Interfaith praxis in the South African struggle for liberation : towards a liberatio-political framework for Muslim-Christian relations
- Authors: Palombo, Matthew Cady
- Date: 2014-06-23
- Subjects: Islam - Relations - Christianity , Christianity and other religions , Religion and politics - South Africa - History , Liberation theology - South Africa , Call of Islam (Organization)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:11583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11294
- Description: D.Litt et Phil. (Semitic Languages and Cultures) , This thesis is an examination of “interfaith praxis” in the South African struggle for liberation, with particular emphasis on Muslim-Christian relations. We begin with an overview of the epistemological and theological contribution of “praxis” in European and subaltern contexts of liberation theology as well as the key dynamics of representation, conditionality and transformative activism in the history of Muslim-Christian relations. We then analyze and contrast “two histories” of Muslim-Christian relations in South Africa: one of Orientalism and the other of interfaith praxis. Through a close examination of two organizations - the Call of Islam (est. 1984) and the South African Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (est. 1984) - we argue that interfaith praxis changed how Muslims and Christians in the struggle approached interfaith dialogue and theological reflections on the religious other. It was this interfaith praxis that contributed to the importance of religious pluralism in contemporary South Africa. Following through from the history and reflections on interfaith praxis, we suggest here the possibility for a new framework for Muslim-Christian relations called a Liberatio-Political Framework.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Palombo, Matthew Cady
- Date: 2014-06-23
- Subjects: Islam - Relations - Christianity , Christianity and other religions , Religion and politics - South Africa - History , Liberation theology - South Africa , Call of Islam (Organization)
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:11583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11294
- Description: D.Litt et Phil. (Semitic Languages and Cultures) , This thesis is an examination of “interfaith praxis” in the South African struggle for liberation, with particular emphasis on Muslim-Christian relations. We begin with an overview of the epistemological and theological contribution of “praxis” in European and subaltern contexts of liberation theology as well as the key dynamics of representation, conditionality and transformative activism in the history of Muslim-Christian relations. We then analyze and contrast “two histories” of Muslim-Christian relations in South Africa: one of Orientalism and the other of interfaith praxis. Through a close examination of two organizations - the Call of Islam (est. 1984) and the South African Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (est. 1984) - we argue that interfaith praxis changed how Muslims and Christians in the struggle approached interfaith dialogue and theological reflections on the religious other. It was this interfaith praxis that contributed to the importance of religious pluralism in contemporary South Africa. Following through from the history and reflections on interfaith praxis, we suggest here the possibility for a new framework for Muslim-Christian relations called a Liberatio-Political Framework.
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Women’s prayer in Islamic law - embodiment and the construction of gendered ritual
- Authors: Surtee, Safiyyah
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/274394 , uj:29272
- Description: M.A. , Abstract: One of the broad areas of agreement amongst contemporary scholars of Islam - both traditional (Badawi 1995, Mattison 2005, Winters 1997, Jawad 1998) and feminist (Wadud 1999, Barlas 2002, Mir-Hooseini 1999) - regarding gender and women’s status in the Islamic tradition, is the notion of the absolute equality of men and women before God, in the realm of `ibadat, (worship). Men and women are deemed to be equally responsible and correspondingly rewarded for their acts of worship, performed through rituals or otherwise. There are a number of instances, however, where women’s participation in the core rituals of Islam - salah (daily prayers), sawm (fasting) and the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) are markedly different from their male counterparts, both in form and function. This is in addition to gendered laws regulating ritual purity, which are required to enact the ritual in the first instance. These differences have been synthesized in the Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudential) literature. The analysis of gender in Fiqh text is an emerging area of research in the study of Islam. This is why this dissertation is important for gender-research. For the vast majority of believers, both Sunni and Shi’a, Islam is a religious tradition of orthopraxis and depends pointedly on Fiqh in connecting believers to the faith. As a “technology of the self” (Bashir 2010: 75), positive law assists adherents to bridge the gap between their social and historical strata and the need to feel part of a universal, eternal and transcendent religious tradition. In practice, Muslims interact on a day-to-day basis with specific aspects of the Fiqh – albeit through its interlocutors – the fuqaha (jurists) or `ulama (religious leaders) and not through the foundational texts of the Qur’an and Hadith. Particular practical teachings emerging from the Fiqh discourse looms much larger in the imagination of Muslims who are required to conduct their lives in accordance with its laws and regulations. Although the subject of women’s bodies in Islamic discourse has undergone much scrutiny with regards to sexuality, the way in which the female body is regulated in the performance of ritual as determined by the fuqaha necessitates probing. Examples of these are the different postures women assume during prayer as compared to men, the limitations on the space wherein they are expected to perform their prayers, the restriction of certain physical actions such as fast paced walking for women during circumambulation (tawaf) of the ka`bah om pilgrimage, dependence...
