"Rethinking Islam and Human Rights is the first book to delineate an original way of understanding the organic production of Islamic knowledge on human rights that overcomes the fragmented nature of the ('rapprochement') literature that focuses on change in the context of either Islamic scripture (formalized Islamic knowledge) or Islamic sensibility (experiential Islamic knowing). Thus, this book combines an appreciation for both facets of religious knowledge with an emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between the two. To achieve this, this book weaves together theoretical insights from a range of disciplines, while reworking process tracing methodology, to focus on a single case study analysis of Hizmet's practices (also known as the 'Gülen movement') to flesh out the dynamics of this interactive change and the centrality of practice-based knowledge production therein. In doing so, this book analytically demonstrates how and why social movement practice organically, unassumingly, unintentionally and, often-times, counter-intentionally produces socially transformative formalized Islamic knowledge on human rights. As a result, this book shows how it is possible to account for the production, assimilation, legitimization, and externalization of Islamic knowledge through a single relational process on some of the most intransigent issues in the context of Islam and human rights, that is apostasy and women's rights. Consequently, this book offers us an original, distinctive and important pathway of re-assessing age-old challenges at the cross-sectional impasse of change, stability, and religious knowledge production, which extends beyond those associated with Islam and human rights"--

In Rethinking Islam, Katajun Amirpur argues that the West’s impression of Islam as a backward-looking faith, resistant to post-Enlightenment thinking, is misleading and—due to its effects on political discourse—damaging. Introducing readers to key thinkers and activists—such as Abu Zaid, a free-thinking Egyptian Qur’an scholar; Abdolkarim Soroush, an academic and former member of Khomeini’s Cultural Revolution Committee; and Amina Wadud, an American feminist who was the first woman to lead the faithful in Friday Prayer—Amirpur reveals a powerful yet lesser-known tradition of inquiry and dissent within Islam, one that is committed to democracy and human rights. By examining these and many other similar figures’ ideas, she reveals the many ways they reject fundamentalist assertions and instead call for a diversity of opinion, greater freedom, and equality of the sexes.

Rethinking Political Islam offers a fine-grained and definitive overview of the changing world of political Islam in the post-Arab Uprising era.

Islamic theology had to wait a long time before being granted a place in the European universities. That happened above all in German-speaking areas, and this led to the development of new theological and religious pedagogical approaches. This volume presents one such approach and discusses it from various perspectives. It takes up different theological and religious pedagogical themes and reflects on them anew from the perspective of the contemporary context. The primary focus is on contemporary challenges and possible answers from the perspective of Islamic theology and religious pedagogy. It discusses general themes like the location of Islamic theology and religious pedagogy at secular European universities. The volume also explores concrete challenges, such as the extent to which Islamic religious pedagogy can be conceptualised anew, how it should deal with its own theological tradition in the contemporary context, and how a positive attitude towards worldview and religious plurality can be cultivated. At issue here are foundations of a new interpretation of Islam that takes into account both a reflective approach to the Islamic tradition and the contemporary context. In doing so, it gives Muslims the opportunity to take their own thinking further.

A Berber from the mountainous region of Algeria, Mohammed Arkoun is an internationally renowned scholar of Islamic thought. In this book, he advocates a conception of Islam as a stream of experience encompassing majorities and minorities, Sunni and Shi'a, popular mystics and erudite scholars, ancient heroes and modern critics. A product of Islamic

The relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law has been the subject of considerable, and heated, debate in recent years. The usual starting point has been to test one system by the standards of the other, asking is Islamic law 'compatible' with international human rights standards, or vice versa. This approach quickly ends in acrimony and accusations of misunderstanding. By overlaying one set of norms on another we overlook the deeply contextual nature of how legal rules operate in a society, and meaningful comparison and discussion is impossible. In this volume, leading experts in Islamic law and international human rights law attempt to deepen the understanding of human rights and Islam, paving the way for a more meaningful debate. Focusing on central areas of controversy, such as freedom of speech and religion, gender equality, and minority rights, the authors examine the contextual nature of how Islamic law and international human rights law are legitimately formed, interpreted, and applied within a community. They examine how these fundamental interests are recognized and protected within the law, and what restrictions are placed on the freedoms associated with them. By examining how each system recognizes and limits fundamental freedoms, this volume clears the ground for exploring the relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law on a sounder footing. In doing so it offers a challenging and distinctive contribution to the literature on the subject, and will be an invaluable reference for students, academics, and policy-makers engaged in the legal and religious debates surrounding Islam and the West.

Avoiding the traps of sensational political exposes and specialized scholarly Orientalism, Carl Ernst introduces readers to the profound spiritual resources of Islam while clarifying diversity and debate within the tradition. Framing his argument in terms of religious studies, Ernst describes how Protestant definitions of religion and anti-Muslim prejudice have affected views of Islam in Europe and America. He also covers the contemporary importance of Islam in both its traditional settings and its new locations and provides a context for understanding extremist movements like fundamentalism. He concludes with an overview of critical debates on important contemporary issues such as gender and veiling, state politics, and science and religion.

Both Muslims and non-Muslims see women in most Muslim countries as suffering from social, economic, and political discrimination, treated by law and society as second-class citizens subject to male authority. This discrimination is attributed to Islam and Islamic law, and since the late 19th century there has been a mass of literature tackling this issue. Recently, exciting new feminist research has been challenging gender discrimination and male authority from within Islamic legal tradition: this book presents some important results from that research. The contributors all engage critically with two central juristic concepts; rooted in the Qur’an, they lie at the basis of this discrimination. One refers to a husband’s authority over his wife, his financial responsibility toward her, and his superior status and rights. The other is male family members’ right and duty of guardianship over female members (e.g., fathers over daughters when entering into marriage contracts) and the privileging of fathers over mothers in guardianship rights over their children. The contributors, brought together by the Musawah global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, include Omaima Abou-Bakr, Asma Lamrabet, Ayesha Chaudhry, Sa‘diyya Shaikh, Lynn Welchman, Marwa Sharefeldin, Lena Larsen and Amina Wadud.

Rethinking Halal reflects an anthropological revolution, that of the scientising, standardising, and normalising of social life through certification which is part of a process of ‘positivisation’ that directly affected Islam and Islamic normativity.