Contemporary Debates in Islam

Contemporary Debates in Islam
Author: Kamran Talattof
Publisher: MacMillan
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2000
Genre: Islam
ISBN: 9780333754740

A remarkable development occurred in the Islamic world during the second half of the 19th century. A group of prominent Muslim theologians began to critically examine classical conceptions and methods of jurisprudence and devised a new approach to Islamic theology. This new approach was nothing short of an outright rebellion against Islamic orthodoxy, displaying an astonishing compatibility with 19th century Enlightenment era thought. In the 20th century, this modernist movement declined, to be replaced by another cultural episode, characterized by the growing power of Islamic fundamentalism. This volume looks at these two very different approaches to Islam, illustrating how Islamic modernism and fundamentalism were discourses each being an organized set of signs consisting of a conceptual framework, symbolic order, and ritualistic behaviour. The editors have selected the most prominent Islamic thinkers of modernist and fundamentalist viewpoints, diverse nationalities, and from both the late decades of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century.

Muslims and Modernity

Muslims and Modernity
Author: Clinton Bennett
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 082645481X

Voicing at least two Muslim opinions in each area of debate, this book challenges the idea that all Muslims think identically. While Muslims and Modernity is designed primarily for use an undergraduate textbook, reference to accessible Internet material,

Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam

Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam
Author: M. Moaddel
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2016-04-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137098481

With resurgent interest in the Muslim world and in particular political Islam, this collection of translated essays by major Muslim thinkers from the Middle East and South Asia demonstrates the ongoing and contentious debate between modernizers seeking to adapt Western ways and fundamentalists who rejected them. From Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in the nineteenth-century to Ayatollah Khomeini in the twentieth, the selections provide an opportunity to examine a diversity of Muslim thinkers thoughts on important topics like jurisprudence, politics, relations with the west, and women in their own words.

Islam and Gender

Islam and Gender
Author: Adis Duderija
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2020-05-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1000068625

Given the intense political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centres on gendered concerns, Islam and Gender: Major Issues and Debates is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the key topics, problems and debates in this engaging subject. Split into three parts, this book places the discussion in its historical context, provides up-to-date case studies and delves into contemporary debate on the subject. This book includes discussion of the following important topics: Marriage and divorce Interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunna Male and female sexuality and sexual diversity Classical Islamic thought on masculinity and femininity Gender and hadith Polygamy and inheritance Adultery and sexual violence Veiling, female circumcision and crimes of honour Lived religiosities Gender justice in Islam. Islam and Gender is essential reading for students in religious studies, Islamic studies and gender studies, as well as those in related fields, such as cultural studies, politics, area studies, sociology, anthropology and history.

Muslims and the New Media

Muslims and the New Media
Author: Mr Göran Larsson
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1409481573

Scholars from an extensive range of academic disciplines have focused on Islam in cyberspace and the media, but there are few historical studies that have outlined how Muslim 'ulama' have discussed and debated the introduction and impact of these new media. Muslims and the New Media explores how the introduction of the latest information and communication technologies are mirroring changes and developments within society, as well as the Middle East's relationship to the West. Examining how reformist and conservative Muslim 'ulama' have discussed the printing press, photography, the broadcasting media (radio and television), the cinema, the telephone and the Internet, case studies provide a contextual background to the historical, social and cultural situations that have influenced theological discussions; focusing on how the 'ulama' have debated the 'usefulness' or 'dangers' of the information and communication media. By including both historical and contemporary examples, this book exposes historical trajectories as well as different (and often contested) positions in the Islamic debate about the new media.

Islam and Modernity

Islam and Modernity
Author: Muhammad Khalid Masud
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-08-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 074863794X

Recent events have focused attention on the perceived differences and tensions between the Muslim world and the modern West. As a major strand of Western public discourse has it, Islam appears resistant to internal development and remains inherently pre-modern. However Muslim societies have experienced most of the same structural changes that have impacted upon all societies: massive urbanisation, mass education, dramatically increased communication, the emergence of new types of institutions and associations, some measure of political mobilisation, and major transformations of the economy. These developments are accompanied by a wide range of social movements and by complex and varied religious and ideological debates. This textbook is a pioneering study providing an introduction to and overview of the debates and questions that have emerged regarding Islam and modernity. Key issues are selected to give readers an understanding of the complexity of the phenomenon from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The various manifestations of modernity in Muslim life discussed include social change and the transformation of political and religious institutions, gender politics, changing legal regimes, devotional practices and forms of religious association, shifts in religious authority, and modern developments in Muslim religious thought.

