NISIS
Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies
Spring School Rabat 2011:
Abstracts of the 20 participants from NISIS
Participants:
1.
Ahyad, Amiq .
.
.
p. 3
2.
Albrecht, Sarah
.
.
p. 4
3.
Geel, Annemarie van .
.
p. 6
4.
Hamelink, Marloes
Marloes
.
.
p. 7
5.
Hashas, Mohammed .
.
p. 8
6.
Huis, Stijn van .
.
.
p. 9
7.
Kahmann, Merel
.
.
p. 10
8.
Kakuta, Hiromi
.
.
p. 11
9.
Kateman, Ammeke
.
.
p. 12
10.
10.
El Khairat, Abdelghani
.
p. 13
11.
11.
Kruithof, Maryse
.
.
p. 15
12.
12.
Laan, Nina ter .
.
.
p. 16
13.
13.
Nuril Huda, Ahmad
.
.
p. 18
14.
14.
Ozdil, Zihni
.
.
.
p. 19
15.
15.
Pall, Zoltan
.
.
.
p. 20
16.
16.
Riecken, Nils .
.
.
p. 22
17.
17.
Schoenfeld, Anne
.
.
p. 24
18.
18.
Wahid, Din
.
.
p. 26
19.
19.
Wirastri, Theresia Dyah
.
p. 27
.
2
1. Ahyad, Amiq
The Arabic Manuscript Collection from Indonesia preserved in the University of Leiden Library
and the Study of Islamic Codicology
The Library of Leiden University houses thousands of Arabic Manuscript originated
from Indonesia. This collection is acquired during the Dutch colonial period during
three and half centuries in Indonesia. At least there two works of Leiden scholars which
help other to access the collection and provide student of Islamic manuscript a brief
explanation of their content; the Handlist by P. Voorhoeve and the digital Inventory by
Prof. Jan Just Witkam. However, no a single work that particularly focus on Islamic
manuscript from Indonesia. For instance, what is a general content of the collection?
What are the most popular book taught in Islamic learning institution in Indonesia
during those periods? Those example questions will be a significant data to reconstruct
how is Islam being taught; how Islam is being understood by Indonesian muslim society
within those centuries.
The close relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia since three
centuries to the date makes the more study of Islam both in Indonesia and the
Netherlands become increasingly important. The study on its heritage will be an
significant academic basis. Moreover my study will answer those questions in the initial
stage.
3
2. Albrecht, Sarah
Re-Territorializing Islamic Jurisprudence
On the discourse of Muslim Minority fiqh and the challenges of an analysis from an
outsider's perspective
The idea of fiqh al-aqallīyāt, a specific interpretation of Islamic law for Muslims living as
minorities in non-Muslim majority societies, is a subject of growing importance for
Islamic scholars and Muslim intellectuals in Muslim as well as in non-Muslim countries.
Since the 1990s, different concepts of an Islamic jurisprudence aimed specifically at
Muslims who live permanently in Europe and North America have been developed.
Despite their in part divergent approaches, the advocates for fiqh al-aqallīyāt all argue
that it is designed to ease and facilitate the lives of Muslims living in minority contexts
and thereby to promote a positive image of Islam in the West.
In this paper, I argue that the various ways of framing and naming this
jurisprudence for Muslim minorities are based on different concepts of territoriality
reflecting the relation between the Muslim and the environment he lives in. While
some scholars and intellectuals conceive of Muslims living in Europe and North
America as integral members of those non-Muslim societies, others emphasize an
alleged incongruity between Muslim and “Western” values and practices.
Correspondingly, the latter stick to a antagonistic view of the world, dichotomising it
into an Islamic and a non-Islamic sphere, whereas others developed alternative
territorial concepts imagining the world as divided into more fluent spaces that are not
defined by political or geographical boundaries.
Considering the fact that the scholars and intellectuals who contribute to the
production of knowledge on minority fiqh in this inner-Muslim discourse come from
various national, educational, social and confessional backgrounds, I also argue that
their habitus (Bourdieu) – i.e. their experience, the institutional and personal
frameworks they are operating in – plays a key role in the way they conceptualize
territoriality in the context of Islamic jurisprudence for Muslims living in non-Muslim
4
countries. Against this background, it becomes evident that Islamic scholarship itself
has to be conceived of as a social and political activity.