- Full Text:
- Authors: Surtee, Safiyyah
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/274394 , uj:29272
- Description: M.A. , Abstract: One of the broad areas of agreement amongst contemporary scholars of Islam - both traditional (Badawi 1995, Mattison 2005, Winters 1997, Jawad 1998) and feminist (Wadud 1999, Barlas 2002, Mir-Hooseini 1999) - regarding gender and women’s status in the Islamic tradition, is the notion of the absolute equality of men and women before God, in the realm of `ibadat, (worship). Men and women are deemed to be equally responsible and correspondingly rewarded for their acts of worship, performed through rituals or otherwise. There are a number of instances, however, where women’s participation in the core rituals of Islam - salah (daily prayers), sawm (fasting) and the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) are markedly different from their male counterparts, both in form and function. This is in addition to gendered laws regulating ritual purity, which are required to enact the ritual in the first instance. These differences have been synthesized in the Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudential) literature. The analysis of gender in Fiqh text is an emerging area of research in the study of Islam. This is why this dissertation is important for gender-research. For the vast majority of believers, both Sunni and Shi’a, Islam is a religious tradition of orthopraxis and depends pointedly on Fiqh in connecting believers to the faith. As a “technology of the self” (Bashir 2010: 75), positive law assists adherents to bridge the gap between their social and historical strata and the need to feel part of a universal, eternal and transcendent religious tradition. In practice, Muslims interact on a day-to-day basis with specific aspects of the Fiqh – albeit through its interlocutors – the fuqaha (jurists) or `ulama (religious leaders) and not through the foundational texts of the Qur’an and Hadith. Particular practical teachings emerging from the Fiqh discourse looms much larger in the imagination of Muslims who are required to conduct their lives in accordance with its laws and regulations. Although the subject of women’s bodies in Islamic discourse has undergone much scrutiny with regards to sexuality, the way in which the female body is regulated in the performance of ritual as determined by the fuqaha necessitates probing. Examples of these are the different postures women assume during prayer as compared to men, the limitations on the space wherein they are expected to perform their prayers, the restriction of certain physical actions such as fast paced walking for women during circumambulation (tawaf) of the ka`bah om pilgrimage, dependence...
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The utilization of scripture in the feminist debate in Islam with particular reference to Amina Wadud’s Qur’an and Woman (1992) in conversation with classical and contemporary Qur’anic exegetical works
- Authors: Mheta, Bothwell
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/265232 , uj:28085
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , Abstract: “The Utilisation of Scripture in the Feminist Debate in Islam with Particular Reference to Amina Wadud’s Qur’an and Woman (1992) in Conversation with Classical and Contemporary Qur’anic Exegetical Works”. Amina Wadud’s name figures prominently as one of the pioneering personalities in the modern upheaval of feminism in Islam during the last few decades of the 20th century. Her 1992 publication, Qur’an and Woman, has attained almost classical status. However, when discussing the contribution of Wadud to feminism in Islam, she is usually pictured within the frame of her later publications, particularly Inside Gender Jihad (2006), The focus is then on the more mature and informed views of Wadud, neglecting the idiosyncrasies of her first major book. The present thesis, to the contrary, endeavours to highlight the early phase of Wadud’s feministic thinking by paying exclusive attention to Qur’an and Woman (1992). Scripture plays a central role in the Islamic version of feminism. Feminists believe that the preferential position of the male within Muslim societies is due to traditional convictions informed by a specific, mostly literal reading of Qur’anic texts. They therefore insist on an alternative exegetical approach, which (according to them) would reveal clear tendencies towards gender equality. In the present thesis Amina Wadud’s perspectives featuring in Qur’an and Woman (1992) were analysed per chapter, subdivisions and subsections, firstly in general and secondly from a fourfold viewpoint, focusing respectively on [1] the overall structure of the book and chapters, [2] the utilization of scripture (e.g. hermeneutic approach), [3] interaction with others (overtly and covertly), and finally on [4] perspectives pertaining to Wadud as person. Results obtained from the focus on the above selected features are revealing. [1] Chapters are, for example, independently structured, selectively choosing themes and material with clear gender objectives. [2] Selection and use of scripture is subservient to gender orientated presuppositions, with textual strategy favouring the interpretation of particular expressions in the light of general Qur’anic principles. [3] During the course of her argumentation, overtly mentioned sources are nearly exclusively used in support of her gender-equality convictions, while covertly mentioned sources reflect views counter to her own. Commentaries and exegetical works frequently consulted by Wadud are al-Zamakhshari (AD 1075-1144), Sayyid Qutb (AD 1909-1966), Abul A’ala Maududi (AD 1903-1979) and Fazlur Rahman (1919-...