The Ulama in Contemporary Islam

The Ulama in Contemporary Islam
Author: Muhammad Qasim Zaman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2010-12-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1400837510

From the cleric-led Iranian revolution to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, many people have been surprised by what they see as the modern reemergence of an antimodern phenomenon. This book helps account for the increasingly visible public role of traditionally educated Muslim religious scholars (the `ulama) across contemporary Muslim societies. Muhammad Qasim Zaman describes the transformations the centuries-old culture and tradition of the `ulama have undergone in the modern era--transformations that underlie the new religious and political activism of these scholars. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for the comparative study of Islam, politics, and religious change in the contemporary world. While focusing primarily on Pakistan, Zaman takes a broad approach that considers the Taliban and the `ulama of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and the southern Philippines. He shows how their religious and political discourses have evolved in often unexpected but mutually reinforcing ways to redefine and enlarge the roles the `ulama play in society. Their discourses are informed by a longstanding religious tradition, of which they see themselves as the custodians. But these discourses are equally shaped by--and contribute in significant ways to--contemporary debates in the Muslim public sphere. This book offers the first sustained comparative perspective on the `ulama and their increasingly crucial religious and political activism. It shows how issues of religious authority are debated in contemporary Islam, how Islamic law and tradition are continuously negotiated in a rapidly changing world, and how the `ulama both react to and shape larger Islamic social trends. Introducing previously unexamined facets of religious and political thought in modern Islam, it clarifies the complex processes of religious change unfolding in the contemporary Muslim world and goes a long way toward explaining their vast social and political ramifications.

Civil Disobedience in Islam

Civil Disobedience in Islam
Author: Muhammad Haniff Hassan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2017-04-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9811032718

This book addresses contemporary debates on civil disobedience in Islam within the rich Sunni tradition, especially during the height of the non‐violent people revolution in various Arab countries, popularly known as the Arab Spring. It illustrates the Islamic theological and jurisprudential arguments presented by those who either permit or prohibit acts of civil disobedience for the purpose of changing government, political systems or policy. The book analyses the nature of the debate and considers how a theological position on civil disobedience should be formulated in contemporary time, and makes the case for alternatives to violent political action such as jihadism, terrorism and armed rebellion.

Controversies in Contemporary Islam

Controversies in Contemporary Islam
Author: Oliver Leaman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134499825

This book helps to deepen our understanding of the varieties of contemporary Islam and the issues that are of most concern to Muslims today. Oliver Leaman explores some of the controversies and debates that exist within Islam and between Islam and other religions. He considers how the religion can be defined by looking at the contrast between competing sets of beliefs, and arguments amongst Muslims themselves over the nature of the faith. Areas covered include: Qur’anic interpretation, gender, finance, education, and nationalism. Examples are taken from a range of contexts and illustrate the diversity of approaches to Islam that exists today.

Women and Gender in Islam

Women and Gender in Islam
Author: Jin Xu
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300257317

A classic, pioneering account of the lives of women in Islamic history, republished for a new generation This pioneering study of the social and political lives of Muslim women has shaped a whole generation of scholarship. In it, Leila Ahmed explores the historical roots of contemporary debates, ambitiously surveying Islamic discourse on women from Arabia during the period in which Islam was founded to Iraq during the classical age to Egypt during the modern era. The book is now reissued as a Veritas paperback, with a new foreword by Kecia Ali situating the text in its scholarly context and explaining its enduring influence. “Ahmed’s book is a serious and independent-minded analysis of its subject, the best-informed, most sympathetic and reliable one that exists today.”—Edward W. Said “Destined to become a classic. . . . It gives [Muslim women] back our rightful place, at the center of our histories.”—Rana Kabbani, The Guardian