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Irfan Ahmad makes the far-reaching argument that potent systems and modes for self-critique as well as critique of others are inherent in Islam--indeed, critique is integral to its fundamental tenets and practices. Challenging common views of Islam as hostile to critical thinking, Ahmad delineates thriving traditions of critique in Islamic culture, focusing in large part on South Asian traditions. Ahmad interrogates Greek and Enlightenment notions of reason and critique, and he notes how they are invoked in relation to "others," including Muslims. Drafting an alternative genealogy of critique in Islam, Ahmad reads religious teachings and texts, drawing on sources in Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, and English, and demonstrates how they serve as expressions of critique. Throughout, he depicts Islam as an agent, not an object, of critique. On a broader level, Ahmad expands the idea of critique itself. Drawing on his fieldwork among marketplace hawkers in Delhi and Aligarh, he construes critique anthropologically as a sociocultural activity in the everyday lives of ordinary Muslims, beyond the world of intellectuals. Religion as Critique allows space for new theoretical considerations of modernity and change, taking on such salient issues as nationhood, women's equality, the state, culture, democracy, and secularism.
Interviews with young Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hop This groundbreaking study of race, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, “Muslim Cool.” Muslim Cool is a way of being an American Muslim—displayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the ’hood, and in complex relationships to state power. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.S. as well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic US Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. This is a form of critical Muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersections, rather than divisions between “Black” and “Muslim.” Thus, by countering the notion that Blackness and the Muslim experience are fundamentally different, Muslim Cool poses a critical challenge to dominant ideas that Muslims are “foreign” to the United States and puts Blackness at the center of the study of American Islam. Yet Muslim Cool also demonstrates that connections to Blackness made through hip hop are critical and contested—critical because they push back against the pervasive phenomenon of anti-Blackness and contested because questions of race, class, gender, and nationality continue to complicate self-making in the United States.
As Critical Muslim celebrates ten years of insight and thought, the theme of biography fittingly challenges its readers: to reflect on our past, our memories and our stories, and to look ahead towards what we may leave behind for the stories yet to be told. Stories have always been an essential aspect of human societyâe" from the cave paintings in Sulawesi, dating back over 43,000 years, and oral tales conveyed from bard to audience, to the written word, and now the projected image, on screens large and small. As memory and history become increasingly important for a deeper understanding of the present and our emerging futures, this issue explores how biography allows for something more personalâe"for the myths and fables of childhood to come to lifeâe"and offers snapshots of history to be opened up. We explore a rich historical tradition of biography in Islamic societies, and explore the ways biographies have influenced Muslim thought and culture. Through biography, we can learn much about ourselves, by stepping out of our own worlds and taking on the lives of others.
This book examines the evolution of Islam in our modern world. The renowned Tunisian scholar Mohamed Haddad traces the history of the reformist movement and explains recent events related to the Islamic religion in Muslim countries and among Muslim minorities across the world. In scholarly terms, he evaluates the benefits and drawbacks of theological-political renovation, neo-reformism, legal reformism, mystical reformism, radical criticism, comprehensive history and new approaches within the study of Islam. The book brings to life the various historical, sociological, political and theological challenges and debates that have divided Muslims since the 19th century. The first two chapters address failed reforms in the past and introduce the reader to classical reformism and to Mohammed Abduh. Haddad ultimately proposes a non-confessional definition of religious reform, reinterpreting and adjusting a religious tradition to modern requirements. The second part of the book explores perspectives on contemporary Islam, the legacy of classical reformism and new paths forward. It suggests that the fundamentalism embodied in Wahhabism and Muslim Brotherhood has failed. Traditional Islam no longer attracts either youth or the elites. Mohamed Haddad shows how this paves the way for a new reformist departure that synthesizes modernism and core Islamic values.
This book analyzes Islam as a form of 'travelling theory' in the context of contemporary global transformations such as diasporic communities, transnational social movements, global cities and information technologies. Peter Mandaville examines how 'globalization' is manifested as lived experience through a discussion of debates over the meaning of Muslim identity, political community and the emergence of a 'critical Islam'. This radical book argues that translocal forces are leading the emergence of a wider Muslim public sphere. Now available in paperback, it contains a new preface setting the debates in the context of September 11th.
