesia. 14 Sept. 2008. current postcolonial arrangements but in the éga of colonizer through the revival of a ‘pure’ Islamic cultural identity (Bhabha, 122-126). It is in this blurred copy of colonialism that Hizb ut-Tahrir has positioned itself. In contrast to this postcolonial critique, Hizb ut-Tahrir is generally presented as being a radical political Islamic movement in accordance with a traditional Islamic culture that clashes against a modern Western culture or, if read literally, as a political Islamic movement that advocates a return to the past Reed Taylor received his bachelors from the glory of Islam through establishing a University of New Mexico in 2001 in transnational Caliphate. The essential problem Philosophy and History with his senior thesis with both of égat readings of Hizb ut-Tahrir is in Asian Studies on Writing Indonesian that they emphasize divergence without History. He was an exchanged student at the leaving room for a Third Space of enunciation University of Hull in Applied Ethics and (Bhabha, 56). Hizb ut-Tahrir is best viewed as Southeast Asian Studies, and received his a égation of Western hegemonic culture from Masters of Philosophy in 2004 from Erasmus within, instead of an external culture that is University Rotterdam in Philosophy and distinct and antagonistic towards the West. Economics. He is currently a second year PhD Based on the above postcolonial positioning of student in the Alliance for Social, Political, Hizb ut-Tahrir’s ideology, it can be argued that Ethical, and Cultural Thought, a new they are neo-colonialists in the making. interdisciplinary graduate program at Virginia Tech. Current research interests include Bibliography interdisciplinary approaches to gender and Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. 1994. politics in Indonesia, Islamic political thought, New York: Routledge Classics, Reprinted indigenous separatist movements, and 2004. postcolonial theory. Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Islamic State. 1998. 12 Dec. 2007. Contact informaon : Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Social System in Islam. Reed W. Taylor 1999. 12 Dec. 2007. PhD student, 2011 ASPECT Hizb ut-Tahrir. Structuring of a Party. trans. 211 Lane Hall (0226) 4th ed. : Al-Khilafah Publications, Virginia Tech 2001. 12 Dec. 2007. Blacksburg, VA 24061 Hizb ut-Tahrir. The American Campaign to [email protected] Suppress Islam. n.d. 12 Dec. 2007.

[9] Islamic Banking Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Malaysia are to name a few such states. Several academic institutions were established Husnul Amin such as the International Institute of Islamic Economics (IIIE) in Islamabad and Islamic Institute of Social Studies, ISS Research and Training Institute (IRTI) at IDB The Hague, - The Jeddah to offer courses and degree programs, to [email protected] teach and research and train individuals for Islamic banking operations. Such academic Capitalist system has always been pursuits were co-supported by an active media tagged with inherent financial fragility and campaign run by different Islamic banks and business cycles. The recent credit crisis has Islamic institutions to publicize and promote the made many staunch supporters of free market institutions of Islamic banking. In Pakistan a mechanism think to question its efficient number of electronic channels broadcasted working without active state supervision and sponsored programs on Islamic banking and its intervention. For socialist comrades what Shariah-compliant products. Most of the happened in the last few months is quite natural research conducted in the area of Islamic and it was supposed to happen. For Islamists, economics was conducted on different aspects Muslim economists and activists of Islamic of Islamic financial system with less focus on political, this is the begining of the fall of other areas such as poverty alleviation and capitalist economic system and replacing it with distribution issues. This issue of research-bias is an Islamic financial system which is interest- beautifully explained by scholars such as free, more stable and socially responsible. In Taimur Kurn and Izzuddin Pal in their seminal this brief essay questions such as : does the idea works on Islamic economics. of Islamic bank offers a panacea to the current Claims of Muslim economists and crisis? Is there such thing as interest-free Islamic banks are mounting. They claim for banking system free of all inherent fragilities multi-billion dollars deposits and financing with deemed to be the hallmark of the interest-based a higher rate of return on deposits. The rate of financial system? How and to what extent the return is legitimized on the basis of the element operations of Islamic banking have retained the of risk and thus its variability. The growth and ideals of offering interest-free arrangements in expansion of Islamic banks worldwide is also its actual practice? shown to be tremendous. Its popularity and is Of all the capitalist institutions the only claimed to be not only among the Muslim one that has posed itself as the most intimidating countries but also in Europe and the USA. challenge to the Muslim thinkers is the modern Claims are also made that non-Muslim countries institution of banking. To scuffle this specter, also desire Islamic banking branches and an army of Islamic scholars, intellectuals and Islamic windows. Although, less effort has been Muslim economists have set out to model the made to enquire why this desire is common idea of an Islamic alternative i.e., Islamic among the non-Muslim countries? Is it the banking. Enormous energies have been put in quality of Islamic banking and novelty of its this direction in the last four decades. A number products over the interest-based commercial of theoretical models of Islamic banking have banks or the underlying motivation for attracting been proposed in the literature and applied in more savings of the Muslim communities? practice. A number of enterprising individuals Islamic banks offer a number of so- and states have tried to implement these models called Islamic modes of financing. There are and produce a model of Islamic banking system. modes of financing such as Modaraba and

