Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought and History

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asma Afsaruddin
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Critical Term ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The Military ◽  
Late Works

In both popular and scholarly literature, jihad is primarily assumed to be a monovalent concept referring to “military/armed combat,” and martyrdom (shahada) is inevitably understood to be of the military kind. This assumption facilitates the discussion of jihad and martyrdom as terms with fixed, universal meanings divorced from the varying sociopolitical contexts in which they have been deployed through time. Such a monovalent understanding of these two concepts emerges primarily through consultation of the juridical literature and official histories that were produced after the 2nd century ce (8th century ah) and that are unduly privileged in academic discussions of this subject. In contradistinction to this approach, a more holistic and historical approach to the term jihad can be undertaken by focusing on the changing significations of jihad from the earliest formative period of Islam to the contemporary period, against the backdrop of specific social and political circumstances which have mediated the meanings of this critical term. This larger objective entails canvassing a more varied genre of texts to recreate a more multifaceted understanding of jihad and martyrdom as dynamic discursive terms through time. Such sources include Qurʾan exegetical works (tafsir), early and late works of hadith which purport to contain the sayings of the prophet Muhammad, the excellences of jihad (fadaʾil al-jihad) and the excellences of patience (fadaʾil al-sabr) literatures, which are often not consulted on this topic. Furthermore, the comparison of early and late sources and texts from these genres allows one to chart both the constancies and changes in the spectrum of meanings and repertoire of activities included under the terms jihad and shahada. This recovery of a broader semantic landscape undermines exclusively martial conceptualizations of both these terms and has important implications for the contemporary period.

Violence in Islamic Thought from the Qur'an to the Mongols

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Human History ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Islamic Thought

The topic of Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence in Islamic Thought (LIVIT) calls for an interdisciplinary, comparative and historical approach. This has been the underlying methodological assumption within the project which bore this name. Amongst the products of that three-year project is a series of collected studies by established and emerging scholars in the field, examining how Muslim thinkers have conceptualised violence and categorised (morally and legally) acts of violence. In this opening chapter, István Kristó-Nagy first explores how violence in Islamic thought can be set against a wider consideration of violence in human history. It is this comparative perspective which contextualises not only this volume, but also the two subsequent volumes in the LIVIT series. In the second half of this chapter, Robert Gleave explains how this volume is structured, addressing the different approaches used by the contributors, and examines the different ways in which violence can be categorised.

An Egyptian Medical Officer and Qurʾān Commentator in Ottoman Syria

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Majid Daneshgar
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Medical Officer ◽  
Empirical Science ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Professional Background ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The 19Th Century

Abstract This article pays a particular attention to an Arab army physician and scholar from the mid-19th century who placed empirical science at the center of Islamic thought and situated it within Qurʾānic exegetical debates. He is the Egyptian Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Iskandarānī, a medical officer who ended up working in Ottoman Syria, and whose works were copied and printed (in)directly by the Ottomans. Apart from the limited information contained in previous scholarly literature, which, on the basis of his first commentary alone, repeatedly presents this commentator as one of the first people to have produced a “scientific interpretation of the Qurʾān”, little is known about his personal and professional background and the production of his commentaries. This study also sheds light on exegetical and intellectual directions produced outside Egypt in the 19th century.

scholarly journals Merarches in the thematic organization (9th-12th centuries)

2013 ◽  
pp. 215-234
Author(s):  
Milos Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Historical Documents ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Byzantine Period ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Military ◽  
Source Materials

The text cites the results of the study of the role of merarches, which were a part of the military organization of the Empire in the early Byzantine period. Later historical documents do not give any notion of this position for more than two centuries. The merarches became a part of the thematic organization in the middle of 9th century. Our ability to fully understand the nature of their function is limited due to the scarcity of source materials; this, however, may be overcome by taking into account, the general and political situation in the Empire, that is, by considering the military reforms executed in the 9th and 10th century. This paper focuses on the problem of the military-administrative competences of the merarches, which have been the subject of different interpretations in the modern, scholarly literature. One of the aims of this research is the definition of the timeframe within which the reestablishment of this rank in the Byzantine army occured.

