Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation.
Abstract
Critical study of the academic rhetoric used in representing Islam in the seminal anthropological texts of Geertz, Gellner, Mernissi, and Ahmed. The epilogue builds on what anthropologists have learned by observing Muslims; this is offered as a prolegomenon to future anthropological study within Islamic contexts and a more effective sharing of ethnographic analysis with scholars outside the discipline
... Consequently, Islam had not stimulated the major societal (and political) religious changes in Indonesia as was seen in the Maghrib of North Africa where Islam had a major impact on civilization, innovation and beliefs (cf. Gellner, 1981 multifariousness, which are antithesis to the aggressive, determined, homogenising, uncompromising, religiously rigorous and dogmatic nature of its Moroccan counterparts (Varisco, 2005). It makes sense to characterise the (Malay--)Indonesian Islam as the archetype of the impure, imperfect and heterodox variants of Islam developed in the far--eastern periphery of the Muslim world (Geertz, 1962; 4 . ...
... The moderate religious tradition that Nizma refers to is very similar to Geertz's (1968) cultural dichotomy between the docile, lenient and flexible Indonesian Islam and the aggressive, uncompromising and rigorous Moroccan Islam (see also Varisco, 2005). Suffice to say, the revivalist view of moderate Indonesian Islam shares some similarities with the views of their fellow traditionalist Indonesians in London. ...
... Geertz's works on Indonesian Islam, though still very influential, has been widely criticised by numerous scholars (seeHefner, 1997; Laffan, 2003;Varisco, 2005 and many others). 5 This is a rough estimation based on the 2001 Census reporting the presence about 7,000 Indonesian--born people in Britain (ONS, 2003). ...
The article addresses the impacts of migration on the transformation of religious life as experienced by Indonesian Muslim immigrants in London regarding their religious tradition, the moderate Indonesian Islam. The discussion revolves around the concept of the translocation of culture in which a (ethno-religious) tradition brought in by immigrants undergoes changes and modifications; blending and mixing with the tradition of the locals; and contextualised by local and transnational socio-political circumstances (Werbner, 2005). Related to this, I argue that the current local and international politicisation of Islam has a tremendous influence on the ways Indonesian immigrants in London construe their ethno-religious tradition. In the West, particularly Britain, however, the tradition of Moderate Islam, though gaining public popularity as a friendly form of Islam that respects religious pluralism and tolerance, has been widely debated and contested within the growing number of Muslim immigrant communities and their offspring (see Mamdani, 2002; Modood & Ahmad, 2007). For Indonesian in London, their perceptions of moderate Indonesian Islam, as a virtue of their ethno-religious tradition, have been differently re-constructed through the interplay of societal processes of their assimilation into either the minority Muslim immigrant community or the secularised British society of London.
... However, for el-Zein ( ), al-Azmeh (1993 and Varisco (2005), for example, there is not a normative Islam or an "essence" to Islam at all, rather only many "islams". This view emphasises the mediation of reason in the process of extracting meaning from texts, the "mutability", pragmatism and decentralisation of Islamic legal practice, and the historical and regional variety of Islamic religious experience that exist across the world (al-Azmeh 1993). ...
... The way in which Instructor B describes the difference between religion and culture also recalls the distinction drawn between "little tradition" (illiterate, experiential, observed at the local level, usually associated with the masses) and "great tradition" (erudite and literate, mastered by a few), which was adopted by anthropologists in the mid-20 th century to describe "folk", local traditions of Sufi saints and the "high" Islam of theologians and legal scholars (Varisco, 2005). Instructor B dismissed culture as unreflective "folklore" and assumes "Islam" comes from studying in-depth, and adhering to, classical texts. ...
The thesis explores the teaching of Islam online, particularly how Islamic educators formulate political ideas in online learning spaces. The research focused on the biography of the Prophet (sīra) classes at two Islamic institutes dedicated to teaching Islam to adult Muslims online. Inspired by critical discourse analysis and grounded theory methodologies, this study explores the audio lectures and other relevant learning resources over a one-year period. This investigation set out to identify the interpretative strategies employed in these online lectures, that is, how the instructors connect the origins of Islam with contemporary social and political issues to inform contemporary practice. It also aimed to provide a reflection on how different methodological approaches to the study of Islam impact on the potential for political imagination. In the Islamic e-learning contexts, the instructors were critical of a range of epistemological and political ideas and sought to re-conceptualise these ideas using their understanding of normative Islam. The two online instructors often expressed similar concerns about, for example, defining the role of critical thinking, the modern sciences, premodern Islamic scholarship, contemporary Muslim education, and activism. The lecture content at times relied on ambiguity to coherently incorporate opposing ideas: critical thinking and obedience, political activism and quietism, religious pluralism and supremacy, and democracy and autocracy. In both contexts, despite some differences, activism was defined as daʿwa (commonly translated as Islamic propagation but employed in the online lectures to refer to the education of Muslims) and ʿibāda (worship – particularly its public expressions). Because of the association of Islamic education with daʿwa and activism, the research findings suggest that the practice of education is perceived as instrumental to the construction of an epistemic hierarchy that informs ideas about social, economic and theological justice and a theory of social change inspired by the Prophet’s life.
