This paper surveys the relationship between Clergy Vocational Conflict, cognitive conflict and psychological well-being in a sample of 178 Muslim clergy in Turkey. It was found that Clergy Vocational Conflict is accompanied by religious conflict and Quest. Those who experienced Clergy Vocational Conflict and religious conflict suffered from poor psychological well-being. Quest, which does not affect psychological well-being, and religious conflict, which adversely affects it, are more common among the younger stratum of the sample. However, (...) well-being prevails among the older layer and among the more educated clergy. Finally, psychological well-being, self-esteem, Quest and religious conflict were found as predictors for Clergy Vocational Conflict. (shrink)

Collective action to protect individuals from all forms of threatening causes, including the Covid-19 pandemic, is urgently needed. The Covid-19 pandemic urged religious practices and traditions to adapt to a situation where a series of health protocols must be observed. In order to prevent the spread, World Health Organisation (WHO) issued strict health protocol rules. Some of these rules seem to be contradicted to traditions and religious practices. This article tries to investigate the ways religious societies react and respond to (...) the health crisis caused by Covid-19. In this respect, this paper strives to answer the questions of how Indonesian Muslims respond to the pandemic of Covid-19, how religion contributes to the prevention of transmission and infection, and overcomes the social problems impacted by the pandemic, and to analyze obstacles faced by Indonesian Muslims to enhance collective awareness to the danger of the Covid-19 pandemic. This article argues that civil or non-governmental religious leaders and groups, in general, play an important role to prevent and overcome the pandemic and after because of their independency to make decisions and awareness to the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic. The involvement of religious leaders who have authority at the grassroots level strengthens the legitimacy of the obligation to comply with health protocols and has succeeded in reducing the rate of transmission and death and increasing healing. Religious authority owned by clergy at lower levels has also encouraged increased participation in social solidarity which is demanded instead to depart from diversity and not similarities, among others due to Covid-19. (shrink)

This article examines the treatment of Armenians by the late Ottoman and Turkish republican state with a special focus on the social and political roles of the Armenian clergy, especially the patriarch. After giving a brief account of the historical evolution of the millet system – the principles and practices applied by the Ottoman state in its treatments of non-Muslims – the article tries to understand whether the new regime kept it or adopted a modern approach during the transition (...) from empire to nation-state. It concludes that the republican state has created a deliberate inconsistency in its treatment of the Armenian community and patriarch. Although it has avoided recognizing them as a group and their group’s rights it continuously discriminated against them because of their group identity. The republican state has tried to downgrade the patriarch to a mere religious figure without any social or political role which is defined de jure. However, it has continued to accept him as de facto leader of the Armenian community on some occasions. (shrink)

The Islamic Republic of Iran is unsecular and follows religious interpretations from Shia Islam in deciding the laws of the land. In recent decades, the strengthening of civil society in the country has shaped various political debates on human rights among secular intellectuals and reflected in the discourse of some religious figures as well. While the regime has officially adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) since 1990, different views on the Islamic human rights and its social (...) implications still exist among the conservative and reformist Shia clergy within the country. This paper examines the view of an influential conservative pro-regime clergy, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who has been concerned about the Western interpretation of human rights and engaged in its theorization based on his interpretation of Shia Islam. He has criticized the theoretical and philosophical foundations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its each single item and has also proposed his own version of the Islamic Declaration of Human Rights and Obligations. While Islamic fundamentalists have no concrete theoretical support for their negative view of the Western conceptions regarding human rights, Mesbah Yazdi’s approach is based on a reading of Shia theology and Sadraean ontology. He engages in a dialogue with the Western ideologies and rejects UDHR after philosophical and theological reasoning. His stance can be viewed as a reflection of the unsecular political Shia Islam as the main characteristic of the conservative faction within the Islamic Republic of Iran which results in serious policy and social implications on the rights of the people living in the country. (shrink)

In the last fifty years there has been a surge of immigration to the Western Hemisphere on the part of Middle Eastern and South East Asian Muslim religious leaders who are responding to a call from Muslim communities for religious leadership. In the United States alone, there have been over 1,500 Muslim clergy in the Sunni Tradition immigrate to America within the last twenty years. What is strikingly absent is the training needed to be a (...) class='Hi'>clergy person as understood in American society. There is no question that the imams are well trained in the teachings of Islam and the recitation of the Friday prayers. What quite clearly does not exist is an understanding of the concept of professional ministry on the part of these immigrant imams and this has lead to serious problems for the Muslim communities being served and for the imams who serve them. Based on my major data-base study and subsequent book, Muslim Clergy in America: Ministry as Profession in the Islamic Community (2010), I will explore the essential “components” of professional ministry as understood in American society and will illustrate their value and viability within the Islamic communities in America. (shrink)

On religious life in Islam; conduct of life for Muslims and on Islamic ethics.