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mheta, Bothwell
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/265232 , uj:28085
- Description: D.Litt. et Phil. , Abstract: “The Utilisation of Scripture in the Feminist Debate in Islam with Particular Reference to Amina Wadud’s Qur’an and Woman (1992) in Conversation with Classical and Contemporary Qur’anic Exegetical Works”. Amina Wadud’s name figures prominently as one of the pioneering personalities in the modern upheaval of feminism in Islam during the last few decades of the 20th century. Her 1992 publication, Qur’an and Woman, has attained almost classical status. However, when discussing the contribution of Wadud to feminism in Islam, she is usually pictured within the frame of her later publications, particularly Inside Gender Jihad (2006), The focus is then on the more mature and informed views of Wadud, neglecting the idiosyncrasies of her first major book. The present thesis, to the contrary, endeavours to highlight the early phase of Wadud’s feministic thinking by paying exclusive attention to Qur’an and Woman (1992). Scripture plays a central role in the Islamic version of feminism. Feminists believe that the preferential position of the male within Muslim societies is due to traditional convictions informed by a specific, mostly literal reading of Qur’anic texts. They therefore insist on an alternative exegetical approach, which (according to them) would reveal clear tendencies towards gender equality. In the present thesis Amina Wadud’s perspectives featuring in Qur’an and Woman (1992) were analysed per chapter, subdivisions and subsections, firstly in general and secondly from a fourfold viewpoint, focusing respectively on [1] the overall structure of the book and chapters, [2] the utilization of scripture (e.g. hermeneutic approach), [3] interaction with others (overtly and covertly), and finally on [4] perspectives pertaining to Wadud as person. Results obtained from the focus on the above selected features are revealing. [1] Chapters are, for example, independently structured, selectively choosing themes and material with clear gender objectives. [2] Selection and use of scripture is subservient to gender orientated presuppositions, with textual strategy favouring the interpretation of particular expressions in the light of general Qur’anic principles. [3] During the course of her argumentation, overtly mentioned sources are nearly exclusively used in support of her gender-equality convictions, while covertly mentioned sources reflect views counter to her own. Commentaries and exegetical works frequently consulted by Wadud are al-Zamakhshari (AD 1075-1144), Sayyid Qutb (AD 1909-1966), Abul A’ala Maududi (AD 1903-1979) and Fazlur Rahman (1919-...
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Discourses on violence, peace and Islam after 9/11 : a critical reading of Asghar Ali Engineer
- Authors: Kunnummal, Ashraf
- Date: 2015-07-15
- Subjects: Engineer, Asghar Ali, 1939-2013 , Political activists - India , Islamic renewal , Postcolonialism
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13779 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14044
- Description: M.A. (Semitic Languages and Cultures) , Please refer to full text to view abstract
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- Authors: Kunnummal, Ashraf
- Date: 2015-07-15
- Subjects: Engineer, Asghar Ali, 1939-2013 , Political activists - India , Islamic renewal , Postcolonialism
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:13779 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14044
- Description: M.A. (Semitic Languages and Cultures) , Please refer to full text to view abstract
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A critical evaluation of a modern biography William Muir’s The Life of Mohammad – from original sources and its utilisation of Qur’anic sources
- Authors: Karolia, Aboo Bakar
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/265988 , uj:28187
- Description: M.A. , Abstract: This study is a critical evaluation of William Muir’s biography Life of Mohammad – From Original Sources (1923). Muir (d. 1905) was an Oriental scholar and an evangelical Christian from Scotland whose vocation in India as a civil servant of the British and experience with the people of India, Muslims in particular, induced him to write a biography of Muhammad. He was one of the first modern scholars to categorise the source materials from the traditional pioneering biographies to write a modern biography on the life of Muhammad. In so doing, he combined post-Enlightenment methodology with Christian Romantic sensibilities and evangelical missionary purposes to construct his biography. Muir’s biographical work contributed significantly to a genre of European literature that makes exclusive use of the original Muslim sources. This study will critically evaluate how Muir used the Qur’an as the primary source for his biography. It will also provide a brief overview of Western biographies of Muhammad that appeared after Muir’s work, highlighting the changes in the methodologies, approaches and tools Western biographies of Muhammad used after Muir.
