Jonathan Brown
I update previously uploaded papers when I find new, relevant material, which I add as comments on the pdf.
Supervisors: Wadad Kadi, John Voll, and Haifaa Khalafallah
Address: McLean, Virginia, USA
Supervisors: Wadad Kadi, John Voll, and Haifaa Khalafallah
Address: McLean, Virginia, USA
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Papers by Jonathan Brown
information about slavery in medieval Islamic civilization. The article reviews prevalent theories about Abū Nu‘aym’s scholarly leanings and offers some correctives, then discusses the place of the idiom of slavery in the Near Eastern tradition of monotheism, philosophy and mysticism. It places the Islamic Sufi tradition, exemplified by the Ḥilya, in this context. Finally, the article explores the unique information provided in the Ḥilya on how both the mundane realities of slavery and its spiritual dimensions were
understood in the centuries leading up to Abū Nu‘aym’s career.
apostasy aside.
by the famous scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) in defense
of the hadiths condemning sodomy (liwāṭ). The article situates
such a defense within the current discourse on Islam and
homosexuality, summarizing the main arguments for and against
the prohibition of liwāṭ as well as how the “traditionalist” and
“Progressive” camps have constructed their arguments.
information about slavery in medieval Islamic civilization. The article reviews prevalent theories about Abū Nu‘aym’s scholarly leanings and offers some correctives, then discusses the place of the idiom of slavery in the Near Eastern tradition of monotheism, philosophy and mysticism. It places the Islamic Sufi tradition, exemplified by the Ḥilya, in this context. Finally, the article explores the unique information provided in the Ḥilya on how both the mundane realities of slavery and its spiritual dimensions were
understood in the centuries leading up to Abū Nu‘aym’s career.
apostasy aside.
by the famous scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) in defense
of the hadiths condemning sodomy (liwāṭ). The article situates
such a defense within the current discourse on Islam and
homosexuality, summarizing the main arguments for and against
the prohibition of liwāṭ as well as how the “traditionalist” and
“Progressive” camps have constructed their arguments.
Bestselling scholar Jonathan A.C. Brown examines Islamic scripture, law, Sufism, and history to comprehensively interrogate this claim and determine how and why it emerged. Locating its origins in conservative politics, modern Afrocentrism, and the old trope of Barbary enslavement, he explains how antiblackness arose in the Islamic world and became entangled with normative tradition. From the imagery of ‘blackened faces’ in the Quran to Shariah assessments of Black women as ‘undesirable’ and the assertion that Islam and Muslims are foreign to Africa, this work provides an in-depth study of the controversial knot that is Islam and Blackness, and identifies authoritative voices in Islam’s past that are crucial for combatting antiblack racism today.
What happens when authorities you venerate condone something you know is wrong? Are you right or are they, and what does this mean about what you've been venerating? No issue brings this question into starker contrast than slavery. Every major religion and philosophy condoned or approved of it, but in modern times there is nothing seen as more evil. Americans confront this crisis of authority when they erect statues of Founding Fathers who slept with their slaves. And Muslims faced it when ISIS revived sex-slavery, justifying it with verses from the Quran and the practice of Muhammad.
This book explores the moral and ultimately theological problem of slavery, tracing how the Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions have tried to reconcile modern moral certainties with the infallibility of God's message, in particular on the issue of sex-slavery. It investigates the challenge of defining what slavery is in the first place, showing that this remains more than ever a highly politicized question. This book lays out how Islam viewed slavery in theory, and also how slavery was practiced across the reality of Islamic civilization. Finally, it explains how Muslims have argued for the abolition of slavery in Islam, asking whether their arguments are sincere and convincing.