Download or read book Between Resistance Sharia Law and Demo Islamic Politics written by Michael Schulz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the fact that many researchers have focused on Hamas’ armed resistance activities, surprisingly few have theorised about the political choices and dilemmas that Hamas has faced in the context of the changing overarching conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. This study aims to show, theoretically, how context-dependent Hamas is when formulating its resistance and Demo-Islamic practise and that this occurs in interrelations with key actors of the conflict. This study also presents important new empirical data that, in part, also challenges previous research. Hamas is one of the very few Islamist organisations that has reached a governance position via democratic and fair elections. Thus, Hamas can serve as a case study of how Islamist may act in (quasi)democratic surroundings. At the same time, Hamas is a key actor in the overarching conflict, which has several unique characteristics. Hamas’ armed resistance is described as an instrument for the Jihad against the Israeli occupation. However, the Dawa work at the grassroots level can also be seen as a resistance practice that can be identified as constructive resistance. The internal discussion in Hamas as to what strategies to apply, as will be shown, are also formed and impacted by various interrelations with external actors of the conflict. The Palestinian public, in particular, is a key actor that influences Hamas in various ways, although Fatah, PLO, Israel and other external actors also have their specific roles to play.
Download or read book The Islamic Shield written by Elie Elhadj and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While politicians and media pundits debate the success of U.S. attempts to instill a democratic government in Iraq, author and social scientist Elie Elhadj, Ph.D., explains why thoughts of a democratic Arab-Muslim nation are nothing but fantasy."Arab people are characterized by obedience to a hierarchical authority, Syrian-born Elhadj states. Western-style democracy can never fill this cultural mandate."Elhadj explains how Muslim Arab political and religious leaders raise the tenets of Islam in a shield against democracy in order to protect their power. Constant preaching by Islam's religious leaders, instructing Muslims to blindly obey their leaders, has created an attitude of political quietism in regard to the tyranny of Arab rulers and ambivalence towards democracy, Elhadj says in his book.Using Syria and Saudi Arabia as the archetypal Arab governments, The Islamic Shield outlines the numerous reasons why genuine democratic reforms are not likely to emerge in Arab countries for a very long time. Instead, Elhadj proposes that a benevolent dictatorship may be a more hopeful and realistic expectation, especially since democratic elections are likely to result in the election of a theocratic dictator rather than a secular democratic one. A benevolent dictatorship would fulfill the goal of reducing Arab rulers' cruelty, which fans the flame of Islamic extremism and Jihadism, he states.Jihadism and its causes are examined in detail by Elhadj. He makes the case that Jihadist terrorism is fueled by the oppression and frustration of the Arab masses that results not only from tyrannical Arab rule, but also from the perception of biased American policies in the Middle East. Combined with the growing influence from extremist factions within Islam, these oppressions form a vicious cycle of violent confrontation, Elhadj says."Islamist extremism alone does not cause terrorism," Elhadj states: "What Islamist extremism does is to turn political frustrations into religious crusades."The United States may even have created a set-back for themselves in the effort to democratize the Middle East, Elhadj says. As the United States deposed the Arab World's most secular regime in Iraq, a theocratic leadership aligned to Tehran emerged with potentially far-reaching regional political and religious consequences.
Download or read book Shari a Politics written by Robert W. Hefner and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-04 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most important developments in Muslim politics in recent years has been the spread of movements calling for the implementation of Shari'a or Islamic law. Shari'a Politics maps the ideals and organization of these movements and examines their implications for the future of democracy, citizen rights, and gender relations in the Muslim world. These studies of eight Muslim-majority societies, and state-of-the-field reflections by leading experts, provide the first comparative investigation of movements for and against implementation of Shari'a. These essays reveal that the Muslim public's interest in Shari'a does not spring from an unchanging devotion to received religious tradition, but from an effort to respond to the central political and ethical questions of the day. -- Publisher description.
Download or read book Civil Resistance and Democracy Promotion written by Michael Schulz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-04-14 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines transnational civil society-based democracy-promoting resistance activities in Asia in a global era, focusing on the cases of Myanmar and Palestine. The work contributes to our understanding of the nexus between globalization, power and democracy by examining: (i) the ways in which globalization/global governance are influencing various resistance practices of the civil societies in Myanmar and Palestine, and what this means for local democracy promotion; and (ii) the ways in which these two civil societies influence and have a democracy-promoting impact on their respective communities. It is guided by the overarching question of how civil society-based resistance contributes to local democracy in Myanmar and Palestine. The book is structured as follows: both civil resistance cases begin with an overview of each country’s non-violent resistance history, and the findings are then presented for the two cases, i.e., the pro-democracy movements in the Saffron uprising in Myanmar and the Bil’in village struggle against the Israeli Security Barrier plans to build through their farmlands. Then follows a presentation of the life-story interview made with two members from the respective campaigns. A concluding chapter proposes some new theoretical insights for how civil resistance can impact on democracy. The book empirically and theoretically contributes to our understanding of how civil society-based resistance and democracy interrelate in a global era. This book will be of much interest to students of civil resistance, democracy, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies and international relations in general.
