Islam 129

Reformism Nawaat 12 March 2006

(1) Islamist Movements And The Democratic Process In The Arab World :

During the last decade, Islamist movements have established themselves as major political players in the Middle East. Together with the governments, Islamist movements, moderate as well as radical, will determine how the politics of the region unfold in the foreseeable future. They have shown the ability not only to craft messages with widespread popular a […].

Themes Abdolkarim Soroush 22 February 2006

Whether by the Fire of Freedom or by the Fire of Zeal

It seems that today the right to freedom of expression has turned into a duty to defile and desecrate Muhammad’s name. It would be impossible to vandalize freedom more viciously than this. Muslims detect a whiff of vilification and conspiracy, and see it as an act of hostility. They believe that a collusion and conjunction between secularism and fundamen […].

Reformism Richard W. Bulliet 17 February 2006

Islam’s Crisis of Authority

Unlike Catholicism with the Vatican and the pope, Islam has no central authority. And the recent furor over Muslim cartoons in Europe has exposed this void even more clearly. Richard Bulliet, author of “The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization,” explains that this void in authority in Islam is only increasing as Muslims reach out to various people and in […].

Themes The Economist 13 February 2006

Political Islam

The contrasts between different varieties of Islam, and Islamism, are not trivial—either in their teachings or the behaviour they inspire. The western world needs to know about them, if only to know which outcomes and shifts of policy are conceivable, and which are not. But woe betide any western strategist who thinks the problems of the Muslim world can b […].

Reformism Fareed Zakaria 10 February 2006

Islam and Power

There is a tension in the Islamic world between the desire for democracy and a respect for liberty. (It is a tension that once raged in the West and still exists in pockets today.) This is most apparent in the ongoing fury over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a small Danish newspaper. The cartoons were offensive and needlessly provoc […].

Reformism Amr Hamzawy 04 February 2006

The Key To Arab Reform: Moderate Islamists

Before any significant political reform can take place in the Arab world, the United States and Europe need to begin engaging moderate Islamists, an action less thorny than it might seem because Islamists have embraced democratic procedures and have shown a strong commitment to the rule of law. For a long time Arab regimes have frightened the United States […].

Reformism Abdel-Wahab M. Elmessiri 23 January 2006

Towards A New Islamic Discourse

Islam is portrayed sometimes as if it were a monolithic or uni-dimensional entity. Islam is undoubtedly the faith of transcendental monotheism , the belief in Allah (the one and only God), who transcends both man and nature. But monotheism does not lead to monism (the metaphysical doctrine that existence is a whole and one); on the contrary, it leads to pl […].

Reformism Abdolkarim Soroush 13 January 2006

Democracy, Justice, Fundamentalism and Religious Intellectualism

An interview with Abdulkarim Soroush* by Ali Asghar Seyyedabadi Q. Let’s start the discussion with the [June 2005] presidential elections if you don’t mind. The outcome can be linked on two counts to issues of interest to you: one is the question of justice, since some people believe that the government that emerged from the elections is a product of the […].

Reformism Roxanne D. Marcotte 13 December 2005

Social, Religious & Political Dimensions of Prejudice: Reflection of a Muslim (I)

Who am I? Where do I come from? In two sentences, I am a South African Muslim male from an impoverished working class background who was reared in a gang-infested area by a single parent. Many of our neighbours were Christians and the debt collectors – of which there were always many – were invariably Jewish. Who am I? Where do I come from? In two senten […].

Reformism Sohail Inayatullah 13 December 2005

Islamic Civilization in Globalization: From Islamic futures to a Postwestern civilization

Abstract: Islam can be seen as a counter discourse to globalization, to the expansion of economic space and the fulfillment of the dreams of the social darwinists. However, even as Islam attempts to create new possibilities for globalism, national politics doom it to a politics of reaction, of reducing diversity and innovation. This is especially perilou […].

Reformism Carrie Wickham 13 December 2005

The Problem With Coercive Democratization

In a rare display of solidarity, Islamist and secular nationalist opposition leaders have joined forces with governments officials to denounce the U.S. democracy initiative as a blatant case of foreign intervention into the affairs of sovereign Arab states. […].

Reformism Olivier Roy 20 August 2005

Globalized Islam

Muslims, like other immigrants, have come to the West in search of better economic opportunities. But are they bound to clash with their Western counterparts ? In this Globalist Interview, Olivier Roy — author of “Globalized Islam : The Search For a New Ummah” — explains that, due to globalization, these two groups actually have much more in common today t […].

Reformism Mahmood Monshipouri 24 June 2005

Identity and Human Rights in the Age of Globalization

Non-Western world, especially the Muslim world, has yet to come to grips with the notion of globalization. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Muslim world faces many challenges, but none more formidable than the issue of how to strike a balance between maintaining cultural integrity and religious identity on the one hand, and absorbing changes as […].

Reformism Nouchine Yavari D hellencourt 21 June 2005

Islam et démocratie:

Le monde musulman, exposé plus que jamais à des changements sociaux intensifiés par le processus de mondialisation, est devenu un terrain d’observation et d’analyse privilégié. Les chercheurs se penchent plus particulièrement sur les rapports entre tradition et modernité politique, entre islam et démocratie ; tandis que pour les acteurs locaux, la situatio […].

Reformism Marina S. Ottaway 18 June 2005

Islamists and Democracy : Keep the Faith

Islamist organizations—that is, organizations that appeal to the religious values and social conservatism of the Arab public in their call for political reform—are the key to democratization in the Arab world. They have considerable support, as measured by the votes they receive when they are allowed to participate in elections, the turnout at their […].

Reformism Amr Hamzawy 18 June 2005

The West and Moderate Islam

Amr Hamzawy looks at Western democracy promotion efforts in the Arab world. He argues that the U.S. and Europe need to engage not only liberal Arabs, but also moderate Islamists to appeal to their popular constituencies. […].

Reformism Halima Krausen 03 June 2005

Can Women Be Imams?

Analysis Halima Krausen In the face of the controversy over Amina Wadud’s Friday prayer, Muslim scholar Halima Krausen argues that we should have the courage to ask our own questions, to study the matter conscientiously and to reach conclusions which make sense in our times Following the Friday prayers led by Dr Amina Wadud in New York on 18th March and […].

Reformism Laury Silvers 03 June 2005

Islamic Jurisprudence, ’Civil’ Disobedience, and Woman-led Prayer

This is a call for Muslims to stand behind women in prayer as a matter of “civil” disobedience in the face of a clear injustice, even in the face of the discomfort. By Laury Silvers, May 12, 2005 […].