The Politics of Muslim Intellectual Discourse in the West
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CULTURAL INGENUITY: STRENGTHENING the MUSLIM AMERICAN IDENTITY a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Continuing St
CULTURAL INGENUITY: STRENGTHENING THE MUSLIM AMERICAN IDENTITY A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The School of Continuing Studies and of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies By Lena Albibi, B.A. Georgetown University Washington, D.C. February 17, 2009 CULTURAL INGENUITY: STRENGTHENING THE MUSLIM AMERICAN IDENTITY Lena Albibi, B.A. Mentor: John L. Esposito, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Muslims in America must move beyond theological discourse and polemics to creating a dynamic apparatus that can promote indigenous and organic Muslim American culture and that accommodates ideological and cultural diversity. Muslims needs to move beyond attempting solely to correct their image and dispel stereotypes. While these are admirable goals, they cannot be the end goal for engaging in the creative arts, because such a narrowly defined, negative vision does not allow for an organic expression of the self. It is imperative that Muslims establish an artistic tradition in America, because to be an American Muslim is a creative process in itself. Laying the foundation for an expressive culture will ensure that Muslims celebrate their humanity and affirm their dignity, and they will then be free from having to define themselves in opposition to something else. A positive self-definition is what Muslims need. ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER I: CULTURAL INGENUITY: STRENGTHENING THE MUSLIM AMERICAN IDENTITY 1 CHAPTER II: ISLAM AND CULTURE 5 CHAPTER III: IMAGE OF MUSLIMS IN AMERICA: POST 9/11 22 CHAPTER IV: ISLAM IN AMERICA 30 Music 32 Comedy 35 TV and Film 38 Clothing 58 Muslim American Monuments and Sports Icons 61 Civic Engagement 64 Muslim American Education 66 CHAPTER V: GOALS FOR DEVELOPING A SUCESSFUL MUSLIM AMERICAN CULTURE 71 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY 85 iii CHAPTER I CULTURAL INGENUITY: STRENGTHENING THE MUSLIM AMERICAN IDENTITY, AN INTRODUCTION The tragic events of September 11th thrust Islam and Muslims under the eye of public scrutiny. -
The Social Involvement of Women in Islam
The Social Involvement of Women in Islam By Imam Zaid Shakir www.zaytuna.org One of the persistent attacks against Islam is that it is a religion which stifles the social involvement of women. By social involvement, we mean involvement in those spheres of endeavor which occur outside of the home and impact on the general nature and direction of society. Islam, it is said, desires to divest women of any meaningful social role, to keep them “trapped” in the confines of their homes, under the constant surveillance and control of men. This claim, as we will endeavor to show, does not accurately reflect the fullness of Islamic teachings on this issue. While Islam does advocate a social scheme which places great emphasis on the domestic role of women, it also creates ample space for their meaningful participation in public affairs. The purpose of this article is to examine aspects of that social involvement based on the Qur’an and the prophetic tradition. That examination will be preceded by a brief expose on the fundamental equality of men and women in Islam. The Fundamental Equality of Men and Women in Islam The Qur’an emphasizes that men and women are equal in their physical and metaphysical composition. We read in that regard, “We have surely ennobled the descendants of Adam.” [1] This ennoblement of the human being precludes any claims to gender superiority, or any feelings of inferiority based on physical, or metaphysical composition. Such feelings underlie schemes of gender-based oppression, and have no place in Islam. We also read in the Qur’an, “We have surely created the human in the best of molds.” [2] Again, this process of human creation is not gender specific. -
HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH to the QUR'an a Nasr Hamid Abu
DOI: 10.21274/epis.2018.13.1.455-479 HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH TO THE QUR’AN A Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s Contribution to Quranic Studies Ismail Suardi Wekke STAIN Sorong, Indonesia Acep Aam Amiruddin Paramadina University Jakarta, Indonesia Firdaus STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Indonesia [email protected] Abstract This paper discusses the contribution of a prolific author and an Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and his hermeneutical approach to the Qur’an. The article argues that Abu Zayd is a Muslim reformer of the twentieth century through his takwil (hermeneutical concept). His hermeneutical concept is questioning the “an-nash (textual)” tradition of the Qur’an and the transformation of Arab culture from oral to text-oriented culture in the earliest history of the Qur’an. He differentiates between tanzil (message sent to man) to takwil (interpretation of the message). This article further argues that Abu Zayd’s hermeneutical concept should be understood from the history of revelation which speaks to a particular community and respond to a particular situation. Thus, the Qur’an itself is a living phenomenon and open for interpretation, rather than a closed corpus. Ismail Suardi W; Acep A. A; Firdaus: Hermeneutical Approach................. [Artikel ini mengkaji latar belakang kehidupan Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd dan metode hermeneutik yang ia gunakan untuk menafsirkan ayat-ayat Qur’an. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd termasuk di antara para ilmuwan Muslim yang produktif. Ia menulis lebih dari dua puluh sembilan karya sejak tahun 1964 hingga 1999, mulai dari artikel ilmiah dan buku. Produk pemikiran Nasr dipengaruhi oleh latar belakang pendidikan dan sisi religiusnya. -