Download or read book Sharia Transformations written by Michael G. Peletz and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few symbols in today’s world are as laden and fraught as sharia—an Arabic-origin term referring to the straight path, the path God revealed for humans, the norms and rules guiding Muslims on that path, and Islamic law and normativity as enshrined in sacred texts or formal statute. Yet the ways in which Muslim men and women experience the myriad dimensions of sharia often go unnoticed and unpublicized. So too do recent historical changes in sharia judiciaries and contemporary strategies on the part of political and religious elites, social engineers, and brand stewards to shape, solidify, and rebrand these institutions. Sharia Transformations is an ethnographic, historical, and theoretical study of the practice and lived entailments of sharia in Malaysia, arguably the most economically successful Muslim-majority nation in the world. The book focuses on the routine everyday practices of Malaysia’s sharia courts and the changes that have occurred in the court discourses and practices in recent decades. Michael G. Peletz approaches Malaysia’s sharia judiciary as a global assemblage and addresses important issues in the humanistic and social-scientific literature concerning how Malays and other Muslims engage ethical norms and deal with law, social justice, and governance in a rapidly globalizing world.
Download or read book Law and Power in the Islamic World written by Sami Zubaida and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2003-05-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic law (the Shari'a) and its application is a central issue in contemporary Islamic politics and culture. Starting from modern concerns, this book examines the origins and evolution of the Shari'a and the corpus of texts, concepts and practices in which it has been enshrined. The central paradox in this history is one of power: the Shari'a is jurist's law, theoretically derived from sacred sources, yet dependent for its institution and application on rulers, with their own agendas and priorities. Sami Zubaida here considers key historical episodes of political accommodations and contests between scholars and sultans. Drawing on modern examples, mainly from Egypt and Iran, Zubaida explores how the Shari'a has evolved and mutated to accommodate the workings of a modern state by examining the reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries and the politics of the contemporary world. Law and Power in the Islamic World is an original and significant contribution to the debates surrounding Islam and ideas of modernity. As such its appeal and importance range across a wide spectrum of readers, students and scholars interested in Islamic law and the politics and social structures of the Muslim world. "Extremely informed and highly readable: unlike any previous writings on the subject, it combines deep historical analysis with a vital sociological and political perspective. In these difficult times, it will be required reading both for experts and for the general reader with any serious interest in the world today." Eberhard Kienle, SOAS.
Download or read book Slavery Terrorism and Islam The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat written by Peter Hammond and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Peter Hammond's bestselling book: SLAVERY, TERRORISM & ISLAM - The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat is a fascinating, well illustrated and thoroughly documented response to the relentless anti-Christian propaganda that has been generated by Muslim and Marxist groups and by Hollywood film makers. As Karl Marx declared: "The first battlefield is the re-writing of History!" Slavery, Terrorism and Islam was first published in 2005 and quickly sold out. It earned Dr. Peter Hammond a death threat "Fatwa" from some Islamic radicals. We have included the story of that in an appendix of this book. Slavery, Terrorism & Islam sets the record straight with chapters on "Muhammad, the Caliphas and Jihad", "The Oppression of Women in Islam", "The Sources of Islam" and "Slavery the Rest of the Story". With over 200 pictures, maps and charts, this book is richly illustrated. It consists of 16 chapters and 13 very helpful appendixes including demographic maps of the spread of Islam, a Glossary of Islamic Terms, a comparison of Muslim nations' military spending vs. their national prosperity, a chart on how Jihad works depending on the percentage of Muslims in the population and guidelines for Muslim evangelism.