... The relationship between discourses and practices on the one hand and the universal scriptural fundaments of the Islamic religion and its local variants on the other has been widely discussed in the sociology and anthropology of Islam (el-Zein 1977;Lukens-Bull 1999;Varisco 2005;Eickelmann 2007). This question presents a number of challenges for the ethnographer, who must consider his/her analytical categories and the distinctions s/he might want to draw when analysing Islam in specific contexts. ...
... The case of Russia and other post-Soviet countries with Muslim populations thus offers a new perspective on the question of how to approach the study of Islam in local contexts and the relationship between a "universal Islam" and its local expressions (el-Zein 1977;Lukens-Bull 1999;Varisco 2005;Eickelman 2007). Hence, a form of Islam that can be viewed as a local expression of the religion, a "traditional Islam" anchored in a local culture, also takes the form of an official normative category and a top-down discourse. ...
The four contributions to this special section aim to study Islam in Russia from below, by examining how Muslims in Russia live and experience their vision of the Islamic religion in conformity and/or dissonance with official categories of Islam, or by simply moving beyond them. The contributions in this collection start from the idea that the study of Islam in Russia is inevitably confronted with normative discourses about acceptable and undesirable forms of Islam. These normative discourses are represented in the categories of “traditional” and “non-traditional Islam” that contributors to the section examine and interrogate through the perceptions and experiences of their Muslim informants. A number of questions arise when we examine the relationship between lived, grassroots Muslim experiences – Islam perceived from below – and top-down normative discourses. First, we can ask whether official categories reflect emic self-definitions, ways in which Muslims in Russia define themselves, taking into account that these emic terms are in flux. We can also ask about the nature of grassroots Muslim experiences: do they inevitably emerge outside of official Muslim institutions, or do we find a variety of grassroots Muslims, not all clearly identifiable on a religious level? Second, we can consider what increased religiosity, taking different forms, might mean for the perception of official dichotomies, along with the role of the Muftiates at the intersection between state discourses and grassroots Muslims. Does increased religiosity dissolve, alter or consolidate divisions drawn on an official level? The ethnographies in this section reveal that the exploration of Islam tends to produce unique trajectories among Muslims in Russia that cannot always be clearly located on a theological spectrum. The religious trajectories carved out by Muslims in Russia are constantly evolving and responding to a changing socio-political environment.
... Я использую для этого гораздо более узкий круг источников, чем Кеннелл, -в первую очередь лишь три относительно новые книги об исламе. Это работы Дэниела Вариско (Varisco, 2005), Дж. Макриса (Makris, 2007) и Дженни Уайт (White, 2002). ...
... . См. ниже уVarisco (2005) обоснованные аргументы об этом. См. также у Zubaida (1995) анализ использования Геллнером Ибн Халдуна для репрезентации мусульманского общества и истории как полной противоположности западному обществу. ...
Research on ‘Muslim societies’ is a controversial topic in the present, particularly given the US army’s current employment of anthropological experts in war zones under military occupation. In 2006 the UK Foreign Office, too, sought to include anthropologists in its worldwide research project entitled ‘Combating Terrorism by Countering Radicalization’, with grants given outside the normal process of research funding and differently assessed. In this article, I immodestly argue for how the discipline of anthropology should apprehend and analyse Islam in the present political context. The paper claims that anthropological research provides an antidote to the Islamophobia of much talk about Islam in the Australian public sphere, an Islamophobia originating not only from the right but from some leftists and feminists as well.
... A common way of defining the object of study within Islamic studies is provided by Edward E. Curtis, who states, "Wherever and whenever a person calls himself or herself Muslim, scholars should include this person's voice in their understanding of what constitutes Islam" (Curtis 2002: 6;cf. Bowen 2012;Marranci 2008;Varisco 2005).1 Further, Curtis suggests that if scholars want to avoid essentialism "there is not and cannot be any one normative definition of Islamic tradition or its boundaries and limits" and he therefore urges scholars to "identify competing definitions of Islam by examining the historical interpretations of Muslims themselves" (Curtis 2002: 4). This notion of Islam being produced as discourse by Muslims, rather than as an object that has ontological existence beyond human interaction and communication, has been dominant within the anthropological study of Islam since the wide dissemination of discourse theory, somewhat propagated by Talal Asad's (1986) working paper The idea of an anthropology of Islam (see, for example, Bowen 2016;Chan-Malik 2018;Hill 2018;Hirschkind 2009;Mahmood 2012;Masquelier 2009;Stenberg and Wood 2022;Renders 2021;Willerslev and Suhr 2018;Fadil 2019;Fadil and Fernando 2015). ...
