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Introduction: Islam and the Modern World
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18956 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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Date : |
2 / 1991 |
720 Words |
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Our theme for this symposium looks at Islam both as a religion and as a cultural-political entity. The term "Islamic world" is used frequently here, although that term is no doubt as imprudent and imprecise as the term "Christian world."
In the opening paper, Bruce Lawrence discusses the religion-politics nexus, Western perceptions of Islam, Islamic revivalism, and Islamic fundamentalism, concluding with tips to remember in approaching Islam. Mustansir Mir discusses the Koran and its role in Islamic life; his paper includes a section on the Salman Rushdie affair. William Chittick presents an account of the Islamic notion of human perfection, of the goal of human life, of the nature of the human person, and of the human-divine relationship. John L. Esposito discusses the current situation in the Middle East with the crisis that has arisen from Saddam Hussein's August 2, 1990, invasion and seizing of Kuwait; this discussion leads to a general consideration of jihad, of Arab politics, of the nationalism-fundamentalism issue, and of the changes in contemporary Islam. Our symposium also contains two long interviews and excerpts from four others.
This theme is timely as hostilities and difficulties between Muslims and others increase. Secularist Saddam Hussein claims to represent Islam but is deemed by some Islamic clerics to be a political opportunist. Equally problematical are the slaying of eighteen Palestinians by Israeli soldiers at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the three hundred deaths in the Hindu-Muslim conflict at Ayodha, and the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane by an Egyptian-born Muslim in New York, with consequent retaliation.
Islam remains, alas, a conundrum for the non-Islamic Western world. Muslims and the Islamic world no longer want to be ignored, taken for granted, or patronized. Islam is now the religion of more than a billion people, the majority religion in numerous Asian and non-Arab African countries. The Islamic world is now able to influence strongly--if not control--political, economic, and even cultural affairs of the globe. Yet Islam and the Islamic world nevertheless remain isolated and seem different.
Are the many clashes, wars, and conflicts between Muslims and members of other religions actually religious wars? Or are they political or economic tensions and conflicts that have become improperly cloaked in religion? Are these questions separable? What is the Islamic concept of jihad, and what is the meaning of Islamic fundamentalism? Islam does not have the American or liberal notion of
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