The contemporary Qur’anic studies have been marked by amazing development. Various methods and approaches to understand the Qur’an are offered by the scholars. One of the prominent figures in this field is Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010 M) is a highly controversial contemporary thinker. He is an Egyptian scholar who is accused of being apostate, because of his theory of qur’anic hermeneutic (the textual of Qur’an). This is reflected in his stances towards contemporary religious discourse and (...) the approach to reading religious texts, especially the Quran, which requires reading according to a hermeneutic mechanism. His books ‘Naqd al-Khitab al-Dini (Criticism of Religious Discourse)’ and ‘Al-Takfir fi Zaman al-Takfir (Thinking in the Time of Atonement)’ caused a great uproar in the early nineties of the last century. Abu Zayd was accused of criticising atheists because of their stances on the text. Therefore, this study aimed to discuss Abu Zayd’s position on contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts, and also aims to discuss why Abu Zayd’s theory has been string up Islamic world and ending by his expulsive from his native country. To deal with this problem, this article discusses Abd Zayd’s biography and some cultural framework of his people. The methodology of Qur’anic hermeneutic is the least his. Having examined the topic, the author finds that Abu Zayd believes that modem literary theory and criticism denote the way to understand and interpret the Qur’an ‘objectively’. The contribution of this research is discussing Abu Zayd’s contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts. Contribution: The contribution of this research is discussing Abu Zayd’s contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Ideas 61.4 (2000) 657-674 [Access article in PDF] European Thought in Nineteenth-Century Iran: David Hume and Others Cyrus Masroori European ideas have played a crucial part in the shaping of the modern Iranian intellectual climate, since Iranian intellectuals have been, one way or another, engaged with these ideas for at least a hundred and fifty years. This engagement has also influenced Iranian society in (...) various ways, as the conceptual foundations of the two Iranian revolutions of the twentieth century present the best evidence. Considering this impact, the study of the reception of European ideas in nineteenth-century Iran becomes important. This article explores neglected questions concerning the reception of ideas: did practical considerations of the Iranian intellectuals play a significant part in the reception of these ideas? And if they did, what was their impact? The examination presented here helps us to further our understanding of the reception and dissemination of political ideas in different cultures and to appreciate the variety of interpretations which they can receive.The article is organized in three parts. The first part provides a brief description of the historical context in which the nineteenth-century Iranian intellectuals were situated. The second part reviews several examples of the interaction between the practical concerns of Iranian intellectuals and their selection, interpretation, and utilization of European ideas. This part intends to provide evidence for the overall suggestion that practical concerns were the determining factor in the pattern of the engagement of Iranian intellectuals with European ideas. The third part of the article concentrates on the same factor in some of the writings of a leading Iranian intellectual of the time, Mirza Fath'ali Akhundzadeh, including his purported "Letter from David Hume to the Muslim Clergy of India," written around 1860. [End Page 657] Historical Background Throughout the nineteenth century Iran suffered from a significant crisis which affected various aspects of life, different social strata, and the ruling Qajar regime. The crisis had three interrelated causes: the expansionist policies of Iran's powerful neighbors, Russia and British India; an economic decline and fiscal difficulties which were in part due to the institutional arrangements, and; the Qajars' inherently weak legitimacy. Between 1800 and 1830, Iranians were involved with disastrous wars against Russians, which clearly demonstrated the weakness of the Iranian state in protecting its territories and population against its northern neighbor.Defeats in these wars pointed to the need for reform in Iran. The state initiated limited institutional reforms, first by the Crown Prince Abbas Mirza (1810s and 1820s) and later by Prime Ministers Mirza Abulqasim Qa'im Maqam (1835) and Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir (1848-51). These reform initiatives, however, proved to be unsuccessful, and the continued weakness of the state was further indicated by defeats by British forces (1856-57).One of the main obstacles to reform in Iran was the opposition by many of the courtiers and the majority of the Shi'i clergymen (ulama). The latter's opposition, particularly to any reform based on European ideas, was important because the ulama enjoyed significant influence over the people. Although on occasions the Shah and some of his ministers supported certain reforms based on European institutional models, the anti-reform coalition of the ulama and conservative courtiers was almost always successful in stopping such attempts. Meanwhile, it must be remembered that even when the Shah supported reform, he remained an autocrat with very little tolerance for any ideas which questioned his absolute political authority. Thus, although debate regarding modernization was at times tolerated by the state, demands for democratization were repressed by both the state and the ulama. 1Against the above background, the nineteenth century Iranian intellectuals who adhered to the principles of liberalism can be divided into three groups: institutional liberals, who believed that Iran could overcome its "underdevelopment" by importing European political and economic institutions without cultural changes or the liberal education of the people as a prerequisite; Islamic liberals who believed that demonstrating the compatibility between Islam and liberal principles such as the rule of... (shrink)

