Islamic Phenomenon Research Articles

Sociologia della radicalizzazione

Sociology of radicalization ABSTRACT: The new century has seen the expansion of the concept of radicalization, with this term being adopted in various contexts with heterogeneous functions. This paper aims to investigate this phenomenon from a sociological perspective. The first focus is on examining the definition of the term “radicalization” in sociology. Acknowledging that radicalization is not exclusively an Islamic phenomenon, it will be seen that it is considered both a political and a religious matter. In attempting to define this concept, it will be observed how it encompasses various elements that may or may not involve the presence of violent action. Having delved into this initial aspect, the article then explores the reasons that can lead to radicalization and thus the path followed by individuals undergoing 'radicalization.' It will therefore examine the categories of individuals who are more likely to adhere to extremist ideologies, considering both French and Italian contexts. Finally, it will consider how these collected data can enable the construction of a strategy for preventing radicalization. SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Definizioni e ambito di indagine - 3. Traiettorie e intersezioni - 4. Ricerca e prevenzione.

Islamism and The Challenge of Democratization in Indonesia

This article studies the phenomenon of Islamism and its impacts on the process of democratization in Indonesia through a legal normative method by examining some regulations and cases regarding the issue. Extreme Islamic loyalist organizations authorize themselves to judge and decide what is and is not permissible, thereby hampering the development of democratic growth in Indonesia with their frequent interference in the government’s affairs and political parties in decision-making. Democracy in Indonesia is put under threat by these organizations. Studies conducted by several scholars indicate that the socio-religious practices of some Islamic organizations in Indonesia are shifting further away from the goals of democratic values. This research seeks to reveal the involvement of Islamism and its impacts on the process of democratization in the Indonesian government. The research results found that addressing negative images to Islam is not something uncommon, raising concern among Muslims and leaving a big obstacle that the democratization in Indonesia needs to encounter.
 
 Keywords: Islam; democracy; political party; religion.

Analisis Komparatif Model Dialektika Pos-Islamisme di Dunia Islam antara Arab Saudi dan Iran

<p><em>This study aims to analyze the relationship between Islam and the state in Saudi Arabia and Iran, using the approach of post-Islamism. Post-Islamism is a concept that refers to the shift of Islamist groups towards modernity and democracy. It was first introduced by Iranian intellectual, Asef Bayat, in the 1990s. Since then, it has been used to analyze the phenomenon of political Islam in different countries, especially after the Cold War. In Saudi Arabia, changes have occurred since Mohammed bin Salman was appointed as crown prince in 2016. In Iran, civil society actions, such as the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, have driven the change. The research problem is to compare the post-Islamism model that occurs in Saudi Arabia and Iran. The comparative case study method with library research techniques was used. The research findings show that the pattern of post-Islamism in Saudi Arabia differs from that of Iran. In Saudi Arabia, post-Islamism is top-down, starting from state politics without civic movement. However, Iran illustrates the opposite - it is bottom-up and initiated by civil society against the state.</em></p>

ISLAMISM IN DAYAH: SHAFI'IYAH, HANBALIYAH, AND POPULAR ISLAM

Islamism is a set of ideologies that believe that religion and the state are one (addinu waddaulah) as happened in Aceh, Indonesia. This research aims to find out the variants of Islamism in integrated dayah in Aceh. The phenomenological method was used to reveal the phenomenon of Islamism in six integrated dayah. The findings show that there are three variants of Islamism in integrated dayah in Aceh, namely shafiyah style, hanbaliyah style and Islamic popular style. This research is limited to integrated dayahs and only reveals dayah variants. Further research is needed on Islamist networks in various types of dayah in Aceh.

