Papers by Itzchak Weismann
Bustan, 2024
The groups and movements that comprise the Islamic revival of the past half century share an ideo... more The groups and movements that comprise the Islamic revival of the past half century share an ideology of return to the origins of the faith and strictly following the scriptures. They are habitually divided into Islamist activists, who seek involvement in the political arena; Salafi purists, who censure "deviations" from "true" Islam; and Traditionalist ʽulama, who uphold the living legal, theological, and Sufi tradition. This article offers some reflections on the intricate connections and conflicts among these three large religious trends by reviewing three recently published studies that touch upon the ideational sources on which they draw. It shows the ambiguous stand of Sunni Islamic Modernists, the precursors of Islamism, toward old and new Muslim sects; the lingering exclusivism and militancy of Wahhabis, who form a subset of Salafism, in al-Qaʽida and ISIS; and the versatility of Traditionalists in accommodating to modernity.
Islamic Law and Society, 2024
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Die Welt des Islams, 2018
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Salafi Social and Political Movements, 2021
Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academi... more Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com
Journal of Islamic Studies, 2021
Modernist Salafism never really managed to gain traction. Haunted from its very beginning by the ... more Modernist Salafism never really managed to gain traction. Haunted from its very beginning by the formidable censorship of Sultan Abdü lhamid II's regime (1876-1909) and harassed by conservative ulema and Sufis in collusion with the government, many of the early modernist Salaf;s sought refuge in the freer atmosphere of British Egypt. 2 Cairo became the centre of this trend in the early twentieth century under the aegis of Rash;d Ri@:, the founder and editor of the celebrated Islamic journal al-Man:r, who has been described as the founder of Salafism. 3 In the aftermath of World War I and the abolition of the caliphate, however, the mostly Syrian circle around Ri@: was eclipsed by Egyptian followers, who tilted the original Salaf; balance to one or the other side of the equation. His more conservative Azhar-based students in the elitist association of AnB:r al-Sunna al-MuAammadiyya embraced the purist Wahh:b; worldview, while laypersons under the leadership of Easan al-Bann: formed the populist society of the Muslim Brothers with its modernist yet non-liberal orientation. This article traces the mechanisms leading to the decline of Modernist Salafism in its original homeland through the life and works of MuAammad Bahjat al-B;3:r (1894-1976), the foremost figure of the second generation of Damascene Salaf;s. B;3:r's career spanned the last Ottoman decade, the French Mandate period and the early years of the Syrian Republic. He studied with the founders of the Salafiyya in pre-World War I Damascus, was involved in Ri@:'s projects in Saudi Arabia after the War, participated in the scholarly, educational and professional life of the Syrian ulema and intellectuals under colonial rule, and enjoyed
Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 2016
Secular Muslims constitute a significant group within the Muslim population of the United Kingdom... more Secular Muslims constitute a significant group within the Muslim population of the United Kingdom, though under the prevalent multicultural policies their voice is often ignored. This article introduces some of the more outspoken secular, ex-Muslim, and atheist British Muslims and analyses their positions toward major issues that preoccupy the Muslim community and society at large. The secularists are highly critical of multiculturalism for creating mutually hostile communities controlled by conservative religious leaders. In the heated public debate on Islamism, they oppose both its militant and its more pragmatic versions. They are strongly opposed to religious terrorism, and also to the imposition of Sharia law, the wearing of hijab, and separate Islamic schools, though they may differ as to the right ways to combat them. Caught between Islamism, which is often supported by the radical left, and the far right, Muslim secularists are among the staunchest supporters of universal human values and of integration.
Saintly Spheres and Islamic Landscapes, 2021
Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations, 2019
Muslim engagement in interfaith and intercultural dialogue began in earnest after the turn of the... more Muslim engagement in interfaith and intercultural dialogue began in earnest after the turn of the twenty-first century in response to the rise of global jihad. Both dialogue and jihad are outgrowths of daʿwa, the call or mission of Islam, the principal mode of modern Islamic activism. The foundations were laid in the later part of the twentieth century by Muslim intellectual-activists living in non-Muslim environments, who played a special role in conceptualizing the new notion of dialogue and its relation to daʿwa. This essay focuses on four pioneering figures, two from the indigenous context of Indiathe modernist Asghar Ali Engineer and the reformist ʿālim Wahiduddin Khan, and two from the diaspora milieu of the Westthe Palestinian-American academic activist Ismail Raji al-Faruqi and the European Muslim spokesman Tariq Ramadan. Each represents a distinct religious orientation that also reflects a different phase in the evolution of modern Islamic discourse. Taken together, these intellectual-activists chart the trajectory of modern Islam from the early pre-Islamist liberal hopes to the present post-and neo-Islamist efforts to navigate between Western-dominated globalization and Islamist jihadism.
