Images of Women’s Social Agency in Islamic Literature from the Ninth to the Fifteenth Centuries

This article examines the contribution of Minangkabau ʿulamāʾ to the historiography of Islam in the Nusantara. It employs a historiographic approach based on a literature review of primary manuscripts preserved at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities, Imam Bonjol State Islamic University, Padang, as well as dissertations and previous scholarly research on intellectual works by Minangkabau scholars. The study finds, first, that Nusantara ʿulamāʾ manuscripts preserve a wealth of intellectual heritage, offering enduring relevance to the development of Islamic scholarship. Second, these manuscripts exemplify the vitality of the Islamic literary tradition and inspire ongoing commitment to writing as a means of preserving knowledge. Third, Minangkabau ʿulamāʾ manuscripts significantly enrich the historiography of Islam in the archipelago, particularly in providing primary source material that illuminates local historical contexts. Lastly, the presence and substance of these texts challenge orientalist claims that depict Nusantara or Malay Islam as peripheral, instead affirming their integral role within the broader Islamic intellectual tradition.

Zayd

Zayd

Socialist Ideology, Traditional Rhetoric:Images of Women in American Yiddish Socialist Dailies, 1918–1922 Rachel Rojanski (bio) The Yiddish press in the United States came into existence with the beginning of Jewish immigration from eastern Europe and soon became, like any other foreign language press, a very important immigrant institution. 1 It encompassed a wide range of newspapers and periodicals, including not only monthlies and weeklies but also dailies, several of which were already appearing at the turn of the century. Almost all the Yiddish dailies reflected their own ideological tendency, ranging from Orthodox to Zionist to socialist, and they were, to some extent, intended to advance the interests of these groups and parties and to support their political struggles.2 Nonetheless, scholars—following the pioneering studies of Robert E. Park and Mordechai Soltes—have largely agreed that Yiddish newspapers in the United States were not merely a tool to advance various ideologies; they were also important agents of acculturation and Americanization for Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe.3 At the end of World War I, by which time Jewish immigration to the United States had begun its decline, there were five Yiddish dailies in the United States. Each attempted in its own way to deal with all aspects of Jewish immigrant life: politics, culture, social and economic activities, and even family matters. They aspired to help create the profile of the American Jew and to shape the image of Jewish immigrant society. Three important figures in the American Yiddish world—the poet Jacob Glatstein, the journalist and critic Shmuel Niger, and the journalist and editor Hillel Rogof—eloquently (though somewhat nostalgically) recalled these aims in the opening essay to a book marking the seventy-fifth anniversary [End Page 329] of the Yiddish press in the United States: "The Yiddish newspaper gave the immigrant a face. It made him a socialist, a Zionist, or a supporter of diaspora nationalism. But generally it made him a proud American Jew. . . . The newspaper in Yiddish was the stock market of ideas and of ideals. It shaped Jewish life."4 Thus, an examination of how the Yiddish press discussed Jewish women, the ways in which it tried to appeal to them and to mold their image, will reveal how it viewed their place and their roles in eastern European Jewish immigrant society in the United States and will also tell us much about their status in that society. In the following pages, I will examine the image of immigrant women in the Yiddish socialist dailies in the United States as they were depicted in four different arenas: the public sphere, the workplace, the world of writing, and the family. The dailies I will discuss are the two socialist newspapers: Di tsayt, published from August 1920 to April 1922 by the Labor Zionist movement, Poalei Zion; and the much more successful Forverts (Jewish Daily Forward), founded in 1897, which was the most important Yiddish newspaper in the United States and also the most widely circulated foreign language newspaper in the country.5 I have chosen to discuss these dailies both because their editors and writers exerted a strong influence on the Jewish public scene, adhering to progressive, liberal views and using the papers to achieve public and political aims, and because, unlike the other Yiddish dailies, they had special pages for women. Since it is impossible to draw a full comparison between these two papers because of Di tsayt's short life, the bulk of material presented is drawn from the Forverts with relevant insights from Di tsayt. Since they published regular women's pages dealing with a range of issues beyond simple housekeeping and health matters, both socialist dailies viewed the status of Jewish women in the spirit of the progressive ideologies they represented. Yet, the content of the women's pages, and especially their rhetoric, also had a great deal in common with the view of women's status and role prevalent in what was still a rather conservative eastern European Jewish immigrant society.6 In order to explain this, [End Page 330] I shall argue that although the Yiddish press used traditional images of Jewish women as mothers and housewives, its portrayal...

