And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic DiscoursesThis is a substantially expanded edition of the author's seminal work The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study. Beginning with the case study of a Muslim basketball player who refused to stand up while the American national anthem was playing, the author documents the disintegration of the Islamic juristic tradition, and the prevalence of authoritarianism in contemporary Muslim discourses. The author analyzes the rise of what he describes as puritan and despotic trends in modern Islam, and asserts that such trends nullify the richness and diversity of the Islamic tradition. By declaring themselves the true soldiers of God and the defenders of religion, Muslim puritan movements are able to degrade women, eradicate critical thinking, and empty Islam of its moral content. In effect, the author argues, the self-declared protectors of Islam become its despots and oppressors who suppress the dynamism and vigor of the Islamic message. Anchoring himself in the rich Islamic jurisprudential tradition, the author argues for upholding the authoritativeness of the religious text without succumbing to authoritarian methodologies of interpretation. Ultimately, the author asserts that in order to respect the integrity of the Divine laws it is necessary to adopt rigorous analytical methodologies of interpretation, and to re-investigate the place of morality in modern Islam. |
Contents
An Anecdotal Experience | 23 |
A Case Study | 37 |
The Fatwā | 43 |
Copyright | |
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And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic ... Khaled Abou El Fadl No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Abd al-Raḥmān Abd Allāh Abou El Fadl Abū Abū Abd Abu Bakr adab āḥādī Aḥkām Aḥmad al-'Arabi al-Bārī al-Bukhārī al-Din al-Ghazālī al-ḥadīth al-Islāmī al-Jāḥiz Al-Juwayni al-Kitāb al-Muṣannaf al-Qur'ān al-Tirmidhi alā Alī Allah Arguably authenticity authoritarian Authoritative and Authoritarian authority awrah beauty Beirut bid'ah Cairo considered contemporary context Dār al-Fikr Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah debate disagree discourses Divine evaluating evidence Fatāwā fiqh fitnah Furthermore furu God's law ḥadīth ḥarām Ḥasan hijab human husband Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalānī Ibn Taymiyyah ijmā intellectual Islamic law issue juristic tradition jurists argued Kitāb Maktabat meaning Mu'assasat Mu'awiyah Muḥammad mujtahid Muslim jurists narrated non-Muslims person prayer pre-modern Prophet prostrate puritan qiyās Qur'an Qur'ānic reader reason relied religion religious reports responsum role rule Salafism scholars school of thought sexual Sharḥ Shari'ah slave girls social sources specific standing Sunnah taqlid theological tion ugliness Umar University Press Uṣūl al-Fiqh verse Wahhabi wife woman women