With due regard to the growing interest in research on Islam and Muslims in
Europe and other non-Muslim majority countries, the study of the discourse of fiqh alaqallīyāt and its underlying territorial concepts is to contribute to a better
understanding of the perspectives Islamic scholars and Muslim intellectuals have on
these Muslim communities. Being aware of the political dimension that research
projects in this field comprise, various challenges have to be taken into account while
attempting to comprehend and analyse this discourse from an outsider's perspective.
These include not only the phrasing of the research question, the selection of a
methodology to be applied and of relevant protagonists and sources, but equally the
interaction with protagonists, the interpretation of interviews, the wording of the
results and the like.
5
3. Geel, Annemarie van
Challenges and Opportunities of doing research in Saudi Arabia
The PhD research I am working on emerged from my participation as a researcher in
the Saudi Arabia project of the Islam Research Programme (IRP) of the Dutch Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. The IRP aims to investigate social trends in the Muslim world and
bring researchers and policy officers together. An important question that arises is
what it means to do policy-oriented research within the IRP. The relationship of the
researcher with the Dutch Embassy and the local partner research institute, as well as
the bearing the nature of the project has on the relationship of the researcher with her
interviewees play an important role in that process. How are research findings
disseminated in the host society? A second pertinent question is what it means to do
research in Saudi Arabia in specific. Not only practical issues such as visa applications
but also moving around and how to gain access to certain networks all bear on the
research. ‘Red lines’ from within as well as outside the Kingdom influence the position
of the researcher, the research and the parameters of the possible.
6
4. Hamelink, Marloes
Media perception and religious practice in the daily lives of Zanzibarians
Mass media tend to create a stereotypical image of Islam which is dominating the
public sphere and debate. Even though the interpretation and circulation of the
messages to different publics have to be studied within the local contexts, such
dominant stereotypical messages are still powerful in both the scholarly debate as in
the worlds of the community’s studies. The perception of media messages within the
public debate should be studied within the local and religious context of Muslim
communities. Within the every day perception of Muslims at Zanzibar, the mass
mediated image of Islam will be present, because it will be consumed, incorporated
and/or invalidated. Concerning the scholarly debate about Muslims and the public
sphere I have two aims with my PhD research about the influence of internet on
cultural and religious identity at Zanzibar. First, I want to study the perception of
media and the relation to religious practice within the daily lives of Muslims. By
focusing on the every day perception I would like to contribute to a nonessentialistic
image of Muslims as human beings instead of products of Islam. Second, I want to show
a point of view from an East-African community which can contribute to the diversity
in ideas of what it means to be a Muslim. One of the goals of my research is to
investigate the impact of these engagements with globally circulating images of Islam
among my informants.
7
5. Hashas, Mohammed
Understanding Tariq Ramadan for More Pluralistic Societies in the Abode of the West
– The Case of Moroccans in the Netherlands
The presence of Muslims communities in Western Europe has shaken not only politics
and policy-makers thoughts, but also the founding theories upon which these (both)
societies have been based on. The idea of multiculturalism has tried to save the face and
accommodate the new Europeans without much ‘offence’ to the natives. This, however,
has not been solved yet. The tension is still there. Scholars who find themselves inbetween the two worlds, the Muslim community and the European society, are trying
to build for a more workable way out, socially and politically. Tariq Ramadan is one
prominent example. His assertive contributions to the public debate in the Netherlands
and France in particular have been very influential, at least socially for now. Politically,
Ramadan’s ideas have been either strongly criticized as in France, or listened to
without much ado in the Netherlands – though his tenure in Rotterdam was ended
before its due time. In the UK, to the surprise of many of his opponents, Ramadan was
recruited as Tony Blair advisor to encounter Islamic extremism, while the States
Department banned the scholar from entering the country during Bush administration.
This variety of views on Tariq Ramadan’s scholarship shows that he has touched upon
pertinent issues that the Muslim community in the West in particular cling to, which
the politicians have not found ways to either understand or face in adequate terms.
