| |
Islam, the Modern World, and the West: Contemporary
TopicsTable of Contents
General
Considerations
Islam, Peace, Jihad,
Violence, and Terrorism
Islam and
Globalization Islam and
Democracy
Islam and Human
Rights
Islam,
Exclusivism, and Pluralism
Islam and
Women
Islam and
Slavery
Islam and
Ecology
Islam and
AIDS
Islam and
Media
Islam, Business,
and Economics
Liberal,
Post-Liberal, and Progessive Islam
The Future of
Islam
Islam, Alterity,
and Othering
Islam in the
Modern World: Miscellaneous Sites
Islam, the Modern World, and the West: General
ConsiderationsMany students are shocked when they realize that modern
Euro-American culture is the embodiment of a multi-dimensional world view
or belief system that is commonly called "modernism." Some of the beliefs
of modernism in comparison to Islam are discussed by Seyyed Hossein Nasr,
professor at George Washington University and one of the foremost scholars
of Islam, in his article Reflections on
Islam and Modern Life.
One of the most significant political dimensions of modernism was
modern Euro-American imperialism. A brief comment on this imperialism and
its devastation is the note Edward Said on
Imperialism. A world renown professor of Comparative Literature at
Columbia University, Said wrote a highly influential, paradigm shifting
book Orientalism [at
Amazon.com], which deals with Euro-American imperialism and its
distorting influence on the writings of Western scholars about non-Western
cultures. Subsequently Said wrote Covering
Islam [at Amazon.com], which focuses on how Euro-American scholars and
journalists slant what they write about Islam. A recent interview with
Said originally published on 27 March 1999 in the International Herald
Tribune is Roots of
the West's Fear of Islam. (Link fixed 25 August 2002.)
Western attitudes to Islam are portrayed in the scholarly article The
Utility of Islamic Imagery in the West, written by Prof. J. A. Progler
of City University of New York (CUNY), Brooklyn College and in the
excellent readings at the site
Imaging Islam and Muslims. (Back online as of 3.21.98)
The political significance of Islam is certainly the most important
reason why Islam has been occupying center stage in the world
consciousness at the outset of the 21st century. One essay published after
9/11 that can provide a useful focus in thinking about the political
dimensions of Islam today is Theorizing
Islam by Professor Richard Bulliet of Columbia University. This work
is among the many informative articles published by the Social Science
Research Council (an independent NGO which is probably the chief funding
agency for all varieties of social science research in the world) on its
website After September 11:
Perspectives from the Social Sciences
The on-line journal ISIM Newsletter, which is
produced by the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the
Modern World at Leiden University is an excellent source containing
numerous articles. Issue #1, Issue #2, and Issue #3.
Unfortunately, in their writings on Islam, many Western non-Muslims
have been motivated not merely by an enlightened desire to understand but
rather by desires to dominate and control.
Such desires -- based somewhere between the extremes of lust for
Western political and economic domination, on the one hand, and fear of
Islamic domination, on the other -- may not always take on the obvious
polemical overtones found in some "orientalist" discourse or the in
hate/scare-literature distributed by certain Western religious or
political groups.
Sometimes, in the writings of today's post-orientalists or
neo-orientalists, the anti-Islamic polemic is subtly marshalled by
innuendo and by ironic comments, the metatext of which is that "We --I,
the scholar, and you my Western readers -- are superior to Islam and
Muslims."
Among the various polemics flung by non-Muslims toward Islam are that
Islam advocates violence and terrorism, restricts basic human rights,
oppresses women, and promotes slavery. In other words, non-Muslims often
criticize Islam on the grounds that it advocates beliefs and actions that
perpetrate injustices. Nevertheless, Muslims base their beliefs primarily
on the Qur'an, and the Qur'an states unequivocally that God does not act
in unjust manner (as in the following verses: "... and not one will thy
Lord treat with injustice" [Surat al-Kahf (the Cave):49], and "Allah is
never unjust in the least degree: if there is any good (done), He doubleth
it, and gives from His Own Self a great reward" [Surat an-Nisa
(Women):40]). Hence, God cannot have revealed Islam as a force which
should impose injustice on people, and Muslims must similarly neither act
in an unjust manner nor formulate Islam in unjust manner. Dr. Aziza
al-Hibri has concisely summed up this principle, "If something is unjust,
it is un-Islamic."
Islam, Peace, Jihad, Violence, and TerrorismSee
the separate page on the issue of Islam, Peace, Jihad, Violence,
and Terrorism
Islam and Globalization
Islam
and Globalization: Secularism, Religion, and Radicalism", a
well-documented scholarly article by Sean L. Yom in Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft
(International Politics and Society) (April, 2002).
