Islamic Perspective Number 3 2010 London Academy of Iranian Studies www.iranianstudies.org ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE--- 1 Aims & Scope The Journal of Islamic Perspective is a peer reviewed publication of the Center for Humanities and Sociological Studies, affiliated to the London Academy of Iranian Studies (LIAS) 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: [email protected] Chairman Seyed G Safavi, SOAS University, UK Editor Seyed Javad Miri, Sharif University, Iran Book Review Editor Yoginder Singh Sikand, National Law School, Bangalore, India Editorial Board Akbar Ahmed, American University, USA Rohit Barot, Bristol University, England Kenneth MacKendrick, University of Manitoba, USA 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 2 IPCSS --- Husain Heriyanto, ICAS, Indonesia Eleanor Finnegan, University of Florida, 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 Assistant Editor Hossein Allahverdi, Imam Khomeini International University, Iran Manuscript Submission Submissions of articles, book reviews and other correspondence should be sent to: Seyed Javad Miri at [email protected]. ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE--- 3 │Contents 4 IPCSS --- Interview Interview on Rationalization and Modernities George Ritzer 7 Articles Islam and Barbie: The Commodification of Hijabi Dolls Faegheh Shirazi 10 The Challenge of Postmetaphysical Thinking and The Nature of Religious Thought Kenneth G. MacKendrick 28 Secularization and The Iranian Revolution Warren S. Goldstein 50 If Tomorrow Never Comes; Reflections on The Last Day on Earth John Herlihy 68 Feminist Research for Social Change Ayeesha Zawahir 87 Abu Ali Miskawayh: Contribution to Arabic Historiography Badruddin Bhat 95 Problems with The Avicennian Concept of God’s Knowledge Rachel Woodlock 103 Iranian Studies at Concordia University: A Unique Program in Canada Umberto Cicchetti 108 Muslim Projects to Halt Climate Change in Indonesia Fachruddin M. Mangunjaya, Iwan Wijayanto, Jatna Supriatna, Harfiyah Haleem, Fazlun Khalid 116 The Environmental Crisis and Global Violence: A Matter of Misplaced Values Richard Foltz 131 Religionsgeschichte and Sadrian Paradigm; Consecrative Power and Discriminative Ability Seyed Javad Miri 141 ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE--- 5 One Anonimous Group; the Pomacs in Bulgarian Political Life after The Collapse of Totalitarian Regime Margarita Karamihova 148 The Role of Sound Reasoning in Hadith-Text Examination Israr Ahmad Khan 164 Cultural Sufism and its Relationship to ‘Irfan Seyed Sadreddin Safavi 190 Book Reviews Zainah Anwar Ed., Wanted—Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family Yoginder Sikand 196 Angel Rabasa and F. Stephen Larrabee, The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey Ejder Kumuş 203 Shireen Hunter Ed., Reformist Voices of Islam—Mediating Islam and Modernity Yoginder Sikand 205 6 IPCSS --- │Interview ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE--- 7 Interview on Rationalization and Modernities Note Dr. Seyed Javad Miri from The Center for Humanities and Sociological Studies (IPCHS) and Dr. Warren S. Goldstein from Harvard University conducted the following interview with George Ritzer from the University of Maryland in the United States. Ritzer, born in 1940 in New York, is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is one of the leading Weberian sociologists in the United States and is widely known in the scholarly community for his distinctive contributions to the study of consumption, globalization, metatheory, and modern and postmodern social theory. Ritzer’s The McDonaldization of Society (first published in 1993 and currently in its fifth edition) catapulted him to academic stardom, being among the most popular monographs ever penned by a sociologist. A realist in the Weberian tradition, Ritzer has expanded and developed his highly critical analysis of contemporary social life in the aptly titled The Globalization of Nothing (first published in 2004 and now in its second edition). Other celebrated works include: Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science (1975); Contemporary Sociological Theory (1983); Frontiers of Social Theory: The New Syntheses (1990); Classical Sociological Theory (1996); The McDonaldization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions (1998); Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption (1999); and Sociological Theory (2008). Questions on Rationality and Modernities To what extent does global cultural rationalization apply to non-Western societies- particularly countries like Iran? George Ritzer: I’ve never been to Iran, but it seems clear that it has to a large degree shut the door to much that has its origins in West (and as Weber showed, rationalization had its origins there). Of course, they have not been able to close themselves off completely and there are also certainly vestiges of Western rationalization that were in place before the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Furthermore, there are indigenous forms of rationalization (as Weber showed in the cases of India, China, and so on). More generally, there is great variation among non-Western countries with some heavily influenced by global rationalization and others showing as little, or maybe even less, such rationalization. If we take McDonald’s as the paradigm of global rationalization (with its roots in the West), it is in roughly 120 countries in the world; about 60% of all countries in the world. Of course, McDonald’s, or similar institutions, can be isolated islands of rationalization in seas of relative non-rationality. 8 IPCSS --- Have you readjusted your position to take into consideration multiple modernities, i.e. that rationality take different forms in different societies? George Ritzer: There is no need to adjust my position. I never argued that the world was rationalized, or in my terms McDonaldized, to the same (high degree). I did argue that it was a process that was spreading globally- and that certainly came to be the case. But the degree to which any given society is McDonaldized varies greatly. That is clear, for example, in the title of the following essay I co-authored with Seth Ovadia: “The Process of McDonaldization is Not Uniform, nor Are Its Settings, Consumers, or the Consumption of Its Goods and Services” in Mark Gottdiener, ed., New Forms of Consumption: Consumers, Cultures and Commodification. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000: 33-49. How is sociological theory dominated by an Occidental perspective? George Ritzer: There is no question that sociological theory is dominated by the Occident, especially that which is written in English or translated into English. Those who write well in English, or who attract the attention of skilled English translators, have a huge advantage in global theory. Furthermore, many Occidental works are translated into many other languages. For example, my theory textbooks have been widely translated and thus define sociological theory in many societies. Most in the Occident do not read languages outside its orbit and are therefore largely ignorant of theory being developed elsewhere. How can it be modified to have a more global, multicultural vision? George Ritzer: Those in the Occident need to make a greater effort to familiarize themselves with theory developed elsewhere and spearhead efforts to have such work translated. Those outside the Occident need to do a better job of translating their work into English. Furthermore, it needs to be high-quality English since much of the success of theory depends on how well it is articulated. Has the documentary “Supersize Me” forced you to rethink the McDonaldization thesis, i.e. that rationalization is irrational? George Ritzer: It hasn’t. A key theme of The McDonaldization of