Theorizing Islam
Theorizing Islam

Author: Aaron W. Hughes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 131754594X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The scholarly study of Islam has become ever more insular and apologetic. Academic Islamic Studies has tried to maintain a focus on truth, authenticity, experience and meaning and has effectively avoided discussion of larger social, cultural and ideological issues. Many scholars of Islam have presented themselves to their colleagues, the media and the public as the interpreters of Islam and have done so with an interpretation which tends, almost universally, to the liberal and egalitarian. The ignorance and hostility which the Islamic faith has faced since 9/11 has partly necessitated the taking of such a position. But, as Theorizing Islam argues, the issue remains that only one interpretation of Islam is generally being presented and, as with any interpretation, this has its own assumptions. The aim of Theorizing Islam is to explore the potential for a fuller, more honest and more sophisticated approach to both theory and methodology in the academic study of Islam.

Theorizing Islam
Theorizing Islam

Author: Aaron W. Hughes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1317545931

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The scholarly study of Islam has become ever more insular and apologetic. Academic Islamic Studies has tried to maintain a focus on truth, authenticity, experience and meaning and has effectively avoided discussion of larger social, cultural and ideological issues. Many scholars of Islam have presented themselves to their colleagues, the media and the public as the interpreters of Islam and have done so with an interpretation which tends, almost universally, to the liberal and egalitarian. The ignorance and hostility which the Islamic faith has faced since 9/11 has partly necessitated the taking of such a position. But, as Theorizing Islam argues, the issue remains that only one interpretation of Islam is generally being presented and, as with any interpretation, this has its own assumptions. The aim of Theorizing Islam is to explore the potential for a fuller, more honest and more sophisticated approach to both theory and methodology in the academic study of Islam.

Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity
Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity

Author: Aaron W. Hughes

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781781792179

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Many scholars of Islam are interested in creating a liberal, inclusive, pluralistic, feminist, and modern version of the religion that they believe to be explicit in the pages of the Qur'ān, but missed by earlier interpreters. In so doing, they create "good" Islam and, in the process, seek to define what does and does not get to count as authentic. As the purveyors of what they now believe to be veritable Islam, they subsequently claim that rival presentations are bastardizations based either on Orientalism and Islamophobia (if one is a non-Muslim) or misogyny and homophobia (if one is a Muslim that disagrees with them). Instead of engaging in critical scholarship, they engage in a constructive and theological project that they deceive themselves into thinking is both analytical and empirical. This book provides a hard-hitting examination of the spiritual motivations, rhetorical moves, and political implications associated with these apologetical discourses. It argues that what is at stake is relevance, and examines the consequences of engaging in mythopoesis as opposed to scholarship.

Mimetic Theory and Islam
Mimetic Theory and Islam

Author: Michael Kirwan

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 3030056953

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume explores the 'Mimetic Theory' of the cultural theorist René Girard and its applicability to Islamic thought and tradition. Authors critically examine Girard's assertion about the connection between group formation, religion, and 'scapegoating' violence. These insights, Girard maintained, have their source in biblical revelation. Are there parallels in other faith traditions, especially Islam? To this end, Muslim scholars and scholars of Mimetic Theory have examined the hypothesis of an 'Abrahamic Revolution.' This is the claim that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each share in a spiritual and ethical historical 'breakthrough:' a move away from scapegoating violence, and towards a sense of justice for the innocent victim.

The Imperatives of Progressive Islam
The Imperatives of Progressive Islam

Author: Adis Duderija

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-02-03

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1315438828

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

With the proliferation of transnational Muslim networks over the last two decades, the religious authority of traditionally educated Muslim scholars, the uluma, has come under increasing scrutiny and disruption. These networks have provided a public space for multiple perspectives on Islam to be voiced, allowing "progressive" Islamic worldviews to flourish alongside more (neo)traditional outlooks. This book brings together the scholarship of leading progressive Muslim scholars, incorporating issues pertaining to politics, jurisprudence, ethics, theology, epistemology, gender and hermeneutics in the Islamic tradition. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the normative imperatives behind a progressive Muslim thought, as well as outlining its various values and aims. Presenting this emerging and distinctive school of Islamic thought in an engaging and scholarly manner, this is essential reading for any academic interested in contemporary religious thought and the development of modern Islam.