Islam and Democracy
Islam and the
Challenge of Democracy by Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl of the
University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Abou El Fadl is no doubt
one of the leading America-based Muslim scholars of Islamic law. Here he
presents his paper, which is then followed by the responses of a number
of scholars and then El Fadl's replies to them. (Boston Review,
April/May 2003.)
Islam,
Islamists, and Democracy by Prof. Ali Abootalebi, Assistant Professor
of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin. Prof. Abootalebi
categorizes recent Islamic movements as fundamentalist or Islamist. The
key distinction he makes between the two is that the "Islamist" movements
involve "progressive" 'ulama (Muslim scholars) and other intellectuals who
see freedom and democracy as important dimensions of an Islamic society.
The fundamentalist or traditionalist movements, on the other hand, believe
that the 'ulama' should control the direction of the society. After
touching on the viewpoints of some of the leaders of Islamic movements,
Prof. Abootalebi discusses the issue of "Islam and civil society." He
concludes by sketching out the process by which "Islamic" democracies may
become established. (Linked fixed, October 10, 1999)
Islam and
Democracy: Benazir, Hasina, and Erbakan an editorial by Prof. Saad
Eddin Ibrahim, briefly expresses the optimistic assessment of a number of
scholars that Islamists (Muslim activists and fundamentalists) are
becoming and capable of becoming "Islamic Democrats." This was published
in Civil Society: Democratization in the Arab World, a publication
of the Ibn Khaldoun Center For Development Studies, Vol. 5, #56, August,
1996. (Link fixed, July 14, 2000 and March, 2004)
Civil Society in
the Arab World by Martin Gilbraith, explores the concept of "civil
society" and discusses the possibilities for democratization in the Arab
world as well as the obstacles to it. Published in Civil Society:
Democratization in the Arab World, Volume 5, Issue 58, October 1996.
(Link fixed, July 14, 2000 and March, 2004)
Islam and Human Rights
Muslim
Voices in the Human Rights Debate is a scholarly article by Professor
Heiner Bielefeldt of Tubingen University in Germany. This comprehensive
article is from the journal Human Rights Quarterly 17.4 (1995)
587-617. (Link fixed, March 2004)
Islam
and Freedom of Expression, written by Dr. Fathi Osman, a Muslim
thinker living in the US, argues that freedom of expression is a basic
human right in Islam. (Link fixed 9 June 2001.)
Universal
Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, which was announced at the
International Conference on The Prophet Muhammad and his Message, held in
London from 12 to 15 April 1980. (Link fixed, March 2004)
Islam, Exclusivism, and Pluralism
The Place of
Tolerance in Islam by Khaled Abou El Fadl. Professor El Fadl, of UCLA,
also responds here to a number of scholarly responses to his paper (Boston
Review, Feb/March 2002).
On
Pluralism, Intolerance, and the Quran a scholarly but easily grasped
and timely article by Dr. Ali Asani, professor at Harvard University,
originally published in The American Scholar volume 71, no. 1
(winter 2002), pp. 52-60.
Islam and Women
Islam and
Women's Rights Throughout history, the strong have oppressed the weak,
and men have oppressed women. Unfortunately, Muslim men have often not
been an exception to this rule. Nevertheless, Muslims assert that in such
cases the fault lies not with Islam but rather with the inadequacy of
Muslim men. The links compiled here--largely written by Muslim
women--contradict the popular but mistaken notion held in the West that
Islam is oppressive to women.
Islam and Slavery
Slavery in Islam
Written by the scholars of the "The Wisdom Fund," this page contains
useful source material. See also my notes on African-American Islam and
slavery.
Islam and Ecology
Islam and
Ecology, an on-line article from the scholarly journal, Cross
Currents, written by Marjorie Hope and James Young. The bulk of this
article is the text of the authors' interview with Professor Seyyed
Hossein Nasr. In addition, the authors compare Nasr's viewpoint with that
of Thomas Berry, one of today's most significant eco-philosophers.
Islam and AIDS
Positive Muslims a
South African based website focusing on the issues facing HIV positive
Muslims. Among other points noted on the website are that heterosexual
transmission is now the main form of HIV transmission in South Africa and
that a number of Muslim scholars ('ulama) are HIV positive. 
The National
Muslims AIDS Initiative is a website developed at Bronx Community
College of the City University of New York through funding from the Ford
Foundation. Among other things this site contains information about the
Islamic perception of AIDS prevention and Islamic guidance for Muslims
afflicted with AIDS.
Islam and Media
Islam,
Animation, and Money: the Reception of Disney's Aladdin in Southeast
Asia is a well-documented and nuanced article written by Timothy White
and J. E. Winn in the on-line journal KINEMA (Spring, 1995).
