Islam: Issues of Political Authority and Pluralism

Abstract

Islam and the Muslim world are very much part of the current discussions on religion and global politics. This article looks at some of the more general debates about the gradual rise of Islam in the public and political consciousness. It is not a systematic analysis of Islamic political systems or political thought nor a discussion about key thinkers of the last century. It does, however, provide a glimpse into diverse views about leadership and governance in early and more recent Islamic history. The article concentrates more on Sunni Islam though the author is well aware that this is not the normative tradition in some parts of the Muslim world. Within the context of this diversity, it looks at issues of religious diversity and how they fit into current debates about inter-religious dialogue and pluralism.     

The Prophetic and the Limitation of Authority in Modernist Islam

ABSTRACT

The “prophetic”, as a central concept in modernist Islamic political philosophy, has been invoked to show that Islamic political philosophy takes into account the spiritual as well as the material world. However, this expansion of the prophetic had remained relatively silent as to the authority that is granted to experiencing individuals. This essay is a story of these reinterpretations the “prophetic” by three major Muslim thinkers – Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), Ali Shari‘ati (d. 1977), and Abdolkarim Soroush (b. 1945). Writing in different periods and trying to respond to different questions, these authors engaged with the question of politics by reference to prophetic experience. I will explain their intellectual context, according to their cosmologies and their notions of language (participation vs. representation). Then, I will see how in different intellectual context, the force of a democratic notion of the prophetic was undermined by different reinterpretations.     

Non-Hajj Pilgrimage in Islam: A Neglected Dimension of Religious Circulation

Emphasis by geographers on the study of the hajj to Mecca has resulted in the neglect of ziarat, or non-hajj pilgrimages to other Islamic holy places. Associated with saints, many of the Sufi order, and martyrs, these holy places attract a vast number of pilgrims. Non-hajj pilgrimages may also be considered symbolic of the regional cultural expressions of Islam, especially in the non-Arab countries. This preliminary study situates ziarat within a typology of Islamic religious circulation. It shows that ziarat is part of the dynamic tradition of religious circulation in Islam in various regions: North Africa, Shia areas of Southwestern Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia.     

Religious Emotions and Emotions in Religion: The Case of Sermons

This article examines the challenges posed by combining the categories of religion and emotion in historical studies. It analyses two major ways of framing this: religious emotion and emotions in religion. By taking sermons as a case study, both as a religious practice and a genre of historical source, an approach that retains the useful elements of each approach is developed. At the same time, the article explores the potentials of sermons as a source for the history of emotions, noting important consequences in the history of religious communication for the history of emotions and vice versa. In particular, reception history approaches are explored as a way to enrich accounts of the emotional aspects of sermons. Further, the article serves as an introduction for the collection of articles: “Preaching and Passions: Sermons and the History of Emotions.”     

Abandonment,Authority, and Religious Continuity in Post-Classical Greece

Scholars have frequently invoked the abandonment of Early Christian basilicas in the sixth and seventh centuries as key evidence for the end of antiquity in Greece. The standard narrative treats the archaeological evidence for abandonment as the physical manifestation of decline recorded in textual sources. The neat equivalency between archaeology and text ignores the role that abandonment plays in the narrative strategies of the textual sources. By reexamining the tie between text and archaeology, we can read the life cycle of the Early Christian basilica in Greece more critically and consequently expand our understanding of this dynamic period in Greek history.     

National History, Non-national Archaeology: The Case of Denmark

The early development of Danish archaeology (including the centuries before AD 1800) is discussed in terms of its relationship with national history, and with various ideas about regional phenomena and concepts of cultural identity. Danish archaeologists followed a dual strategy, by subscribing both to national sentiment, but also to the 'un-national' notion of close culture-historical links between regions. Confusion of text-based historical aims, and those of archaeology, caused problems. The main strengths of archaeology – its unique material perspective and concepts, historical, spatial, and contextual (including social and mental dimensions) – are stressed.     

Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in Iraq: The Chaldo‐Assyrian Case

This article discusses the issue of ethnic minorities, specifically the Chaldo‐Assyrians in Iraq. It gives a historical background, present demography, and points out group locations, mainly in Nineveh Province. It proposes a possible solution to the issue by suggesting autonomy for the group as crucial to its security and survival. It also presents a counter‐argument for autonomy. The article discusses the attitude of the Arabs and the Kurds to such proposals and compares Iraq and Kurdistan's constitutions in regard to minorities' rights. Finally, the author assesses if autonomy is a realistic approach to solve the Chaldo‐Assyrian problem in Iraq.     

马来西亚华人与伊斯兰党关系——吉兰丹州个案分析

伊斯兰党是马来西亚主要反对党之一,1990年以来,该党在华人只占4.43%的吉兰丹州长期执政,进行伊斯兰教国实践,其伊斯兰化政策引起朝野争议。论文介绍了伊斯兰党在吉兰丹的伊斯兰化政策,分析了基于伊斯兰党的种族理念,吉兰丹政府的华人政策和吉兰丹华人对伊斯兰党及其州政府的态度,说明坚决支持和坚决反对伊斯兰党的华人是少数,中间派是多数。伊斯兰党在吉兰丹州的执政证明,他们公正、廉洁,能够善待华人,使外州华人不再像过去那样抗拒伊斯兰党。吉兰丹模式对马来西亚其他地方马来人和华人具有示范意义。     

Understanding the Reorientations and Roles of Spatial Planning: The Case of National Planning Policy in Denmark

Spatial planning commonly adopts a diversity of functions and logics in contributing to the handling of growth and development. Being influenced by an array of contextual driving forces that result in specific institutional practices and policy agendas, spatial planning seems to be constantly reoriented in terms of its purposes and reasoning. This article sets out to explore the diverse orientations and roles that spatial planning has assumed in Denmark over a 50-year period. In doing so, the article examines the evolution of national planning policy by means of a multi-disciplinary framework comprising analytical concepts drawn from planning theory, state spatial theory and discourse analysis. Based on an in-depth study, the article then attempts to qualify, illustrate and synthesize the diverse roles that spatial planning has assumed in Denmark throughout that timeframe. The article concludes that spatial planning initially assumed a steering role, which has been either supplemented or substituted by balancing and/or strategic roles over the course of the past two decades. As a whole, this case is thought to contribute to current discussions regarding how spatial planning is shaped in different parts of Europe.