The implications of, and opposition to, the methods and theories of John Wansbrough1

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Berg

This article serves as an introduction to Wansbrough's methods and theories for the study of the Qur¸dn, its Tafsīr, the Sīra, and other early Islamic texts. Muslim and most non-Muslim scholars work within essentially the same framework: one which reads the literature of early Islam as history. Wansbrough has demonstrated that what these sources provide is not history per se, but salvation history, and that methods appropriate for the study of this genre are not source critical but literary critical. Through the application of these methods Wansbrough has postulated theories, which, if correct, radically alter our understanding of Islamic origins. Islamicists have tended to fixate on these theories at the expense of the methodological approach from which they are derived. Judging by the arguments raised thus far by these opponents of Wansbrough, I suggest that their aversion to his work stems as much from the unwillingness of Islamicists to accept the uncertainty inherent in his methods and the political incorrectness associated with his theories as from their theoretical conservatism and methodological naivete.

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 181-212
Author(s):  
Joseph S Spoerl

Islamic thinking on war divides roughly into two main schools, classical and modern. The classical (or medieval) view commands offensive war to spread Islamic rule ultimately across the entire world. The modernist view, predominant since the nineteenth century, limits war to defensive aims only. This paper compares the views of two important Muslim scholars, the classical scholar Ibn Ishaq (d. 767) and the modernist scholar Mahmud Shaltut (d. 1963). This comparison reveals that the modernist project of rethinking the Islamic law of war is a promising though as-yet-unfinished project that can benefit from the insights of Western scholars applying the historical-critical method to the study of early Islamic sources.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Suhail Hussein Al-Fatlawi

<p>Democracy was established in the Greek cities in the fifth century B.C. It is a liberal western system. In this regard, various Islamic countries applied democracy as a political and legal system where the people elect their representatives in the legislative authority in order to put the legal regulations that organize the human behavior.</p>The research included a brief idea about liberal democracy, its history and objectives, the political and legal system in the Islamic state, the dispute among Muslim scholars on the application of democracy in the Islamic states; some Muslim scholars refuse to apply democracy since the legal system in Islam relies on the Holly Qor'an and the Prophet's speeches, which are a biding regulation for Muslims, while other authors believe that Islam accepts democracy and others think that Islam should have its special democracy that differs from the liberal democracy. This paper discussed the political and legal systems that were applied the Islamic state during the history of Islam. Finally the paper presented the most conclusions and recommendations reached by the researcher.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 347-381
Author(s):  
Michele Goulart Massuchin ◽  
Regilson Furtado Borges

Este artigo apresenta uma análise sobre como o jornal O Estado do Maranhão (MA) se apropria da sua página no Facebook como espaço para difundir conteúdo jornalístico. A abordagem metodológica é quantitativa e qualitativa a partir da análise do conteúdo de 608 posts extraídos da fanpage do jornal e de entrevista com a responsável pela versão digital do veículo. A pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar as características dos conteúdos distribuídos pela rede social, especialmente observando o espaço destinado para temas políticos e eleitorais. A análise trabalha com as seguintes características: temas, tema eleitoral, abrangência, valência e interação. Como resultado principal ressalta-se que O Estado do Maranhão concedeu espaço considerável para o tema político-eleitoral, com baixa presença de entretenimento.   PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Jornalismo; redes sociais; eleições.   ABSTRACT This article presents an analysis of how the newspaper O Estado de Maranhão (MA) appropriates the Facebook page as a space for disseminating journalistic content. The methodological approach is quantitative and qualitative from the content analysis of 608 posts extracted from the fanpage of the newspaper and interview with the responsible for digital part of the vehicle. The research aims to analyze the characteristics of the contents distributed by the social network, especially observing the space destined for electoral subjects. The analysis discuses these characteristics: themes, electoral theme, scope and engagement. As a main result, O Estado do Maranhão granted considerable space for the political-electoral theme.   KEYWORDS: journalism; social networks; elections.     RESUMEN Este artículo presenta un análisis sobre cómo el diario El Estado de Maranhão (MA) se apropia de su página en Facebook como espacio para difundir contenido periodístico. El enfoque metodológico es cuantitativo y cualitativo a partir del análisis del contenido de 608 posts extraídos de la fanpage del periódico y de entrevista con la responsable de la parte digital del vehículo. La investigación tiene por objetivo analizar las características de los contenidos distribuidos por la red social, especialmente observando el espacio destinado a temas electorales. El análisis trabaja con las siguientes características: temas, tema electoral, alcance y la relación com os lectores. Como resultado principal se resalta que el Estado de Maranhão concedió espacio considerable para el tema político-electoral.   PALABRAS CLAVE: periodismo, redes sociales, elecciones.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
Khairul Amal