To overcome various problems, the practice of shamanism has gained popularity in Javanese society. The belief of the society in this practice is increasing, mainly because of the involvement of the kyai (an honorific title of the Muslim clergy), who serves as a shaman. The kyai, in this regard, uses Qur’anic verses in his mantra. This study aims to reveal how the use of the Qur’anic verses is interpreted and legitimised in the practice of shamanism amongst the Javanese (...) community. This article concluded that what people understand about the heresy practice of shamanism as it is considered contrary to religious law or shirk (idolatry) is not proven. The practice of shamanism carried out by santri or kyai has normative arguments and theological legitimacy from the Qur’an and books of salaf scholars. Contribution: It is prevailing that the practice of shamanism is often considered heresy and un-Islamic. This article however, will give a new insight that the practice of shamanism is not always against Islamic teaching as conducted by kyai because he always refers to the Qur’an as a mantra. (shrink)

Makale, yirminci yüzyılın 30’lu yıllarında Özbekistan’da ateizmin gelişme yollarının, mekanizmalarının ve yöntemlerinin geriye dönük bir analizini sunmaktadır. Özellikle o dönemin komünist dünya görüşünün insanların bilincini nasıl etkilediği ve SSCB'nin eski devletlerinin halklarının ateist eğitiminin ne kadar önemli bir rol oynadığı makalenin ana içeriğini oluşturmaktadır. Dinle mücadele, sosyalist bir toplum inşa etmek için gerekli bir durumdur. O dönemde dini fanatizm ve hurafeler kitlelerin siyasi bilincinin yükselmesine ve sosyalist inşaya aktif katılımlarına engel oluyormuş gibi gösteriliyordu. Modern Sovyet ateist literatüründe, bilimsel ateizm konusunun (...) daha derinlemesine anlaşılması ve sosyal ve doğa bilimleri sistemindeki, özellikle felsefi bilgi sistemindeki yerinin kesin bir tanımına yönelik çalışmalar yer almaktaydı. Bilimsel ateizm teorisinin sorunlarını inceleyen Sovyet filozofları sonuç olarak zor bir zorlukla karşı karşıyadır: Bilimsel ateizmin içeriğinin, yayılma biçimlerinin ve yöntemlerinin, gelişmiş bir dünyada meydana gelen insanların yaşamlarının tüm alanlarındaki derin dönüşümleri nasıl yansıttığını bulmak sosyalist toplum için önemliydi. Ülkemizin muazzam sosyo-ekonomik ve kültürel dönüşümleri önceden belirleyen sosyalist yolda gelişmesinin sonuçlarından biri de kitlesel ateizmin oluşması ve istikrarlı bir şekilde büyümesidir. Sovyetler Birliği'nde karşıt sınıfların ortadan kalkması, sınıf mücadelesinin sınırlarının dışa dönük olmasına yol açmıştır. Bilimsel ateizmin yayılmasında Komünist Partinin ideolojik faaliyeti çok büyük bir rol oynuyor. Son olarak, kitlesel ateizmin gelişiminin doğası, propagandasının içeriği, biçimleri ve yöntemleri, dini örgütlerin siyasi konumu tarafından uygulanmış ve uygulanmakta ve uygulanmaya devam etmektedir. Marksist-Leninist dünya görüşünün oluşumuna ilişkin sorunlar, önemli bir kısmı ateist eğitim olan Partinin ideolojik ve eğitimsel çalışmasının sürekli merkezinde yer almaktadır. Ateizmin gelişmesi sırasında ‘Tanrısızlar’ gazetesinin dostları topluluğunun hücrelerinden doğan Militan Ateistler Birliği’nin faaliyetleriyle ilişkilendirildi. Militan Ateistler Birliği, din karşıtı propagandanın teori ve pratiğinin geliştirilmesine büyük katkı sağladı. Problemin ele alınışı: Makale şu ana soruya odaklanıyor: Komünist Partinin ateist ideolojiyi geliştirmedeki amacı neydi? Orta Asya halklarının ideolojik dünya görüşünü hangi yöntem ve mekanizmalarla bozmak istediler? Özbekistan aydınları ateist ideolojilerin yayılmasında nasıl bir rol oynadı? Amaç: Özbekistan’da ateist ideolojinin yayılmasının sosyo-politik sonuçlarının incelenmesi ve analizi. Ateist ideolojinin Özbekistan halkının bilinci üzerindeki psikolojik etkisinin araştırmak. Özbekistan'daki kitlesel ateizmin sosyal epistemolojik ve psikolojik kökenlerinin araştırılması. Çalışmanın amacı, Ateizm kavramının kendisini belirlemek, bugüne kadar yeterince çalışılmamış olan laik ve dini kültür, bilim, felsefe, dini hoşgörü, özgür düşünce, hümanizm, şüphecilik, materyalizm kavramlarıyla ilişkisini ve karşılıklı etkisini kurmak. Yöntem ve çıktılar. Komünist Parti liderliğinin ataksik dünya görüşünü ve ideolojiyi hangi yöntem ve mekanizmalarla yaydığını analiz etme. Bunu açıklığa kavuşturmak için analiz, sentez, genelleme, tümevarım ve tümdengelim yöntemleri kullanıldı. (shrink)

