Everlasting Doubt: Uncertainty in Islamic Representations of the Past

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahzad Bashir
Keyword(s):  
Islamic History ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conscious Attention

Abstract:Utilizing treatments of uncertainty regarding history in four major Arabic and Persian works (Ṭabarī, Bīrūnī, Badāʾūnī, and Abū l-Fażl), this article treats Islam as an ever-changing set of arguments rather than a panoply of beliefs and practices. ‘Islamic history’ is internally varied, without necessary universality or internal cohesion. The Islamic case underscores the methodological point that the interrelationship between religion and history is a multichannel and multidirectional affair whose valences differ in treatments of history of Islam versus that of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. Each of these histories has its distinctive history as a subject, with attendant fields of possibility and impossibility. An overarching history of religions must then be a vast, ever-expanding matrix not reducible to generalizations except in thematic treatments conceptualized with self-conscious attention to categories of analysis.

Perfection Makes Practice

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Muhamad Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Psychological Dimension ◽  
South Sulawesi ◽  
Complex Dimensions ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of

Studies of Islam in Southeast Asia have sought to better understand its multifacetedand complex dimensions, although one may make a generalizedcategorization of Muslim beliefs and practices based on a fundamental differencein ideologies and strategies, such as cultural and political Islam.Anna M. Gade’s Perfection Makes Practice stresses the cultural aspect ofIndonesian Muslim practices by analyzing the practices of reciting andmemorizing the Qur’an, as well as the annual competition.Muslim engagement with the Qur’an has tended to emphasize the cognitiveover the psychological dimension. Perfection Makes Practice analyzesthe role of emotion in these undertakings through a combination ofapproaches, particularly the history of religions, ethnography, psychology,and anthropology. By investigating Qur’anic practitioners in Makassar,South Sulawesi, during the 1990s, Gade argues that the perfection of theQur’an as a perceived, learned, and performed text has made and remade thepractitioners, as well as other members of the Muslim community, to renewor increase their engagement with the holy text. In this process, she suggests,moods and motivation are crucial to preserving the recited Qur’an and revitalizingthe Muslim community.In chapter 1, Gade begins with a theoretical consideration for her casestudy. Drawing from concepts that emphasize the importance of feeling andemotion in ritual and religious experience, she develops a conceptualizationof this engagement. In chapter 2, Gade explains memorization within thecontext of the self and social relations. She argues that Qur’anic memorizershave a special relationship with its style and structure, as well as with thesocial milieu. Although Qur’anic memorization is a normal practice for mostMuslims, its practitioners have learned how to memorize and recite beautifullysome or all of the Qur’an’s verses, a process that requires emotion ...

Religion and Culture in Uganda

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-118
Author(s):  
David A. Hoekema
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Communities

In the past two centuries, relations among Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim communities in Uganda have been marked by competition and mistrust more than cooperation. The interfaith initiative of northern religious leadersv is a noteworthy exception. In this chapter the history of these communities is briefly reviewed, setting the background for the group’s formation. An important historical event that helped bring Catholics and Protestants together was the execution of 45 Christian pages to the Buganda king in 1886. Mention is also made of the far more prominent role that religion plays in public life in East Africa than in Europe and North America, and of the persistence of traditional beliefs and practices.

Presenting the Past: The Genre of Commentary in Theoretical Perspective

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Traditional Concept ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of

AbstractThis article provides a theoretical discussion of the genre of commentary writing. Rather than examining the role of commentary in a specific religion, it attempts to articulate a set of useful questions to begin the process of rethinking what this genre is and, in the process, help create a theoretical vocabulary and conceptual framework for an analysis of commentary from the history of religions. The article is divided into three parts. The first broadens the traditional concept of a "canon", ostensibly the raw data upon which the commentary imposes a taxonomy. The second argues that the human condition, what Heidegger calls the way in which we are thrown into the world, demands that we interpret it. Finally, it is suggested that commentary is fundamentally about location or space, thereby providing the classificatory schema that is necessary for contextualizing both past and present. The main goal of this article is to problematize the current discussion of commentary in a theoretical way.