The footprint of Islam in the archipelago has encouraged the development of Islamic intellectual traditions in several regions of the archipelago. The diversity of religious local creativities contained in the Islamic scientific tradition triggers a wider development. Guguritan or Sundanese metrical poetry is one type of local element that colors the Islamic scientific tradition in West Java. The method used is literary structuralism approach, this research is focused on journalism as part of the Islamic scientific creativity. The research focuses on the influence of Islam on Sundanese literature, the development of Guguritan poetry, and its position in the Islamic scientific tradition in West Java. The object of this research is the poetry of the Sundanese Guguritan which creates a local symbolic image of Islamic values in West Java. The findings in this study are that the Guguritan is used in more or less three Islamic scientific traditions, namely Sufism, Al-Qur'an interpretation, and notes on the pilgrimage. The result of the research is that the interpretation of the Al-Qur'an in the form of a declaration can create a poetic nuance, while Sufism is much more complex than other poetic translations. Then, the pilgrimage has its own historical value. The conclusion of this study focuses on the various kinds of Islamic themes as evidence that Islamic literature has an important role in the process and development of Indonesian language and literature, especially West Java. Key words: The footprint of Islam in the archipelago has encouraged the development of Islamic intellectual traditions in several regions of the archipelago. The diversity of religious local creativities contained in the Islamic scientific tradition triggers a wider development. Guguritan or Sundanese metrical poetry is one type of local element that colors the Islamic scientific tradition in West Java. The method used is literary structuralism approach, this research is focused on journalism as part of the Islamic scientific creativity. The research focuses on the influence of Islam on Sundanese literature, the development of Guguritan poetry, and its position in the Islamic scientific tradition in West Java. The object of this research is the poetry of the Sundanese Guguritan which creates a local symbolic image of Islamic values in West Java. The findings in this study are that the Guguritan is used in more or less three Islamic scientific traditions, namely Sufism, Al-Qur'an interpretation, and notes on the pilgrimage. The result of the research is that the interpretation of the Al-Qur'an in the form of a declaration can create a poetic nuance, while Sufism is much more complex than other poetic translations. Then, the pilgrimage has its own historical value. The conclusion of this study focuses on the various kinds of Islamic themes as evidence that Islamic literature has an important role in the process and development of Indonesian language and literature, especially West Java.

This appendix discusses the possible reasons for presenting Early Islam as an Anti-Rabbinic Movement. Several scholars have demonstrated that some Muslim authors were familiar with Apocryphal literature and borrowed various literary motifs from it. A study of Shīʿite sources reveals that much Apocryphal literature, such as the books of Enoch and Jubilees, was widely known among the Muslims of eighth-century Iraq. The Dead Sea Scrolls include a series of commentaries on the Holy Scriptures called pesharīm (sg. pesher). A study of the pesharīm demonstrates that their arguments against the Pharisees are very reminiscent of the arguments against the Jews of Medina that appear in Islamic tradition. Similarly, Rabin argued, there can be little doubt that Muhammad had Jewish contact before coming to Medina; it is highly probable that they were heretical, anti-Rabbinic Jews; and a number of terminological and ideological details suggest the Qumran sect.Keywords: anti-Rabbinic Jews; Anti-Rabbinic Movement; Apocryphal literature; Early Islam; eighth-century Iraq; Islamic tradition; Jews of Medina; pesharīm