Before 1989, Christians and Muslims in Eastern European states were the objects of firm repression. Churches and mosques had been closed, scriptures were largely unavailable, clergy were either hopelessly compromised, or barred from carrying out their ministry. Mission, religious education and charitable outreach were banned. Since 1989, religion has been one of the first areas of life to be normalised. Enormous vigour has sprung up in all areas of church life. But some difficulties still remain – in particular the (...) re-emergence of the alliance between church and state which pre-dated the period of suppression and the use of pornography to flood the press. (shrink)

In the article, the problem of the impact of Islamic factor on the events of the civil war in Kabarda and Balkaria is studied. During the civil war Islam has become a factor that unites Muslim population of Kabarda and Balkaria in the fight against the infidels. The author considers the religious policy of the Reds and Whites in the region, as well as, the role of Islam in the judicial and administrative practice and the political district of life. (...) In the district, where the majority of the population is Muslim, the clergy’s influence was enormous. Each of the warring sides used the Muslim dogma to gain support of the local population and strengthen their political power in the province. During this period, bright spiritual and political leaders stood out of the local population. With the support of the population, local leaders have created a military-political union Shariat. The author points out the positive role of religious advisory body unprecedented in the history of Kabarda and Balkaria - the Spiritual Council of Tausultan Shakmanov’s administration - in reconciling the warring parties. Support of the local clergy and the Muslim population, which grew into the Red Army, has greatly contributed to the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war in the neighborhood. After the victory of the Bolsheviks in the war and the establishment of Soviet power in Kabarda and Balkaria, most priests were physically eliminated, Shariat was proclaimed illegal, the Muslim education system was destroyed, and many mosques were closed. (shrink)

In a broad survey of negative and hostile attitudes toward canines in pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, the author posits that warm ties between humans and canines have been seen as a threat to the authority of the clergy and indeed, of God. Exploring ancient myth, Biblical and Rabbinical literature, and early and medieval Christianity and Islam, she explores images and prohibitions concerning dogs in the texts of institutionalized, monotheistic religions, and offers possible explanations for these attitudes, (...) including concern over disease. (shrink)