The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2021
PERSONS • OF THE YEAR • The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • B The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • i The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Chief Editor: Prof S Abdallah Schleifer Muslims, 2021 Editor: Dr Tarek Elghawary ISBN: print: 978-9957-635-57-2 Managing Editor: Mr Aftab Ahmed e-book: 978-9957-635-56-5 Editorial Board: Dr Minwer Al-Meheid, Mr Moustafa Jordan National Library Elqabbany, and Ms Zeinab Asfour Deposit No: 2020/10/4503 Researchers: Lamya Al-Khraisha, Moustafa Elqabbany, © 2020 The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre Zeinab Asfour, Noora Chahine, and M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin 20 Sa’ed Bino Road, Dabuq PO BOX 950361 Typeset by: Haji M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin Amman 11195, JORDAN www.rissc.jo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro- duced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Views expressed in The Muslim 500 do not necessarily reflect those of RISSC or its advisory board. Set in Garamond Premiere Pro Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Calligraphy used throughout the book provided courte- sy of www.FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Title page Bismilla by Mothana Al-Obaydi MABDA • Contents • INTRODUCTION 1 Persons of the Year - 2021 5 A Selected Surveyof the Muslim World 7 COVID-19 Special Report: Covid-19 Comparing International Policy Effectiveness 25 THE HOUSE OF ISLAM 49 THE -
Journal of Religion & Society
ISSN 1522-5668 Journal of Religion & Society The Kripke Center Volume 14 (2012) “Critical Islam” Debating/Negotiating Modernity Dilyana Mincheva, Trent University Abstract The intellectual discourse of Muslim elites born and educated in a Western environment gives impetus, sometimes not entirely consciously, to the debate on the critical potential of the public sphere. This new Islamic critique suggests that the Western public spheres lose their cohesive force and political thrust and practically dismantle into fragmented, disparate, and alienated discourses under increasing transnational pressures because they have never questioned their normative secular underpinnings. This new critical insight implies new modes of public participation and occasions a transformation of the traditional notion of public sphere as it has been described by prominent Western theoreticians of modernity (such as Jurgen Habermas). The debate between the classical Western approach to “public sphere” and modernity and the “new” Islamic critique of it (via Tariq Ramadan, Fethi Benslama, and Malek Chebel) is at the center of this paper. “Critical Islam” and the Public Sphere: Defining the Limits of Modernity [1] The relationship between reason embodied in contingent historical practices and reason as a universal category, has never ceased to be an important topic in the critical theories of the various disciplines within philosophy and social science. The discussion on the function of religion intensifies the theoretical debates for a number of reasons. On the one hand, reason has been recognized in the West as an internal purpose of all religions ever since the European Enlightenment’s assertion of the Cartesian rationality and the Kantian autonomy. On the other hand, in the modern age, deeply marked by the complex cultural, economic, and political processes of globalization, secularization, and cultural homogenization, religion appears to be the only refuge of difference, the true sanctuary of values and authenticity. -
Tunisia and the Arab Democratic Awakening
The New Era of the Arab World Tunisia and the Arab Democratic Awakening bichara khader the protest had reached the point of no return. Director Ben Ali calls in the army but it rebels and, through Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Arabe the voice of its chief, refuses to shoot at the crowd. Keys Contemporain (CERMAC), Louvain-la-Neuve The regime collapses and the dictator, pursued, flees on 14 January 2011. Who would have foreseen such agitation? Who Tunisians themselves were surprised at the turn of dared hope that the Tunisian people would be ca- events. They were prone to believe that the dicta- pable of overturning a plundering police regime tor had sharp teeth and long arms, but he turned 2011 whose stability and strength were extolled in Eu- out to be a paper tiger in the face of a population Med. rope and elsewhere? Even those who are not nov- no longing fearing him and going into action. Evi- ices in Arab politics were taken by surprise, dumb- dently, fear changed sides. founded by the turn of events, stunned by the I pride myself in closely following political, eco- speed of the victory of the Tunisian people and nomic and social developments in Tunisia and astonished by the maturity and modernity that it the Arab world. Nevertheless, I must admit that I 15 displayed. was caught unawares. I wanted change; I deeply It is thus hardly astonishing that the uprising by hoped for it and never stopped repeating that the Tunisian people had the effect of an electro- “night is darkest just before the dawn” and that shock. -
