Islam in World Cultures
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Islam in World Cultures Islam in World Cultures Comparative Perspectives Edited by R. MICHAEL FEENER Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England Copyright 2004 by R. Michael Feener All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Islam in world cultures : comparative perspectives / R. Michael Feener, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57607-516-8 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 1-57607-519-2 (e-book) 1. Islam—21st century. 2. Islam and civil society. 3. Islam and state—Islamic countries. 4. Islamic countries—Civilization—21st century. I. Feener, R. Michael. BP161.3.I74 2004 297’.09—dc22 2004017397 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an e-book. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America For Mom and Dad, with love and gratitude Contents C o n t r i b u t o r s ,ix Islam in World Cultures Comparative Perspectives Chapter One I s l a m : H i s t o r i c a l I n t r o d u c t i o n a n d O v e r v i e w R. Michael Feener, 1 Chapter Two Islam after Empire: Turkey and the Arab Middle East Gregory Starrett, 41 Chapter Three Shi’ite Islam in Contemporary Iran: F rom Islamic Revolution to Moderating Reform David Buchman, 75 Chapter Four D e b a t i n g O r t h o d ox y, C o n t e s t i n g Tr a d i t i o n : Islam in Contemporary South Asia Robert Rozehnal, 103 Chapter Five Islam in Contemporary Central Asia Adeeb Khalid, 133 Chapter Six I s l a m i n C h i n a : A c c o m m o d at i o n o r S e pa r a t i s m ? Dru C. Gladney, 161 v i i v i i i C o n t e n t s Chapter Seven Muslim Thought and Practice in Contemporary Indonesia Anna Gade and R. Michael Feener, 183 Chapter Eight Religion, Language, and Nationalism: Harari Muslims in Christian Ethiopia Tim Carmichael, 217 Chapter Nine R ace, Ideology, and Islam in Contemporary South Africa Abdulkader Tayob, 253 Chapter Ten Peril and Possibility: Muslim Life in the United Stat e s Edward E. Curtis IV, 283 Chapter Eleven Suggestions for Further Reading and Internet Resourc e s, 309 Chapter Twelve K e y Te r m s , 337 I n d e x , 361 Contributors David Buchman is a cultural anthropologist who has traveled throughout the Middle East pursuing the study of Arabic, Persian, Islam, and the status of contemporary Sufism. He is an assistant professor of anthropology and Middle East studies at Hanover College in Indiana, and his publications include a translation of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s (d. 1111) work Mishkat al- Anwar (Niche of the Lights, 1999). T i m C a r m i c h a e l teaches African History at the College of Charleston (South Carolina). He is online editor of H-Africa, associate editor of North- east African Studies, and coeditor of Personality and Political Culture in Modern A f r i c a (1998). His publications focus on Islam, politics, and culture in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Yemen. Edward E. Curtis IV is assistant professor of religious studies at the Univer- sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of Islam in Black America (2002). He offers courses in both Islamic studies and African American re- ligions and is currently at work on a history of religious life in Elijah M u h a m m a d ’s Nation of Islam. He holds a doctorate in religious studies from the University of South Africa. R. Michael Feener teaches religious studies and Southeast Asian studies at the University of California, Riverside. His research covers aspects of Islam in Southeast Asia and the Middle East from the early modern to the con- t e m p o r a ry periods. He has published articles on topics ranging from Qur’anic exegesis to Sufi hagiography, and he is currently completing work on a monograph tracing the development of Muslim legal thought in twen- tieth-century Indonesia. Anna M. Gade is assistant professor of religion at Oberlin College. She spe- cializes in Islamic traditions and religious systems of Southeast Asia and is the author of P e rfection Makes Practice: Learning, Emotion, and the Recited Qur’an in Indonesia (2004). Dru C. Gladney is professor of Asian studies and anthropology at the Uni- versity of Hawai‘i at Manoa. His books include Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Na- tionalism in the People’s Republic (1991); Making Majorities: Composing the Na- tion in Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Fiji, Turkey, and the U.S. (1998); Ethnic i x x C o n t r i b u t o r s Identity in China: The Making of a Muslim Minority Nationality (1998); and Dis- locating China: Muslims, Minorities, and Other Sub-Altern Subjects (in press). Adeeb Khalid is associate professor of history at Carleton College. He is the author of The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia (1998) and is currently working on a book on the multifaceted transforma- tion of Central Asia in the early Soviet period. Robert Rozehnal is assistant professor in the Department of Religion Stud- ies at Lehigh University. He holds a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from Duke University and an M.A. in South Asian studies from the University of Wis- consin–Madison. In addition to the history and practice of Sufism in South Asia, his research interests include ritual studies, postcolonial theory, and religious nationalism. G re g o ry Starrett is associate professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A graduate of Stanford University, he has writ- ten about Islamic literature, ritual interpretation, public culture, and reli- gious commodities in Egypt and the United States. His book Putting Islam to Work: Education, Politics, and Religious Tr a n s f o rmati o n i n Egypt (1998) exam- ines the historical and contemporary use of religious education programs in public schools and their connection to Islamist political movements. Cur- rent research projects address religious violence, the cultural and symbolic elements of national security, and the globalized production and consump- tion of Islamic intellectual goods, focusing on African American Muslims. Abdulkader Tayob has worked on the history of Islam in the modern pe- riod in general and in South Africa in particular. He has published on the youth, religion, and politics during the apartheid and postapartheid eras. Presently, he is based at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World and is working on modern Islamic identity and public life in Africa. His major publications include Islamic Resurgence in South Africa (1995); Islam in South Africa: Mosques, Imams, and Sermons (1999); and Islam, a Short Introduction (1999). Chapter One Islam Historical Introduction and Overview R. MI C H A E L F E E N E R For many people in the United States, the dramatic and tragic events of and following September 11, 2001, seem to have exploded into the world from out of nowhere. Over the weeks and months that followed, a new awareness of the roles of Islam in countries ranging from Afghanistan to the Philippines began to emerge. However, in the process, phenomena that have only re- cently come into mainstream American public consciousness via mass media coverage are often presented there without the kind of background materials that are helpful in analyzing and understanding such developments. Popular media reportage can only go so far in providing contexts for understanding current events in different societies around the world. The chapters in this book attempt to provide a deeper grounding for discussions of contemporary Muslim societies. This short volume can provide only a critical selection of studies rather than comprehensive coverage of all Muslim societies. Thus we have been unable to include, for example, chapters on western Africa or eastern Europe. Neverthe- less, the in-depth explorations of the societies that are discussed here can serv e as introductions to the complexities of contemporary Islam as it is lived by Muslims in local as well as global contexts. In their discussions of race, lan- guage, politics, and piety in diverse Muslim societies, these chapters bring to light some of the most consequential issues affecting the interpretations of Is- lam and the experiences of Muslims in the modern world. In this introduction I will present an overview of Islam that highlights earlier historical develop- ments that have shaped the tradition for centuries and that continue to in- form debates and discussions in many Muslim societies today. 1 2 I s l a m i n Wo r l d C u l t u r e s Muhammad and the Rise of Islam Islam originated in the Mediterranean region in late antiquity (circa 250–700 C.E.).