This paper attempts to discuss the proper methodology in search for the authentic Islamic History. It discusses the relationship between two sister-disciplines, i.e. ?ad?th and History, their likenesses, many problems which the historians of Early Islam have to face in their research and the possibility of employing unique methodology of the study of ?ad?th on the study of Early Islamic History. The paper benefits from a plethora of monographs written by contemporary scholars of Islamic Studies. I conclude that Isn?d-cum-Matn Analysis developed separately by Gregor Schoeler and Harald Motzki seems promising for the study of Early Islam.This paper attempts to discuss the proper methodology in search for the authentic Islamic History. It discusses the relationship between two sister-disciplines, i.e. ?ad?th and History, their likenesses, many problems which the historians of Early Islam have to face in their research and the possibility of employing unique methodology of the study of ?ad?th on the study of Early Islamic History. The paper benefits from a plethora of monographs written by contemporary scholars of Islamic Studies. I conclude that Isn?d-cum-Matn Analysis developed separately by Gregor Schoeler and Harald Motzki seems promising for the study of Early Islam.


2021 ◽  
pp. 144-160
Author(s):  
Michael B. Dwyer

This chapter explores the regulatory fictions of presumably fixed administrative categories in the vastly different context of rural Cambodia. It examines the work of property formalization in the country, through processes of titling and concession making associated with the global land rush of the late 2000s. Through an impressive cartographic deconstruction of Cambodia's uneven geography of formalization as well as the land allocations for a private sugar plantation, the chapter illustrates that this formalization fix operates more as a promise than a reality. It shifts to discuss the discursive work that renders formalization logical, legal, and hegemonic. The chapter then explores the bureaucratic work that gives it a subnational geography, and ends with the political work of enforcing it at the margins where hegemony breaks down and conflicts erupt with those who openly question its fictions. The chapter argues that the goal is not to argue against formalization per se, but to denaturalize it so that its powers can be put to work in better ways.


Author(s):  
Kaitlynn Mendes ◽  
Jessica Ringrose ◽  
Jessalynn Keller

In this chapter, we outline our conceptual framework, addressing key theories that underpin our analysis, including, affect and related concepts, including affective solidarity, networked affect, and affective publics. We also introduce key terms from critical technology studies, including platform vernacular and other concepts relevant to the political economy of social media. After providing further information on the six case studies described in the Introduction, including their reason for selection and methods used, the chapter details our unique methodological approach, which draws insights from a range of interdisciplinary tools, including feminist ethnographic methods, thematic textual analysis, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and online observations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 149-174
Author(s):  
Fanny Bessard

Early Islamic marketplaces have been studied almost exclusively for their art historical and architectural values, by Maxime Rodinson in the preface of El señor del zoco en España, while their functioning and process of development have not yet been fully elucidated. It is also believed that marketplaces in early Islam functioned as their late antique predecessors, with apparently nothing bequeathed from pre-Islamic Arabia, where dedicated spaces for trade were extremely rare. This chapter considers what happened to urban marketplaces in the Near East after the Muslim conquests, to look at the fate of the late antique legacy under the new Arab masters—a people with contrasting indigenous commercial traditions—in the context of new power dynamics from 700 to 950. It explores the ways in which early medieval marketplaces differed from the late antique past, and the role they played in the agrarian society of early Islam.


2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 689-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Bearce ◽  
Jennifer A. Laks Hutnick

Why do many resource-rich countries maintain autocratic political regimes? The authors’ proposed answer focuses on the causal effect of labor imports, or immigration. Using the logic offered by Acemoglu and Robinson’s democratization model, the authors posit that immigration makes democratization less likely because it facilitates redistributive concessions to appease the population within an autocratic regime. This immigration argument applies directly to the political resource curse since many resource-rich countries tend to also be labor scarce, leading them to import foreign laborers. Consistent with this understanding, the authors find a statistically significant negative relationship between net immigration per capita and democratization in future periods. Their results also show that when controlling for this immigration effect, the standard resource curse variables lose significance in a democratization model. This latter result suggests that much of the so-called resource curse stems not from resource endowments per se but rather from the labor imports related to resource production.


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