In this article we define a new concept that has not previously been theorized: non-Muslim Islam . We argue that theories and methodologies within Islamic studies produce a hierarchy between Muslim and non-Muslim productions of Islam, prioritizing the first. However, this article highlights that Islam may be produced for other purposes than belief in a deity; Islam may for example be important in producing non-Muslim identity, politics, aesthetics, narratives, etc. We therefore argue the case for studying non-Muslim Islam, because: 1) Non-Muslim Islams play an important role in Euro-American societies and are therefore interesting in and of themselves; 2) Non-Muslim Islams have a significant impact on Muslim Islams, and thus, we will not understand Muslim Islams without a clear understanding of non-Muslim Islams; 3) It is a way of insisting on an etic research epistemology. The article ends with a discussion of ethical and strategic benefits of adopting this approach.
... 4 Also see Varisco (2005). ...
p>Community archaeology requires major conceptual work. Whilst important advances have been made in analysing the methodological principles of the field, much still remains to be articulated on the central epistemological or theoretical basis of the idea of community archaeology. Integral to this particular endeavour is a close examination of just how a 'community' may be involved in the portrayal of the stories revolving around their heritage. I address this through a study focusing upon the manners in which Egyptian heritage has been represented. The topic of presenting the ancient past of Egypt has received little scholarly examination and the portrayal of the heritage of Egypt in distinctly western contexts has barely been reflected upon. This thesis considers how the mode of displaying Egyptian archaeology may be reconceptualised. Primarily drawing its inspiration from a series of conversations with individuals from the city of Quseir on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, alongside findings from both the English and Arabic literary canon, the history of archaeology and of ideas, Egyptology, political thinking and certain anthropological critiques, I seek to question the display of the Egyptian past outside of the country, and ultimately to recommend a possible form for the retelling of this past. This project imagines the potential of the museum of the future as a site that celebrates diversity, and yet also fosters a shared sense of humanity; a stage that uses its collections to challenge the inequalities of the present, whilst stimulating the audiences' imagination, and finally, as a setting that promotes co- existence and, to quote Johannes Fabian, 'coevality' — the sharing of time and space between British audiences and those whose past they view. A theory of 'collaborative archaeology' provides the foundation for this transformation.</p
... Messick (2016) confirms the Geertzian textual trend because he is the one who has initiated a decisive textual turn in anthropology. Second, the bulk of his observations, says Varisco (2005), are mostly about historical matters and taken from the secondary texts listed in his bibliographic notes. Third, the entire interpretive program of Geertz is inspired by an interdisciplinary leaning allowing him to "become an interdisciplinary figure and a major presence at the interface of the social sciences and the humanities" (Shankman 1984, p. 261). ...
There is a divergence between religion and its modes of application, or religion and religiosity. This essay provides a critical analysis of Clifford Geertz’s book Islam Observed and tries to attempt the question of whether Islam is better understood exclusively as a set of socially conditioned symbols and practices. However, an anthropological interpretation solely based on symbols leaves much to be desired as it lends itself to a kind of radical relativism in which generalizable conclusions become impossible. The theological approach tends to bypass the role sociopolitical contexts play in sustaining, negotiating, and modifying religious doctrines. Islam has been studied from the perspectives of these two mutually exclusive methodologies. This study attempts to arrive at an interdisciplinary analysis in which theology and anthropology cooperate to formulate a comprehensive understanding of Islam as a social system sustained by specific practices and as a theological structure communicated through a dialogue between abstract doctrines and mundane rituals.
... I will not summarize Geertz's work in details here, nor will I provide a new critique or defense of this seminal study on Moroccan and Javanese Muslims, as some anthropologists have provided fine summaries, critiques and defenses (e.g. Crapanzano 1973;el-Zein 1977;Varisco 2005). Rather, I wish to evaluate how Islam Observed has contributed to the formation of the concept of an anthropology of Islam (and Muslim society). ...
... While Abdullah admits he has no intention "to write a book about Islam or Muslims per se," his refusal to make any conclusive comments on Islam nods to the contextual push against homogenising Islam. Rather, in the spirit of Varisco (2005) his ethnography concerns more observing Muslims than Islam and observing rather than abstracting to theoretical or conceptual conclusions. ...
This article aims to review the book with the title of Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem by Zain Abdullah. Abdullah’s (2010) Mec Black Mecca ’adds to the growing body of literature on Islam influenced by the post-modernists' challenges to neo-Orientalist Western representations of Islam (Al Azmeh 1993: 140). They are called for a historicized and contextualized view of Islam and Muslims, steering away from essentializing identity politics. Abdullah's (2010) thick ethnography, or as he describes it, "narrative style," presents a variety of anecdotes and experiences along gendered, class, and generational lines, with a common Muslim orientation towards environment and experiences.
