Local Production of Islamic Knowledge An Ethnographer's View

The AKMI1/ISIM Summer Academy brought together 20 nationalities at the Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul. For eleven days and nights, from early morning until late evening, the core of this group - the invited participants (pre-doctoral candidates and recent Ph.D.s),2 and tutors, together with several of the locally invited lecturers - listened to and commented on lectures, presented and discussed one another's projects, and visited local research centres

Muhammad Shahrur and the Printed Word

Until 1996, six years after the publication of Muhammad Shahrur's Proposal for an Islamic Covenant, his sense of public was as austere as that expressed by Immanuel Kant in his famous essay on the Enlightenment. Kant argued that the printed word, unlike direct speech, offers the 'public' the possibility of judging ideas independently from the status or authority of their authors. Muhammad Shahrur acknowledges his lack of credentials in Islamic scholarship. Despite this deficiency, his courage in entering an arena of public discussion, previously reserved for trained jurists, has incited strong interest in his ideas among many educated speakers of Arabic throughout the world

Khalid Masud's Multiple Worlds

Over the last years Dale Eickelman has been in close contact with Muhammad Khalid Masud while at the ISIM. Often, while travelling the globe and changing flights at Amsterdam's international airport, the two would meet over lunch or breakfast. Eickelman paid frequent visits to the ISIM office, also in his capacity as member of the ISIM Academic Committee, and participated in several of its workshops. T h e friendship between the two scholars dates back to the 1980s. On the occasion of Masud's retirement, the anthropologist reflects on his career and their mutual interests

The Public Sphere and Public Islam

A summer institute on Public Spheres and Muslim Identities took place in Berlin in July 2001 and at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in August 2002. It was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Bonn) and administered by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, on behalf of an international consortium of institutes for advanced study in Europe and the United States. The projects engendered by the summer institute facilitated discussions on theory and method across disciplinary lines, geographical regions, and historical periods. A follow-up meeting of two of the institute's working groups convened in Florence in September 2003

Anthropology in conversation with an Islamic tradition : Emmanuel Levinas and the practice of critique

Funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland This research was funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. I would like to thank Arnar Arnason, Alison Brown, Tim Ingold, Jo Vergunst, and the anonymous JRAI readers for their critical feedback, which greatly improved the quality and coherence of this article.Peer reviewedPostprin

An analysis of material consumption culture in the Muslim world

In this paper, we examine the notion of material consumption culture in Islamic societies. We differentiate between institutionalised religion and religion as culture. We contest the Orientalist portrayal of Islam as a fanatic ideology opposed to Western Modernity’s features of secularism, individualism, and pluralism. With reference to the Qur’anic text, we discuss that such qualities are embedded with Islam. We do not interpret the Qur’an from a theological perspective; rather, we seek to demonstrate the possibilities of its multiple interpretations. We argue that, in their everyday life consumption practices, Muslims (re)interpret religious guidelines in different ways and refer to Islam, as a transcendental set of guidelines, to make better sense of their cultural practices in different ways. We summarise our discussion by highlighting the importance of analysing the culture of consumption from the lens of insiders and offer directions for future research

Muhammad Shahrur and the Printed Word

Until 1996, six years after the publication of Muhammad Shahrur's Proposal for an Islamic Covenant, his sense of public was as austere as that expressed by Immanuel Kant in his famous essay on the Enlightenment. Kant argued that the printed word, unlike direct speech, offers the 'public' the possibility of judging ideas independently from the status or authority of their authors. Muhammad Shahrur acknowledges his lack of credentials in Islamic scholarship. Despite this deficiency, his courage in entering an arena of public discussion, previously reserved for trained jurists, has incited strong interest in his ideas among many educated speakers of Arabic throughout the world

Local Production of Islamic Knowledge An Ethnographer's View

The AKMI1/ISIM Summer Academy brought together 20 nationalities at the Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul. For eleven days and nights, from early morning until late evening, the core of this group - the invited participants (pre-doctoral candidates and recent Ph.D.s),2 and tutors, together with several of the locally invited lecturers - listened to and commented on lectures, presented and discussed one another's projects, and visited local research centres

Religious tradition, economic domination and political legitimacy : Morocco and Oman

The Oman sultanate, as it has been cut off from its neighbors and from western influence unto recent years, seems the right country for studymg the so-called traditional Islam. But, as soon as it is approached from an ethnographic and social historical point of view, the notion of tradition appears more complex than that can be extracted from religious texts and authorities. It is replaced by that of traditions where political and religious powers interfere. Although many ethnic groups and various religious identities coexist, Oman's religion is mainly the Ibadi Islam marked by an egalitarism convenient to the « tribe » organization and by the imamate leadership. The social organization and the religious rule were, however, influenced by involvement in maritime trade and dominions in East Africa. Sociological comparisons with Morocco enlight the complex relations which exist and have existed between religion, social organization, economic and political power.Le sultanat d'Oman, une date récente ses voisins et des influences occidentales, apparaît comme le lieu privilégié d'une étude de ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler l'Islam traditionnel. Or, dès les premières approches ethnographiques et socio-historiques, la notion de tradition s'éloigne d'une transmission par les textes et les autorités religieuses, pour faire place à des traditions dans lesquelles interfèrent pouvoir politique et religieux. L'Oman, quelle que soit la diversité des groupes ethniques qui l'habitent et la diversité de leurs appartenances religieuses, se rattache essentiellement à l'Islam Ibadite, dont les principes égalitaires semblent accordés à l'organisation « tribale » et qui consacre la prépondérance de l'imamat Toutefois, de longue date, le commerce maritime et le contrôle des comptoirs en Afrique de l'Est ont eu d'importantes répercussions sur l'organisation sociale et le pouvoir religieux. Quelques comparaisons avec le Maroc éclairent les rapports ici décrits entre la religion, l'organisation sociale et le pouvoir économique et politique (Rédaction).Eickelman D.F. Religious tradition, economic domination and political legitimacy : Morocco and Oman. In: Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, n°29, 1980. pp. 17-30

The Public Sphere and Public Islam

A summer institute on Public Spheres and Muslim Identities took place in Berlin in July 2001 and at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in August 2002. It was funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Bonn) and administered by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, on behalf of an international consortium of institutes for advanced study in Europe and the United States. The projects engendered by the summer institute facilitated discussions on theory and method across disciplinary lines, geographical regions, and historical periods. A follow-up meeting of two of the institute's working groups convened in Florence in September 2003