Islam and the Challenge of Democracy: A Boston Review Book (Boston Review Books)

The events of September 11 and the subsequent war on terrorism have provoked widespread discussion about the possibility of democracy in the Islamic world. Such topics as the meaning of jihad, the role of clerics as authoritative interpreters, and the place of human rights and toleration in Islam have become subjects of urgent public debate around the world. With few exceptions, however, this debate has proceeded in isolation from the vibrant traditions of argument within Islamic theology, philosophy, and law.
 Islam and the Challenge of Democracy aims to correct this deficiency. The book engages the reader in a rich discourse on the challenges of democracy in contemporary Islam. The collection begins with a lead essay by Khaled Abou El Fadl, who argues that democracy, especially a constitutional democracy that protects basic individual rights, is the form of government best suited to promoting a set of social and political values central to Islam. Because Islam is about submission to God and about each individual's responsibility to serve as His agent on Earth, Abou El Fadl argues, there is no place for the subjugation to human authority demanded by authoritarian regimes. The lead essay is followed by eleven others from internationally respected specialists in democracy and religion. They address, challenge, and engage Abou El Fadl's work. The contributors include John Esposito, Muhammad Fadel, Noah Feldman, Nader Hashemi, Bernard Haykel, Muqtedar Khan, Saba Mahmood, David Novak, William Quandt, Kevin Reinhart, and Jeremy Waldron.

Islam and the Challenge of Democracy: A Boston Review Book

Religion & Spirituality

Abou El Fadl, Khaled

Islam

Princeton University Press

The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a classically-trained Islamic jurist, an American lawyer and law professor, and one of the most important Islamic thinkers today. In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a 'conference of the books,' an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the ugliness that has come to plague Muslim realities and attempts to reclaim what he maintains is a core moral value in Islam-the value of beauty. Does Islamic law allow, or even call for, the gruesome acts of ugliness that have become so commonly associated with Islam today? Has Islam become a religion devoid of beauty, compassion and love? Based on actual cases, this book tackles different issues and problems in each chapter through a post-9/11 lens, discussing such topics as marriage, divorce, parental rights, the position of women, the veil, sexual abuse, wife-beating, terrorism, bigotry, morality, law, and the role of tradition. Abou El Fadl argues that the rekindling of the forgotten value of beauty is essential for Muslims today to take back what has been lost to the fundamentalist forces that have denigrated their religion.

History

World

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

This is a substantially expanded edition of the author's seminal work "The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study". Beginning with the case study of a Muslim basketball player who refused to stand up while the American national anthem was playing, the author documents the disintegration of the Islamic juristic tradition, and the prevalence of authoritarianism in contemporary Muslim discourses. The author analyzes the rise of what he describes as puritan and despotic trends in modern Islam, and asserts that such trends nullify the richness and diversity of the Islamic tradition. By declaring themselves the true soldiers of God and the defenders of religion, Muslim puritan movements are able to degrade women, eradicate critical thinking, and empty Islam of its moral content. In effect, the author argues, the selfdeclared protectors of Islam become its despots and oppressors who suppress the dynamism and vigor of the Islamic message. Anchoring himself in the rich Islamic jurisprudential tradition, the author argues for upholding the authoritativeness of the religious text without succumbing to authoritarian methodologies of interpretation. Ultimately, the author asserts that in order to respect the integrity of the Divine laws it is necessary to adopt rigorous analytical methodologies of interpretation, and to reinvestigate the place of morality in modern Islam.

And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses

Legal History

University Press of America

Reports on a conference held to identify ways in which the new constitution of Afghanistan could help put the country on the path to a strong, stable democracy characterized by good governance and rule of law. The participants identified practical ideas for those involved in drafting the constitution, particularly about the treatment of Islam.

Democracy and Islam in the New Constitution of Afghanistan

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

RAND Corporation

In this collection of twenty-two Islamic sermons, Khaled Abou El Fadl, distinguished law professor and classically trained Islamic jurist, delivers incisive commentaries on the current state of Islam and the Muslim world from the symbolic pulpit of the Prophet of Islam. Part Qur'anic exegesis and part socio-ethical commentary, this volume showcases the knowledge, enlightenment, and dedication to justice that once propelled the Islamic civilization to great heights of human achievement. It attempts to illuminate the spiritual and ethical path forward for Muslims amid the challenges of injustice, oppression, and the rising tide of Islamophobia in our world.

The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam

Usuli Press

Philosophy

Institute for Advanced Usuli Studies

Praise for The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam, Volume I 
"In this volume, one of the most gifted and influential Muslim scholars of our time critically examines the contemporary state of Islam, offering a set of inspirational meditations on its essential, but neglected, teachings. The result is profound, powerful, and transformative. This is a must-read." 
Ziba Mir-Hosseini, author of Journeys Toward Gender Equality in Islam 
"The Prophet's Pulpit represents a courageous witness to our time's most pertinent injustices...Khaled Abou El Fadl is one of the few remaining scholars to deploy his pen and pulpit in service of the lowly, the wretched, and the oppressed. More than ever, the Prophetic message of universal justice and beauty must ring louder than the mainstream resignation to a morally weak and quietist Islam." 
Farah El-Sharif, Associate Director, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University 
"If you crave an Islam that speaks to every part of your life, that speaks to you as a living, thinking, loving, struggling, questioning person in the here and now, seeking affirmation of one's purpose in this complex, beautiful, brutal world, this is the book for you." 
Randa Abdel-Fattah, author of Coming of Age in the War on Terror 
In this collection of twenty-five Islamic sermons, Khaled Abou El Fadl, distinguished law professor and classically trained Islamic jurist, delivers incisive commentaries on the current state of Islam and the Muslim world from the symbolic pulpit of the Prophet of Islam. Part Qur'anic exegesis and part socio-ethical commentary, this second volume to the series expands upon the learning from Volume I and adds new sections that delve into current themes of racism, power, dignity, and raising Muslim youth.

The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam, Volume II

The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam Volume II

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