Download or read book Gaza Under Hamas written by Bjorn Brenner and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-12-18 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU, the USA and the UN. It has made itself notorious for its violent radicalism and uncompromising rejection of the Jewish state. So after its victory in the 2006 elections the world was watching. How would Hamas govern? Could an Islamist group without any experience of power - and with an unwavering ideology - manage to deal with day-to-day realities on the ground? Bjorn Brenner investigates what happened after the elections and puts the spotlight on the people over whom Hamas rules, rather than on its ideas. Lodging with Palestinian families and experiencing their daily encounters with Hamas, he offers an intimate perspective of the group as seen through local eyes. The book is based on hard-to-secure interviews with a wide range of key political and security figures in the Hamas administration, as well as with military commanders and members of the feared Qassam Brigades. Brenner has also sought out those that Hamas identifies as local trouble makers: the extreme Salafi-Jihadis and members of the now more quiescent mainstream Fatah party led by Mahmoud Abbas. The book provides a new interpretation of one of the most powerful forces in the Israel-Palestine arena, arguing that the Gazan Islamists carry a potential to be much more flexible and pragmatic than anticipated - if they would think they stand to gain from it. Gaza under Hamas investigates the key challenges to Hamas's authority and reveals why and in what ways ideology comes second to power consolidation.
Download or read book In the Shadow of Shar ah written by Matthew J. Nelson and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent events in Pakistan and the Islamic world have sparked an unprecedented level of interest in the relationship between Islam and democracy. In the Shadow of Shari'ahsets out to prove that Islam and the democratic ethos are neither compatible nor incompatible in any permanent or specific sense. Rather, the two work more or less in concert in relation to the historically embedded choices of individual Muslims and their specific approaches to Islamic law. Studies of shari'ah, or Islamic law, lie at the heart of several important debates, but carefully researched scholarship on the terms of Islamic law are rare. Matthew J. Nelson launches a historically embedded analysis of shari'ah in Pakistan's largest and most influential province, Punjab, to highlight the relationships among Islam, Islamic law, and democracy and the ways in which different cultural and historical contexts transform each entity. Nelson begins with colonial and postcolonial efforts to introduce shari'ah into an environment tied to "tribal" custom, then he examines the way in which electoral accountability came to privilege those who could simultaneously sustain Islamic law "in theory" and customary law "in practice." Drawing attention to the interaction of formal and informal legal and political institutions over time, Nelson argues that a deeper understanding of the relationship between Islam and democracy requires a more sophisticated appreciation of the complex legal strategies adopted by individual Muslims.
Download or read book The Politics of the Veil written by Joan Wallach Scott and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-22 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2004, the French government instituted a ban on the wearing of "conspicuous signs" of religious affiliation in public schools. Though the ban applies to everyone, it is aimed at Muslim girls wearing headscarves. Proponents of the law insist it upholds France's values of secular liberalism and regard the headscarf as symbolic of Islam's resistance to modernity. The Politics of the Veil is an explosive refutation of this view, one that bears important implications for us all. Joan Wallach Scott, the renowned pioneer of gender studies, argues that the law is symptomatic of France's failure to integrate its former colonial subjects as full citizens. She examines the long history of racism behind the law as well as the ideological barriers thrown up against Muslim assimilation. She emphasizes the conflicting approaches to sexuality that lie at the heart of the debate--how French supporters of the ban view sexual openness as the standard for normalcy, emancipation, and individuality, and the sexual modesty implicit in the headscarf as proof that Muslims can never become fully French. Scott maintains that the law, far from reconciling religious and ethnic differences, only exacerbates them. She shows how the insistence on homogeneity is no longer feasible for France--or the West in general--and how it creates the very "clash of civilizations" said to be at the root of these tensions. The Politics of the Veil calls for a new vision of community where common ground is found amid our differences, and where the embracing of diversity--not its suppression--is recognized as the best path to social harmony.
Download or read book The Politics of Islamic Law written by Iza R. Hussin and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic law has changed radically in the last 150 years this project focusses on the dramatic transformation of Islamic law during the British colonial period in three cases: India, Malaya and Egypt, and its effects in the post-colonial state. It argues that colonial and local elites negotiated the scope, content and meaning of Islamic law in each case, creating new definitions of Islamic law, family, private/public space, ethnic, religious and gender identities. Original research shows that Islamic law is a product of political activity, and that legal norms traveled among colonial sites, limiting Islamic law to a narrow scope of private, 'religious' law, and defining contemporary possibilities for change. This project presents a new argument: that Islamic law in the contemporary state is a modern construction with important ramifications for ethnic and religious identity, state institutions and elite power in the Muslim world today. This study challenges the prevailing popular view of Islamic law---and Muslim adherence to Islamic law---as a monolith, offering instead a view of Islamic law as locally specific, intensely political, and richly varied.
Download or read book Civil Democratic Islam written by Cheryl Benard and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of Islam's own internal struggles, it is not easy to see who we should support and how. This report provides detailed descriptions of subgroups, their stands on various issues, and what those stands may mean for the West. Since the outcomes can matter greatly to international community, that community might wish to influence them by providing support to appropriate actors. The author recommends a mixed approach of providing specific types of support to those who can influence the outcomes in desirable ways.
