Political Quietism in Islam: Sunni and Shi'i Practice and Thought

Description

In recent years, Islam - whether via the derivatives of 'Political Islam' or 'Islamism' - has come to be seen as an 'activist' force in social and political spheres worldwide. What such representations have neglected is the strong countervailing tradition of political quietism. Political quietism in Islam holds that it is not for Muslims to question or oppose their leaders. Rather, the faithful should concentrate on their piety, prayer, religious rituals and personal quest for virtue. This book is the first to analyze the history and meaning of political quietism in Islamic societies. It takes an innovative cross-sectarian approach, investigating the phenomenon and practice across both Sunni and Shi'i communities. Contributors deconstruct and introduce the various forms of political quietisms from the time of the prophetic revelations through to the contemporary era. Chapters cover issues ranging from the politics of public piety among the women preachers in Saudi Arabia, through to the legal discourses in the Caucasus, the different Shi'i communities in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan, and the Gulen movement in Azerbaijan. The authors describe a wide range of political quietisms and assess the continuing significance of the tradition, both to the study of Islam and to the modern world today. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction Part I The Concept of Political Quietism: Its Problematics andthe Islamic Context 1 Making Sense of “Political Quietism”: An Analytical Intervention Jan-Peter Hartung 2 Expressions of Political Quietism in Islamic History Ebrahim Moosa and Nicholas Roberts Part II Political Quietism in Classical Islam 3 The Rightly Guided Caliphs: The Range of Views Preserved in Ḥadīth Christopher Melchert 4 “Patience in Our Situation is Better than Sedition”: The Shift to Political Quietism in the Sunnī Tradition Saud al-Sarhan 5 Quietism and Political Legitimacy in Imāmī Shīʿī Jurisprudence: al-Sharīf al-MurtaḊā’s Treatise on the Legality of Working for the Government Reconsidered Robert Gleave Part III Political Quietism in Modern and ContemporaryIslamic Thought 6 “I’m Only a Village Farmer and a Dervish”: Between Political Quietism and Spiritual Leadership: Early Modern Shīʿī Sufism and the Challenge of Modernity Alessandro Cancian 7 Legal Discourses on Hijra in the Caucasus after the Fall of the Caucasus Imamate: al-Risāla al-Sharīfa by the Dagestani Scholar ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Thughūrī Magomed Gizbulaev 8 Constitutionalism as Quietist Strategy: The Case of Tunisia Jeremy Kleidosty 9 “Dropping a Thick Curtain of Forgetting and Disregard”: Modern Shīʿī Quietism beyond Politics Rainer Brunner 10 Public Piety and the Politics of Preaching among Female Preachers in Riyadh Laila Makboul 11 The Gülen Movement in Azerbaijan: Political Quietism or Taqiyya? Fuad Aliyev 12 The Neo-Traditionalist Critique of Modernity and the Production of Political Quietism Walaa Quisay Index