Islam and the postsecular

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1041-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
MUSTAPHA KAMAL PASHA
Keyword(s):  
Political Islam ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Cultural Experience ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Secular Modernity ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Different Order

AbstractThe language of the ‘postsecular’ acknowledges the enduring presence of faith in politics, repudiating secularisation theses claiming diminution or privatisation of religion in social and political life. In cognitive and experiential worlds, those presumably unfettered by these conceptions (for example, the Islamic Cultural Zones or ICZs), the postsecular presents a different order of challenge and possibility. The term ICZs refers to Muslim majority areas informed by transnational subjectivities loosely connecting varied Islamic societies around symbolic commonality, memory, and historical experience. The term stresses the plurality of Islamic cultural experience, albeit distinguished by recognisable semiotic markers, without essentialising Islamic identity. This article questions the hegemonic view pervasive in both secular and postsecular theorising of the fiction of immutability of faith in the ICZs and recognises its rupture and displacement under conditions of late modernity. The ontological dislocation in the character of religion itself under conditions of late modernity opens up the possibility to account for the assumed resistance of Islam to secular modernity, but also to explain Islam's imbrications in politics read under the sign of Political Islam. Paradoxically, under the condition of late modernity, a more homogenised Islam appears to crystallise in the ICZs at odds with an ‘open’ Islam.

scholarly journals Teaching Global Citizenship in a Muslim-Majority Country: Perspectives of Teachers from the Religious, National, and International Education Sectors in Pakistan

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 348
Author(s):  
Muhammad Azeem Ashraf ◽  
Samson Maekele Tsegay ◽  
Jin Ning
Keyword(s):  
International Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Great Role ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Islamic Values

Pakistan is a Muslim-majority country, and religion plays a great role in the life of society. This study examines how teachers from the religious, national, and international education sectors realize the concept of global citizenship education (GCE) in Pakistan. Based on 24 semi-structured interviews, this study found differences among the teachers’ understandings of the concept of GCE and its characteristics. Teachers from the national and religious curriculum sectors viewed GCE as a threat to Islamic values, whereas those from the international curriculum sector regarded GCE as an opportunity for improving the economic development and image of Pakistan. Moreover, the teachers from the religious sector argued for the cultivation of Islamic identity instead of GCE. However, the teachers from the national curriculum sector noted the economic benefits of GCE and were keen on global citizenship principles that do not conflict with national and Islamic values. The different perceptions held by teachers from the three educational sectors indicate the need for more work on GCE to narrow the conflicting agendas and broaden the understandings within Pakistani society. Creating common ideas within these different sectors of education is significant for developing sustainable peace within the divided society.

Environmental and Medical Bioethics in Late Modernity: Anthony Giddens, Genetic Engineering and the Post-Modern State

1994 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 211-225
Author(s):  
Ruth McNally ◽  
Peter Wheale
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
Different Order

A controversial question among contemporary scholars is whether advanced industrial societies are still in modernity, or whether they are on the threshold of, or even have entered, a new postmodern order (see, for example, Bell, 1973; Lyotard, 1986, p. 14; Lash and Urry, 1987). In The Consequences of Modernity Anthony Giddens writes: ‘Beyond modernity, we can perceive a new and different order, which is “post-modern”, but this is quite distinct from what is at the moment called by many “post-modernity”’ (Giddens, 1990, p. 3). However, he does recognize that there is something perceptibly different about the present, which he characterizes as ‘late modernity’ (or ‘high modernity'), an era in which the consequences of modernity are more radicalized and globalized than before (Giddens, 1990, pp. 3, 51).

scholarly journals Multifaceted Islam: Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-87
Author(s):  
Ju. V. Roknifard
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Malaysian Politics

This paper analyzes the Islam’s impact on the Malaysian politics. Islam as an instrument of Malaysia’s foreign policy has been used by the political elite of the state for decades. Observers note the Islamization of the country’s foreign policy, especially during the premiership of Najib Razak (2008– 2018). However, the trend towards Islamization can be traced back to the moment Malaysia gained independence from Great Britain in 1957 and especially during the premiership of Mahathir Mohamad (1981–2003). The formation of such a foreign policy of Malaysia took place against the background of the Islamization of the political and social environment within the country, which, in turn, was the result of an internal political struggle. Thus, the projection of Malaysia’s identity into the outside world and the foreign policy corresponding to this identity was often motivated by the need to retain or attract the support of the malay-muslim majority in the domestic political arena. Since many of the issues raised in the article relate to identity both at the national and global level, a constructivist paradigm is used to conceptualize Malaysia’s foreign policy with a special emphasis on the identity of states. Particularly important in this process is the formation of domestic and foreign policy discourse. Malaysia’s Islamic identity is viewed externally in three dimensions: the Sunni state, the activist state in the Islamic world and the standard of moderate Islam. Consideration of these dimensions reveals quite obvious contradictions between them, as well as between rhetoric and real politics.

Salafism Goes Global

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed-Ali Adraoui
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
The West ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
Islamic Countries ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Transnational Narrative ◽  
Contemporary Islam

Salafism has emerged as one of the most visible and questioned faces in contemporary Islam. In many countries, from the East to the West, this fundamentalist vision seeking to restore a version of Islam that is supposed to be pure and unchanged is increasingly successful. This is the case in France, where thousands of Muslims are now dedicated to living this puritanical and fundamentalist religiosity. In connection with some Islamic countries, starting with Saudi Arabia, they appeal to a transnational narrative through which they promote a new face of globalization. Reacting to both political Islam and jihadism, they prefer to become entrepreneurs in order to seek economic success. Splitting from the rest of society, they are building a counternarrative in which they represent the purest form of the Islamic identity. Using research from a prolonged immersion in French Salafist communities, this book sheds light on the lifestyle, representations, profiles, and trajectories of these communities. By focusing on quietist Salafism and its formative ties with several Gulf countries, especially with Saudi Arabia, this book is also an attempt to understand contemporary religious globalizations. It also sheds light on a dynamic that is less centered on formal political entities and primarily refers to a globalization taking place in the margins that have been little studied for too long.