This paper constructs the theological polemic among Near Eastern Christian sects and the encounter with the new religio-political regional power: Islam. Focusing on the period from around the first Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century until the ninth centure C. E., a list of East Syriac Church Fathers and their writings are selected as representative voices in the continuing Christological debates. In particular, the paper is concerned with how theological arguments were first used and reinterpreted to address conversion to (...) Islam and later used to emphasize, in an ironic twist, the proximity between Nestorianism and Islam contra other Christian “heresies”. This historical development is important to understand how Nestorian literature was later used by Muslim theologians well after the ninth century, such as Ibn Abī Ţālib al-Dimašqī in the fourteenth century, to defend Islam and debunk Christianity. For Nestorian apologetics the immediacy of addressing the issue of Christian conversion to Islam was clear. Letters from Nestorian clergy, such as Katholikos Īšō’yahb III. and Katholikos Georg, recount the old debates among Nestorians, Miaphysites, and Melkites concerning the nature of Christ. In order to explicate best the erroneous attraction of Islam, these two men contextualized Islamic theology as similar to a Christian heretical sect. Yet over time, appealing to Islamic overlordship became necessary. With the rise of the Abbasid caliphate and the establishment of its capital in the historical heartland of the Nestorian Church, the polemic was reversed. Hereafter, Nestorian dyophysite doctrine was used as an appeal to the Islamic conception of Christ’s divinity. For example, Katholikos Timotheos I. and the theologian Theodor Bar Koni underlined the blasphemy of the Miaphysite and Chalcedonian Christology. This very tactic, however, was easy for Muslim scholars to appropriate in Islamic apologetics. Well before al-Dimašqi, the words of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi to Timotheos are distinct: the Nestorians understood correctly that God could not have suffered and died, but that they all were still wrong that Jesus is the Son of God. (shrink)

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to determine the role of church in state and public affairs during the Kibaki Era, 2002-2013Methodology: The methodology employed in this study was qualitative in nature. The study relied mainly on the analysis of an existing dataset from secondary sources. The data was gathered from technical reports, scholarly journals, reference books, past sermons, church publications, official and unofficial doctrine, theologies and from the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi. Other sources of data collection (...) for the study included official statistics collected by government and the various agencies, bureaus and departments. The target population for this study was the mainland churches in Kenya and the role these churches played in state and public affairs in Kenya between 2002 and 2007.Results: The Kibaki era has been characterized by many an events that have attracted by far and wide the attention of the clergy. In 2005, the most significant development of the 2005 constitutional referendum is not the defeat of the draft, but the emergence of strains and tensions not just between Christians and Muslims, but also between church and state. Another significant development was the fact that the mainline clergy were increasingly viewed as partisan and divided along ethnic lines and serving narrow political interest depending on the ethnic group to which its leaders belonged. The prophetic role and voice of the church to act as the conscience of society was lost, and the church did nothing to evaluate its own role even after the people voted to soundly reject the draft constitution.Unique contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that the government should put in place laws that would involve the church in government matters. This can be done by introducing motions into parliament that advocate for the direct involvement of the church. This would involve laws which ensure that a portion of all members sitting in any committee represents the church. This can also be done by the introduction of electoral posts for church representatives just as there are positions for women representatives. The study also recommends that amendments be made to the constitution to make a legal requirement that one of the nominated MPs must be from the church. (shrink)

Islam in the Ukrainian territory has more than a thousand years of history. However, after the extermination of the Islamic world on Ukrainian lands by means of Stalin's vandalism, in particular the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people who professed Islam to Central Asia, the destruction of mosques and madrasas, the repression of the clergy of Islam, we have mentioned this religion mostly or in recent times. related to Muslims abroad.

Drawing upon the experiences and insights of a diverse group of notable contributors, this volume is perhaps the most complete study available on clergy ethics. The topics discussed include the separation of church and state, clergy professionalization, ethical pastoral care, and many more.

This article is drawn from research with women clergy and rabbis. As practitioners in leading congregations, the women have to work with their own liturgical traditions. However, they critique the traditions, and make them more inclusive where possible, by adapting words, or encouraging the wearing of liturgical garments. The women also adapt existing rituals, or write new liturgy to honour life events, often specific to women’s lives, for which there are no existing rituals. This is seen as continuous with (...) pastoral care and sometimes draws on shared experience as women. Many of these liturgies are carried out privately, while the women exercise a more traditional role in their congregations. (shrink)

