Violence In Islamic Thought From European Imperialism To The Post Colonial Era

This volume shows the diversity of approaches to violence in Islamic thought between the 19th century and the present day, avoiding the limiting characterisations of Islam being inherently 'violent' or 'peaceful'. It shows how ideas of 'justified violence' - grounded in Islamic theological and juristic traditions - reoccur throughout history, up to the contemporary period. Chapters on earlier events provide context for contemporary debates on violence, showing how traditional legal and theological ideas (such as the sovereignty of God's law and peace treaties) are used to both legitimise and de-legitimise violence.

This book examines how violent acts were assessed by Muslim intellectuals, analysing both changes and continuity within Islamic thought over time.

This volume brings together some of the leading researchers on early Islamic history and thought to study the legitimacy of violence.

This volume brings together some of the leading researchers on early Islamic history and thought to study the legitimacy of violence.

Colonial and post-colonial governance of Islam" is een heldere weergave van de kansen en belemmeringen voor de islam vanuit een bestuurlijke benadering met speciale aandacht voor de voortdurende strijd rond de codificatie van islamitisch onderwijs, religieuze autoriteit, wetgeving en praktijk. De auteurs onderzoeken de overeenkomsten en verschillen van de islam in het Britse, Franse en Portugese koloniale bestuur. Zij maken gebruik van hun expertise om de aard van de regelgeving in verschillende historische periodes en geografische gebieden te analyseren. Deze studie opent nieuwe mogelijkheden voor mondiaal onderzoek naar studies van de islam.

"Proto-Salafist" 14th-century theologian Ibn Taymiyya is recognized as the intellectual forefather of contemporary Salafism and Jihadism. This volume offers a unique approach to the study of Ibn Taymiyya, by offering an English translation of his fundamental political treatise, The Office of Islamic Government, and shorter collections from The Collected Fatwas and The Prophetic Way, and Islamic Governance in Reconciling between the Ruler and the Ruled. The volume not only sheds light on these primary sources through translation and annotation, but also offers a theoretical analysis of Ibn Taymiyya’s thought and how his legal views can be reconciled with current trends in Islamic political theory. The analysis provides an overview of Ibn Taymiyya’s geopolitical context, and includes an original study of his normative political thought. In examining the contemporary implications of Ibn Taymiyya’s political theology, the authors explore his doctrine of the Islamic state in the context of Islamic decolonial theory. Islam and the State in Ibn Taymiyya will appeal to academics in the fields of political science and religious studies, particularly within the field of Islamic history.

Why has warfare always been part of the human story? From biology to belief, what explains the persistence of violent conflict? What light can this shed on humanity’s past – and its future? There can be few more important but also more contentious issues than attempting to understand the human propensity for conflict. Our history is inextricably tangled in wave after wave of inter-human fighting from as far back as we have records. Repeatedly humans have foresworn war, have understood its appalling risks and have wished to create more pacific, productive societies. And yet almost inevitably circumstances emerge under which war once more seems inevitable or even desirable How can we make sense of what Einstein called 'the dark places of human will and feeling'? Richard Overy draws on a lifetime's study of conflict to write this challenging account of how we can understand the causes of war. Looking at every facet of war from biology to belief, psychology to security, Overy allows readers to understand the many contradictory or self-reinforcing ways in which warfare can suddenly appear a legitimate option, and why it is likely to be part of our future as well as our past.

Western interventions today have much in common with the countless violent conflicts that have occurred on Europe's periphery since the conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century. Like their predecessors, modern imperial wars are shaped especially by spatial features and by pronounced asymmetries of military organisation, resources, modes of warfare and cultures of violence between the respective parties. Today's imperial wars are essentially civil wars, in which Western powers are only one player among many. As ever, the Western military machine is proving incapable of resolving political strife through force, or of engaging opponents with no reason to offer conventional combat, who instead rely on guerrilla warfare and terrorism. And, as they always have, local populations pay the price for these shortcomings. Colonial Violence aims to offer, for the first time, a coherent explanation of the logic of violent hostilities within the context of European expansion. Walter's analysis reveals parallels between different empires and continuities spanning historical epochs. He concludes that recent Western military interventions, from Afghanistan to Mali, are not new wars, but stand in the 500-year-old tradition of transcultural violent conflict, under the specific conditions of colonialism.