eBook

The Ulama in Contemporary Islam

Muhammad Qasim Zaman

2010,2002,2003

Overview

From the cleric-led Iranian revolution to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, many people have been surprised by what they see as the modern reemergence of an antimodern phenomenon. This book helps account for the increasingly visible public role of traditionally educated Muslim religious scholars (the `ulama) across contemporary Muslim societies. Muhammad Qasim Zaman describes the transformations the centuries-old culture and tradition of the `ulama have undergone in the modern era--transformations that underlie the new religious and political activism of these scholars. In doing so, it provides a new foundation for the comparative study of Islam, politics, and religious change in the contemporary world. While focusing primarily on Pakistan, Zaman takes a broad approach that considers the Taliban and the `ulama of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and the southern Philippines. He shows how their religious and political discourses have evolved in often unexpected but mutually reinforcing ways to redefine and enlarge the roles the `ulama play in society. Their discourses are informed by a longstanding religious tradition, of which they see themselves as the custodians. But these discourses are equally shaped by--and contribute in significant ways to--contemporary debates in the Muslim public sphere. This book offers the first sustained comparative perspective on the `ulama and their increasingly crucial religious and political activism. It shows how issues of religious authority are debated in contemporary Islam, how Islamic law and tradition are continuously negotiated in a rapidly changing world, and how the `ulama both react to and shape larger Islamic social trends. Introducing previously unexamined facets of religious and political thought in modern Islam, it clarifies the complex processes of religious change unfolding in the contemporary Muslim world and goes a long way toward explaining their vast social and political ramifications.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Abu Hanifa / Abu Yusuf / Activism / Ahmad ibn Hanbal / Ahmadiyya / Al-Ghazali / Al-Tirmidhi / Asghar Ali Engineer / Authority / Community / Council of Islamic Ideology / Deobandi / Egypt / Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist / Hadith / Hadith terminology / Hujjat al-Islam / Husayn ibn Ali / Ibn Hisham / Ibn Taymiyyah / Ijtihad / Imam Muhammad / India / Iran / Islam / Islam and modernity / Islam in Pakistan / Islamic culture / Islamic extremism / Islamic fundamentalism / Islamic holy books / Islamic law / Islamic Modernism / Islamic religious leaders / Islamic schools and branches / Islamic state / Islamic university / Islamism / Islamization / Kafir / Khurshid Ahmad (scholar) / Madrasa / Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum / Mufti / Muhammad / Muhammad Abduh / Muhammad al-Bukhari / Muhammad al-Shaybani / Muhammad Iqbal / Muhammad Qutb / Muslim / Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj / Muslim scholars / Muslim world / Muslim World League / Nahdlatul Ulama / Naskh (tafsir) / Philippines / Political religion / Qadi / Quran / RELIGION / RELIGION / Islam / General / Religiosity / Religious leaders / Ruhollah Khomeini / Safar Al-Hawali / Sahih al-Bukhari / Saudi Arabia / SCHOLARS, MUSLIM / Schools of Islamic theology / Sharia / Siddiq Hasan Khan / Social change / Spread of Islam / Sunni Islam / Symbols of Islam / Tablighi Jamaat / Taliban / The Islamist / The Life of Muhammad / Theology / ULAMA / Wahhabism
• ISBN: 0691130701, 9780691130705, 0691096805, 9780691096803, 9781400837519, 1400837510