The literature analysing Muslim perspective towards other religions is now quite extensive. However, when it comes to Muslim’s perspective towards Buddhism, the scholarship lags far behind. This article aimed to identify the Muslim views on Buddhism from a theological and philosophical framework. The Muslim views have a different category, on categorising Buddhism, the status of Buddha as a Prophet, and Buddhist as the People of the Book. Each view provides a different framework of Muslim perspective (...) towards Buddhism. From the theological view, one of the outlook is tolerance. Due to the rejection of Buddhist doctrine by most Muslim theologians, Muslims apply tolerance, which is subject to religious freedom stand on, ‘firm in principle, tolerant in attitude’. Tolerance encourages Muslims to adhere to the principles of truth, but does not erode the respect for other religion. While from a philosophical view, it considered Buddhism as a religion from God, as well as other religions. Thus, some Muslim inclusivists and pluralists recognise Buddhism. This research is qualitative. The method used in this research is descriptive-analytic, emphasising content analysis of the data from various books and articles covering Muslim view on Buddhism and the patterns of relations between Islam and Buddhism. Studies suggest the understanding of each framework to encourage Muslims to improve comprehensive interreligious dialogue with Buddhists.Contribution: Religious tolerance, inclusivism, and pluralism is a panacea to inordinate and incessant religious conflict, if given its proper place in Malaysia, it will breed harmony and peace in the society. This work would be of immense benefit to interfaith scholars and religious leaders across all strata of discipline. (shrink)

The history of the parishioners’ right to participate in and influence the choice of local clergy in Sweden and Finland can be taken back as far as the late Medieval Times. The procedures for electing clergymen are described in historiography as a specifically Nordic feature and as creating the basis of local self-government. In this article the features of local self-government are studied in a context where the scope for action was being modified. The focus is on the parishioners’ (...) possibilities and willingness to influence the appointment of pastors in the Lutheran parishes of the Russo-Swedish borderlands in the 18th century. At the same time, this article will offer the first comprehensive presentation of the procedures for electing pastors in the Consistory District of Fredrikshamn. The Treaty of Åbo, concluded between Sweden and Russia in 1743, ensured that the existing Swedish law, including the canon law of 1686, together with the old Swedish privileges and statutes, as well as the freedom to practise the Lutheran religion, remained in force in the area annexed into Russia. By analysing the actual process of appointing pastors, it is possible to discuss both the development of the local political culture and the interaction between the central power and the local society in the late Early Modern era. (shrink)

Muslim Medical Ethics draws on the work of historians, health-care professionals, theologians, and social scientists to produce an interdisciplinary view of ...

This paper provides a detailed discussion of the questions relating to the role of the researcher in relation to the researched when the researcher and the researched are both of Muslim origin. Issues relating to questions of objectivity, transparency, bias and interpretation are elaborated upon as part of the analysis of impacts and outcomes in relation to methodological process. It is argued that, ultimately, the subjective positions of researcher and researched are less important than the objective nature of the (...) research process. The intention of this paper is to convey, to other Muslim and non-Muslim social researchers engaged in research on Islam and Muslims, how to avoid or identify the range of risks and pitfalls that may emerge in operationalising and evaluating social research in a highly charged political, cultural and social research arena. (shrink)

Chen employs social capital as a conceptual tool to explore the life experience of a group of young Muslim students within the Han Chinese mainstream society.

ABSTRACT The publication of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891 established a tradition of Catholic social teaching concerned with the moral obligations that should exist between capital and labour. In Ireland the encyclical instigated enthusiasm among some clergy for their congregation's welfare. An urgency given to social and economic questions coincided with the co-operative movement's introduction to the Irish countryside. Rural co-operative societies were established as part of a wider programme of economic democracy that placed ownership of (...) production in the hands of farmers. The growth of the co-operative movement benefitted from the participation of members of the clergy at both a national and local level. Co-operative organisers and socially minded priests shared an interest in addressing the iniquities of capitalist modernisation. Co-operators championed a communal form of business organisation that emphasised the moral importance of economic activity as much as its productive importance. The involvement of Catholic priests in the co-operative movement naturalised priest-led social action in the sphere of rural development. This article analyses intersections between the economic objectives of co-operation and Catholic social teaching to understand how attempts to promote a more democratic economy had a profound influence over the country's economic development. (shrink)

