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Your Name Here EXTERNALIZING ISLAM: MANIPULATION OF ISLAM’S INNER AND OUTER DIMENSIONS AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF JUSTICE AND PIETY by JEREMY COLE (Under the Direction of Kenneth Honerkamp) ABSTRACT This thesis attempts to locate the roots of extremism inside and outside the Islamic Tradition, which are caused in part by the modern world-view, which prioritizes the external over the internal, thereby generating a false dichotomy between Islam’s esoteric and exoteric dimensions. When in harmony, the esoteric and exoteric dimensions of Islam open a forgiving middle path for its followers, and close the door to extremism in all of its forms. Disregarding the relationship between these elements in the Islamic tradition can lead to inaccurate and extreme manifestations and constructions of Islam. As evidence, this thesis will analyze the broad notion of the ‘Islamic Tradition,’ Sufism in the Ottoman Empire, and the concept of hijra. In each case an understanding of the dialectical relationship between Islam’s inner and outer dimensions helps to reconstruct the peaceful, compassionate intentions of the Islamic Tradition that has been so badly damaged in modern times. INDEX WORDS: Islam, Esoteric, Exoteric, Sufism, Ottoman Empire, Hijra, Extremism EXTERNALIZING ISLAM: MANIPULATION OF ISLAM’S INNER AND OUTER DIMENSIONS AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF JUSTICE AND PIETY by JEREMY COLE B.A., Oberlin College, 1998 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2003 © 2003 Jeremy Cole All Rights Reserved EXTERNALIZING ISLAM: MANIPULATION OF ISLAM’S INNER AND OUTER DIMENSIONS AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF JUSTICE AND PIETY by JEREMY COLE Major Professor: Kenneth Honerkamp Committee: Eve Troutt-Powell Alan Godlas Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2003 iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the hidden, quiet and humble aspects of our days, the remembrance of grace, and the thread of hope that the world will cycle out of its extreme ways. v ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Dr. Kenneth Honerkamp for his clear guidance on the muddled journey of this thesis – guidance, I suspect, that is both recognized and yet-to-be recognized in my life. Further, I would like to offer profound thanks to Dr. Eve Troutt-Powell for her energy, enthusiasm, and engagement in the difficult issues of our time. Her teaching and motivation provided me with more substance of thought than I could ever have imagined. I could not have gotten through any of this without her. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Godlas for his help and guidance, especially in the final stages of this thesis. Further, I would like to thank Dr. Carolyn Medine for her steady and caring commitment to the students of the Religion Department, and my fellow students, whose questions and curiosities inspired me and consistently brushed back the forces of loneliness inevitable in this work. Finally, to Carina, for loyalty, dedication, inspiration, patience, and a deep yet simple love that carries me through and beyond my work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 2 TRADITION, AUTHORITY and ISLAM ......................................................19 Tradition, the Traditional and the Loss of the Sacred .................................22 Tradition and Authority...............................................................................32 The Edges in Islam......................................................................................42 An Example of the View from the Center...................................................47 Conclusion...................................................................................................53 3 SUFISM IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: FOUNDATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND HISTORICAL ERASURE ................................60 Methodology ...............................................................................................64 Sufism in the Ottoman Empire....................................................................77 Sufis and Sultans .........................................................................................97 Sufis and the ulama ...................................................................................100 Historical Erasure......................................................................................107 Conclusion.................................................................................................116 vii 4 HIJRA IN ISLAM: MIGRATION AS METAPHOR FOR AN ESOTERIC AND EXOTERIC WORLD …………………………………………….121 Methodology .............................................................................................124 Hijra as concept.........................................................................................126 In the Qur’an .............................................................................................128 As Historical Reality .................................................................................130 As Religious Ideal .....................................................................................134 As Doctrine................................................................................................140 Hijra and Pan-Islamism.............................................................................142 Hijra and jihad ..........................................................................................144 Hijra and Extremist Islam .........................................................................145 Conclusion.................................................................................................147 5 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................152 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................163 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION “But you should realize that He is hidden in His manifestations by the intense way in which He is manifest, for His manifestness is the reason for His being hidden, as His very 1 light blocks His light.” -al-Ghazāli “It is not piety, that you turn your faces to the East and to the West. True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets, to give of one’s substance, however cherished, to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy, the traveler, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms…” -Qur’an (2:177) 2 We live in a world saturated by the simplicity of extremism. This extremism, while not in the majority, nonetheless seems to have a grip over many of those in power in today’s world. Tradition, with its accumulated and accumulating vault of timeless and compassionate wisdom, stands on the margins, watching as lesser and lesser qualified individuals attempt to claim direct and easy access to truth and authority. One of the main causes of this extremism is modern mankind’s loss of belief in the Transcendent and the Unseen3 and excessive belief in the idea that human beings have the ability to know all there is to know, and thus the ability to control its own destiny and create its own meaning. In this loss, modern man has placed excessive and obsessive priority on 1 David Burrell and Nazih Daher, translators, Al-Ghazali: The Ninety Nine Beautiful Names of God, (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1992), 134. 2 All translations of the Qur’an in this thesis are from A.J. Arberry’s The Koran Interpreted, (Simon and Schuster: New York, 1996). 3 By way of contrast, the notion of the importance of the Unseen is emphasized greatly in the Qur’an. See, for example, 2:3, 3:44, 3:179, 4:34, 5:94, 5:109, 5:116, 6:50, 6:59, 6:73, 7:188, 9:78, 9:94, 9:105, 10:20, 11:31, 11:49, 11:123, 12:81, 12:102, 13:9, 16:77, 18:26, 19:61, 19:78, 23:92, 27:65, 27:75, 31:20, 32:6, 34:3, 34:14, 34:48, 34:53, 35:18, 35:38 among many other examples. Thus, Qur’anic epistemology, 2 the observable world as the basis for all Truth. The assumption behind this externalization of knowledge and meaning is that human beings hold ultimate authority over the universe. With this authority comes the desire for power and control, leading Huston Smith to argue that “the modern ethos… is a blend of naturalism and control.”4 In short, modern man has come to the conclusion that we must study the material world, which is the only reality, in order to control it, for this is our only path to meaning and order in the world.5 In this grab for knowledge and power, the human method of control and coercion of nature has led to a system of control and coercion over fellow humans beings as sources of power in the world. Extremism arises in this fertile soil of “naturalism and control,” as a necessary by-product of a world in which human beings are the means and the end, and thus must generate more and more extreme views in order to influence others and gain power. With no ultimate All-Knowing Being to locate and humble it, modern mankind exists in a fierce competition for authority and Truth. In this endless competition, one of the most effective methodologies employed is that of extremism. In the following discussion, I will look at the ways in which specific extremist internal (Muslim)
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