Religion in the Making? Animality, Savagery, and Civilization in the Work of A. N. Whitehead

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-304
Author(s):  
Clare Palmerl
Keyword(s):  
Writing Process ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Behaviors

AbstractConstructions of the animal and animality are often pivotal to religious discourses. Such constructions create the possibility of identifying and valuing what is "human" as opposed to the "animal" and also of distinguishing human beliefs and behaviors that can be characterized (and often disparaged) as being animal from those that are "truly human." Some discourses also employ the concept of savagery as a bridge between the human and the animal, where the form of humanity but not its ideal beliefs and practices can be displayed. This paper explores the work of the influential scientist, philosopher, and theologian A. N. Whitehead in this context. His ideas of what constitutes "the animal." the "primitive" and the "civilized" are laid out explicitly in his now little-used history of religions text, Religion in the Making.This paper explores these ideas in this history and then considers how the same ideas permeate his currently more popular philosophical and theological writing Process and Reolity. Drawing on some work in post-colonial theory the paper offers a critique of this understanding of animality, savagery, and civilization and suggests that using Whitehead to underpin modern theological work requires considerable caution.

scholarly journals Book Review: Sejarah Peradaban Islam (History of Islamic Civilization)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farras Kartika Kusumadewi ◽  
Moses Glorino Rumambo Pandin
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Student Reading ◽  
History Of ◽  
Limited Edition ◽  
The Times ◽  
Islamic Civilization

The study of Islamic history today may not have been regulated through literature, either in foreign languages or using Indonesian (translations or works of the nation's children). Many books have studied the history of Islam that we can get to fill our information, but no one book is so complete, one literature with another can complement each other to form knowledge of Islamic history. From the thought that no single work is perfect and on the contrary will complement each other, the author of this book aims to present the book Sejarah Peradaban Islam to be a reference and teaching material for the history of Islamic civilization course. The author hopes that this work will not only serve as a reference for students majoring in history at various universities, but has also become a public reading as an important contribution to reinventing Islamic civilization in the past, present, and future.Previously, this book entitled Sejarah Islam was only published in a limited edition (30 copies) by Rayhan Intermedia six years ago for student reading. After undergoing revisions in several parts as well as adjusting the curriculum and lecture materials, a book with the title Sejarah Peradaban Islam was presented. This book is intended for everyone, from all walks of life. Although it focuses on Islam, it can be read by anyone who wants to gain additional knowledge about Islamic history.The flow of study in the book does not follow the periodization of Islamic history as written by Harun Nasution, which is divided into the classical period (650-1250 AD), the middle period (1250-1800 AD), and the modern period (1800 AD). His presentation in the book is more based on the growth and development of Islamic civilization in various regions and the reign of a certain caliph or king, however, it does not ignore the characteristics of the times and the character of the period in which Islam grew and developed. In certain parts of the book, it also reviews the roots and implications of the social revolution, the glorious achievements of the rulers, and the peaks of the development of Islamic civilization in various parts of the world.The book of Sejarah Peradaban Islam from Ahmadin needs to be reviewed to know what is in the book, considering some of the previous things. In addition, also to find out what weaknesses and strengths are contained in the book, it is possible to recommend the book as additional reading for others.

Afrikaanse gereformeerde kerke in die sleurgang van die tydgees

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-78
Author(s):  
Pieter Kruger
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Society ◽  
Pluralistic Society ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
South African Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

During the past nearly 30 years the epochs of democratisation and globalisation became intertwined with the South African society, determining its spirit of the age. The democratisation of South African since 1994 has its own history of radical rather than evolutionary transformative measures which brought about constructive changes to the political and social fibre of a secularised South Africa. In conjunction, globalisation as dominant worldview became evident in the transposition of South Africa into a secular, liberal, capitalistic, pluralistic society. Over this period the Afrikaans-speaking churches of reformed tradition were not immune to these influences, channelled via their members’ experiences of and responses to their changing social and economic setup. These churches have since also changed. Their influence on society and social matters has dwindled. The contexts of their congregations changed. Their traditional collective forms of institutionalised religion are changing due to the influence of a plurality of different personal, religious beliefs and practices. These developments challenge these churches to rethink their denominational identities and consider the way in which they approach society and what they can contribute to the ecumenical church.

