Islam Between Culture & Politics

This volume offers a radical solution to the problems faced by Islam in a rapidly changing and globalizing world. It proposes a de-politicization of the faith and the introduction of reforms to embrace secular democracy, pluralism, civil society and individual human rights. The alternative to this is the impasse of fundamentalism. The pivotal argument is that Islam is being torn between the pressure for cultural innovation and a defensive move towards the politicization of its symbols for non religious ends.

 

Introduction: Islam Between Culture and Politics: The Scope and the Implications - PART I: RELIGION, CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: ISLAM BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT - Religion, Culture and Social Reality: Islam as a Cultural System and its Diversity - Cultural Patterns and the Perception of Change in Islam: A Religious Model for Reality: The Islamic Worldview - Culture and Social Change: Tradition and Innovation in Cultural Analysis - PART TWO: THE CONTEXT: THE POLITICIZATION OF ISLAM IN THE GLOBAL AGE - The Dichotomy of Structural Globalization and Fragmenting Cultural Self-Assertion: The Case of Islamic Civilization - The Politicization of Religion: Political Islam as a Defence-Cultural Response to Global Challenges - From Religious Belief to Political Commitment: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Secular Order - PART III: THE FRAMEWORK: THE MEANS OF POLITICIZATION: THE REVIVAL OF THE SHARI'S AND THE ISLAMIZATION OF EDUCATION - Social Change and the Potential for Flexibility in Islamic Law: The Shari's Between Ethics and Politicisation - Institutions of Learning and Education in Islam: Between the Cultural Accommodation of Change, Religious Orthodoxy and the Politics of Cultural IslamiZation - PART IV: ISLAM AND THE WEST BETWEEN INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL DIALOGUE AND POLITICAL ANTAGONISM - Islam Matters to the West! Islam and Europe, Islam in Europe: Islamic Migration between Cultural Assimilation, Political Integration and Communitarian Ghettoization - Islam and the West in the Age of Conflict among Civilizations: The Alternative in Inter-Cultural Dialogue as a Means of Conflict Resolution