Expressions Maghrébines
Expressions maghrébines Revue de la Coordination internationale des chercheurs sur les littératures du Maghreb www.ub.edu/adhuc/em Vol. 19, n. 2, Hiver 2020 : Appel à articles Abdelwahab Meddeb ou des itinéraires d’un « passeur de cultures » Dossier coordonnée par Réda Bensmaïa Date limite de soumission des articles : 31 janvier 2020 Parution : décembre 2020 Le 6 novembre 2014, le poète franco-Tunisien de renom Abdelwahab Meddeb s'éteignait à Paris en laissant derrière lui une œuvre poétique et critique monumentale. Né dans une famille respectée d'érudits et de théologiens, Meddeb s’est très tôt démarqué des enseignements prodigués par l'instruction religieuse traditionnelle, caractérisée par l'apprentissage des textes canoniques et l'absence de recul critique. Les études de littérature et d'histoire de l'art qu'il allait poursuivre en France lui donneront l'occasion de forger les moyens de produire l'une des œuvres poétiques et critique des plus originales dans le domaine francophone. Parmi les nombreuses activités qu’il a menées sans relâche et avec brio de son vivant, Meddeb a créé et dirigé une revue — Dédale — qui a joué un rôle essentiel dans la prise en charge des grandes questions politiques et culturelles du siècle dernier et le début de ce siècle. Sa grande connaissance du Soufisme et des grands courants philosophiques et exégétiques des cultures arabes et européennes allait lui permettre de produire une œuvre poétique et critique qui n’a pas son pareil dans la culture francophone. Son ouverture intellectuelle allait aussi se traduire dans l’enseignement qu’il donnait à l’Université de Paris X et, jusqu'à son décès, dans les émissions-radio hebdomadaires qu’il consacrait aux Cultures d'islam sur France-Culture. -
Making Islam an American Religion
Religions 2014, 5, 477–501; doi:10.3390/rel5020477 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article Post-9/11: Making Islam an American Religion Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad 1,* and Nazir Nader Harb 2 1 The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, N.W., Washington, DC 20057, USA 2 Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University, 1437 37th St, N.W., Washington, DC 20057, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-202-687-2575; Fax: +1-202-687-8376. Received: 3 January 2014; in revised form: 19 May 2014 / Accepted: 20 May 2014 / Published: 1210 June 2014 Abstract: This article explores several key events in the last 12 years that led to periods of heightened suspicion about Islam and Muslims in the United States. It provides a brief overview of the rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Islam sentiment known as “Islamophobia”, and it investigates claims that American Muslims cannot be trusted to be loyal to the United States because of their religion. This research examines American Muslim perspectives on national security discourse regarding terrorism and radicalization, both domestic and foreign, after 9/11. The article argues that it is important to highlight developments, both progressive and conservative, in Muslim communities in the United States over the last 12 years that belie suspicions of widespread anti-American sentiment among Muslims or questions about the loyalty of American Muslims. The article concludes with a discussion of important shifts from a Muslim identity politics that disassociated from American identity and ‘American exceptionalism’ to a position of integration and cultural assimilation. -
The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2021
PERSONS • OF THE YEAR • The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • B The Muslim500 THE WORLD’S 500 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSLIMS • 2021 • i The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Chief Editor: Prof S Abdallah Schleifer Muslims, 2021 Editor: Dr Tarek Elgawhary ISBN: print: 978-9957-635-57-2 Managing Editor: Mr Aftab Ahmed e-book: 978-9957-635-56-5 Editorial Board: Dr Minwer Al-Meheid, Mr Moustafa Jordan National Library Elqabbany, and Ms Zeinab Asfour Deposit No: 2020/10/4503 Researchers: Lamya Al-Khraisha, Moustafa Elqabbany, © 2020 The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre Zeinab Asfour, Noora Chahine, and M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin 20 Sa’ed Bino Road, Dabuq PO BOX 950361 Typeset by: Haji M AbdulJaleal Nasreddin Amman 11195, JORDAN www.rissc.jo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro- duced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Views expressed in The Muslim 500 do not necessarily reflect those of RISSC or its advisory board. Set in Garamond Premiere Pro Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Calligraphy used throughout the book provided courte- sy of www.FreeIslamicCalligraphy.com Title page Bismilla by Mothana Al-Obaydi MABDA • Contents • INTRODUCTION 1 Persons of the Year - 2021 5 A Selected Surveyof the Muslim World 7 COVID-19 Special Report: Covid-19 Comparing International Policy Effectiveness 25 THE HOUSE OF ISLAM 49 THE -
