The Temptation of Graves in Salafi Islam

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Beránek ◽  
Pavel Tupek
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ibn Taymiyya ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
Islamist Movements

In various parts of the Islamic world over the past decades, virulent attacks have targeted Islamic funeral and sacral architecture. Rather than being random acts of vandalism, these are associated with the idea of performing one’s religious duty as attested to in the Salafi/Wahhabi tradition and texts. Graves, shrines and tombs are regarded by some Muslims as having the potential to tempt a believer to polytheism. Hence the duty to level the graves to the ground (taswiyat al-qubūr). In illuminating the ideology behind these acts, this book explains the current destruction of graves in the Islamic world and traces the ideological sources of iconoclasm in their historical perspective, from medieval theological and legal debates to contemporary Islamist movements including ISIS. The authors look at the destruction of graves in various parts of the Islamic world including the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, and trace the ideological roots of Salafi iconoclasm and its shifts and mutations in an historical perspective. The book contains case studies, among others, on Ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the Saudi religious establishment, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and ISIS and the destruction of monuments.

Jihadism Transformed

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Ultimate Failure ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Arab Spring

Jihadist narratives have evolved dramatically over the past five years, driven by momentous events in the Middle East and beyond; the death of bin Laden; the rise and ultimate failure of the Arab Spring; and most notably, the rise of the so-called Islamic State. For many years, Al-Qaeda pointed to an aspirational future Caliphate as their utopian end goal - one which allowed them to justify their violent excesses in the here and now. Islamic State turned that aspiration into a dystopic reality, and in the process hijacked the jihadist narrative, breathing new life into the global Salafi-Jihadi movement. Despite air-strikes from above, and local disillusionment from below, the new caliphate has stubbornly persisted and has been at the heart of ISIS's growing global appeal. This timely collection of essays examines how jihadist narratives have changed globally, adapting to these turbulent circumstances. Area and thematic specialists consider transitions inside the Middle East and North Africa as well as in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. As these analyses demonstrate, the success of the ISIS narrative has been as much about resonance with local contexts, as it has been about the appeal of the global idea of a tangible and realized caliphate.

scholarly journals Transitional Justice in the Middle East and North Africa – Taking Account of Islam

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakeem O. Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Islamic Values

AbstractThe core of the argument of this article is that the integration of Islamic notions of justice into transitional justice mechanisms in the MENA makes for a more viable and sustainable transitional justice process in the region. This would mean a critical cultural value in the MENA is given a place in dealing with the past and mapping out a sustainable future in the region. The argument here is premised on the logic that a social transformation-focused enterprise like transitional justice ought to engage with Islam for sustainable outcomes in societies in the MENA where Islam is very influential. Given the significant role and influence of Islam on cultural, socio-political and legal institutions in the MENA, a process of transitional justice that takes account of Islamic values and practices is important for negotiating justice and institutionalising reforms in societies in the region.

scholarly journals Improving Capacity Development for Threatened Maritime and Marine Cultural Heritage Through the Evaluation of a Parameter Framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-427
Author(s):  
Katherine Recinos ◽  
Lucy Blue
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Development Initiatives

Abstract Maritime cultural heritage is under increasing threat around the world, facing damage, destruction, and disappearance. Despite attempts to mitigate these threats, maritime cultural heritage is often not addressed to the same extent or with equal resources. One approach that can be applied towards protecting and conserving threatened cultural heritage, and closing this gap, is capacity development. This paper addresses the question of how capacity development can be improved and adapted for the protection of maritime cultural heritage under threat. It asserts that capacity development for maritime cultural heritage can be improved by gaining a more comprehensive and structured understanding of capacity development initiatives through applying a consistent framework for evaluation and analysis. This allows for assessment and reflection on previous or ongoing initiatives, leading to the implementation of more effective initiatives in the future. In order to do this, a model for classifying initiatives by ten parameters is proposed. It is then applied to a number of case studies featuring initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa region. This is followed by a discussion of how conclusions and themes drawn from the examination and evaluation of the case study initiatives can provide a deeper understanding of capacity development efforts, and an analysis of how the parameter model as a framework can aid in improving capacity development for threatened maritime cultural heritage overall.

scholarly journals Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa

1970 ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
Faraneh Roudi-Fahimi ◽  
Valentine M. Moghadam
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
School Enrolment ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
The Past ◽  
Secondary School Enrolment ◽  
And Gender

Education is a key part of strategies to improve individuals' well-being and societies' economic and social development. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (countries and territories included in the Middle East and North Africa as defined here are listed in Table 1), access to education has improved dramatically over the past few decades, and there have been a number of encouraging trends in girls' and women's education (see Figure 1). Primary school enrolment is high or universal in most MENA countries, and gender gaps in secondary school enrolment have already disappeared in several countries. Women in MENA countries are also more likely to enrol in universities than they were in the past.

Political Culture in the Islamic World: The Socioeconomic Roots of the Islamic Leviathan

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 612-640
Author(s):  
Amir Abdul Reda
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
State System ◽  
Socioeconomic Class ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Public Opinions ◽  
Independent Variables

Abstract In this paper, the author explores how development affects public opinions on an Islamic Leviathan as an appropriate political system in the Middle East. He asks the following: In the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), what influences political attitudes toward the Islamic Leviathan? To answer this question, he looks at the influence of seven independent variables on attitudes toward the Islamic Leviathan as a state system. The seven variables are (1) society’s overall development, (2) the socioeconomic class of respondents, (3) society’s corruption, (4) religiosity, (5) education, (6) gender, and (7) age. The author finds the observations needed to assess his theory in the Carnegie Middle East Governance and Islam Dataset 1988-2014 (CMEGID), which includes 15,194 relevant observations throughout the MENA region. His findings show that societies’ overall development has the most influence over Arab attitudes toward the Islamic Leviathan as an appropriate state system.

Artisans to Producers

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-148
Author(s):  
Fanny Bessard
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Near East ◽  
Physical Change ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Islam

This chapter considers the physical change of the workspace chronologically, geographically, and by industry. From the case studies of pottery, glass, and textile making, as well as food processing, it discusses the standardization of the Roman practice, as seen at Timgad in North Africa, of zoning and conglomerating crafts in early Islam across the Near East and Central Asia. While acknowledging this continuity with the past, it examines the novelty and significance of manufacturing after 800, when ‘post-Roman’ ceased to be a meaningful description of Near Eastern economy, and questions whether urban crafts experienced differentiated or similar forms of development.

The Matter of Sectarianism

2017 ◽  
pp. 143-161
Author(s):  
Max Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Religious Difference ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Other World

This chapter provides an introduction to the problem of sectarianism in the modern Middle East. Although the focus is on the Eastern Mediterranean from the mid-nineteenth century through the present, scholars of North Africa, southeastern Europe, South Asia, and many other world-historical contexts face similar conceptual challenges in accounting for manifestations of not only sectarian but also ethnic and religious difference. Rather than accepting primordialist conceptions of sectarian phenomena, and without reducing the sectarian to instances of violence, this chapter argues that that there is a dialectical relationship between the matter of sectarianism in the modern Middle East and the scholarly research questions and journalistic lines of inquiry that contribute to its definition and, in many instances, its spread.

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