Religion in the Making? Animality, Savagery, and Civilization in the Work of A. N. Whitehead

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Writing Process ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Behaviors

AbstractConstructions of the animal and animality are often pivotal to religious discourses. Such constructions create the possibility of identifying and valuing what is "human" as opposed to the "animal" and also of distinguishing human beliefs and behaviors that can be characterized (and often disparaged) as being animal from those that are "truly human." Some discourses also employ the concept of savagery as a bridge between the human and the animal, where the form of humanity but not its ideal beliefs and practices can be displayed. This paper explores the work of the influential scientist, philosopher, and theologian A. N. Whitehead in this context. His ideas of what constitutes "the animal," the "primitive" and the "civilized" are laid out explicitly in his now little-used history of religions text, Religion in the Making. This paper explores these ideas in this history and then considers how the same ideas permeate his currently more popular philosophical and theological writing Process and Reality. Drawing on some work in post-colonial theory, the paper offers a critique of this understanding of animality, savagery, and civilization and suggests that using Whitehead to underpin modern theological work requires considerable caution.

Goodbye to the Despot: Feldman on Islamic Law in the Ottoman Empire

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (01) ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Molly Greene
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Constitutional History ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

Noah Feldman's 2008 book, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, provides a sweeping review of the constitutional history of the Islamic polity that connects the past to developments in the Middle East today. The Ottoman Empire is vital to his argument. This essay critically evaluates Feldman's treatment of the Ottoman period, within the larger context of Islamic history, and in so doing considers the understudied constitutional history of the empire. Without denying the importance of the ulema and the shari'a, it argues that the empire was a hybrid of many different traditions and the centrality of Islamic law should not be overstated.

DOLI: TRANSLATING AN AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF LOSS IN THE SANGHA RIVER BASIN OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAMARA GILES-VERNICK
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Environmental Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Interventions ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Past ◽  
Equatorial Africa ◽  
Complex Dimensions ◽  
History Of

This essay is about a conceptual category of historical and environmental knowledge and about how a particular group of Africans use that category to understand and debate change. It is, in effect, an exercise in translation. In the middle and upper Sangha basin forests of the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) and Cameroon, Mpiemu speakers have articulated a broad category, doli, through which they express, debate and make claims of truth about the past and present. Glossing doli as ‘history’ does little justice to the richly complex dimensions of this category, for doli encompasses a multitude of relationships to the past. It can refer to a distant unchanging past, as well as to the knowledge, beliefs and practices associated with that past. Mpiemu people hold up the knowledge, beliefs and practices as an idealized framework to guide their behavior toward one another and their uses of fields, forests, rivers and streams. But doli can also describe and frame the accumulated experiences – identifiable events, people and places – of elderly people. In all of these expressions about the past, Mpiemu use idioms linking persons and their environments, those of cords and vines and of mobility (wandering) and stasis (sitting), to articulate doli's central aim of ‘leaving a person behind’. Tracing doli's different meanings, genres and aims can illuminate how the category has changed over the twentieth century, how Mpiemu have interpreted environmental interventions in the Sangha basin, and why they have engaged in conflicts over their entitlement to valued forest resources. Hence, it offers insights into why people use natural resources as they do and provides an alternative to exclusively materialist explanations for conflicts over resource use.

scholarly journals Modern Islam of the Arabian Peninsula: History, Trends and Movements.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90
Author(s):  
Evgeniya Alexandrovna SAVELIEVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Arab People

The pre-Islamic history of the Arabian Peninsula and the history of Islam show what different communities have united and continue to unite religion, and it is in history that we find the factors that divide the Arab people and the Islamic world. The complexity of these relationships stretches from the past, and modern realities only add problems and questions.

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