From this emerges the oscillation of politicians’ attitudes between acceptance/support
and rejection or silence. This paper is the outcome of a field work conducted in the
Netherlands between July and October on the project of Ramadan (European Islam) and
how the Moroccan-Dutch perceive it. This ‘listening to society’ field-work aims at
questioning the scholarly study of Islam in the low countries, how it is socially
perceived, and weather/how this perception is/can be dealt with politically, i.e. how
could this be turned in policies that answer social values that are constantly debated.
8
6. Huis, Stijn van
Post-divorce Rights and Access to the Islamic Court in Cianjur, Indonesia
Most academic works on the Islamic court in Indonesia present a rather positive view
on its functioning in practice. However, most research is based on court decisions in
the trial phase only, and so what is often lacking is an analysis of what happens in the
post-trial phase. For instance, do the persons concerned actually execute the court
order? Secondly, as regards post-divorce rights consensus seems to converge on three
fronts: 1. that spousal and child support are rights that can protect women and their
children from impoverishment after a divorce; 2. that it is essential for women to have
access to a proper process at an appropriate forum such as the Islamic court in the case
of Muslim women; 3. that this implies that the decisions of the court are enforceable
and executed. However, as established in the course of my fieldwork the situation in
Cianjur as regards post-divorce rights is far more complex than the existing literature
suggest. In this presentation I make two arguments. First, the causal relation between
access to the Islamic court for divorced women and their protection from
impoverishment is not self-evident and therefore one cannot sideline cultural factors.
Second, to understand whether divorced women experience injustices, how they seek
redress, and how their access to justice can be improved, it is necessary to conduct
(socio-legal) empirical research that is not solely limited to official divorce cases, but
representative of all instances of divorce in the society concerned as well.
9
7. Kahmann, Merel
Legitimating secular policy through social research into religion?
Doing qualitative research into a political and socially sensitive topic.
My research into the relation between the Moroccan government and the Moroccan
Dutch – as part of the Islam Research Program commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs – is an example of how research can be instrumental to diplomatic interests. In
this paper I will reflect on the diplomatic interest conditioned by societal and political
concerns. More specifically, I will focus on the role of Islam in regard to both the
Moroccan emigration policy and the Dutch integration policy where both governments
attempt to convey unity to strengthen ties and obtain interests. The Moroccan
government uses Islam to legitimate its power and to maintain ties with Moroccans
living abroad. Political parties in the Netherlands, long divided by the religious-secular
line, position themselves around the migration-integration theme, in which Islam has
started to play an important role. In addition, the Dutch integration policy changed
from structural integration towards cultural integration, which places more emphasis
on cultural and religious identity. After looking critically at my own research question
and setting, I will consider the consequences of doing qualitative research into these
political and bilateral power structures. How might the Dutch government with the aid
of facilitating research and the participation of the Moroccan Dutch, make use of
research on a politically sensitive topic in order to position itself and them within
power structures?
10
8. Kakuta, Hiromi
I study relationship between Christians and Muslims of al-Andalus in the Middle Ages.
When I was a student of master’s course, I studied on Mozarab, particularly about socalled "martyr's movement". I am approaching the event by Arabic sources, by
perspective of what being Islamic Law in 9th al-Andalus. Although this event occurred
in Islamic world, only a few scholars any scholars of Islam have studied it. I concluded
that this event was well-advised objection by Christians though well-acquainted Islamic
legal system and its ideology. They changed Islamic ideology to Christian value in the
way of martyrdom. And now, I am revising my master thesis in order to contribute it to
a scholarly journal published by Association for Islamic Studies in Japan.
And I am also preparing a presentation at the annual meeting of Japan
Association for Middle East Studies in Japan. I will report about Christian festivals in
Kitāb al-’anwā/ Liber anoe (There are two versions, Arabic and Latin. The Latin version
was translated by many scholars in 12-13century from Arabic version). There are many
Christian festivals in this calendar. At present, I estimate that it is a result of
contrivance by Christians who wanted Christianity to survive in the Islamic world.
I am also interested in Christians who lived in al-Maghrib in the Middle Ages.
Particularly, emigrant from al-Andalus to al-Maghrib. So, I would like to study about
Islamic society and muslims of al-Maghrib very much.
