Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political Islam - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804768862 ISBN 13: 9780804768863

Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

As America struggles to understand Islam and Muslims on the world stage, one concept in particular dominates public discourse: Islamism. References to Islamism and Islamists abound in the media, in think tanks, and in the general study of Islam, but opinions vary on the differences of degree and kind among those labeled Islamists. This book debates what exactly is said when we use this contentious term in discussing Muslim religion, tradition, and social conflict.

Two lead essays offer differing viewpoints: Donald K. Emmerson argues that Islamism is a useful term for a range of Muslim reform movements--very few of which advocate violence--while Daniel M. Varisco counters that the public specter of violence and terrorism by Islamists too often infects the public perceptions of Islam more generally. Twelve commentaries, written by Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals, enrich the debate with differing insights and perspectives.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Richard C. Martin is Professor of Religion at Emory University. He co-authored Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol (1997) and is editor-in-chief of The Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2004). Abbas Barzegar is a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University.

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Islamism

CONTESTED PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL ISLAM

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2010 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-6886-3

Contents

Preface................................................................................................................viiAcknowledgments........................................................................................................ixIntroduction: The Debate About Islamism in the Public Sphere Richard C. Martin and Abbas Barzegar.....................1Inclusive Islamism: The Utility of Diversity Donald K. Emmerson.......................................................17Inventing Islamism: The Violence of Rhetoric Daniel M. Varisco........................................................33The Spectrum of Islamic Politics Graham E. Fuller.....................................................................51Terminological Problems for Muslim Lives Amir Hussain.................................................................57Islamism: Whose Debate Is It? Hassan Hanafi...........................................................................63Between Etymology and Realpolitik Nadia Yassine.......................................................................67Academic Word Games Hillel Fradkin....................................................................................74Islamism: ism or wasm? Ziba Mir-Hosseini and Richard Tapper...........................................................81Rejecting Islamism and the Need for Concepts from Within the Islamic Tradition Syed Farid Alatas......................87Islam at Risk: The Discourse on Islam and Violence Bruce Lawrence.....................................................93Naming Terror Anouar Majid............................................................................................99Political Islam, Liberalism, and the Diagnosis of a Problem M. Zuhdi Jasser...........................................104Ideology, Not Religion Angel Rabasa...................................................................................110Why Islamism Should Be Renamed Feisal Abdul Rauf......................................................................116Mitigating Misrepresentation Daniel M. Varisco........................................................................125Broadening Representation Donald K. Emmerson..........................................................................133Notes..................................................................................................................149Suggestions for Further Reading........................................................................................179Contributors...........................................................................................................183

Chapter One

INCLUSIVE ISLAMISM: THE UTILITY OF DIVERSITY Donald K. Emmerson

The most beautiful names belong to Allah: invoke Him by them. Qur'an 7:180 - Seen on a poster at the Jamil Mosque, California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA, November 20, 2004 Islam is the most hated word in the country at this point. - Edwin Bakker, a terrorism expert at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, quoted a week after the 2 November 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, apparently by a Muslim extremist I acted purely in the name of Islam. - Mohammed Bouyeri, speaking to the Dutch court that sentenced him in July 2005 to life in prison for killing van Gogh Islamists are Muslims who are committed to public action to implement what they regard as an Islamic agenda. Islamism is a commitment to, and the content of, that agenda. - James Piscatori, a scholar of Islam, as slightly amended and extended for use in this essay (below)

IN THESE POST-9/11 TIMES, how should we-English-speaking students, scholars, journalists, policy makers, and interested citizens-talk about Islam, about Muslims, and about violence in relation to Islam and Muslims? What words should we use? Why? Why not?

SPEAKING OF ELEPHANTS

Language tells us and others what we are talking about. But as they travel around the world through usage, words acquire baggage-connotations, implications, valuations. When we choose to use a word or phrase, its luggage comes along.

Such accompaniments are mostly unheard or unseen. Consider the phrase the global war on terror. It is about what it does not name. Its five words include neither Muslims nor Islam. Yet the global war on terror would not have existed, in discourse or in practice, had certain self-described Muslims not engaged in violence justified (by them) with reference to Islam. To the extent that the phrase calls to mind what it omits, the effect is like hearing someone say, "Don't think of an elephant!" One can hardly think of anything else.

In Don't Think of an Elephant! George Lakoff tells his readers that they can oppose "right-wing ideologues" more effectively by choosing words and phrases that favor a "progressive" agenda. Lakoff's words are also luggage-laden, but to him that is not only unavoidable; it is also desirable. He wants to replace conservative language with words that carry liberal baggage-to defeat one built-in bias by popularizing another. The book ends by advising those who would take up his cause to do four things: to "show respect" toward opponents; to "respond by reframing" subjects in "progressive" terms; to "think and talk at the level of values"; and to "say what you believe."

Transposed into a discussion of Islam, Muslims, and violence, Lakoff's recipe could be perverse. Just how, in such a conversation, would a secular or Christian speaker show respect for his or her Muslim listeners by reframing the topic in secular or Christian terms, talking about secular or Christian values, and saying exactly what she or he really thinks? Depending on what the speaker's Muslim audience believes, Lakoff's fourth counsel, far from winning hearts and minds, could harden them instead-as President George W. Bush did when he called the war on terrorism a "crusade." Conversely, obeying Lakoff's first rule-showing respect-could tempt the speaker to violate the other three: by framing the subject along "Muslim" lines; by thinking and talking about "Islamist" values; and by shunning candor for the sake of rapport.

What price respect? What price not giving offense? What about respect for the facts, however elusive and open to interpretation these may be? A heart or a mind won over on false pretenses may be a false victory-based on deception, unlikely to last.

This book is not a prescription for replacing one set of partisan word- baggage with an opposing set that is no less partisan than the first. It is a discussion in search of language whose semantic weight-denotations and connotations-can balance two potentially contrary objectives: veracity and regard. Central to the search, in my view, is how poorly or well two increasingly common words, Islamism and Islamist, facilitate a discourse on Islam, Muslims, and violence that is both critical and constructive.

In this chapter I define and recommend Islamism and Islamist as helpful terms in...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0804768862
• ISBN 13: 9780804768863
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 200
• Herausgeber: Martin Richard C, Barzegar Abbas
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande