Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Islamic Pluralism and the Muslim Voice: Western Attitudes that Define Islamic Identity in the West

AJIS Volume 9, Issue 1, 2024 Special Issue - Islamic and Muslim Studies in the Period of Great Transformation

Abstract

This article examines the parameters of what constitutes the Muslim voice in the West through analysis of Islamic pluralism and modernity. It uses the voices of Said Nursi and Fazlur Rahman to complement the perspectives of outsider voices, Bernard Lewis and John Esposito, who have impacted the attitudes behind the bias in the West towards Islamic identity and practice. Further, it highlights the examination of Islamic pluralism in the West alongside the consideration of Muslim spoken word artists who use their mediums to express the pain and struggles they have endured. This article bridges academic and societal attitudes towards understanding the perceptions of Islamic pluralism in the West.

Keywords

Islam, Islamic pluralism, Western attitudes, Islamic identity, identity

PDF

Author Biography

Hayba Abouzeid

Dr. Hayba Abouzeid completed her PhD in the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies at Monash University, Australia.


References

  1. Abouzeid, Nour. “I’m not Political.” Spoken Work: Melbourne, 2017. Retrieved from http://melbournespokenword.com/nour-abouzeid-talking-politics/.
  2. Ahmed, Suhaib. What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic. Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77krt
  3. Al-Sayyad, Nezar, and Manuel Castells. Muslim Europe or Euro-Islam. Oxford: Lexington, 2002.
  4. Ansary, Tasnim. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. New York: Public Affairs, 2009.
  5. Barton, Gregory. “Preaching by Example and Learning for Life: Understanding the Gülen Hizmet in the Global Context of Religious Philanthropy and Civil Religion.” In International Conference Proceedings: Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gulen Movement, edited by Ihsan Yilmaz, Eileen Barker, Henri Barkey, Muhammad Abdul Haleem, George Harris, Thomas Michel, Simon Robinson et al., 650-662. UK: Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.55207/EXER7443
  6. preaching-by-example-and-learning-for-life-understanding-the-gule.
  7. Çoruh, Hakan. “Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and his Understanding of Exegesis in his Risale-i- Nur.” PhD diss., Australian Catholic University, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a9cb66db0b76.
  8. Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. “Islamicate Secularities.” Historical Social Research 44, no. 3 (169) (2019): 7-34.
  9. Ernst, Carl. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. Chapel Hill: University North Carolina Press, 2003.
  10. Esposito, John. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195130768.001.0001
  11. Esposito, John, and Dalia Mogahed. Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. New York: Gallop Press, 2007.
  12. Hallaq, Wael. The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament. New York: CUP, 2013.
  13. Hodgson, Marshall. The Classical Age of Islam. Vol. 1 of The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in World Civilisation. London: UCP, 1974. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226346861.001.0001
  14. Huntington, Samuel. Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
  15. Ibn Kathir. Tafsir ibn Kathir, 2nd ed. Lebanon: Maktab Dar-us-Salam, 2003.
  16. Lewis, Bernard. From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. Madison: Oxford University Press, 2004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195173369.001.0001
  17. Lewis, Bernard. What went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. London: Phoenix Paperback, 2002. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195144208.001.0001
  18. Mirza, Younus. “A Confessional Scholar: Fazlur Raman and the Origins of his ‘Major Themes of the Qur’an.’” Maydan, August 19, 2019. https://themaydan.com/2019/08/a-confessional-scholar-fazlur-rahman-and-the-origins-of-his-major-themes-of-the-quran/.
  19. Nursi, Said. The Reasonings: A Key to Understanding the Qur’an’s Eloquence. Translated by Hakan Akarsu. New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2008.
  20. Ozervarli, Mehmet Sait. “The Reconstruction of Islamic Social Thought in the Modern Period: Nursi’s Approach to Religious Discourse in a Changing Society.” Asian Journal of Social Science 38 (2010): 532-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853110X517773
  21. Rahman, Fazlur. Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition. Chicago: CUP, 1982.
  22. Rahman, Fazlur. Islamic Methodology in History. Lahore: Central Institute of Islamic Research, 1965.
  23. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.
  24. Muslim. Sahih Muslim. Translated by Abdul Hamid Siddiqui. https://sunnah.com/muslim.
  25. Stark, Rodney. “Why Modernity Happened in the West: Giving Credit where Credit is Due.” The Federalist, March 31, 2014. https://thefederalist.com/2014/03/31/why-modernity-happened-in-the-West/.
  26. Tyler, Aaron. Islam, the West and Tolerance. New York: Palgrave, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612044

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.