11
9. Kateman, Ammeke
Muḥammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) – Confessions of a Young Dutch Scholar
To what extent is the research on Muḥammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) related to or even
conditioned by political and/or social concerns? Reflections of this kind have been and
will continue to be a major incentive for me to develop a revised theoretical framework
on ‘Abduh’s ideas. I argue that the majority of existing studies on ‘Abduh suffers from
an implicit and highly normative preference for Western-like and secular modernity
over Islamic tradition – which was a widespread belief in Western societies throughout
most (if not all) of the twentieth century and which was often a foundation for
international policy-making, too. This normative perspective has resulted in an
overemphasis on ‘Abduh’s rationality and novelty to the detriment of his links to the
age-old Islamic tradition in which he was very well-versed. Instead, I propose a revision
which pays due reference to the Islamic tradition within a framework of modernity.
However, it is important to keep in mind that my own wish to revise a
perspective which is grounded in a supposedly hierarchical relation between
modernity and tradition might be likewise normatively informed. In an age of
increasing criticism of Islam – both in harshness and dissemination, the desire to
radically challenge the still widespread opposition of (Western) modernity and (Eastern)
tradition in today’s public and political discourse in the Netherlands may not be merely
informed by academic considerations.
12
10.
10. El Khairat,
Khairat, Abdelghani
Islam and the Enlightenment:
The Intercultural and Intermedial Perspective of Satire in an Islamic Context
This paper seeks to explore the intercultural and intermedial properties of satire and
how they function in a modern Islamic context. The central question that this
contribution aims to answer is how the investigation of intercultural forms of satire
that demonstrate, mediate or recycle in different media central Enlightenment values
help in understanding the way cultural impact of satire has been framed and
accommodated in a contemporary Islamic set up. To this end, I propose that satire is an
intercultural mode of performance which does not only contest cultural boundaries in
different communities at different times, but also travels among multiple media. This
study capitalises on the Moroccan case thanks to various societal, political and cultural
transformations culminating in a considerable margin of freedom of speech and
expression in the last decade.
The research question is linked to a number of interrelated questions, which
will be investigated in this paper. The first question deals with the general framework
in which satire operates and used to operate in Islamic context. How did satire function
within Islamic cultural heritage? The second question focuses on the impact of satire
on the political and religious institutions. How does contemporary Moroccan satire
function in the cultural battleground between ideas inspired by European
Enlightenment and view points determined by Islam? And the third question highlights
the role of media in informing the impact of satire on a larger scale of cultural
interaction. Central to this claim is the following inquiry: how and how far have older
satirical traditions been reworked in new media to intensify their satirical effect and
evade censorship?
A thorough investigation of Islam and satire is lacking so far. As such, this study
tends to examine satirical expressions incorporated in some expressive genres such as
cartoons, jokes, sayings, sketches, anecdotes, writings etc. targeted to enlarge the scope
of the thinkable and treatable in religious and political practices. For this purpose, the
13
power of satire serves as an empowering instrument in the hands of intellectual
contenders to challenge the hegemony of conventional religious and secular
authorities, such as imams, clerks and monarchs.
14
11. Kruithof, Maryse
In this paper I would like to address the following question: ‘To what extent is my research
related to political and/or social concerns?’ My research analyses the emergence of shifts in
Dutch missionary discourse and strategies and the failed conversion of Muslims in the
predominantly Islamic island of Java, Indonesia, in the period between 1850 and 1920.
Christian missionaries on Java, be it Catholics or Protestants, acted within a
predominantly Islamic context. They witnessed the intensification of Islam and faced
resistance of the more orthodox Muslims to Christian propagation. In reaction to this
Islamic competition and opposition, missionary societies were repeatedly pressed to
change their aims and strategies. The result was a rich discourse among Christian
missionaries on Muslim resistance and more effective missionary policies, as well as an
increased exchange between missionaries and Muslim community leaders.