This book explores the position of Muslim schools in contemporary Britain. A Critical Race Theory approach is used to consider some of the specific issues faced by Muslim schools, in particular those looking to become state-funded. The book provides a critically considered and meaningful application of a theory of 'race' to Muslims as a religious community, without restricting the analysis to minority ethnic Muslim groups; it also provides a counter-narrative which contests assumptions about Muslim schools presented in the media and in public debates more generally. These insights are positioned against current political climates within which Muslims have been consistently subjected to surveillance and suspicion. The book draws on first-hand research carried out inside Muslim schools to offer insights into the ways that these schools cater to diverse and locally-specific needs. It concludes by arguing that independent Islamic schools represent ideal models of community need. Therefore, bringing such schools into the state sector, in a way that allows them to retain autonomy, represents an ideal strategy for the educational and political enfranchisement of British Muslims. Muslim schooling represents an opportunity for increased state investment in Muslim interests as a strategy for offsetting the ways in which Muslim communities have been marginalised more generally in contemporary political climates. The book will make compelling reading for students and researchers in the fields of Education, Sociology, and Religious Studies, particularly those with an interest in faith schools, Islam, and Critical Race Theory.
Exploring the increasing impact of the Internet on Muslims around the world, this book sheds new light on the nature of contemporary Islamic discourse, identity, and community. The Internet has profoundly shaped how both Muslims and non-Muslims perceive Islam and how Islamic societies and networks are evolving and shifting in the twenty-first century, says Gary Bunt. While Islamic society has deep historical patterns of global exchange, the Internet has transformed how many Muslims practice the duties and rituals of Islam. A place of religious instruction may exist solely in the virtual world, for example, or a community may gather only online. Drawing on more than a decade of online research, Bunt shows how social-networking sites, blogs, and other "cyber-Islamic environments" have exposed Muslims to new influences outside the traditional spheres of Islamic knowledge and authority. Furthermore, the Internet has dramatically influenced forms of Islamic activism and radicalization, including jihad-oriented campaigns by networks such as al-Qaeda. By surveying the broad spectrum of approaches used to present dimensions of Islamic social, spiritual, and political life on the Internet, iMuslims encourages diverse understandings of online Islam and of Islam generally.
It is a tragedy that we only appreciate what has already been lost--this is where the concept of a 'world order' first arises in historical memory. The ordering of the world has been a notion observed by historians and thinkers throughout the ages and around the globe. Rises and falls have provided incentives for the categorisation of civilisations, and other forms of global ordering. The West's control of history, its power over the present, and its attempts to colonise the future are coming to an end, and a new narrative is about to emerge. Amidst environmental apocalypse, the end of Western dominance and unbridled technological advancement, this issue of Critical Muslim analyses the terms of world order, exposing its problems and limitations, and asks what will define it next, as the world begs for something truly new. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.
"I have to be honest with you. Islam is on very thin ice with me....Through our screaming self-pity and our conspicuous silences, we Muslims are conspiring against ourselves. We're in crisis and we're dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it's now. For the love of God, what are we doing about it?" In blunt, provocative, and deeply personal terms, Irshad Manji unearths the troubling cornerstones of mainstream Islam today: tribal insularity, deep-seated anti-Semitism, and an uncritical acceptance of the Koran as the final, and therefore superior, manifesto of God. In this open letter to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Manji asks arresting questions. "Who is the real colonizer of Muslims - America or Arabia? Why are we all being held hostage by what's happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis? Why are we squandering the talents of women, fully half of God's creation? What's our excuse for reading the Koran literally when it's so contradictory and ambiguous? Is that a heart attack you're having? Make it fast. Because if more of us don't speak out against the imperialists within Islam, these guys will walk away with the show." Manji offers a practical vision of how the United States and its allies can help Muslims undertake a reformation that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities, and fosters a competition of ideas. Her vision revives Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking. This book will inspire struggling Muslims worldwide to revisit the foundations of their faith. It will also compel non-Muslims to start posing the important questions without fear of being deemed "racists." In more ways than one, The Trouble with Islam is a clarion call for a fatwa-free future.