Islam, Business, and Economics
The
Issue of Riba' (charging interest) in Islamic Faith and Law is a
scholarly article by Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina of the University of
Virginia. society, and democratization. Islam is mentioned in various
places throughout the article, but is discussed in particular with regard
to the relationship between ethnicity and the vision of contemporary
Islamists.
Liberal, Post-Liberal, and Progessive Islam
A Liberal Islamic Website
by Zeeshan Hasan (BA, Oberlin; MDiv, Harvard), a writer and "theologian at
large" from Bangladesh. The site contains his spirited articles on
subjects such as Islam and non-violence, feminism, human rights, Islam
without Islamic law, logic and religion, sexual ethics, and Islamic
economics.
Liberal
Islam: Prospects and Challenges written by Charles Kurzman, Professor
of Sociology at North Carolina State University (Chapel Hill). Professor
Kurzman looks at three general categories of the approaches of Muslim
advocates of liberal Islam as well as at various Muslim critiques of
liberal Islam. The author's own position expressed implicitly in the
article is that of advocacy of liberalism. This article was published
online in MERIA, vol. 3, no. 3, September, 1999.
Western
Orientalism and Liberal Islam, a lecture delivered at the Middle East
Studies Association (MESA) annual meeting in Providence, RI by Abdallah
Laroui, Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellow, and reprinted
from the MESA Bulletin, Vol 31, No. 1, July 1997. (Fixed 28 Oct. 1998; and
fixed 5 July 2002)
Progressive Muslim Union chaired
by Professor Omid Safi, professor of Islamic Studies at Colgate University
and editor of Progressive Muslims.
Muslim Wake Up! The writers
associated with Muslim Wake Up! are attempting to articulate a progressive
Islam. Many Muslims will no doubt argue that some of what is included at
this website is not cutting edge but over the edge.
Khaled
Abou El Fadl Professor Abou El Fadl, an expert in Islamic law at UCLA,
is most likely the leading progressive Muslim scholar in the world.
Progressive
Muslims Network
Islam and Social
Justice Page
Dr.
Jihad's Text Files About Islam consist of a number of online articles
by Dr. Jeremiah MacAuliffe, an American convert to Islam.
The Future of Islam
The
Coming Transformation of the Muslim World Written by Professor Dale
Eickelman, a well-respected scholar of the Anthropology and Islam at
Dartmouth College, this article was originally a talk given as the 1999
Templeton Lecture on Religion and World Affairs.
Islamic
Resurgence: Challenges, Directions & Future Perspectives is an
on-line publication of the edited transcripts of discussions between the
well-known Muslim activist Professor Khurshid Ahmad and a number of
prominent Western scholars of Islam. Edited by the Muslim scholar Ibrahim
M. Abu-Rabi, editor of the scholarly journal The Muslim World and
professor at The Hartford Seminary, this text provides readers with a
well-nuanced and first-hand view of the ideology of contemporary Islamic
activism.
The Islam, Alterity, and OtheringAt the
beginning of the 21st century, of the most significant events on the world
stage is the civilizational conflict between the "West" and "Islamic
civilizations." In this conflict, from the perspective of what I call
"discordant relations theory," each party is actively involved in the
"process of alterity (otherness)", namely in "othering" the opposing
party. Such "othering" (involving psychological and socio-cultural
distancing) is a key step in the downward attitudinal spiral that may be
followed by dehumanizing and subsequently demonizing. These three steps:
othering, dehumanizing, and demonizing are attitudinal changes that may be
correlated with the downward behavioral spiral of control, exploitation
(including colonization and enslavement), and violence. On the other hand,
there is a less traveled road, the dialogical approach, which, from the
perspective of harmonious relations theory, aims at the goal of working
together to mutually solve the problems that give rise to the conflict. To
this end there is the upward attitudinal spiral of differance,
hermeneutical understanding (understanding of the intrasystemic coherence
of one's own views-- that they fit together and make sense -and
understanding the intrasystemic coherence of the views of the other), and
mutual causal understanding of both parties problems. This upward
attitudinal spiral may be correlated with an upward behavioral spiral
leading to mutually focused action that can rectify the causes of a
conflict.
A useful website that discusses "othering" is Definitions
of Othering by Professor Melanie Ulrich of the University of Texas at
Austin.
An article that deals with some of these issues is Representing
Islam: A Critique of Language and Reality by Professor Tazim Kassam of
Syracuse University.
Islam in the Modern World: Miscellaneous Sites
Islam
in the Modern World Written by the Muslim scholars of ISL Software,
this article includes brief discussions of the situation of the Muslim
world after the colonial period, Islamic revival, and education and
science in the contemporary Muslim world.
Prince
Charles on Islamic Spirituality and the Decline of the West
The
Alternative, written by an American Muslim, is a fascinating and deep
new Islamic novel "concerning the sweetness and sublimity of essential
Islam." (Link fixed, June 12, 2003)
|