... Cette façon d'aborder la problématique, et surtout la suggestion d'une spécificité musulmane, fera l'objet de multiples commentaires. Tandis que la dimension essentialiste induite par cette posture est au coeur des diverses critiques (el-Zein, 1977;Varisco, 2005;Zubaida, 2006), certains problématisent aussi l'autorité que les anthropologues s'octroient pour définir ce qui pourrait être compris comme le « véritable Islam ». L'article de l'anthropologue Abdul Hamid El-Zein (1977), qui figure parmi les textes les plus connus et qui sera ensuite explicitement repris par Talal Asad, en est un exemple. ...
... Antes de inalizar esta introducción, cabe aclarar que no pretendemos basarnos en una deinición generalizada del islam, sino que indagamos en lo que es el islam para el conjunto de sujetos que participaron en la investigación. Estamos de acuerdo con Varisco (2005), quien sostiene que es un contrasentido aspirar a una deinición única de esta religión, ya que esto impide conocer las diversas experiencias locales. Al reconocer todas las versiones del islam que existen en el mundo (Asad, 2007), reconocemos también que un planteamiento globalizante no tendría validez alguna. ...
Este artículo analiza las razones por las cuales un conjunto de habitantes de Bogotá decide “vivir islámicamente”. La metodología utilizada en el trabajo de campo consistió en entrevistas abiertas y observaciones etnográficas dentro y fuera de la congregación religiosa. Los resultados muestran que los sujetos valoran la orientación moral y la perspectiva de vida alternativa que les propone el islam, a partir de principios como los de trascendencia y aceptación. Este interés por una religión otra plantea una crítica a la modernidad que va más allá del discurso liberal.
... En 1981, Gellner, tan endiosado en la antropología en general, como denostado en la antropología del islam en particular (Asad 1986;Varisco 2005), relataba la siguiente conversación: ...
Los orígenes de la antropología del islam han estado vinculados a un cierto cuestionamiento epistemológico de la producción de arabistas y orientalistas, de quienes la antropología buscaba distinguirse, con el fin de evitar la reificación del islam y la esencialización de grandes áreas y poblaciones sobre una supuesta base religiosa. Frente al orientalismo, las etnografías priorizaban el conocimiento de la gente y sorteaban los esencialismos. Sin embargo, el fundamento teórico de la antropología del islam ha identificado un objeto, el islam, que en ciertos sentidos reproduce algunas de las perspectivas que tanto se han criticado al arabismo, aunque al mismo tiempo contengan reflexiones fundamentales para nuestro quehacer como antropólogas. Esta cartografía hace un recorrido por las aportaciones de la antropología de los contextos musulmanes en el panorama académico del Estado español, tratando de reconstruir la racionalidad de temas y de enfoques, así como de identificar regularidades, con el objeto de ofrecer una hoja de ruta para orientarse por la enorme producción existente; y de proponer algunos debates que sitúen a la antropología en un lugar no solo académico, sino de producción de discursos públicos crítica y políticamente construidos.
... For overviews, seeLindholm (1996),Eickelman (2002),Varisco (2005),Marranci (2008),Bowen (2012a),Kreinath (2012), andHafez and Slyomovics (2013). ...
... The US anthropologist and historian Daniel Varisco (2005), who did research on astronomy and agriculture in Yemen, subsequently analyzed the rhetoric of anthropological writings on Muslim societies and argued they were obscuring the study of Islam. Varisco concluded that anthropological representations of Islam must be contextual and relational regarding their object. ...
In contrast to other fields of anthropological research, an anthropology of Islam must consider the global dissemination and local appropriation of Islam as a tradition spanning various time periods and geographical regions. Concurrently, Islam must be studied empirically and contextually, which poses a challenge to conceptualizing the unity and diversity of Islamic practice and discourse. Such a challenge leads to a constellation of methodological issues and problems similar to in the anthropological study of other religions with global dissemination but unique in comparison to other fields of research in social and cultural anthropology. In many ways, the study of Islam parallels, but also contrasts with, the formation of anthropology as an academic discipline, which emerged alongside other social sciences in the late nineteenth century.
... E-mail: sunnybeige@gmail.com Notes 1. Borrowing from Daniel Varisco's (2005) definition, I define Muslim as an individual who, implicitly or explicitly, associates herself with Islam. For the term girlhood, I borrow from Judith Butler who describes "girlhood as a set of identity statements that, at birth, enmesh us in the process of 'being girls.'" ...