This project will contribute to the understanding of the complexities of cultural
encounters, in particular of the discourses that underpinned the Dutch missionary
enterprise and that contributed to the image of the Muslim ‘other’ in colonial and
Dutch society at large. The image of the Muslim ‘other’ is a hot topic in today's Dutch
media. Even though it seems that the overwhelming focus on the ‘Islamic treat’ for
Western societies is something of recent years, this notion is based on the collective
Dutch image of Islam which has its roots in the nineteenth century. Nineteenth century
scholars who were active in Islamic studies studied the journals of the different
missionary societies with great interest, because the journals consisted for a large part
of descriptive accounts on the local religious communities. The missionaries made
important contributions to the institutionalization of knowledge about non-western
cultures and to the newly developing scholarly fields of – among others- ethnology and
comparative religion. My research thus provides more insight into the emergence of
Dutch scholarly research on Islam and Muslim societies. Moreover it gives a historical
understanding of the construction of the current Dutch image of the Muslim ‘other’
which will give more depth to today’s public debates on Muslims.
15
12.
12. Laan,
Laan, Nina ter
Music, religion and politics in Morocco
In this paper I reflect on methodological, ethical and political implications of
conducting ethnographic research within a politically sensitive context. My PhD
research focuses on expressions of piety in multiple musical genres in Morocco. I study
a range of musical expressions of Islamic devotion against the background of the
increasing popularity of Islamist movements and -by contrast- national politics, which
over the last decade started to encourage ‘Sufism’ in the public sphere to tone down
‘jihadi’ influences. As a consequence Sufism has been attributed a growing importance
in the representation of national religious identity. This is partly enacted through
cultural politics. Sufi music, rituals and recitations are increasingly disseminated
outside the confines of Sufi orders and staged in settings such as TV- and radio shows
and music festivals. In contrast, devotional music associated with Islamism is kept away
from the public sphere. This demonstrates how the state’s authority over the moral
direction and religious faith of the country is –amongst others- played out within the
field of music. My research examines this musical contestation by looking at two
specific cases. First, I study the instrumentalisation of Sufi music and musicians on
state supported stages. Second, I explore the practices and discourses of Islamic music
within the largest Islamist and antiroyalist movement of Morocco; the Justice and
Charity movement (jamaat al ‘adl wa l ihsane) who are excluded from political
participation and often victim of arrests and intimidation by the state. In both cases
musicians are influenced by cultural politics, which also affect my research on various
levels. The cultural politics aimed at the promotion of Sufism enables me to have easy
access to stages, organizers and musicians working in this scene, however this might
unintentionally cause a bias in my research. Meanwhile censorship and the illegal
character of the Justice and Charity movement confronts me with difficulties such as
accessibility and protection of myself and my informants. These issues ask for
reflection not only on a methodological- but also on an epistemological level. By
looking at the relations between music, religion and politics in contemporary Morocco
16
I will discuss how these issues can affect one’s research and how we as researchers can
deal with them.
17
13. Nuril Huda, Ahmad
Ahmad
Projecting Islam on Screen: A Study of Islamicate Film Culture in Indonesia
This project is about the texts and practices of Islamicate film in Indonesia. It aims at
investigating the relations between Islam and film media in the country within the
context of how Indonesian Muslims identify themselves in the modern world.
It works on three levels: First, it focuses on the genealogy of cultural production
of Indonesian Islamicate film by tracing the historical junctures of Islamicate film texts
and practices within the context of modernity in Indonesia, where technological
infrastructures, political and religious censorship, film professionals, consummation of
film and new emerging audiences first came to appear, along with situating the
development and the mutation of these historical junctures over time and space.
Second, it investigates the regimes of values inserted in to the modes of
production, circulation and reception of Islamicate film, and tries to find the discursive
tradition of Islam being contested on these levels, in addition to identify the distinctive
practices differentiating the Islamicate film experience from their counterparts of
national cinema. Third, it focuses on investigating how Islam is imagined by the cultural
productions of Indonesian Islamicate film, and how this imagination is consumed by
their audiences, and thus transformed into the audiences’ daily lives, which is
subsequently contested in public spheres.
The data are drawn from written sources (such as books, periodicals, reports,
and pamphlets), audio-visual materials (such as recordings, videos, and films) and
ethnographic fieldwork.
18
14. Ozdil, Zihni
Secularization during the Turkish First Republic (1923 -1960)
This paper examines the Turkish secularization process from the perspective of both
non-Sunni Muslim minorities and state actors during the First Republic (1923-1960).