Non-Muslim leadership is still being a political issue and causes polemic in Indonesia. The previous election of Governor of DKI Jakarta was remembering last controversy either probability or prohibition to vote a non-muslim as a chief. The law judgments addressing this issue are NU Congress at Lirboyo in 1999 and Bahtsul Masail Kiai Muda GP Ansor in 2017. According to Congress at Lirboyo, authorizing state affairs to a non-Muslim is not allowed, except in an emergency situation. Meanwhile, (...) Bahtsul Masailof Kiai Muda Ansor in 2017 decided that voting non-Muslim leader in Indonesia is legally and constitutionally legitimate. This paper is trying to examine istinbat method which is used in those two forums considering their position in the theory of al-Sabit and al-Mutahawwil. By conducting a literature study, the author concludes that the outcomes of Muktamar NUat Lirboyo in 1999 using the istinbat Bayani method, belongs to al-Sabit category. Meanwhile, the outcomes of Bahtsul Masail Kiai Muda GP Ansor in 2017 which is using a combination of istinbat Bayani and istislahi, belongs to an al-Mutahawwil category. (shrink)

This book asks what it means to be Muslim, yet not pious, in Iraqi Kurdistan. Though Islam is often represented in terms of either daily devotion, such as prayer and fasting, or abandonment of faith, there are many who turn away from tradition without departing from Islam. J. Andrew Bush offers us a new way to understand religious difference in Islam, one that invites questions about divine texts and rejects easy answers about political or sectarian identities. Exploring the lives (...) of irreligious Muslims, Bush highlights the paradoxes of their ethical orientation. While profoundly averse to many aspects of Islamic traditions, irreligious Muslims nonetheless harbor attractions to other aspects--such as Sufi poetry. Exploring this complex weave of attraction and aversion, Relating to Islam in Kurdistan provides intimate portraits of irreligious Kurdish Muslims in everyday life and the historical conditions that have allowed such paradoxical religious orientations to appear very ordinary in contemporary Kurdistan. Whether readers approach the book as Muslims with a commitment to Islam, or as Muslims with ambivalence to Islam, or as non-Muslims who bear their own forms of certainty or ambivalence about Islam, the book will open to the door to thinking about the relationship between commitment and ambivalence in Islamic traditions. (shrink)

Digital technology, including artificial intelligence, is having a dramatic impact on the professions of medicine, law, journalism, finance, and others. Some suggest that clergy will also be affected. We describe recent progress in designing artificially intelligent systems, suggesting that this is possible, perhaps even likely. We investigate ways in which technology currently is affecting ministry and outline some plausible scenarios in which digital systems could supplement or supplant clergy in some areas, specifically preaching and pastoral care. We also (...) raise some theological issues raised by the use of digital systems in ministry. (shrink)

This paper raises a moral issue for contemporary post-revolutionary Muslim intellectuals in Iran. According to traditional Islamic teachings, ethics enables people to transcend from this mundane world and offers guidance on ways to improve virtues. Most contemporary Iranian Muslim intellectuals have attempted to pave the way for accomplishing this goal. After clarifying the ways in which Iranian Muslim intellectuals have faith in virtue ethics as a best possible moral normative theory, we claim that virtue ethics fails to (...) support some of our modern problems in the realm of politics such as human rights and democracy. Also, we argue that virtue ethics is not a good theory for ordinary average people who have weakness of will. A preliminary conclusion of the paper will be that utilitarianism, generally, and principle of utility, specifically, is a better solution to the modern problems. This, we believe, has been overlooked from the eyes of post-revolutionary Muslim intellectuals. Yet, we suggest that among different versions of utilitarianism, rule-utilitarianism is more justified to do this job. (shrink)

Women’s bodies, states Benhabib (Dignity in adversity: human rights in troubled times, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011: 168), have become the site of symbolic confrontations between a re-essentialized understanding of religious and cultural differences and the forces of state power, whether in their civic-republican, liberal-democratic or multicultural form. One of the main reasons for the emergence of these confrontations or public debates, says Benhabib (2011: 169), is because of the actual location of ‘political theology’. She asserts that within the context (...) of globalization, the concept of ‘political theology’ is complicated by its unstable location between religion and the public square; between the private and official; and between individual rights to freedom of religion versus state security and public well-being. Ultimately, therefore, the nature of the tension between religion as a political theology and the forces of state power can at best be described as a clash between identities of a collective nature (as envisaged by the nation-state) and identities of an individual nature (as manifested in different religions and cultures). Ongoing attempts to counter the ascendancy of religion, and as will be discussed in this article, specifically the ascendancy and visibility of Islamic identity as practiced by Muslim women, has brought into serious debate the notion of a (post) secular society and its implications for religious rights. What emerges from the state’s insistence that individuals not be allowed to enter the public discourse as religious beings, are, on the one hand, the constraints imposed on Muslim women by liberal democracies, and on the other hand, that Islam, as represented by Muslim women, is not constitutive of democratic citizenship. Will the inclusion and recognition of Muslim women, therefore, necessarily augment a democratic citizenship agenda, and will it lead to an alleviation of the conflict? Then, in exploring a re-articulation of an inclusive citizenship—one which is held accountable by its minimization of social inequality—what ought to be the parameters of inclusion and how should it unfold differently to what is already happening in liberal democracies? (shrink)