In this article I focus on the graphic narratives Gogi (1970-the present) by Nigar Nazar and Haroon Rashid's Burka Avenger (2013-the present) in particular to examine the empowering portrayal of Muslim girlhood that these works offer in addition to advocating for the rights of Muslim girls. I emphasize that graphic narratives have become a powerful medium that represents the resistance of Muslim girlhood both in the context of local patriarchies and as a tool to challenge the stereotypical representation of Muslim identities globally. By focusing on the depiction of the girl protagonists in these graphic narratives, I analyze how these artists rework the western superhero trope to foreground the girls' everyday heroism. Moreover, by situating the interaction of the girls with Pakistani cityscapes, I argue, in terms of De Certeau's concept of tactics, that the protagonists navigate the Pakistani cities as familiar places rather than as othered spaces.
... Antes de inalizar esta introducción, cabe aclarar que no pretendemos basarnos en una deinición generalizada del islam, sino que indagamos en lo que es el islam para el conjunto de sujetos que participaron en la investigación. Estamos de acuerdo con Varisco (2005), quien sostiene que es un contrasentido aspirar a una deinición única de esta religión, ya que esto impide conocer las diversas experiencias locales. Al reconocer todas las versiones del islam que existen en el mundo (Asad, 2007), reconocemos también que un planteamiento globalizante no tendría validez alguna. ...
This article studies the reasons for a group of inhabitants in Bogota to "live an Islamic Lifestyle." The methodology consisted of open interviews and ethnographic observations both inside and outside of the religious congregation. The results show that the moral orientation as well as the alternative perspective of life stated in Islam is valued by the subjects who took part in the research, based on principles such as those of transcendence and acceptance. This interest in a religion that diverges from the traditional states a critique of modernity that goes beyond the liberal discourse.
... Moreover, the status of Muslim women is rather explained by using determinants other than religion, which, in turn, should be distinguished between religion as theological tenets and theodicy (that is what is just for God), and religion as an interpreted code and performed everyday practice (Varisco 2005). ...
This work aims to investigate quality of working life (QWL) in Italian call centers in a gender-sensitive perspective. The research design involves the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to bring to light and try to understand the reasons for gender differences in the QWL in this sector of the labour market. The results of the analysis conducted on a sample of 1715 workers indicate that women have a higher level of QWL than men, despite lower retributions and worst contracts. In-depth interviews show that the differentiation in individual reactions to working conditions is closely connected to aspirations, expectations, motivations and individual needs.
... Att studera islam som en "diskursiv tradition" har sina rötter i den akademiska diskussionen om "the anthropology of Islam" och framför allt i Talal Asads kritik av såväl reifierade bilder av islam som en monolitisk enhet med ett determinerande inflytande över muslimers tänkande och handlande, som av en fullständig upplösning i en mångfald lokala, inbördes orelaterade, kulturyttringar hos personer som identifierar sig religiöst som muslimer (Asad 1986;Varisco 2005). ...
... As discussed in Chapter 1, feminism's relationship with Muslim women has been an uneasy one. Western (secular) feminists have often defined Islam as a paradigmatic case of patriarchy (Varisco 2005). Feminist writers living in Muslim countries, like Mernissi (1985), argue that Islam has facilitated and supported patriarchal systems. ...
While issues surrounding Muslim women are common in the international media, the voices of Muslim women themselves are largely absent from media coverage and despite the rapidly increasing presence of Muslim women in online groups and discussions, it is still a relatively unexplored topic. This book examines Muslim women in transnational online groups, and their views on education, culture, marriage, sexuality, work, dress-code, race, class and sisterhood.
... 2 This is an over-simplification of current political dynamics in the world (cf. Malik 2008), often involving incoherent and flawed analyses of Islam and Muslim societies (Varisco 2005). These views on the mosque and madrasa have been contested by alternative perspectives in light of their role in charity, social welfare, and religious coexistence (e.g. ...
The mosque occupies a central position in the social as well as religious life of Muslims. It is not only a place of worship where rituals are performed, but also serves as a social space where Muslims take part in welfare activities. The design and architecture of the mosque have local as well as global influences, representing religious, economic, and esthetic dimensions of Muslim social organization. Therefore, Muslims' association with the mosque has much significance from social, political, and economic perspectives. Based on an ethnographic example, this report aims to highlight the use of mosque space in the cultural context of rural Pakistan. In addition to discussing the sociospatial relationships around the mosque, I discuss how Muslims' beliefs about the world and the afterlife shape these relationships.
