Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Number 7, Volume 1, Spring & Summer 2012 London Academy of Iranian Studies
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Islamic Perspective Journal of the Islamic Studies and Humanities Number 7, Volume 1, Spring & Summer 2012 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: Reza Hosseini, 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: islamicperspective@iranianstudies. Org Copyright 2012 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 philosophy@iranianstudies. Org Islamic Perspective, Number 7, Volume 1, Spring & Summer 2012 Contents Interview Interview on Global Intelligence Mihai Spariosu / 1 Articles Criticism of Heaven or of Earth? On the Dialectical Possibilities of Religion and Historical Materialism Roland Boer / 17 Bildeverbot and Utopia: On the Imageless God and Unarticulated Society Dustin Byrd / 33 A Psychological Ontology of Consciousness and Expressiveness for Critical Pedagogy Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi / 63 Erich Fromm and Religion Seyed Javad Miri / 71 A Scientific Analysis of the Origin and Evolutionary Nature of Reality Austin Murphy / 77 Allama M. T. Jafari on Global Future of Religion Beytollah Naderlew / 135 The Role of Muslim Leadership in Nigeria: A Critical Introduction to NSCIA Saheed Ahmad Rufai / 145 Brain Drain: Problems and Solutions Mohammad Tavakol / 161 Book Reviews Crestone Davis (ed.) (2009). The Monstrasity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? Warren S. Goldstein / 173 Zainah Anwar (ed.) (2009). Wanted: Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family Yoginder Sikand / 175 Islamic Perspective, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1-16 © London Academy of Iranian Studies, 2012 Interview on Global Intelligence Note Dr. Seyed Javad Miri from Center for Sociological Studies (IPCSS) conducted the following interview with Mihai Spariosu. Dr. Mihai Spariosu is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, in the United States. He holds an M.A. from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University and has taught at many prominent universities around the world. He is the founder and leading theoretician of a new field of study and practice, Intercultural Knowledge Management, which he proposed and developed in two internationally acclaimed books: Global Intelligence and Human Development: Toward an Ecology of Global Learning (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2005) and Remapping Knowledge: Intercultural Studies for a Global Age (Berghahn Publishers, New York and Oxford, 2006). His most recent major publication is a historical novel on Plato and his Academy (2010). Dr. Spariosu was President of the International Foundation for Global Studies, the co-founder and former academic director of the Institute of European Studies, founder and director of the East Central European Program, and founder and former director of The Avignon Study Abroad Program at the University of Georgia. He also co-founded and co- directed The International School of Theory in the Humanities at Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He has lectured and consulted widely on the importance of an intercultural approach to scientific research, public policy, and corporate business practices. He has also organized or participated in conferences, workshops, and seminars on global learning and leadership, environmental education, transdisciplinary and intercultural curriculum development, and intercultural knowledge management. He is currently leading the development of centers of global learning in several countries and regions around the world. Questions on Global Intelligence In your recently published book Global Intelligence and Human Development, you provide a new reference point for understanding global intelligence. How do you think your global intelligence is different from the politically based globalization? 2 Interview Mihai Spariosu: In that book as well as in other recent writings, I reflect on the phenomenon of globalization primarily in its intercultural, rather than in its political or financial aspects (and I should point out that nowadays the financial and the political are more closely intertwined than ever). I seek to move away from the utilitarian mentality that is all too prevalent in our world today, and not only in the West, as well as from the modernist ideology of progress, understood as unlimited (economic) growth. Unlike neoliberal ideologues and their anti-globalist opponents, therefore, I do not see globalization as a golden opportunity for the financially wealthy to become even wealthier. Rather, I see it as a renewed opportunity for humanity to embark on a global, paradigmatic shift from a mentality of power and so-called ‘struggle for life’ toward a mentality of peace and mutually beneficial, intercultural cooperation. But, in order to bring about this paradigmatic shift we, the world communities, need to create alternative theoretical concepts and cultural blueprints and then work collectively toward their worldwide implementation. As one of these alternative concepts, I propose global intelligence, which I define as the ability to understand, respond to, and work toward what will benefit all human beings and will support and enrich all life on this planet. Global intelligence is based on the individual and collective awareness of the interdependence of all localities within a global frame of reference and the enhanced individual responsibilities that result from this interdependence. As no national or supranational authority can predefine or predetermine it, global intelligence involves long-term, collective learning processes and can emerge only from continuing intercultural research, dialogue, and cooperation. Global intelligence, therefore, ought to constitute both the premise and the goal of further human development. The phrase ‘what will benefit all human beings’ in the preceding paragraph, however, should not be understood in the utilitarian, restricted sense that implies the excessive, materialistic and consumerist mentality currently spreading over many parts of the globe. Nor should ‘human development’ be understood primarily in terms of neoliberal, economic development, as is all too often the case in public discourse today. In the long run, such utilitarian and reductive modes of thought and behavior, based on the primacy of material self-interest, will hardly benefit humankind, let alone other forms of life