Women and Islamic Cultures: a Bibliography of Books and Articles in European Languages Since 1993
Women and Islamic Cultures: A Bibliography of Books and Articles in European Languages since 1993 General Editor Suad Joseph Compiled by: G. J. Rober C. H. Bleaney V. Shepherd Originally Published in EWIC Volume I: Methodologies, Paradigms and Sources 2003 BRILL AFGHANISTAN 453 Afghanistan Articles 22 ACHINGER, G. Formal and nonformal education of Books female Afghan refugees: experiences in the rural NWFP refugee camps. Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies. Alam-e-Niswan, 3 i (1996) pp.33-42. 1 ARMSTRONG, Sally. Veiled threat: the hidden power of the women of Afghanistan. Toronto & London: Penguin, 23 CENTLIVRES-DEMONT, M. Les femmes dans le conflit 2002. 221pp. afghan. SGMOIK/SSMOCI Bulletin, 2 (1996) pp.16-18. 2 BRODSKY, Anne E. With all our strength: the 24 COOKE, Miriam. Saving brown women. Signs, 28 i Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. (2002) pp.468-470-. Also online at http:// London: Routledge, 2003. 320pp. www.journals.uchicago.edu [From section headed "Gender and September 11". US attitude to Afghan women.] 3 (BROWN, A.Widney, BOKHARI, Farhat & others) Humanity denied: systematic denial of women's rights in 25 CORNELL, Drucilla. For RAWA. Signs, 28 i (2002) Afghanistan. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2001 pp.433-435. Also online at http:// (Human Rights Watch, 13/5), 27pp. Also online at www.journals.uchicago.edu [Revolutionary Association www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan3 of the Women of Afghanistan. From section headed "Gender and September 11"] 4 DELLOYE, Isabelle. Femmes d'Afghanistan. Paris: Phébus, 2002. 186pp. 26 DUPREE, N. H. Afghan women under the Taliban. Fundamentalism reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. -
AAR Proposal Draft Nura
!1 Nura Sophia Liepsner Draft for AAR proposal (Quranic Studies) History is not a neutral ground in which events are positioned in time but forges identities and ways of being in the world, ontologies that sometimes overlap and compete with those produced by religious discursive traditions. Talal Asad thought us that the time inherent to a discursive tradition does not move linearly. The relation between past, present, and future, he argues, revolves around a specific practice and is not necessarily chronological. Within a tradition, different temporalities can exist at the same time and inform practices of people who follow its disciplinary logics. What characterises Asad’s definition of a tradition is not a secular nor a linear temporality but one that emphasizes the contemporaneity of past practices (Asad: 1993, 2003; Moumtaz: 2005; Scott: 2006). Against this backdrop, my paper analyses questions of secularism, time, and history in the field of Quranic hermeneutics in particular in the wake of colonialism and the emergence of the nation-state. In this vein, my focus will rest on major figures who pushed for projects of cultural, political, and theological reform. Key among them are Fazlur Rahman (d. 1988), Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010), and Mohammed Arkoun (d. 2010). In line with contemporary approaches to scriptural hermeneutics, their methods of interpretation start with a historicisation of revelation (Pink: 2006). But what are the consequences this method? Scholars have argued that following this exegetical movement towards history, the meaning of the Quran is never absolute but solely dependent on the reader and her context (Pink: 2006; Mahmood: 2015). -
Islamic Radicalizaion in France
ISLAMIC RADICALIZAION IN FRANCE Adèle Bigot (Research Assistant, ICT) Summer 2012 ABSTRACT For roughly a decade, Islamic terrorism has become one of the main threats to the security of Western societies. The recent attacks aimed at various Western countries have proven that the radicalization of Islamism is now closely tied to the issue of terrorism. This recent radicalization is a common feature in Western societies which find themselves challenged by homegrown as well as international terrorism. The challenge requires countries to find a way to implement efficient counter-terrorist measures. Therefore, it seems necessary to focus on the process of radicalization in order to identify its origins and possibly prevent this phenomenon. * The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). Table of Contents Pages: Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 5 I – Overview of the Muslim Communities in France: 1. A history of immigration: how Islam came to France ................................................................. 5 1. 1. From the appearance of Islam to the colonies................................................................. 5 1. 2. Successive waves of immigration....................................... ............................................ 6 2. Statistics on the Muslim community.............................................................................................