Contesting ritual practices in Twelver Shiism : modernism, sectarianism and the politics of self-flagellation (taṭbīr)

Shiis perform a number of rituals on the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muḥarram to mourn the killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husayn, in Karbala in southern Iraq in 680CE. Among the most controversial rituals is the practice of blood-letting self-flagellation (taṭbīr). This article provides a comprehensive discussion of debates around this ritual among prominent Shii clerical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. While the vast majority of senior clerics is either sympathetic to taṭbīr or retains an indifferent attitude, clerical interventions critical of it are informed by the discursive parameters of Islamic modernism and emphasize the universal moral and socio-political message of Husayn’s revolt. These debates also point at concerns over inter-sectarian relations between Sunnis and Shiis and efforts to discard Shii ritual practices that could antagonize Sunni Muslims. Finally, these debates contain an important political dimension reflecting contestations around Iran’s aim to exercise hegemony over Shii communities across the world. The 1994 fatwa by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic ‘Ali Khamenei (b. 1939) in which he declared taṭbīr prohibited (ḥarām) has hardened existing cleavages between those supporting and those rejecting this practice, as this article illustrates

Ireland

This is the post-refereed, pre-print version of an article in Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, 6, pp. 317-333 published by Brill, 2014.This article discusses the Muslim presence in Ireland

Brian Bocking: Making the Study of Religions

Writing an academic biography of Brian Bocking is a formidable task for various reasons: first, there is the anticipation of a witty, self-ironic comment from him mocking the whole exercise itself and his own person at the same time: “Has my obituary already been written?” is the kind of comment one would expect from him. Second, there has always been something intimidating about Brian’s physical and intellectual stature. Third, in a professional context, Brian has always been very discreet about his private life, first and foremost about his own religious convictions. Brian has been part of a generation of Study of Religions scholars who clearly separate their religious beliefs or unbeliefs which they hold in private from their professional engagement in the academic study of religions

Muhammad 'Abduh : Modern Islam and the Culture of Ambiguity

How to approach the complex intellectual legacy of a modern Muslim thinker like Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905)? This book offers an answer to this question by providing a new complete intellectual biography of him. It delineates ‘Abduh’s formation as a reformer and activist and embeds his varied intellectual contributions in a culture of ambiguity which has marked the intellectual life of Muslim societies throughout their history.By using new sources – in particular his early mystical, philosophical and political writings – and including recent academic contributions on him, the book explores ‘Abduh’s complex intellectual formation, the various religious, philosophical and cultural influences that shaped him, and his changing attitudes towards “Western modernity” and its colonial manifestation in the 19th century. Oliver Scharbrodt challenges the perception in academic scholarship - and among Muslim reformers of the 20th century - that searched for intellectual coherence and biographical consistency in ‘Abduh’s life. Instead, this book offers a new more comprehensive reading of his intellectual legacy and highlights the variety of approaches and ideas manifest in his contributions

Daniel Brown: A New Introduction to Islam

Any convenor of first-year introductory courses on Islam faces a huge variety of textbooks to choose from. While certain introductions are more concerned about the doctrinal development of Islam, others provide historical surveys. Some introductions explicitly opt for a phenomenological approach avoiding a critical evaluation of the historical problems around the origins and early developments of Islam, while others present the main arguments of the so-called revisionist school of the Western academic study of early Islamic history which doubts the reliability of the earliest sources and develops an alternative account of the origins of Islam. History or doctrine, phenomenology or historical criticism, insider or outsider account – these are the options available in the different introductory textbooks on Islam

Religious Dynamics under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism: A Sourebook

English translations of an excerpt from the Persian Treatise of Civilisation by Abd al-Baha Abbas Effendi