Youth as a Force in the Modern World

1968 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Moller
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Young People ◽  
Demographic Variable ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Modern World ◽  
World Population ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
The World

The unprecedented number of young people in the world today can be isolated as one of the crucial reality factors conditioning political and cultural developments. Age distribution is only one demographic variable in the complex of social and political life, but the tremendous growth of world population in the twentieth century has magnified its dynamic potentialities. To gain perspective, it will be useful to briefly consider the role of youth in the light of historical experience.

scholarly journals Protecting the Religion (Maqsad Hifz al-Din) In Malaysian Political Islam: A Preliminary Analysis

ICR Journal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-398
Author(s):  
Wan Naim Wan Mansor
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Muslim Minorities ◽  
Religious Considerations

After inheriting a multicultural yet segmented society from its colonial legacy, identity politics has heavily influenced political Islam in Malaysia. Since then, identity politics has significantly shaped Malaysia's political dynamics, including in the bureaucratic and legal spheres. The Islamism espoused by the Malay Muslim majority is often intertwined with exclusivist ethno-religious considerations vis-a-vis the non-Muslim minorities (the Chinese and Indians). One of the most frequent manifestations of this political platform is the slogan ‘protecting Islam’ or ‘protecting religion’. This notion often finds itself at the centre of the Islamist discourse, especially in high-profile religious cases involving Muslims and non-Muslims. This paper intends to provide a descriptive analysis of ‘protecting Islam’ in the Malaysian context while also identifying key elements in its inner-workings. It will then proceed with a discussion of maqsad hifz al-din (the objective to preserve religion), a sub-topic in the overarching field of maqasid al-sharicah. This discussion will examine how this notion is understood within the Malaysian context, while also asking what the Shari’ah says about it, and what the gaps are between the two positions. Finally, the article will propose a theoretical framework for achieving an optimal Shari'ah-based policy response to the issues discussed. Possible real world applications in the Malaysian experience will also be explored.

The Relevance of aMaqasidApproach for Political Islam Post Arab Revolutions

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halim Rane
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Political Office ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Islamic Political Parties

The role of Islam in the politics of Muslim-majority countries has attracted a plethora of scholarly research over the past two decades that generally refers to this phenomenon as political Islam. Much of the focus of this body of literature is concerned with the reconciliation of Islam and democracy. In recent years, the leading scholarship in this field has attempted to anticipate the future of political Islam and the prospect of post-Islamism. Asef Bayet's work on post-Islamists examines various social movements in the Middle East, arguing that Muslims have made Islam democratic by how they have defined Islam in respect to their particular socio-political contexts. However, others have expressed pessimism about the extent to which domestic conditions in Muslim-majority countries and external geopolitical factors will allow the development of an Islamic democracy. Abdelwahab El-Affendi, for instance, sees four main options for Islamists: full revolutionary takeover of their respective countries; completely withdrawing from political office to become Islamic interest or pressure groups; building broader coalitions while maintaining their ideology; or radically restructuring in order to emulate the model of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP). What is missing in this discussion is attention to the capacity of Islamic political parties to draw on Islamic tradition and evolve in response to modernity through a focus on Islam's higher objectives or amaqasidapproach.

scholarly journals Islam in Australia: A National Survey of Muslim Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Halim Rane ◽  
Adis Duderija ◽  
Riyad H. Rahimullah ◽  
Paul Mitchell ◽  
Jessica Mamone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Permanent Residents

This article presents the findings of a national survey on Islam in Australia based on responses of 1034 Muslim Australian citizens and permanent residents. Knowing what Muslim Australians think about Islam in relation to Australian society is essential for a more informed understanding about Islam and Muslims needed to address misinformation, Islamophobia, and extremism. The findings presented in this article include typologies of Muslims; sources of influence concerning Islam; interpretations of the Qur’an; perspectives on ethical, social, and theological issues; issues of concern; social connections and sense of belonging; views on various Muslim-majority countries; and perspectives concerning political Islam, including jihad, caliphate, and shariah. While respondents’ understandings, interpretations, and expressions of Islam overall align with values and principles of equality, human rights, social cohesion, and social justice, a minority were found to understand and interpret Islam in ways that reflect the influence of late 20th and early 21st century ideas associated with Islamist political ideology, and a smaller sub-group were found to have views that could be considered extreme. This article discusses these findings in relation to the early 21st century time-period factors and the Australian social context.

Refah Party and the City Administration of Istanbul: Liberal Islam, Localism and Hybridity

1997 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alev İnan Çınar
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Political Life ◽  
City Administration ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Mechanisms ◽  
The City

As Islam becomes an increasingly salient element of political life in various countries around the world, there is a growing need to make sense of the new forms and meanings Islam assumes in its various manifestations. It is obvious by now that complex mechanisms surrounding the politics of Islam cannot be adequately understood by the employment of such broad and overgeneralizing categories as “reactionism”, “fundamentalism” or “conservatism.” Political Islam, far from being a unified social movement with a coherent political aim, is a fragmented, multi-faceted phenomenon which cannot, therefore, be adequately understood through singular categories.

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