Bustan: The Middle East Book Review, 2017
Die Welt des Islams, 2017
This article argues that there are structural affinities and continuities between the late ninete... more This article argues that there are structural affinities and continuities between the late nineteenth-century modernist reformers and today's quietist, political, and jihādī Salafī factions. Salafism refers to the basic theological-ideological formation that postulates a return to pristine Islam to overcome tradition and bring regeneration. The Salafī balance between authenticity and modernization promoted by enlightened religious intellectuals in the late Ottoman period was shattered by the events of World War I and its aftermath. This resulted in its bifurcation between conservatives, who adopted literalist and xenophobic Wahhābī positions, and modernists, primarily the Muslim Brothers, who employed innovative means in their religio-political struggle to re-Islamize society and oust colonialism. The Salafī balance was reconstructed after independence on new, unenlightened lines in the Saudi Islamic Awakening (al-Ṣaḥwa al-Islāmiyya), which combined the erstwhile rigorous Wahhābī teachings with radicalized Islamism. Global jihādī-Salafism completed the perversion of the modernist Salafī balance by reducing the authentic way of the salaf to excommunication and violence and by using the most modern means in its war against both Westerners and indigenous Muslim governments.
Journal of South Asia and Middle Eastern Studies, 2013
Sociology of Islam, 2015
This article's point of departure is that da'wa -the preaching or call to Islam -rather than jiha... more This article's point of departure is that da'wa -the preaching or call to Islam -rather than jihad constitutes the backbone of modern organized Islamic action. The Society of the Muslim Brothers made it the essence of its mission since its foundation in 1928, turning its main thrust inwards, toward the Muslims themselves. Focusing on its processes of framing within the social movement theory approach, the essay analyzes three generations of Muslim Brothers and related Islamist thinkers in three concentric geographical circles: Banna, the Egyptian founding father, who strove to re-Islamize society of Christian missionary and Western secular materialism; his moderate successors such as Sa'id Hawwa and Fathi Yakan, who struggled to overcome the double challenge of the ordeal they suffered by the Arab authoritarian regimes and of Sayyid Qutb's radical response; and the contemporary Islamic thinkers Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Tariq Ramadan, who seek to remold it as a dialogue and example in the Western and global environments. I argue that this resilience of the Muslim Brotherhood's da'wa is an important key to its survival and to the viability of its ongoing project of framing the modern umma.
Cambridge Companion to Sufism, 2015
Journal of Civilization Studies , 2014
Salafismus in Deutschland: Ursprünge und Gefahren einer islamisch-fundamentalistischen Bewegung, 2014
Die moderne Salafismus-Bewegung hat ihre Wurzeln in den städtischen arabischen Zentren des Osmani... more Die moderne Salafismus-Bewegung hat ihre Wurzeln in den städtischen arabischen Zentren des Osmanischen Reichs und Ägyptens im späten 19. Jahrhundert. Die Befürworter waren Religionsgelehrte (Ulema), die vor dem Hintergrund der kulturellen und politischen Herausforderungen des westlichen Kolonialismus eine kritische Haltung zum religiösen Glauben und zur religiösen Praxis ihrer Tage eingenommen hatten. Die Vorläufer der Salafisten, die Salafis, riefen zur Rückkehr zu den (zu restaurierenden) Ursprüngen des Islams auf, überzeugt davon, dass sie ihren Glauben so von den Fesseln der bis dato etablierten theologischen Traditionen befreien und ihn zugleich auf den Pfad der Modernisierung setzen können. Sie wiesen sowohl die klassischen Rechtsschulen (madhhab) zurück als auch die Sufi-Orden (tarîqa), denen sie beiden vorwarfen, vom wahren Islam abgewichen zu sein. Stattdessen offerierten sie die Möglichkeit, eigenständig in den islamischen Rechtsquellen nach Urteilen zu forschen (idschtihâd) und einer ethischen Form des Sufismus zu folgen. Außerdem verlangten einige von ihnen, das Kalifat wieder in die Hände der Araber zurückzugeben, da diese dessen ursprüngliche Träger gewesen seien.
Islamic Myths and Memories: Mediators of Globalization, 2014
Perspectives on West Asia: The Evolving Geopolitical Discourses , 2012
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Papers by Itzchak Weismann
תכנית המרחב האסיאני משותפת לאוניברסיטת חיפה ולאוניברסיטה העברית, וממומנת על ידי קרן יד הנדיב, המועצה להשכלה גבוהה ושתי האוניברסיטאות. זוהי תכנית מובנית הרואה ביבשת אסיה רצף של ציביליזציות והמתמקדת בקשרים ובתהליכים חוצי-איזורים בין ובקרב חברות, תרבויות, ומדיניות אסיאניות, וכן בקשרים בין אסיה ויבשות אחרות, לאורך ההיסטוריה ועד עצם היום הזה. חשוב להדגיש שההשתתפות בתכנית אינה מחליפה הרשמה ולימודים בחוג דיסציפלינרי רגיל באחת משתי האוניברסיטאות, אלא מיועדת לחזק התמחות בנושאים אסייאנים.