Muslim Societies and the Challenge of Secularization: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Description

Is Islam compatible with democracy and the West? How do Muslim communities understand the concept of the secular? How have contemporary Islamic scholars addressed the topic and why? How does living in a secularized context affect the everyday lives of Muslim women living in the west? What about the so-called 'secular' Muslims? These and other questions are discussed in Muslim Societies and the Challenge of Secularization: An Interdisciplinary Approach. A timely collection which, for the first time, explores these themes from a strong interdisciplinary approach. This book provides theoretical and ethnographic discussion of both the experience of Muslims vis-a-vis the idea of the secular as well as the revival of the discourse of secularism within the western context. Through its interdisciplinary approach and the case studies of different Muslim communities, this book avoids some of the clichés and essentialism which often affect the analysis of secularization and Islam. The collection aims to open a discussion and provide glimpses into current studies on the topic. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Introduction....Pages 1-8 Islam, Public Religions and the Secularization Debate 1 ....Pages 11-30 Muslim Thinkers and the Debate on Secularism and Laïcité....Pages 31-46 Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Tariq Ramadan on Secularisation: Differences and Similarities....Pages 47-63 Islam and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century....Pages 65-81 Moving Out of Kazanistan: Liberal Theory and Muslim Contexts....Pages 83-97 Muslim Modernity: Poetics, Politics, and Metaphysics....Pages 99-111 Turkish Secular Muslim Identity on Display in Europe....Pages 113-129 Hidden Bodies in Islam: Secular Muslim Identities in Modern (and Premodern) Societies....Pages 131-148 Front Matter....Pages 149-149 Contentions in the Making: Discussing Secularism Among Scottish Muslims....Pages 151-164 Muslim Women’s Narratives on Religious Identification in a Polarising Dutch Society....Pages 165-183 Hamburg, Muslims and Imams: The Challenge of Secularism....Pages 185-200 American Muslim Women: Narratives of Identity and Globalisation....Pages 201-218 A State of Islam: Modernity and Muslim Life in Twenty-First Century Australia....Pages 219-233 The Search for Shared Idioms: Contesting Views of Laiklik Before the Turkish Constitutional Court....Pages 235-251 Afterword....Pages 253-255 Back Matter....Pages 257-261