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- Authors: Karolia, Aboo Bakar
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/265988 , uj:28187
- Description: M.A. , Abstract: This study is a critical evaluation of William Muir’s biography Life of Mohammad – From Original Sources (1923). Muir (d. 1905) was an Oriental scholar and an evangelical Christian from Scotland whose vocation in India as a civil servant of the British and experience with the people of India, Muslims in particular, induced him to write a biography of Muhammad. He was one of the first modern scholars to categorise the source materials from the traditional pioneering biographies to write a modern biography on the life of Muhammad. In so doing, he combined post-Enlightenment methodology with Christian Romantic sensibilities and evangelical missionary purposes to construct his biography. Muir’s biographical work contributed significantly to a genre of European literature that makes exclusive use of the original Muslim sources. This study will critically evaluate how Muir used the Qur’an as the primary source for his biography. It will also provide a brief overview of Western biographies of Muhammad that appeared after Muir’s work, highlighting the changes in the methodologies, approaches and tools Western biographies of Muhammad used after Muir.
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A postcolonial critique of modernist approaches to Maqāṣid al-Sharī`ah
- Authors: Adams, Mogamat Nasief
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Maqāṣid (Islamic law) , Postcolonialism , Islamic modernism
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/400469 , uj:33424
- Description: Abstract : The Adoption of the Maqāṣid al-Sharī`ah, (Purposive Objective of the Law) a principle orientated approach to Islamic law, is increasing being presented as a panacea to relieve the tension arising from the intersection of classic Islamic law, derived in a historical context of clearly delineated Islam vs ‘other’ socio-political constructs, with contemporary globalization and forced co-existence of Muslims with ‘other’ communities. This dissertation argues that contemporary Maqāṣid reform scholars are steering a course, through the re-construction of the Maqāṣid discourse that is conducive to the agenda of ‘Empire’, an ‘entity’ constitutive of like-minded transnational corporations motivated by the desire for increased excessive capital accumulation, regardless of the consequences. Contemporary Maqāṣid scholars fall victim to ‘Empire’ as demonstrated by this dissertation in their inclination towards satisfying contemporary human rights discourse. Postcolonial analysis uncovers the modus operandi of ‘Empire’, especially with regard to its annexation of human rights. Postcolonial insights moreover sounds a warning to Maqāṣid scholars that they may be perpetrating similar errors which colonialist was guilty of, and on which Orientalism was founded namely a universalist and essentialist perspective. The dissertation warns that Maqāṣid scholars should be wary of hegemony of Muslim cultures through the inadvertent incorporation of hegemonic values via the Maqāṣid discourse, and likewise should not adopt universalist and essentialist perspectives which promotes hegemony towards different cultures. , M.A. (Islamic Studies)
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- Authors: Adams, Mogamat Nasief
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Maqāṣid (Islamic law) , Postcolonialism , Islamic modernism
- Language: English
- Type: Masters (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/400469 , uj:33424
- Description: Abstract : The Adoption of the Maqāṣid al-Sharī`ah, (Purposive Objective of the Law) a principle orientated approach to Islamic law, is increasing being presented as a panacea to relieve the tension arising from the intersection of classic Islamic law, derived in a historical context of clearly delineated Islam vs ‘other’ socio-political constructs, with contemporary globalization and forced co-existence of Muslims with ‘other’ communities. This dissertation argues that contemporary Maqāṣid reform scholars are steering a course, through the re-construction of the Maqāṣid discourse that is conducive to the agenda of ‘Empire’, an ‘entity’ constitutive of like-minded transnational corporations motivated by the desire for increased excessive capital accumulation, regardless of the consequences. Contemporary Maqāṣid scholars fall victim to ‘Empire’ as demonstrated by this dissertation in their inclination towards satisfying contemporary human rights discourse. Postcolonial analysis uncovers the modus operandi of ‘Empire’, especially with regard to its annexation of human rights. Postcolonial insights moreover sounds a warning to Maqāṣid scholars that they may be perpetrating similar errors which colonialist was guilty of, and on which Orientalism was founded namely a universalist and essentialist perspective. The dissertation warns that Maqāṣid scholars should be wary of hegemony of Muslim cultures through the inadvertent incorporation of hegemonic values via the Maqāṣid discourse, and likewise should not adopt universalist and essentialist perspectives which promotes hegemony towards different cultures. , M.A. (Islamic Studies)
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