To what extent does the official state rhetoric about ‘traditional Islam’ reflect the lay understanding of the concept by practicing Muslims in Russia’s Volga-Ural region? Research and commentaries on contemporary Islam in Russia show that ‘traditional Islam’ in the country has lately become a contentious term with state officials, intellectuals, Muslim clergy, general public, and most importantly local and migrant practicing Muslims emphasizing different senses of the concept (Benussi 2018a, Di Puppo 2018a, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 27(1), 99–104, 2018b, Di Puppo and Schmoller 2019). Yet few studies attempt to examine the reason why some Muslims endorse state-approved interpretations of ‘traditional Islam’ while others consciously assess the term and express their religious beliefs and practices differently. This article aims to contribute to this lacuna in the literature. I advance the argument that the meaning of ‘traditional Islam’ for many practicing Muslims residing in Russia depends on the level of (social) integration of those believers into society. Socially well-integrated individuals often take special care to ensure that long-established local customs and lifestyles are preserved and reflected in their religious practices. Less-integrated and marginalized individuals commonly tend to refer to stereotypical essentialist narrative that often disavow time-honored local ancestral beliefs and cultural practices and largely disregard the authority of the local established clergy. While the first category of believers and religious communities that they form enjoy support of the state, individuals with “divergent” thinking patterns are often limited in their ability to act as a group and are further cut off from the public sphere. In a qualitative analysis of several Muslim communities in the Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in Russia, employing interview and ethnographic methods, I examine perspectives of practicing Muslims on the notion of “traditional Islam” and contrast them with the secular rhetoric of state officials. Most interviewees agree that Islam as a religion satisfies a desire which the material world leaves unfulfilled. However, they disagree on how ‘traditional Islam’ reflects culture, values and history.

In his book The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson (d. 1968) draws our attention to distinctive religious institutions—i.e., the sharī‘ah law, waqf, and Sufi orders—that played a significant role in the social and civic life of medieval Islamicate society. This paper discusses how medieval Muslims, elite as well as non-elite, used their social agency in the public sphere. It evaluates the effectiveness of these civic institutions for the public good. It attempts to identify how these religious institutions served peoples’ religious, spiritual, social, political, and material needs. ‘Ulamā’, Sufis, rulers, the wealthy elite, and the commoners used their religious, social, and political agency in this sphere for the betterment of the common people. While challenging the medieval despotism thesis, this paper attempts to defend the argument that medieval Islamic society had public spaces in the form of waqf, sharī‘ah law, khānqāh, and madrasah in which the whole social strata participated. Significantly, this paper argues that medieval Islamic societies did not merely have a single authoritarian sphere of social activity in which only the elite had agency; rather, there were multiple public spheres where people, recruited from a range of private spheres, expressed different modes of social agency.

Christian Monastic Life in Early Islam

<p>The following piece of work thematizes in a very scientific way one of the great mainstream religious traditions, and, primarily, from the recourse of the interpretative/intellectual tradition of Islam (<i>islām</i> <i>'aqlī</i>), which as such relies on the constitutive sources of faith. In etymological, i.e. terminological sense, it determines what is understood and meant under the term <i>an</i>-<i>naṣārā. </i>By means of scientific instruments formed in the frame of Islamic Theology of Religions, this work deals with the problem of authenticity and originality of the Holy Christian Script and the most important doctrinal teachings. </p> <p>Namely, the idea of God's Unity (<i>tawḥīd</i>), from the perspective of Islam represents the starting point in perceiving other religious traditions and their teachings. On those foundations, Muslim authors, and the best examples are classic authors such as al-Māturīdī, al-Bāqillānī, al-Ash'arī, al-Ğuwainī, al-Bīrūnī, al-Bagdādī, consider the credibility of doctrines within other religious teachings. Furthermore, the most important and famous sects that were formed from this religious tradition were represented through the historical-theological discourse. </p> <p>In that sense, the above-mentioned Christian sects disagree on many doctrines and theological interpretations. With all these overriding problems, in a very objective way, classic Muslim authors will deal in their works, in the context of Islamic Theology of Religions, using the intertextual dialogue form as the need of that time. </p>