This is a review of Mernissi’s Beyond the Veil, one of the most influential book discussing Islam and gender.I have to admit that I have not read Mernissi before I take a course called Anthropology and World Religions focusing in Islam in the University of Auckland. Later I know that the reason why her name rarely echoed in anthropological atmosphere in Indonesia (particularly in Sulawesi) is because Mernissi only well-known in gender studies (especially in Islam) and Islamic studies. I know it because the only colleague who knows Mernissi is my professor who studied anthropology and gender (and Islam). Beyond the Veil is an interesting book. It explores the relation and the dynamics within male-female Muslims which even I, as a Muslim, have not realised it before. Excluding the introduction (with three different versions) and the conclusion, Beyond the Veil is divided into two parts. Part one consist of three chapters which are more theoretic (or conceptual) background of the book and I think, it would be easier for the readers to understand the context and to grasp Mernissi’s arguments briefly. Part two consist of six chapters which are more ethnographic oriented (fieldwork-based) since it tells the readers about the dynamics between men and women in modern Morocco (as a case or sample of modern Islamic society).
Using as its background the celebration of the 450 years since the publication of The Lusiads by Luís Vaz de Camões and the several discourses which have originated in the media around those same celebrations, this paper aims at analysing the contribution of this work for the shaping and development of Orientalist discourse in Portugal. I begin by listing the terms that Camões used to refer to Africans, Middle Easterners and Indians and then I compare them with modern media representations of the same peoples. I conclude that, despite the temporal difference, modern representations are defined by continuity and similarity rather than by rupture and difference. In the final section, I try to assess the different memories regarding Camões and his work as well as the history of Portugal and of the African and Asian people in the contemporary world.
Muss und kann die Islamwissenschaft dem Anspruch gerecht werden, auf jede Frage zum Islam und den Muslimen eine passende Antwort zu haben? Verstärkt nicht die Islamwissenschaft eher in der deutschen Öffentlichkeit verbreitete (Vor-)Urteile, als dass sie einen aufklärerischen und erklärenden Beitrag leisten könnte? Ist es der Islamwissenschaft überhaupt gelungen, sich von den Paradigmen des Orientalismus des 19. Jahrhunderts zu befreien? Der Sammelband zeigt ein ehemaliges »Orchideenfach«, das sich mit großen Erwartungen von Politik und Öffentlichkeit konfrontiert sieht und widerstreitende Antworten auf diese Herausforderung gibt.
At a time when there is increasing need to offer psychotherapeutic approaches that accommodate clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs, and acknowledge the potential for healing and growth offered by religious frameworks, this book explores psychology from an Islamic paradigm and demonstrates how Islamic understandings of human nature, the self, and the soul can inform an Islamic psychotherapy.
Drawing on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of interviews with Islamic scholars and clinicians, this unique volume distils complex religious concepts to reconcile Islamic theology with contemporary notions of psychology. Chapters offer nuanced explanations of relevant Islamic tradition and theological sources, consider how this relates to Western notions of psychotherapy and common misconceptions, and draw uniquely on first-hand data to develop a new theory of Islamic psychology. This, in turn, informs an innovative and empirically driven model of practice that translates Islamic understandings of human psychology into a clinical framework for Islamic psychotherapy.
An outstanding scholarly contribution to the modern and emerging discipline of Islamic psychology, this book makes a pioneering contribution to the integration of the Islamic sciences and clinical mental health practice. It will be a key resource for scholars, researchers, and practicing clinicians with an interest in Islamic psychology and Muslim mental health, as well as religion, spirituality and psychology more broadly.
Mahmoud Mohamed Taha (1909–1985) founded the Republican Brotherhood in the early 1950s to promote social reform through a new understanding of divine revelation which had emerged during his two years of khalwa or retreat. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the Republican Brotherhood attracted a few thousand followers to Ustadh Mahmoud’s teachings, whose foundation was the discipline of tariq Mohamed, “the Path of the Prophet.” This Path was a challenging design for life that embraced gender equality and social justice against the backdrop of an increasingly Islamist-oriented Sudan. In the 1980s, the height of the Brotherhood’s membership, the Republicans confronted Sudan President Gaafar Nimeiry’s imposition of his version of “Islamic Law,” with publications and street corner lectures. Through peaceful protest, the Republican’s point was that Islamic Law would only be oppressive to the millions of non-Muslims in the country and to women. The result of this resistance was the 1985 arrest and execution of Taha for trumped-up charges of apostasy. In the decades following the passing of their teacher, the Republicans have kept a low profile in Sudan while trying to maintain both their faith and some social cohesion. In reaction to both the Islamist political conditions in Sudan and the failing economy, many Republicans have joined the Sudanese flight abroad, with modest communities of Republicans now established in the Gulf States of Qatar and UAE, as well as the United States. Through field work and interviews with members of these three communities, I have tried to understand the effort to sustain the discipline of the Path of the Prophet by Republican brothers and sisters under circumstances of the extremist orientations of Gulf politics, or the “moral ambiguity” of the United States. This study is part of a larger book project on the Republican Brotherhood following the execution of Ustadh Mahmoud.