There has been much scholarship, both within and outside Turkey, on the evolution of
nationalism and secularism as guiding sociopolitical principles of the Turkish state
during the past four decades. Especially the realignment of the boundary between
religion and secular politics during the past twenty to thirty years has received much
scholarly and popular attention. For example, the now familiar discourse on whether
Turkey is a model for Muslim democracy in the Middle East has gained new momentum
following the mass popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in January 2011.
However, the current paradigm of Islam, democracy and secularism in Turkey
has its roots in the particularities of the establishment and dissemination of top-down
secularism during the ‘First Republic’, the period between the founding of modern
Turkey in 1923 and the military coup of 1960. Most Dutch and Turkish discourse on this
period has been ‘polluted’ by either overgeneralization or an insufficient focus on the
perspective of the grassroots, in particular minorities.
Scholarship on how the
secularization process during this period was adapted, accommodated or resented by
non-Sunni Muslims is very scarce. Thus, a thorough understanding of the interplay
between the political, academic and subaltern views on Turkish secularization within
the First Republic is necessitated.
19
15.
15. Pall, Zoltan
Transnational Salafi Networking in Lebanon and its ramifications in the Gulf,
Yemen and Europe
In my paper I will present my research project on transnational Salafi networks and
will shed light on the social relevance of this topic. I want to demonstrate how such
projects can contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of European Islam.
In my current PhD research I examine transnational Salafi networks whose
main hub is the Lebanese city Tripoli but extend to the Gulf, Yemen and also to some
European countries. In my analysis I will answer the questions that how these networks
emerged? How internal and external factors shaped their development and structure?
How material and non-material resources are transmitted through these networks?
I will present my results that I already have reached during my four months
long fieldwork in Lebanon and Kuwait and shorter fieldtrips in Qatar, The Hague and
Berlin. In the North of Lebanon I have discovered two, ideologically distinct networks
that expand to the Arabian Gulf and Europe. One of them is a purist (non activist,
focusing only on the purity of religious practice) network, the other one is activist
(activists regard the realm of politics inseparable from Islam).
I will describe
summarily the development and dynamics of these networks than will talk about their
transnational extensions.
I will discuss more elaborately my findings in Kuwait. There I inquired the
evolution and transformation of the main sponsor of Lebanon’s purist Salafi network,
the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society. The organization changed its profile in the
second half of the 1990s from activist to purist due to a debate among the leadership
that has also transnational dimensions. This transformation has had significant impacts
on the Lebanese Salafi field.
I believe that my research project has significant social relevance in the
Netherlands and in the European Union. Salafism is growing among the European
20
Muslim communities. It is also possible to observe a “salafization”1 of the religious
discourse among the ordinary European Muslims. Therefore it is important to research
those institutions and networks in the Middle East which are linked to European
Muslims and have impacts on their religiosity. It is also important to ask the question
whether the ideas imported from Salafi groups in the Gulf facilitate or impede the
integration process of European Muslims. I will inquire that how Middle Eastern Salafi
authorities influence the debate about citizenship in the European Muslim
communities.
1
I have borrowed this terminology from Jocelyne Cesari who argues that Salafism increasingly has
impacts on the discourse of ordinary Muslims in Europe and the Middle East. I had the chance to discuss
the issue with her at the MESA conference in San Diego, November 2010.
21
16. Riecken, Nils
Abdallah Laroui and the Location of History. An Intellectual Biography
In my PhD-project I am working on an intellectual biography of Abdallah Laroui (born
1933), a public intellectual, historian and novelist based in Morocco. Key concerns of his
intellectual project are reforms in Morocco and the Arab world, the challenge of
Western modernity with regard to the Islamic Tradition (Sunna), and the
representation of history. In my paper, I will argue that these tree aspects all involve
the question of the political. Accordingly, I will first present my analysis of Laroui’s
perspective on these three aspects. Then I will turn to the question how my research on
his intellectual project is related to and conditioned by political concerns.
Based on the experience of colonial domination, the impact of Western
modernity on Moroccan society and its global dominance, Laroui argues for its selfconfident appropriation by means of a critical historical thinking. This is to enable
political and economic modernization as well as Morocco’s full political, economic and
intellectual independence. It is also to prepare the ground for a contemporary rereading of Islam. The appropriation of Western modernity is conceived here not as
emulation, adoption or Westernization, but rather as a translation and transcendence
of a hegemonic formation that can be called “hyper-real Europe” (Chakrabarty 2000).
