Rethinking Islam And Human Rights

In Rethinking Islam and Human Rights, leading Islam and human rights scholar Ozcan Keles examines how social movement practice unknowingly and unintentionally produces Islamic knowledge on human rights (i.e. change) in both scriptural reinterpretation and societal disposition, through a focus on the interaction between the two.

"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"--

Is there a basis for human rights in Islam? Beginning with an exploration of what rights are and how the human rights discourse developed, Abdullah Saeed explores the resources that exist within Islamic tradition. He looks at those that are compatible with international human rights law and can be garnered to promote and protect human rights in Muslim-majority states. A number of rights are given specific focus, including the rights of women and children, freedom of expression and religion, as well as jihad and the laws of war. Human Rights and Islam emphasises the need for Muslims to rethink problematic areas of Islamic thought that are difficult to reconcile with contemporary conceptions of human rights.

"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"--

CONTENTS.

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

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.

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.