Modern Islamic Authority and Social Change, Volume 2

Masooda Bano (editor)
Paperback, 240 pages
9781474433273

Evolving Debates in the West

A comparative analysis of key Islamic authority platforms and their debates

At the turn of the twenty-first century, scholarship and policy debate on Islam and Muslim societies has come to focus primarily on Islam’s ability to make young Muslims gravitate towards anti-modernity movements. Many attribute Islamic militancy, as well as the general socio-economic and political stagnation experienced in some Muslim societies, to Islamic theological or legal dictates. Yet Islamic scholarly tradition is highly pluralistic, and today’s leading Islamic authority structures are developing competing conceptual and methodological approaches which vary greatly in their ability to engage with societal change.

This volume covers the new Islamic authority centres emerging in the West. It makes a major contribution to refining our understanding of the plurality of Islamic tradition in contemporary times, helping to counter the dominant narrative of an inevitable clash of civilisations. It presents evidence of great creative energy within many Islamic scholarly platforms (old as well as new); an energy which aims to provide dynamic answers to modern day challenges from within the Islamic legal and theological tradition.

Contents

Section 1: Neo-Traditionalists
1. Zaytuna College and the Construction of an American Muslim Identity, Nathan Spannaus and Pooya Razavian
2. The Neo-Traditionalism of Tim Winter, Pooya Razavian

Section 2: Neo-Legalists
3. From ‘Islamization of Knowledge’ to ‘American Islam’: the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Nathan Spannaus
4. Transformative Islamic Reform: Tariq Ramadan and the Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), Nathan Spannaus

Section 3: Neo-Conservatives
5. Yasir Qadhi and the Development of Reasonable Salafism, Pooya Razavian
6. New Deobandi Institutions in the West, Pooya Razavian and Nathan Spannaus