I argue that Laroui’s analysis of the representation of history, time, and
temporalities is key to this critical enterprise. By analyzing different notions of history,
time, and truth, he develops a critique of representations of Western modernity as an
abstract, seemingly universal model in empty, homogenous time. Moreover, this
critique is directed against static notions of culture that characterize certain Islamic,
culturalist, and Orientalist perspectives alike. With regard to Islamic and European
traditions of representing history, Laroui carves out a distinction between theo-logical,
philosophical or sacred visions of history, time, and truth on the one hand, and a more
relative, profane vision of these on the other hand. I will show how this second vision,
that represents the time of politics, is crucial to Laroui’s perspective on the
appropriation of Western modernity.
22
I read this view of different temporalities as an argument against the widely
observable culturalization of politics. Moreover, it reformulates the question about the
concept of the secular in terms of diverging epistemic frames, temporalities and
historicities. It identifies secularism as a figure of thought that rejects the
absolutization of one epistemic frame and its vision of history and time. At the same
time, it insists on the constant transcending of established boundaries of man-made
traditions. Accordingly, Laroui defines, secularism as historical epistemological critique
that is neither reducible to science, nor politics, nor transcendence.
I consider my project related to and conditioned by the wider public and
academic debates about modernity and Islam, the history of concepts, historiography,
and the theory of history in a global and postcolonial perspective. There is now a wide
academic interest in how Europe can be “provincialized” (Chakrabarty), how
modernity has been experienced (Harootunian) and how the concept has been used in
particular historical contexts (Cooper). My aim is to take up these questions and to look
at how Western modernity has been translated from the perspective of a Moroccan
intellectual. By analyzing modernity through a different prism than the Western
archive alone, I also seek to historicize Western representations of modernity, history
and difference. Finally, my project is to make available a different perspective on
modernization and development in Morocco to a wider audience.
23
17. Schoenfeld, Anne
Islamic Studies in Germany: Shifts and changes in the light of the introduction of Islamic religious
education as a new branch of study
Western research on Islam and the ‘Islamic’ has always been involved with politically
sensitive questions. In the light of Islamist terrorism on the one hand and the
increasing visibility and political participation of Muslims in Western societies on the
other this involvement has become most crucial. In mass media, the public and politics
the demand for expert knowledge regarding Islam has soared immensely. The aim of
this paper is to reconstruct how this demand challenged the discipline of Islamic
Studies and the self‐understanding of its scholars in Germany.
The demand for expertise was not only followed by a boom of the discipline, but
also created pressure on academic scholars to produce applicable, policy relevant
knowledge and to take up a stance in the face of newsworthy media debates on issues
regarding Muslims and Islam. Among representatives of the discipline this was not met
with enthusiasm only but also caused a certain feeling of discomfort due to the
apprehension of not being able to meet with these high expectations.
The ideological tendencies resulting from the political involvement of the
discipline have already been problematized in Edward Said's Orientalism and other
post‐colonial works. However the current popularity of the discipline and the public
interest in its outcomes also revealed some still unresolved contradictions e.g.
regarding the positionality of the scholar and the normative framework of his or her
work which need to be followed up urgently. What are the tasks scholars of Islamic
Studies should be concerned with when participating in public debates? What use is
being made of the Islam‐specific knowledge in policy‐making? How do scholars
position themselves when they have to align research interests and public demand
constantly?
While in my doctoral project I am going to look at the overall dynamics of
knowledge, policy and power my contribution to your Spring School will be a bit more
modest: I would like to shed some light on the differentiation between the discipline
24
and its research object by taking a closer look at current discussions over the
introduction of Islamic religious education into the German academic landscape aiming
at institutionalizing the training of religious personnel. In these discussions on the
distinction between (traditional) secular Islamic Studies and a faith‐informed (yet to be
established) Islamic Theology not only mere terminological questions but also the
self‐understanding of the discipline, its role in policy‐making and epistemological
questions regarding methods and theory building in Islamic Studies are being
negotiated.