Religion is also a contested term. One definition presents it as a social system of particular behaviors, values, worldviews, scriptures, sacred places, predictions, morals, or groups; such social system connects all these human practices to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.
Hadith studies in Indonesia continually try to be developed by scholars. They try to develop the hadith studies which have been considered "rarely studied" compared to other Islamic studies. One of the issues uses a multidisciplinary approach involving the social sciences and humanities. The phenomenon of living hadith is part of the issues. It tried to shift the focus which is not only study the text of hadith, but also shifted to the issues of hadith in practice, such as socio-cultural phenomenon that live and thrive in the community. The object study of living hadith is the community who receive, use and practice the hadith in their daily lives. One of approaches that uses to research the community is anthropology. It is a scientific disciplines seen from the aspect of human culture. This paper is a preliminary studies on the importance of using anthropological techniques in the study of living hadith in Indonesia. It will focus on the issue of the development of living hadith in Indonesia, the importance to shift the hadith studies from the text to the public sphere, the development of the study of living hadith from the great tradition to the little tradition, the use of anthropology as an approach or perspective and the methodological steps in the anthropological studies of living hadith. This study is important not only in order to expand the area of hadith studies towards a more dynamic knowledge, but is also expected to strengthen the basis of arguments about the importance of living hadith in the discourse of the anthropology of Islam.
Ahmet T. Kuru, laik devletlerin dine yönelik politikalarındaki ayrılıkları ABD, Fransa ve Türkiye'deki uygulamalar üzerinden inceliyor. Laiklikle ilgili politikaların şekillenmesinde etkili olan ideolojik mücadelenin tarihi koşullar altında belirlendiğini aktaran yazar, ABD'de dine toleranslı "pasif laiklik" ile Fransa ve Türkiye'de dini kamusal alandan dışlayan "dışlayıcı laiklik"i karşılaştırıyor. (Baskısı tükendiği için tüm metni internete koydum).
This article seeks to scrutinize the thought of Ernest Gellner particularly his idea of tasawuf and its relation to social cohesion. He has raised a number of questions concerning the relation of Islam and tasawuf with modernity, which attract the attention of other scholars in the field. By modernity he means secularism, industrialism and national-ism. Motivated by secular and orientalist ideals, Gellner seems to have no ground in the “normative” aspect of Islam. This study finds that he is equally not consistent. In the first instance, he tends to argue that Islam must be excluded from modernity because it is not in conformity with it. Then he speaks of what he calls higher Islam and lower Islam, the former being in line with modernity while the latter is not. With regard to this distinction, he urges that Muslim society undergoes what he calls a “transition” from the lower to the higher Islam if it is to join the modern society and be part of the “cohesive world”. The lower Islam should be left out because it teaches magic and encourages poverty. By bringing up this distinction, and not sticking to the consistent paradigm, Gellner’s thought on Islam and tasawuf vis-à-vis modernity is—it may be judged—dichotomous and even perplexed.
This article tries to understands the dynamics of texts and practices in Islamic tradition. It also addresses the larger question related to the praxis of what is often termed in the binaries of the folk Islam and Elite Islam. The main focus of the article is what is social in the texts as received and circulated in different parts of the Muslim world.
Ein Hauptanliegen meiner Arbeit ist es, zu zeigen, dass sich kemalistisch-säkulare und islamische Gruppierungen in der türkischen Gesellschaft nicht länger gegenüberstehen. Das Bild vom Kampf zwischen Islamismus und Säkularismus, auf den die politische Diskussion in der Türkei zum Teil reduziert wird, war und ist nur in geringem Maße gültig. In Anlehnung an Taylor, Asad und Mahmood habe ich deshalb versucht, zu zeigen, wie sich der Kampf zwischen Säkularismus und Islamismus in eine Auseinandersetzung um Macht, Rechte und identitäre Anerkennung übersetzen lässt. Dass diese Sichtweise heute offensichtlicher ist als noch vor einem Jahrzehnt, hat vor allem damit zu tun, dass sich seit 2002 und vor allem ab 2008 viele Vereinigungen und Initiativen herausgebildet haben, die über diese gesellschaftliche Spaltung hinweg agieren. Für die muslimische Studentengruppe, die ich in meiner Arbeit beschreibe, heißt das vor allem der Beginn eines gesellschaftlichen Engagements, das sich nicht mehr auf die Moschee oder allenfalls einen konservativen Stadtteil begrenzen lässt. Muslimisches politisches Engagement sucht nach Verbündeten unter den Säkularen und beschäftigt sich nun auch – jenseits des AKP-Mainstreams – mit all den Themen, die eigentlich nur die „modernen, säkularen“ Türken angingen: Verfassung, religiöse, ethnische und sexuelle Minderheiten, Flüchtlingspolitik, Arbeiterrechte und vieles mehr. Die Rolle, die dem Islam dabei als politischer und gesellschaftlicher Faktor zukommt, wird hier neu verhandelt und diskutiert.