This article tries to contextualise the formulation of Islamic laws with regards to contemporary dynamics of non-Muslim leadership in the government. It particularly addresses the religious deliberation of the traditionalist Muslim organisation, the Nadhlatul Ulama/NU, and its youth organisation, the Gerakan Pemuda Ansor. The construction of Islamic laws in contemporary Indonesia tells an insightful viewpoint in Islamic-laws making and delivers multiplicity in Islamic interpretation. Despite the fact that these two organisations are of the same organisation, the NU, their (...) formulation of Islamic laws with regards to non-Muslim leadership demonstrates a different and contrasting opinion. While the national board of the NU through its national congress in 1999 argues against non-Muslim leadership, the national religious deliberation board of the Ansor in 2017 issues a legal opinion that approves non-Muslim leadership. As this article argues, the different opinions between these two institutions develops particularly because of different construct in defining Islam and democracy in the largest Muslim country Indonesia. They differ in reconciling istinbat of two principles of Islamic laws ; al-sabit and al-mutahawwil. It further argues that the national board of the NU particularly sees the prohibition of non-Muslim leadership as al-sabit, an unchanged dictum, whereas the Ansor considers it al-mutahawwil as looking at the Indonesian state constitution that does not discriminate its citizens based on religion. Thus, making Islamic laws accords to the state constitution. (shrink)

RETRACTION NOTICE: This article has been retracted at the request of its author, David Kwon. The author acknowledges citation irregularities throughout the article as the reason for the retraction. The editors of the journal supports this retraction. The article will only be available with this retraction notice.

This study investigates potential differences in attitudes towards corporate social responsibility between Saudis and Muslims from other predominately Islamic countries. We propose that Saudi Arabia’s unique rentier-state welfare and higher education systems account for these distinctions. In evaluating our propositions, we replicate Brammer et al. :229–243, 2007) survey on attitudes towards CSR using a sample of Saudi undergraduate and graduate business students and compare the results against data from subjects in other majority Muslim countries. In addition, this work examines (...) possible differences within the Saudi sample with respect to sex and academic level. Our results indicate that our Saudi subjects maintain higher expectations for corporations’ social responsibility within their supply chain than the Brammer et al.’s sample. In contrast, Muslims in the Brammer et al.’s sample hold higher expectations for corporations in supporting societal development and poverty alleviation in comparison to the Saudi sample. We also find within the Saudi sample that females and subjects at higher academic levels are more inclined to hold corporations responsible for social issues related to CSR than males and subjects in lower academic levels. We examine these findings, explore their implications, and propose areas for future research. (shrink)

Theoretical and methodological discussions of ethnography and ethics have appeared regularly in the Journal of Religious Ethics for at least the past 13 years. Many of these conversations have been preoccupied by the relationship between “normative” work in religious ethics and “descriptive” work on moral worlds and patterns of reasoning. However, there has often been a perceived impasse when it comes to drawing “normative” ethical arguments from fine-grained ethnographic study. This paper begins by assessing significant contributions to religious ethics made (...) by ethnographers of Islam, focusing on the way they render a stark descriptive/normative binary irrelevant. I then turn to an example from my own fieldwork that expands our understanding of the relationship between ethnography and ethics. Through this example, I argue that ethical thinkers working outside the academy—theologians, activists, and cultural producers—also draw on an “ethnographic imagination” to make moral arguments. I end by reflecting on how the “ethnographic imagination” situates religious ethics as part of broader humanistic inquiry, showing that careful accounts of how people do live are always enmeshed with visions of how we should live. (shrink)