This article discusses the idea of Prophetic Literature or Sufi Literature that developed along the same lines as Transcendental Literature, founded by Kuntowijoyo. The core philosophies behind Transcendental Literature are the teachings of Sufism and mysticism. With Islam Kejawen (Javanese Sufism) as a background, Transcendental Literature emphasizes the spiritual experience and effort by humans to seek the love of Allah. It also emphasizes on traditional elements such as the “return to the roots of local culture”, including Kejawen (Javanese Sufism) as a source to respond to the post-colonial literary discourse. In comparison, in Malaysia, Genuine Literature, pioneered by Mohd. Affandi Hassan, attempts to differentiate between the term and concept of kesusasteraan (literature), which is linked to Western fiction, and persuratan (writing), Mohd. Affandi Hassan’s ambitious venture was to liberate Muslim authors from Western colonization. Genuine (Islamic) Literature focuses on ‘ ilm or knowledge, hence excluding aspects of superstition and imagination in literary works. Also, in Genuine Literature, the real beauty in literary works lies in the “combination of aesthetics and intellect”. Genuine Literature also rejects absolute freedom for authors, with creativity no longer taken to be a measure of creativity. As an early discussion, this paper will highlight aspects of the Transcendental Literature of Indonesia and Genuine Literature of Malaysia and how they were presented as a response to the Western discourse. Both clearly try to provide “Islamic Literature” with distinctive features to create a more meaningful post-colonial discourse. Keywords: Islamic Literature, Transcendental Literature, Genuine Literature, Javanese Sufism, Post Colonial Literature

This paper examines the feminism and feminism of Islam in the novel in Indonesia. The approach used is the sociology of literature, which aims to describe the problems of feminism with regard to social, cultural, and belief systems of society. Feminism has an important role and is one of the novel appeal. Feminism in the novel rejects all forms of discrimination against women. The concept of feminism in the novel in Indonesia shifts to Islamic feminism, namely the concept of gender equality that refers to the principles of Islamic teachings. Through the novel Islamic feminism, Muslim authors want to convey some message of da'wah. First, Islamic feminism is gender equality derived from Al Quran and Hadith. Second, Islamic feminism is one of Muslim women's image which is related to morality and attitude of Muslim woman when faced with problem.

Historiography and Historical Thought: Islamic Tradition

This chapter analyses the occurrences of Samson in early Islamic literature and compares how Samson is portrayed there with his portrayal in the Old Testament. Samson is mentioned sparsely in the Islamic literature. He is not mentioned in the Qur'ān but occurs in Arabic historiography of 'Umāra Ibn Wathīma al-Fārisi, Kitāb Bad' al-Khalq wa-Qisṣaṣ al-Anbiy ā' (Book of the Beginning and of the Prophets); Abū J a'far Ibn Jarir Al-Ṯabarī (839-923) Ta'rīkh al-rusul w a'l-mulūk (The History of Rulers and Kings), Abū Isḥāq al-Ṯ a'labī, 'Ar ā'is al-majālis fī qiṣaṣ Al-Anbiy ā' (Lives of the Prophets), Kamal al Din Muhammad Ibn Mūsā al-Damīrī (1344-1405) in his Hayāt al-Ḥayawān al-Kubra (Greater Life of Animals). Samson is also a prophet in the Islamic tradition and therefore he is a saint. Consequently his portrait can only be that of an upright person (a Muslim). Keywords: Islamic Literature; Muslim; Old Testament; prophet; Qur'ān; Samson

Human behavior plays an important role in the epidemiology of parasitic diseases and dynamic of transmission and controlling such diseases. Since the culture, including beliefs and social behaviors, affects the relation between the parasite and man, considering these issues can improve level of health and decrease contamination rate, and achieving this goal is not possible without making changes in the lifestyle, observing health care principles, and modifying behaviors in details of life. Excellence in life and changing lifestyle need practical and functional instructions. Quran verses, medical traditions, and narratives of infallible Imams (AS) are the rich sources of practical guidelines for the treatment and prevention of different misbehaviors. Holy Quran and Islamic traditions have pointed out that some parasites need host for their biological needs. Neglecting personal hygiene is a way to transmit some parasites. Negligence in oral and dental hygiene, eating the meat of some animals, using warm water to wash the face and perform ablution, and inhaling steam, touching dogs and the other animals are the other ways of parasitic pathogens transmission which have been mentioned in the Islamic narratives, directly and indirectly; observing these factors may prevent parasitic diseases. The current study has considered the means of transmissions of some important parasites, taking advantage of Quranic and Islamic traditional resources, Quranic verses, and Islamic narratives which have directly or indirectly pointed out parasites and parasitic life. The present study aimed to evaluate the important role of Islam and its rich resources in considering all aspects of human life and even other creatures, and investigating the role of Islam in life. However, in the current study the importance of observing Islamic teachings, and adherence to the Islamic lifestyle, to promote the level of public health were evaluated.