Illiberal Cultural Christianity? European Identity Constructions and Anti-Muslim Politics

This paper refers to the ambivalence of secularization in order to explain why Cultural Christianity can show both a liberal and illiberal character. These two faces of Cultural Christianity are mostly due to the identity functions that, not only faith-based religion, but a particularly culturalized version of religion, entails. Proceeding from this, it will be demonstrated here how Cultural Christianity can turn into a concrete illiberal marker of identity or a resource for illiberal collective identity. Our argument focuses on the link between right-wing nationalism and Cultural Christianity from a historical-theoretical perspective, and illustrates the latter with the example of contemporary illiberal and selective European memory constructions including a special emphasis on the exclusivist elements.

ENGLISH: An Analytical Study of the Modern Muslim Politics in the Light of the Moderate Political Policies of the Prophet (PBUH)

This research aims to discuss the contemporary situation of modern Muslim politics in the light of the political vision of the Prophet (pbuh). It explores that contrary to the prevailing system of the world politics which was based on the religious and ethnic prides, injustice and class system, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) introduced the concept of moderate politics by establishing the principles of harmony, reconciliation and admiration of other religions that resulted in the economic prosperity and political stability of the whole nation. However, the contemporary Muslim world seems upset regarding its political policies and suffering from the issues of extremism, religious conflicts, sectarianism, and lack of reconciliation that put the modern Muslim world into chaos and law and order situation. This research thus, concludes that all this because of the ignorance of the moderate politics of the Prophet (pbuh). It suggests following the political steps of our Last Prophet (pbuh) to achieve economic prosperity and political stability in the Muslim states. Key words:

Politics and Eschatology in Iran

The article studies the Iranian political society, starting from the analysis of the Iranian Constitution, the only one in the world characterized by “eschatological” components. The authors retrace the history of the birth of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is fundamental to ensure an interpretation of the politics of that country that takes into account religious and cultural factors and clarifies possible future developments. Furthermore, they address the problem relative to the symbolic system on which the configuration of the Iranian Republic theoretically rests, which must necessarily come to terms with pragmatic reality. In fact, to have a following in his revolutionary project, Khomeini used the “symbolic spring”, in which the politics of Iran in these years have demonstrated the necessity of realism with a parallel with the concept of agnosticism, which thus becomes natural, in opposition to theories that are often more subjective than objective. Finally, the authors go so far as to say that today is the time for a change, even if in a country like Iran, everything proceeds slowly. Young Iranians will have to obtain a role, reorganize and rekindle from below. The involvement of the young people themselves can increase hope in a process that promises to be complex and articulated, which sees the theocratic model as opposed to the model of Muslim politics in a purely eschatological context, which to most, especially in the West, appears anachronistic, but this is not always the case.

Conducting Research on Muslims

The aim of the special section in this issue is to identify and examine methodological opportunities for conducting research on Muslims, while also noting challenges and uncertainties. The focus is on methodological and ethical challenges encountered while conducting both qualitative and quantitative research in increasingly unstable socio-political environments. The section examines how researchers address such challenges, and brings together scholars whose research involves studying aspects of Muslim politics from various disciplinary backgrounds. The objective is to identify ethical and practical challenges involved in studying Islam, share insights and experiences of researchers from the Middle East and North Africa, and develop improved techniques to collect good quality data from Muslim groups and societies. The overall aim is arrive at a better understanding of the ethics, politics, and responsibilities involved in studying Islam and Muslims in our age: one characterized by a defiant and resurgent faith.

Crisis of Secularism and Changing Contours of Minority Politics in India

This paper examines the changing nature of Muslim political mobilization in contemporary India in the context of Hindu nationalism’s ascendancy into power and the consequent crisis of traditional Muslim politics. Through an ethnographic case study of the Popular Front of India, we argue that a qualitatively new form of political mobilization is taking place among Indian Muslims centered on an articulation of “self-defense” against a “Hindu nationalist threat.” This politics of self-defense is constructed on the reconciliation of two contradictory processes: use of extensive legal pragmatism, and defensive ethnicization based on Islamic identity. The paper also examines the consequences of the emerging politics of competing ethnicization for even a normative and minimal idea of secularism and how it contributes to the process of decoupling of secularism and democracy in contemporary India.

Locating Gramsci in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh: Perspectives on the iconic women’s protest in India

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, in India was widely contested by both political parties and various civil society formations. Shaheen Bagh, a sit-in protest demonstration which continued for over a hundred days in the nation’s capital from mid-December 2019 to late March 2020, occupied the central position within the corpus of these protest demonstrations. The protests at Shaheen Bagh were led by poor, Muslim working-class women, who had come out on the streets protesting and asserting their rights amidst the dominant ruling-class communal politics. The Shaheen Bagh protests were a potent force of the working-class and oppressed minorities of the country. The paper brings in Marxist and Gramscian perspectives to explain how Shaheen Bagh has contributed to Indian left-wing politics. The paper argues that the women in Shaheen Bagh have been successful in bridging the gap between the civil society and political society in the country and has to an extent, altered the very nature of Indian politics. Moreover, the assertive nature of the Muslim women regarding their religion and the support which they garnered from the Indian left, widely accused by many of being Islamophobic in nature, has wide repercussions as far as political and social alliances between the left and Muslim politics in India is concerned. The present paper locates the protest within the notion of subaltern unity and tries to analyse the possible impacts of the support for the protests, within and beyond the anti-CAA protest movement, from the Indian left.

Blessing Falling from the Sky

This chapter explores the dynamics unfolding around the politics of Muslim holy sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. It focuses on the outdoor spaces of veneration and prayer (dovište), from small village spaces to larger regional pilgrimage sites. These sites offer a window onto the historical, political, and religious transformations and continuities that have taken place around them over the last hundred years. It shows how the Muslim holy sites became a nexus for local Muslims, national politicians, and numerous international faith-based organizations from Turkey and the Gulf countries to articulate their agendas and interests. Through ethnography of several Muslim holy sites, it illustrates wider ambiguities and areas of contestation over Islamic religious authority, authenticity, and control of historical narratives in postsocialist, postwar Bosnian Muslim politics at large.