The Formative Period of Islamic Thought (review)

1975 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-251
Author(s):  
Robert Elias Abu Shanab
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Islamic Thought

Governance in Classical Islamic Thought

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ovamir Anjum
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
The Self ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Land Grants ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Islamic Society

Governance in Islamic history has taken many different forms. The formative period saw most innovative deployment of the Arab tribal norms under the guidance of Islamic norms and the pressure of the rapid expansion. After the conquests, the ruling elite augmented their Arab tribal form of governance with numerous institutions and practices from the surrounding empires, particularly the Persian empire. The Umayyads ruled as Arab chiefs, whereas the Abbasids ruled as Persian emperors. Local influences further asserted themselves in governance after the Abbasids weakened and as Islamization took root. After the fragmentation of the Abbasid empire by the ah 4th century/10th century ce, a distinctively Islamic society emerged whose regional rulers upheld its law and institutions such as land-grants (iqṭāʿ), taxation (kharāj and jizya), education (legal madhhab, jāmiʿ and madrasah), and judiciary (qaḍāh). A triangle of governmental authority was established, with the caliph as the source of legitimacy, symbol of community unity, and leader of religious rites; the sultan as the territorial king who maintained the army and monopoly over violence; and the scholars (ulama’) as socioreligious leaders of their respective communities. The caliph or the sultan appointed the local qāḍīs from among the ulama’, who served not only as judges and mediators but also as moral guides and administers of endowments and jurisconsults and counselors, and thus played a key role in the self-governance of classical Islamic societies.

Evolution in the Canonical Sunni Hadith Body of Literature and the Concept of an Authentic Hadith During the Formative Period of Islamic ought as Based on Recent Western Scholarship

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adis Duderija
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Western Scholarship ◽  
Formative Years

AbstractThe aim of this article is to trace the development of the Hadith body of literature and the concept of an authentic Hadith as defined by the classical Islamic sciences ('ulum-ul-hadith) during the formative years of Islamic thought as based primarily on Western scholarship sources. The first part of the article will describe the semantico-contextual changes in the meaning of the term Hadith during the period under examination. The second part will present a brief chronological analysis of the development of the canonical Hadith literature and the concept of an authentic Hadith during the first four generations of Muslims. The progress of development of Hadith literature will, in particular, be traced in relation to the development of the concept of an authentic Hadith, as defined by the classical Hadith sciences.

scholarly journals ISLAM MESIR: ASAL-USUL, PERKEMBANGAN DAN CORAK PEMIKIRAN KEISLAMAN

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Asrar Mabrur Faza
Keyword(s):  
Perspective View ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
Islamic Civilization ◽  
The Military

This paper raised about Islamic thought patterns that exist in Egypt.According to the authors, the teachings of supplement Islam derived fromhistorical scenarios in a vulnerable time and place as in Egypt, was part ofthe perspective view of Islam as a historical religion. Therefore, the arrivalof Islam, the development and emergence of the Muslims in the fieldof modern thought in this country has its own uniqueness. The leaders ofthe Muslims during the military expansion of Egypt, from the beginninghas been offering the limits of interfaith tolerance. Some of the powerfulempires that ever existed in Egypt has contributed significantly to the constructionof Islamic civilization at that time. Egyptian Islamic thinkersboth modern and contemporary style has provided the liberal Islamicthought in that country. So that, it could be an example for other countriesin the development of Islamic thought in general.

scholarly journals CONTINUITY AND CHANGE OF THE ISLAMIC INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE IN INDONESIA MALAY WORLD

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Nor Huda
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Intellectual Discourse ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Religious Vision ◽  
Strong Difference ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The 19Th Century

In its history, there has been a strong difference between the doctrine of Sufism and the philosophical Sufism, including Indonesia. In the period of the end of the 16th century until the end of the 19th century even the emergence of the beginning of Islamic intellectualism in Indonesia was brilliantly marked by monumental works. Then, in the era of the 1970s, the discourse of renewing Islamic thought was increasingly being studied. The young generation of educated Muslims in this decade has shown a tendency towards thinking that is no longer normative in view of religion. Very different in the era of mystical and sufistic Islam. So, they tend to be more interested in Islamic understanding based on empirical and historical approaches in the formation of their religious vision. In this paper, a philosophical historical approach will be discussed on the issue of continuity and change in Islamic intellectual discourse in the Malay world of Indonesia and at the same time analyzing broader mystical and philosophical mysticism in Indonesia, friction in it, and efforts to reconcile it.

Crisis, Collapse, Militarism and Civil War

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Iranian History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Collapse ◽  
The Military ◽  
Political Disorder

Eighteenth-century Iran is of central significance to the modern history of the country, but as a field of study it has been neglected. It was a century of revolt, war, political disorder, anarchy and lawlessness, disruption of trade, economic collapse, famine, emigration, and general misery. It has been estimated that the population of the country fell from around 9 million at the beginning of the century to perhaps 6 million at the end. In the 1720s it seemed likely that Iran would disappear altogether, partitioned between her neighbours. Within a few years the country surged back to make a bid for regional dominance under the military genius Nader Shah, but lapsed again into civil war after his untimely death in 1747. The civil wars lasted almost until the end of the century, albeit with an interlude of relative calm and good governance under Karim Khan Zand. In 1796, after more civil wars, Agha Mohammad Shah had himself crowned as the first monarch of the Qajar dynasty, which would last until 1925. This book brings together the best scholarship available on many disputed and controversial aspects of this crucially formative period of Iranian history.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document