Islam In A Secular State by Walid Jumblatt Abdullah

Author : Walid Jumblatt Abdullah
Category : Religion
Publisher : Amsterdam University Press
ISBN : 9789048544417
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 305

The overtly secular state of Singapore has unapologetically maintained an authoritarian approach to governance in the realm of religion. Islam is particularly managed by the state. Muslim activists thus have to meticulously navigate these realities - in addition to being a minority community - in order to maximize their influence in the political system. Significantly, Muslim activists are not a monolith: there exists a multitude of political and theological differences amongst them. This study analyses the following categories of Muslim activists: Islamic religious scholars (ulama), liberal Muslims, and the more conservative-minded individuals. Due to constricting political realities, many activists attempt to align themselves with the state, and call upon the state to be an arbiter in their disagreements with other factions. Though there are activists who challenge the state, these are by far in the minority, and are typically unable to assert their influence in a sustained manner.

The Secular Activist by Dan Arel

Author : Dan Arel
Category : Political Science
Publisher : Pitchstone Publishing
ISBN : 1634310977
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book :

"Draws on the author's experience as an activist to offer lessons and guidance for advancing secularism in government and society through activism"--

Secularism Gender And The State In The Middle East by Nadje Al-Ali

Author : Nadje Al-Ali
Category : Social Science
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN : 0521785049
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 286

A considerable literature has been devoted to the study of Islamic activism. By contrast, Nadje Al-Ali's book explores the anthropological and political significance of secular-oriented activism by focusing on the women's movement in Egypt. In so doing, it challenges stereotypical images of Arab women as passive victims and demonstrates how they fight for their rights and confront conservative forces. Al-Ali's book also takes issue with prevailing constructions of 'the West' and its perceived dichotomous relation to 'the East'. The argument is constructed around interviews which afford fascinating insights into the history of the women's movement in Egypt, notions about secularism and how Islamist constituencies have impacted on women's activism generally. The balance between the empirical and conceptual material is adeptly handled. The author frames her work in the context of current theoretical debates in Middle Eastern and post-colonial scholarship: while some of the ideas are complex, her lucid style means they are always comprehensible; the book will therefore appeal to students, as well as to scholars in the field.

An Islam Of Her Own by Sherine Hafez

Author : Sherine Hafez
Category : Religion
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN : 9780814773055
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 240

As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either “religious” or “secular” discourses, women who claim Islam as a vehicle for individual and social change are often either regarded as pious subjects who subscribe to an ideology that denies them many modern freedoms, or as feminist subjects who seek empowerment only through rejecting religion and adopting secularist discourses. Such assumptions emerge from a common trend in the literature to categorize the ‘secular’ and the ‘religious’ as polarizing categories, which in turn mitigates the identities, experiences and actions of women in Islamic societies. Yet in actuality Muslim women whose activism is grounded in Islam draw equally on principles associated with secularism. In An Islam of Her Own, Sherine Hafez focuses on women’s Islamic activism in Egypt to challenge these binary representations of religious versus secular subjectivities. Drawing on six non-consecutive years of ethnographic fieldwork within a women's Islamic movement in Cairo, Hafez analyzes the ways in which women who participate in Islamic activism narrate their selfhood, articulate their desires, and embody discourses in which the boundaries are blurred between the religious and the secular.

In The Name Of The Secular by Rustom Bharucha

Author : Rustom Bharucha
Category : India
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN : UOM:39015022932860
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 220

In This Bold And Challenging New Book, The Author Charts The Shifting Dynamics Of Religion, Community And Civil Society In An Era Which Has Seen The Concurrent Rise Of Mass Media, Globalization And Religious Fundamentalism.

Total Atheism by Stefan Binder

Author : Stefan Binder
Category : Religion
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN : 9781789206753
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 290

Exploring lived atheism in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, this book offers a unique insight into India’s rapidly transforming multi-religious society. It explores the social, cultural, and aesthetic challenges faced by a movement of secular activists in their endeavors to establish atheism as a practical and comprehensive way of life. On the basis of original ethnographic material and engaged conceptual analysis, Total Atheism develops an alternative to Eurocentric accounts of secularity and critically revisits central themes of South Asian scholarship from the hitherto marginalized vantage point of radically secular and explicitly irreligious atheists in India.

An Islam Of Her Own by Sherine Hafez

Author : Sherine Hafez
Category : Social Science
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN : 9780814790724
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 208

As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either OC religiousOCO or OC secularOCO discourses, women who claim Islam as a vehicle for individual and social change are often either regarded as pious subjects who subscribe to an ideology that denies them many modern freedoms, or as feminist subjects who seek empowerment only through rejecting religion and adopting secularist discourses. Such assumptions emerge from a common trend in the literature to categorize the OCysecularOCO and the OCyreligiousOCO as polarizing categories, which in turn mitigates the identities, experiences and actions of women in Islamic societies. Yet in actuality Muslim women whose activism is grounded in Islam draw equally on principles associated with secularism. In An Islam of Her Own, Sherine Hafez focuses on womenOCOs Islamic activism in Egypt to challenge these binary representations of religious versus secular subjectivities. Drawing on six non-consecutive years of ethnographic fieldwork within a women's Islamic movement in Cairo, Hafez analyzes the ways in which women who participate in Islamic activism narrate their selfhood, articulate their desires, and embody discourses in which the boundaries are blurred between the religious and the secular.

Islam And The Secular State by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im Na

Author : Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im Na
Category : Religion
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN : 9780674033764
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 336

What should be the place of Shari'a - Islamic religious law - in predominantly Muslim societies of the world? In this book, a Muslim scholar and human rights activist envisions a positive and sustainable role for Shari'a, based on a profound rethinking of the relationship between religion and the secular state in all societies.

Atheist Awakening by Richard P. Cimino

Author : Richard P. Cimino
Category : Religion
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN : 9780199986323
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 217

"According to Cimino and Smith, the new upsurge of atheists is a reaction to the revival of religious fervor in American politics since 1980. Feeling overlooked and underrepresented in the public sphere, atheists have employed a wide variety of strategies--some evangelical, some based on identity politics--to defend and assert themselves against their ideological opponents. These strategies include building and maintaining communities, despite the absence of the kinds of shared rituals, texts, and laws that help to sustain organized religions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with self-identified atheist, secularist, and humanist leaders and activists, as well as extensive observations and analysis of secular gatherings and media, Cimino and Smith illustrate how atheists organize and align themselves toward common goals, and how media--particularly web-based media--have proven invaluable in connecting atheists to one another and in creating a powerful virtual community. Cimino and Smith suggest that secularists rely not only on the Internet for community-building, but on their own new forms of ritual."--Publisher's Web site.

Makers Of Contemporary Islam by John L. Esposito

Author : John L. Esposito
Category : Intellectuals
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN : 019514127X
Type book : PDF & Epub
Page book : 274

This book examines the biographies of nine major activist intellectuals whose work provides the core of what the Islamic resurgence became in the 1990s adn is an important foundation for what it can become in the 21st century. Nine figures are covered: Ismail al-Faruqi, Khurshid Ahmad, Maryam Jameelah, Hasan Hanafi, Anwar Ibrahim, and Abdurrahman Wahid.