Preaching Islamic Renewal

Preaching Islamic Renewal examines the life and work of Muhammad Mitwalli Sha‘rawi, one of Egypt's most beloved and successful Islamic preachers. His wildly popular TV program aired every Friday for years until his death in 1998. At the height of his career, it was estimated that up to 30 million people tuned in to his show each week. Yet despite his pervasive and continued influence in Egypt and the wider Muslim world, Sha‘rawi was for a long time neglected by academics. While much of the academic literature that focuses on Islam in modern Egypt repeats the claim that traditionally trained Muslim scholars suffered the loss of religious authority, Sha‘rawi is instead an example of a well-trained Sunni scholar who became a national media sensation. As an advisor to the rulers of Egypt as well as the first Arab television preacher, he was one of the most important and controversial religious figures in late-twentieth-century Egypt. Thanks to the repurposing of his videos on television and on the Internet, Sha‘rawi’s performances are still regularly viewed. Jacquelene Brinton uses Sha‘rawi and his work as a lens to explore how traditional Muslim authorities have used various media to put forth a unique vision of how Islam can be renewed and revived in the contemporary world. Through his weekly television appearances he popularized long held theological and ethical beliefs and became a scholar-celebrity who impacted social and political life in Egypt.

"The book is an in-depth study of Muhammad Mitwall Sha'rawi one of the most important religious figures in late twentieth century Egypt. Sha'rawi was an advisor to the rulers of Egypt as well as being the first Arab television preacher. At the height of his career it was estimated that up to 30,000,000 people tuned in to his show each week. Much of the academic literature that focuses on Islam in modern Egypt repeats the claim that traditionally trained Muslim scholars suffered the loss of religious authority. Sha'rawi however is an example of a well-trained Sunni scholar who became a national media sensation. He used television for the purpose of renewing religion by popularizing long held theological and ethical beliefs."--Provided by publisher.

This book deals with the new dynamics of Islam in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Comoros) and its attempt to expand through various missionary activities. As Muslim reformers have done elsewhere in the world, the reformers in East Africa are fighting for an Islamic awakening. The central argument of this book is to say that although these activities are supported by contributions from transnational networks, their origins go back to the frustration of Muslim communities of East Africa with politics, education, and professional training. The other argument is to show that this Islamic awakening is not just about the Salafi or Muslim Brothers trend, it concerns also Shī‘a, Sufi, Muslim Bible Scholars and others alike. All these trends mimic each other while competing against each other at the same time. They also take the same position vis-à-vis the various Christian groups.

Preaching has been central to Muslim communities throughout the centuries. The liturgical Friday sermon is a prime example, although other genres that are less commonly known also serve important functions. This book addresses the ways in which Muslims relate various forms of religious oratory to authoritative tradition in 21st-century Islamic practice, while striving to adapt to local contexts and the changing circumstances of politics, media and society. This is the first book of its kind to look at homiletics beyond a specific country focus. Taking into consideration the historical developments of Muslim preaching, it offers a collection of thoroughly contextualised case studies of oratory in Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Sweden and the USA. The analyses presented here show shared emphasis on struggles for legitimacy, efforts to speak authoritatively, as well as discursive opportunities and constraints.

In this book we study The Tabligh Jama’at, an Islamic revivalist movement which, through participation in its preaching tours, provides satisfaction to individuals experiencing the crisis of modernity. Preaching tours enable Muslims to become workers for Allah and involved in the renewal of Allah’s world. We explore the ideological underpinning of preaching and working for Allah through the application of Frame Theory. Through an analytic framework comprising framing tasks and framing processes we unpack how the ideas of Islamic revivalism found in key Tabligh Jama’at written and oral texts – the Faza’il-e-A’maal and bayans – are packaged and communicated in such a way as to attract individuals to participate in preaching tours. The book concludes that working for Allah provides Muslims with meaning, social solidarity, and satisfaction which modernity has failed to provide them. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, journalists, policy-makers, and research students interested in or working on Islamic revivalist movements.

Arguing Islam after the Rebirth of Arab Politics analyzes the politics of religion in the Arab world after the emergence of new public spheres over the past few decades. The book examines those spheres as they really are, not measuring them against any ideal of democratic deliberation, and show how they are lively and increasingly participatory but also polarizing, divisive, and far from egalitarian. And while they have grown in force, they are not efficacious, leading to a widening gap between regimes and the societies they govern. Focusing on arguments aired in new and old media, neighborhood discussions, and parliaments, Arguing Islam After the Revival of Arab Politics probes in special depth debates over constitution, family law, and education. It shows how these various places where arguments take place are increasingly linked, forming not a uniformed citizenry but instead a badly divided one in which a leader's words to followers are overheard and then lampooned by opponents and various groups become aware of how deeply they differ. Arguments are detached from the authority of the person making them. Without a strong political process to forge agreement and reward coalition building, the reborn Arab politics is exciting and vital but also noisy and rough.

Muslim preaching has been central in forming public opinion, building grassroots organizations, and developing leadership cadres for the wider Islamist agenda. Based on in-depth field research in Egypt, Patrick Gaffney focuses on the preacher and the sermon as the single most important medium for propounding the message of Islam. He draws on social history, political commentary, and theological sources to reveal the subtle connections between religious rhetoric and political dissent. Many of the sermons discussed were given during the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and Gaffney attempts to describe this militant movement and to compare it with official Islam. Finally, Gaffney presents examples of the sermons, so readers can better understand the full range of contemporary Islamic expression.