[10] Musharaka which are considered at the core of Some basic theoretical work is done by the Shariah as permissible and interest-free Ghamidi (2008) and his students to promote the among all the scholars. And there are other tools concept that all institutions of capital formation such as Murabaha etc which are found to be on and its management be under the control of the the margins of the Shariah-complacency. public sector. The model proposes a History of Islamic banking practice reveal that dichotomous arrangement where financial an initial moving passion was shown for the management should completely come under the former tools and less for the latter one. But later control of the state and the real sector this composition changed and more enthusiasm comprising by industry, agriculture and trade be was shown for the relatively risk-free modes given in the private hands. Ghamidi’s assertion and less for the other tools. Although, the former is that it doesn’t matter how much effort is done had more risk involved but close to Shariah in to eliminate interest from the banking letter and spirit. What happened that in actual transactions it will re-enter through backdoor practice the true banking instincts (no risk, more and will hamper all such efforts of eliminating profit) prevailed over this altruistic passion and interest from financial transactions. This idea the operations switched to tools such as couldn’t gain currency among the populist Murabaha etc. There are also empirical Muslim economists and corporate-Ulama. evidences of how the profit motive has Overwhelming majority of the compelled the Islamic banking practice to contributors to the theoretical models are those provide more resources to trading than to more who were trained in the Western new-classical productive sectors such as agriculture and tradition of economics. And since these modern industry. educated economists were Muslims too, they All Muslim economists do not fully came up with banking models with a patchwork endorse the current practice of Islamic banking. of Islamic tools engineered by traditional Within the ranks of Muslim economists, a Ulama. The so-called Islamic tools were re- number of dissidents can be found. They are on energized by traditional Ulama from Fiqh the margins and often less heard but these are literature. These were Arabic names for different voices to be voiced. Some have serious transactions now baptized as corpus of holy reservations over the very notion of the idea and words which can never be disagreed. These current practice of Islamic banking system. One Arabic names were labeled, packaged and such renown scholar when asked about the marketed as if these were revealed as alternative current status of Islamic bank was reported to Islamic tools to the modern tools of commercial have responded as … « if the possibility of an banking. The social construction of non-Arab Islamic prostitution can exist then an Islamic + Muslim societies is that they surrender to any Bank might be sellable… what is supposed to such names and labels that sounds in Arabic. All be the ideals of the Islamic banks are in contrast such names would be respected, blindly to the very instincts of the banking industry. followed and never put to criticism. It happened Banks are not supposed to be risking itself and that interest is being sold to Muslims under the its customers nor deemed to be working for beautiful packaging of these Arabic titles called alleviation of poverty. If they have to be, then Islamic modes of financing. they will convert to another form and will cease The Muslim scholarship is engaged in a to be known as banks. Banks are not NGOs, nor fierce battle with the elimination of interest welfare organizations. Banks are institutions for from transactions. Less attention is paid to the earning profits through lending and borrowing idea of engaging with the institution that propels without risking its loans and profit and the interest i.e., modern banking industry. In reality, capital of its customers. » (face to face interview the problem is not with the interest/usury/riba 2005)

[11] with the very institution of banking that is economists will never bother to ponder over, I dependent on interest for its survival. Imagining am sure. bank without interest is to conceive a Muslim without Ieeman (belief/faith). If Islamic Husnul Amin is a PhD student at the Institute economics and the so-called Muslim economists of Social Studies, The Hague. Originally from have to contribute something new and original Pakistan, he is studying Islamic institutions and to the capitalist world then they should come up development discourse in his home country, with an original alternative ofthe modern with emphasis on poverty alleviation. The study banking system. After reading and reading on is constructed on three levels of analysis - Islamic banking system and Islamic economics, Islamic political parties, Islamic religious I can very safely say that the model of Islamic schools (madrassas) and individual Ulama. His banking is nothing but a blend of the modern study aims to explore how, and to what extent, financial tools with a patchwork of Arabic issues concerning poverty are debated in vocabulary presented as Islamic financial theoretical discourses and in the practical modes. activities of Islamic political parties, religious Whenever there is a financial crisis or a schools and religious scholars in Pakistan. He move towards Islamization of economy, the idea also writes for an Urdu daily newspaper Daily of Islamic economics and Islamic banking Mashriq published from Peshawar, Pakistan. system is presented such as if it is a new His columns can be accessed at discovery or an amazing exploration. The fact of http://dailymashriq.com.pk/oppion/hussian.html the matter is that it has lost all its potential, its originality and vitality very soon after it came into existence. We look forward to a Muslim economist(s) who come(s) up with an original idea of visualizing a financial system that is workable on this earth. This would be possible only if we stop thinking about Islam as a Complete System of life and start working as normal human beings living on this planet meeting its requirements. When we say Islam offers a complete code of life from economy to every part of life then we stop thinking creatively and just wait for Islamic sources to Contact Information: produce a system before us. Whereas in reality PhD Fellow in Development Studies Islam has nothing to do with producing Institute of Social Studies, ISS "systems" but only with basic parameters. If we The Hague, have assumed that Islam has its own banking The Netherlands and financial system that will challenge and Room No. 5.17 replace the existing capitalist system then we ISS, are mistaken. If we can just think differently 2502 LT that Islam has discussed only some basic parameters (those also very few with limited scope and effect) then we can start thinking on 'what' and 'how' to work on an alternative financial system. This is an idea the Muslim