Download or read book Rethinking Political Islam written by Shadi Hamid and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, scholars hypothesized about what Islamists might do if they ever came to power. Now, they have answers: confusing ones. In the Levant, ISIS established a government by brute force, implementing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tunisia's Ennahda Party governed in coalition with two secular parties, ratified a liberal constitution, and voluntarily stepped down from power. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, won power through free elections only to be ousted by a military coup. The strikingly disparate results of Islamist movements have challenged conventional wisdom on political Islam, forcing experts and Islamists to rethink some of their most basic assumptions. In Rethinking Political Islam, two of the leading scholars on Islamism, Shadi Hamid and William McCants, have gathered a group of leading specialists in the field to explain how an array of Islamist movements across the Middle East and Asia have responded. Unlike ISIS and other jihadist groups that garner the most media attention, these movements have largely opted for gradual change. Their choices, however, have been reshaped by the revolutionary politics of the region. The groups depicted in the volume capture the contradictions, successes, and failures of Islamism, providing a fascinating window into a rapidly changing Middle East. It is the first book to systematically assess the evolution of mainstream Islamist groups since the Arab uprisings and the rise of ISIS, covering 12 country cases. In each instance, contributors address key questions, including: gradual versus revolutionary approaches to change; the use of tactical or situational violence; attitudes toward the nation-state; and how ideology, religion, and political variables interact. For the first time in book form, readers will also hear directly from Islamist activists and leaders themselves, as they offer their own perspectives on the future of their movements. Islamists will have the opportunity to challenge the assumptions and arguments of some of the leading scholars of Islamism, in the spirit of constructive dialogue. Rethinking Political Islam includes three of the most important country cases outside the Middle East-Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan-allowing readers to consider a greater diversity of Islamist experiences. The book's contributors have immersed themselves in the world of political Islam and conducted original research in the field, resulting in rich accounts of what animates Islamist behavior.
Download or read book Shari a Law and Modern Muslim Ethics written by Robert W. Hefner and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Muslim societies are in the throes of tumultuous political transitions, and common to all has been heightened debate over the place of shari`a law in modern politics and ethical life. Bringing together leading scholars of Islamic politics, ethics, and law, this book examines the varied meanings and uses of Islamic law, so as to assess the prospects for democratic, plural, and gender-equitable Islamic ethics today. These essays show that, contrary to the claims of some radicals, Muslim understandings of Islamic law and ethics have always been varied and emerge, not from unchanging texts but from real and active engagement with Islamic traditions and everyday life. The ethical debates that rage in contemporary Muslim societies reveal much about the prospects for democratic societies and a pluralist Islamic ethics in the future. They also suggest that despite the tragic violence wrought in recent years by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in Iraq, we may yet see an age of ethical renewal across the Muslim world.
Download or read book Muslim Resistance in Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines written by Joseph Chinyong Liow and published by . This book was released on 2005-12-31 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study analyzes the ongoing conflicts in southern Thailand and southern Philippines between indigenous Muslim minorities and their respective central governments. In particular, it investigates and interrogates the ideological context and content of conflicts in southern Thailand and southern Philippines insofar as they pertain to Islam and radicalism in order to assess the extent to which these conflicts have taken on a greater religious character and the implications this might have on our understanding of them. In the main, the monograph argues that while conflicts in southern Thailand and southern Philippines have taken on religious hues as a consequence of both local and external factors, on present evidence they share little with broader radical global Islamist and Jihadist ideologies and movements, and their contents and contexts remain primarily political, reflected in the key objective of some measure of self-determination, and local, in terms of the territorial and ideational boundaries of activism and agitation. Furthermore, though both conflicts appear on the surface to be driven by similar dynamics and mirror each other, they are different in several fundamental ways.
Download or read book Resistances written by Sarah Murru and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our world today is experimenting a time of great power but also of tremendous resistances. Everywhere, people are brought together by similar burdens and frustration and creatively think about how to counter the forms of domination they are ascribed to. In academia as well there is an awakening among scholars to further investigate these multiple forms of resistance and equip the field with useful and empowering knowledge. This book aims at presenting some of these findings and reflecting upon the implications, social relevance, and ethical challenges of the growing field of Resistance Studies.
Download or read book The Failure of Political Islam written by Olivier Roy and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This powerful argument reassess radical Islam and the set of ideas and assumptions at its core. Olivier Roy offers a challenging and highly original view that no-one trying to understand Islamic fundamentalism can afford to overlook.