Daniels argues that this volume charts a new direction for the anthropology of Islam by demonstrating how to overcome the dichotomy between the “discursive tradition” and “interpretive frameworks” approaches. This chapter notes some problems with popular conceptions of practice and suggests sustaining cultural analysis of knowledge embodied in practices as well as discerning power relations and other aspects of context. Daniels also provides some historical background of the complex concepts and reasoning principles of Islamic jurisprudence before highlighting the varied usage of fiqh tools in contemporary sociocultural processes. In addition, this introductory chapter describes how this volume explores sharia dynamics, the role discourses and practices of sharia play in sociopolitical processes, many of which are connected to modernity, secularism, and political Islamic projects.
p> Book Review: Lubańska Magdalena, Muslims and Christians in the Bulgarian Rhodopes. Studies on Religious (Anti)Syncretism
"Muslims and Christians in the Bulgarian Rhodopes. Studies on Religious (Anti)Syncretism", a book by Magdalena Lubańska is a summary of her research carried out for many years among the Christian Orthodox and Muslim Pomaks in Rhodope mountains of Bulgaria. There Lubańska conducted in-depth interviews and carried out ethnographic observation about the knowledge regarding neighbours of different religion, their beliefs and religious practices.
Recenzja książki: Lubańska Magdalena, Muslims and Christians in the Bulgarian Rhodopes. Studies on Religious (Anti)Syncretism
Książka Magdaleny Lubańskiej jest podsumowaniem jej badań prowadzonych od wielu lat wśród prawosławnych oraz muzułmanów w Rodopach, w Bułgarii. Lubańska przeprowadziła pogłębione wywiady i obserwację etnograficzną, dotyczącą sąsiadowania mieszkańców różnych religii, ich wierzeń i praktyk religijnych.</p
Muslime wie Nichtmuslime reagieren auf den übergeordneten Referenzrahmen Moderne. Sie denken über neue Medien nach, über Staatsformen, über Diversität und darüber welche Bedeutung Religion für sie in der modernen Gegenwart hat.
Ausgehend von der Frage nach dem Umgang mit „dem Anderen“ beleuchtet diese Studie die Auseinandersetzung muslimischer Reformdenker mit der Thematik.
Im Mittelpunkt der Studie steht der renommierte indische Sozialaktivist und Reformdenker Asghar Ali Engineer (1939-2013), der für sein Engagement für das friedliche Zusammenleben verschiedener Religionsgemeinschaften in Indien 2004 mit dem Alternativen Friedensnobelpreis ausgezeichnet wurde.
Am Beispiel seiner Texte möchte ich aufzeigen, was diese Religionsintellektuellen (Friedrich Wilhelm Graf) auszeichnet und wie sie sich mit modernen Gütern, wie zum Beispiel Säkularismus oder Pluralismus auseinandersetzen. Ich gehe der Frage nach, welche Rolle das Moment der Anerkennung für die Auseinandersetzung mit muslimischen Stereotypen und in diesem Zusammenhang für die Entwicklung einer eigenen Lesart des Korantextes spielt.
Der Koran spielt dabei für die Reformdenker eine wesentliche Rolle. Engineer beispielweise versteht ihn als ethisch-moralischen Leitfaden. Was bedeutet das für ihr Wirken und warum wird die eigene Herangehensweise popularisiert? Wird der Koran gelesen, damit er als Heiliger Text verstanden wird oder sollen mit dem Koran innerweltliche Sinnzusammenhänge verstanden werden? Welche Bedeutung hat die Herangehensweise von Reformdenkern in Bezug auf die Vorwürfe, die diesen Denkern gemacht wird: Selektivität (also selektive Auswahl der Koranverse) und Subjektivität (also subjektive Lesart und Interpretation des Heiligen Texts). Was ist dran an diesen Vorwürfen? Wie können sie neu beleuchtet und reflektiert werden?
Wer hat die Deutungshoheit und gibt es Grenzen der Reform? Autoritäts- und Identitätsdiskurse verschränken sich hier.
Clarke focuses on a of very important methodological challenges and dilemmas that doing ethnography in Islamic contexts often presents anthropologists with. In particular he explores how conducting work on Islamic legal culture in Beirut led him perilously close to crossing boundaries that were considered as being inviolable for many of his informants. These boundaries are associated with religio-political differences between Sufis and reformers, and Sunnis and Shi’a, as well as modern liberals and people of faith. While Clarke initially sought to pursue an open fieldwork strategy in which he interacted with people in a variety of contexts and backgrounds, ultimately he was forced to narrow down the spaces in which he worked and the practices he jointly embarked upon with his informants
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