[12] SOCIOLOGY OF ISLAM & MUSLIM SOCIETIES CALL FOR PAPERS: IBN KHALDUN TODAY LANGUAGE OF THE SYMPOSIUM: Papers can be PRECURSOR OR ALTERNATIVE? presented in Turkish, Arabic, and English. Simultaneous translation will be available. Selected Ibn Khaldun Symposium May 29-31 2009 Istanbul papers of the symposium will be published.

International Ibn Khaldun Society TIMETABLE: November 30, 2008: Deadline for submission of abstracts; December 30, 2008: Co-sponsored by Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC), Confirmation of the accepted abstracts; March 30, Duke University; Department of Malay Studies, 2009: Deadline for submission of papers; April 15, National University of Singapore; Istanbul Foundation 2009: Deadline for confirmation of participation; May for Education and Research (ISAR) 29-31, 2009: Symposium

The symposium is organized by the International Ibn SCHEDULE: The symposium will begin on Friday, Khaldun Society and cosponsored by Duke University May 29, 2009 and end on Sunday, May 31, 2009. and the National University of Singapore. This international symposium is the second on Ibn FUNDING: Accommodation will be provided for all Khaldun. The first took place in Istanbul in 2006 participants for three days. A limited amount of where the participants decided to establish the funding, particularly for participants from abroad, is International Ibn Khaldun Society and to convene a available for travel expenses. Please contact the meeting every three years in Istanbul. Selected papers Symposium Secretariat for further information. from the first International Ibn Khaldun symposium have been published in Turkish (Turkish Journal of ACTIVITIES: Visits to historical and cultural sites of Islamic Studies, 2006) and English (Asian Journal of Istanbul such as the Topkapı Palace, the Saint Sophia, Social Science, 2008). The papers from the second and the Blue Mosque, and a Bosphorus tour will be International Symposium on Ibn Khaldun will also be arranged for participants. published in English and Turkish. SECRETARIAT AND CONTACT INFORMATION SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Papers can be submitted through mail or e-mail. Submission of Mr. Hasim Koc: [email protected] papers should include:1) Cover page (containing: title, participant’s name and institutional affiliation, Tel: + 90-216 310 9920 ext 114 Fax: +90-216 391 participant’s e-mail address, telephone and fax 2633 Istanbul Foundation for Education and Research numbers if available) 2) Abstract (300 words (ISAR) Gülfem Hatum Mah. Aziz Efendi Mektebi maximum) 3) Biographical statement of participant Sok. No: 2 Üsküdar 34672 Istanbul, TURKEY that describes research interests and recent publications (200 words maximum)

Editorial Board:

Sociology of Islam Husnul Amin, Institute of Social Studies, ISS The Netherlands Haimaa El Wardy - Al-Azhar, Egypt &MUSLIM SOCIETIES Sharif Islam - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Tugrul Keskin - Virginia Tech, USA 560 McBryde Hall (0137) Sadia Saeed - University of Michigan, USA Department of Sociology Yogi Sikand - Journalist, Virginia Tech Reed Taylor - Virginia Tech, USA Jouni Tilli - University of Jyvaskyla, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA Jeremy Walton - University Of Chicago, USA

Publication. Information This newsletter is published from individual contributors, mailing list posts, web and other resources, and as such it represents a diverse set of views. The views and opinions published here are not necessarily those of the editors or publishers Mailing List The Sociology of Islam mailing list is hosted at Virginia Tech. To subscribe to this listserv, send an email to: [email protected] http://sociologyofislam.blogspot.com/ and http://www.sociologyofislam.org/ © Copyright 2008 by Tugrul Keskin. ISSN 1942‐7956

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