Identity, Politics and the Study of Islam
Identity, Politics and the Study of Islam

Author: Matt Sheedy

Publisher: Culture on the Edge

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781781794890

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The volume brings together a variety of scholars both inside and outside of Islamic Studies in order to grapple with such questions as: what, if anything, is unique about Islamic Studies?

Deconstructing Islamic Studies
Deconstructing Islamic Studies

Author: Majid Daneshgar

Publisher: Ilex Foundation

Published: 2020-06-14

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9780674244689

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The study of Islam has historically been approached in two different ways: apologetical and polemical. The former focuses on the preservation and propagation of religious teachings, and the latter on the attempt to undermine the tradition. The dialectic between these two approaches continued into the Enlightenment, and the tension between them still exists today. What is new in the modern period, however, is the introduction of a third approach, the academic one, which ostensibly examines the tradition in diverse historical, religious, legal, intellectual, and philosophical contexts. Classical Islamic subjects (e.g., Qur'ān, ḥadīth, fiqh, tafsīr) are now studied using a combination of the apologetical, the polemical, and the academic approaches. Depending upon the historical period and the institutional context, these classical topics have been accepted (apologetical), have had their truth claims undermined (polemical), or have simply been taken for granted (academic). This volume, comprising chapters by leading experts, deconstructs the ways in which classical Muslim scholarship has structured (and, indeed, continues to structure) the modern study of Islam. It explores how classical subjects have been approached traditionally, theologically, and secularly, in addition to examining some of the tensions inherent in these approaches.

Orientalism and Conspiracy
Orientalism and Conspiracy

Author: Arndt Graf

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2010-11-30

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0857719149

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The relationship between Islam and the West has frequently been subject to misunderstanding and mistrust and recent events in the international arena have only deepened this perceived divide, culturally and politically. The West often views the Islamic world - and the Islamic world the West - through a prism of mutual suspicion. In such conditions conspiracy, theories can flourish on both sides of the cultural fence, but these highly complex and important global phenomena have been the subject of surprisingly little investigation. "Orientalism and Conspiracy" explores fully for the first time the relationship between the sometimes controversial concept of Orientalism, as developed by Edward Said, and contemporary conspiracy theories, and includes Robert Irwin's fascinating survey of the role of secret societies in orientalist mythology. The authors offer a comprehensive and ground-breaking study of the conspiracy theory and Islam. It is essential reading for those seeking to understand historical and contemporary relationships between the East and West as well as the enduring and controversial legacy of the concept of Orientalism.

Unveiling Traditions
Unveiling Traditions

Author: Anouar Majid

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2000-11-29

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0822380544

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Unveiling Traditions Anouar Majid issues a challenge to the West to reimagine Islam as a progressive world culture and a participant in the building of a multicultural and more egalitarian world civilization. From within the highly secularized space it inhabits, a space endemically suspicious of religion, the West must find a way, writes Majid, to embrace Islamic societies as partners in building a more inclusive and culturally diverse global community. Majid moves beyond Edward Said’s unmasking of orientalism in the West to examine the intellectual assumptions that have prevented a more nuanced understanding of Islam’s legacies. In addition to questioning the pervasive logic that assumes the “naturalness” of European social and political organizations, he argues that it is capitalism that has intensified cultural misunderstanding and created global tensions. Besides examining the resiliency of orientalism, the author critically examines the ideologies of nationalism and colonialist categories that have redefined the identity of Muslims (especially Arabs and Africans) in the modern age and totally remapped their cultural geographies. Majid is aware of the need for Muslims to rethink their own assumptions. Addressing the crisis in Arab-Muslim thought caused by a desire to simultaneously “catch up” with the West and also preserve Muslim cultural authenticity, he challenges Arab and Muslim intellectuals to imagine a post-capitalist, post-Eurocentric future. Critical of Islamic patriarchal practices and capitalist hegemony, Majid contends that Muslim feminists have come closest to theorizing a notion of emancipation that rescues Islam from patriarchal domination and resists Eurocentric prejudices. Majid’s timely appeal for a progressive, multicultural dialogue that would pave the way to a polycentric world will interest students and scholars of postcolonial, cultural, Islamic, and Marxist studies.