ISLAM AND MODERNITY. An NEH Bridging Cultures Presentation

Transcription

1 ISLAM AND MODERNITY An NEH Bridging Cultures Presentation

2 WHAT IS MODERNITY?? The quality of being current

3 What things do we associate with Modernity? Is Modernity in conflict with religious values? Why or why not?

4 Shar ia: Islamic Law } SOURCES: } QU RAN } SUNNA: the custom of the Prophet Muhammad, known through the literary form of Hadith, or reports of something Muhammad said or did } IJMA (consensus) of the Muslim umma (community) } QIYAS: Arguments by analogy

5 Terms in Shar ia Qadi: Judge Mufti: Islamic Scholar Fiqh: Understanding/jurisprudence Fatwa: Written legal opinion Ijitihad: legal interpretation and the ability to render legal judgments

6 Categories of Action In Islam Wail/Fard (Obligatory) Mandub (Recommended) Mubah (Permissable) Makruh (Reprehensible) Haram (Forbidden)

7 Historical Focal Points in Islam 622: Hijra (Year 1 in the Muslim Calendar) 661: Assassination of Ali and formation of the Shi ite minority of Islam : Golden Age of the Abbasid Caliphate : Age of the Great Empires Ottoman, Moghul, Safavid Muhammad ibd Abd al-wahhab ( ) 1800-present: Western European/American colonialism

8 The Age of Islamic Empires The Ottoman Empire: The Safavid Empire: Mughal Empire:

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12 Imperialism The policy of extending rule or authority of an empire over foreign countries and holding colonies as dependencies Advocacy of imperial interests over those of dependent states Examples: India; Egypt

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14 Decline of Islamic Empires : British invasion of south Asia 1875/1876: Ottoman/Bulgarian War 1877: Constitutional government in the Ottoman Empire 1878: Congress of Berlin 1879: British invasion of Khyber Pass 1882: British invasion of Egypt

15 Muhammad Ibn Abd Al- Wahhab ( ) Born in the Arabian Peninsula Influential Hanibali Scholar/Judge Allied (1740) with House of Saud

16 Hassan Al-Banna ( ) Egyptian Schoolteacher, critical of corruption in the Egyptian government; British mandate system Founder of Muslim Brotherhood

17 Jamal al-din Afghani ( ) Pan-Islam: transnational Islamic Unity

18 Sayyid Qutb ( ) Educator/literature professor Anti-British sentiment in post World War II Egypt Appalled by US post-war society when he studies in Colorado in 1951 Joins Muslim Brotherhood; disillusionment with Nasir s overthrow of British influence Imprisoned and eventually executed

19 Sayyid Qutb Social Justice in Islam Milestones In the Shade of the Qur an Rejecting the idea of religion as personal confession only; jihad is waged in order to create an Islamic society calling for a positive, practical, and dynamic implementation of the sovereignty of God

20 Key Women in the Qu ran Miriam: Mother of Jesus the only woman in the Qur'an mentioned by name. Queen of Sheba (Surah 27: debates with Solomon) Hagar and Ishmael Zulaykha: Wife of Potiphar in Surah 12 Hadith: traditions

21 Sura 33:35 of the Qur an For the believing men and the believing women; obedient men and obedient women; truthful men and truthful women; patient men and patient women; humble men and humble women; charitable men and charitable women; fasting men and fasting women; men and women who guard their chastity; men and women who are ever mindful of God God is ready with forgiveness and an immense reward.

22 Sura 4: Men shall be rewarded according to their deeds, and women shall be rewarded according to their deeds Men are protectors of women because God has made some of them excel others and because they spend their wealth on them. So virtuous women are obedient and guard in the husband s absence what God would have them guard. As of those from whom you apprehend infidelity, admonish them, and refuse to share their beds, and finally hit them.

23 Sura 24 Say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and remain chaste, and not to reveal their adornments they should fold their shawls over their bosoms

24 Veiling and Female Seclusion Hijab: head covering Chador: body covering; eyes or face partially visible Burka: Garment worn over the entire body, including the face Niqab: Cloth covering the face Harem: sacred part of the house (women s quarters) Zenana: India Ghusl al- ar: Turkish Honor Killing

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27 Islamic Feminism and the Veil Hamida Khala: wants to maintain the burkha Huda Sha rawi ( ) Murqus Fahmi, The Woman in the East (1895) Qasim Amin, The Liberation of the Woman (1899) Nawal El Saadawi (born 1931) Azar Nafisi s Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)

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