Since I am still at the very beginning of my PhD project my contribution mainly
comprises the results of my readings of the relevant publications and the conclusions
from different public and private discussions on the introduction of this new
faith‐oriented program of Islamic Studies. Against this backdrop I am going to
reconstruct the shifts and changes the discipline went through in recent years. The
comparative perspective of the Spring School programme will certainly help to
elaborate more thoroughly the peculiarities and the convergences between the
scholarly traditions in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Morocco.
25
18. Wahid, Din
Community’ Responses to Salafi Pesantrens in Contemporary Indonesia
While many scholars have argued that Indonesian Islam is not only different from that
of the Middle East, but also truly Islamic at the same time, the Salafis view that
Indonesian Islam has been corrupted by local traditions which are alien to pristine
Islam, and therefore needs purification. Pristine Islam, as the Salafis put it, has been
completely prescribed in the holy Qur’an, hadith and the examples of the al-Salaf alSalih (the pious predecessor, the first three generations of early umma).
This paper will analyze the development of Salafi pesantrens and their
contestation to local Indonesian Islam. Unlike other pesantrens of the existing Muslim
organizations like Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah and Persatuan Islam, the Salafi
pesantrens extensively teach the works of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab. Moreover,
teachers and students live in accordance with Salafi manhaj by way of letting their
beard long, using the jalabiya and not practicing isbal.
The presence of Salafi pesantren in many cities has brought about tension and
conflict with local communities. On one hand, Salafis’ attack on the religious traditions
practiced by traditionalist Mulims has shaken and threatened not only the authority of
local kyais, ajengans and ustadhs but also their income sources. On the other hand, the
Salafis’ success in converting some activists and cadres of Muhammadiyah and
Persatuan Islam and their taking over some mosques has raised anxiety among
modernist leaders. Thus, the Salafis have been conceived as common “foe” by the
existing Muslim organizations.
Beyond all these controversies lies a more essential problem. The Salafis bear no
trust in the existing religious scholars. Instead of making reference to Indonesian
‘ulamas and their fatwa as represented in the fatwa commission of the Council of
Indonesia ‘Ulama (MUI), the Bahth al-Masa’il of NU, the Majelis Tarjih of
Muhammadiyah, and the Dewan Hisbah of Persatuan Islam, the Salafis go directly to
their mentors, Salafi shaykhs, like al-Albani of Jordan, Bin Baz, al-Uthaymin and alMadkhali of Saudi Arabia, and Muqbil al-Wadi’i of Yemen.
26
19.
19. Wirastri, Theresia Dyah
This paper tries to deliver a glimpse on women’s stories in dealing with the issue of
domestic violence hidden in divorce cases in Indonesia’s Religious Court (RC),
specifically in West Jakarta Religious Courts. The Indonesian government has passed
Law No.23/2004 regarding “Elimination of Domestic Violence” yet many women opt
not to pursue the matter in public domain by pulling criminal charges against their
husband, but choose to settle it privately through a divorce claim. The majority of
claims for divorce are indeed brought to RC, since Muslim divorce in Indonesia is a
judicial matter under the RC jurisdiction and almost 90 percent of Indonesia’s
population are Moslems. For this reason, the RC is ‘functioning” as the first entry point
revealing many domestic violence cases. The women concerned see a divorce from
their husbands through the religious court as the last resort in cutting off the chain of
violence. The legal strategy of women mirrors the dominant ideology of separate
domains (private-public) with regard to social relations. Looking at the socio-legal
reality of an Indonesian society which is strongly influenced by Islamic norms and
values, it follows that interpretation of religion combined with socio-cultural aspects
are important factors influencing women strategies in dealing with domestic violence.
The criminalisation of domestic violence is the result of a successful struggle and joint
effort of Indonesian women organizations. However, given that the issue of domestic
violence is a multi-dimensional issue in which religious, cultural and personal factors
play a role determining women’s strategies in pursuing its settlement, there is no linear
or ideal legal solution for the problem. Presenting up close and personal stories from
the courtroom of Religious Courts will give us another insight into the role of judges
through the legal processes faced by women victims in dealing with domestic violence
under divorce cases in Religious Courts.
27