Political Islam in Afghanistan: Origins and Ideology

Any political, especially religious movement or ideology, should have its historical predecessors, whose views and ideas would somehow affect them. Understanding the origins and sources contributes to a more realistic and objective view of modern phenomena, especially in such traditional countries as Afghanistan, where tradition indelibly leaves its mark on everything. The purpose of the article is to attempt to give a comprehensive and chronological description of the ideas and ideologies that formed the basis for the emergence of Islamist political parties in Afghanistan. The materials used are the works of domestic and foreign orientalists, including Afghan ones, as well as sources in the national languages of Afghanistan. The research is based on the method of consistent description of the source and its characteristics to demonstrate its connection with the modern phenomenon of political Islam. The paper presents a list of alleged ideological sources and precursors of political Islam in Afghanistan in the mid-20th century. Their historical and ideological characteristics are given. The main representatives and supporters of certain ideas, their social status and attitude to other movements and ideologies are described. Political Islam in Afghanistan did not arise as something exclusively external, but had under it, in addition to the external form and external borrowings (the ideology of “deobandism”, “Muslim Brotherhood”), also internal sources peculiar to Afghan society in the form of tribal chiefdom, which became a kind of general organizational beginning of any political and religious movement. The complexity of Islamism in Afghanistan lies in its mixed structure, which is especially evident at the moment, in the ideology and practice of the Taliban Movement, which, on the one hand, is based on the provisions of «deobandism», pan-Islamism, to a lesser extent the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, but on the other hand, it completely contradicts them, which is purely due to tribal traditional features of the social structure and worldview of the backbone of the movement.

Political Islam: from History to Modernity

In this article, the author takes a conceptual approach to the study of the phenomenon of political Islam to identify the reasons for its transformation from a domestic political project to an international issue. An important part of this approach is the study of political Islam in the broader context of the Islamic world as a whole. Since there is a notable diversity of opinion among scholars regarding the essence of the concepts of “political Islam” and “Islamism”, the author offers his own vision of their correlation: political Islam is a strategic programme for the modernisation of Muslim societies, while Islamism is an ideological, mobilising and organisational resource for its implementation. As a result of the study, the author concluded that political Islam has its roots in the history of the Islamic world's struggle with the West, which determines its anti-Western orientation today. Continued Western interference in the internal affairs of Muslim countries turns supporters of political Islam into potential partners of non-Western powers in opposing the rules of the unjust Western world order. IIf their cooperation is successful, significant opportunities for achieving internal and external Islamist goals will open up. It is important for Russia to reach out to moderate, reasonable supporters of political Islam, seeing them as partners in countering aggressive Western policies.

Territorial Nationalism, Confessional Islam and the Conundrum of State-Making in Early Postcolonial Pakistan

The interplay of the question regarding the nature of postcolonial citizenship and the limits of religious belief considerably moulded the processes of the structuring of the political community in the early years of Pakistan’s history. Such an interplay manifested in the form of a normative contest between two distinct conceptualisations of nationalism. One was based on the notion of fixity of political territoriality that was defined in terms of the cartographic identity of Pakistan, and the other was premised upon the phenomenon of confessional Islam which tended to interpret the political identity of the Pakistani state in terms of the religion of Islam as a faith. This article is an attempt at mapping as to how such a contest strongly underpinned the competing public discourse on the modes of structuring of the political community in early postcolonial Pakistan. By doing this, the article discusses how this kind of a public discourse factored deeply in shaping the circuitous course of the processes of state-making in the initial years of the country’s creation.

Variations of Islam and democracy in Muslim countries: From Islamic countries to secular Muslim countries and its relevance to the discourse of Islam and democracy

The phenomenon of Islam and democracy in Muslim countries is practiced differently between Muslim countries with an Islamic state and Muslim countries with a secular pattern. This article wants to examine and reassess the view of Islamic exceptions or “Islamic exceptionalism” on the scarcity of democracy in Muslim countries with case studies of regime variations found in Muslim countries. This article analyzes the variation of Islam and democracy in Muslim countries, with a comparative method using data from the democracy indexing agency. There are four variations of Muslim countries: Islamic countries, semi-Islamic countries, secular countries, and semi-secular countries. This study shows that, from the four variations of the Islamic world, none of the Islamic countries has succeeded in achieving full democracy (full democracy). Three Muslim countries have a flawed democracy (flawed democracy), namely Malaysia, Indonesia, and Tunisia. The rest of the Muslim countries are under a political system controlled by the military (hybrid democracy) and authoritarianism. In addition, this article finds that social, political, cultural, and agency tools and support in supporting democratic values are still the main problems that harm the scarcity of democracy in Muslim societies

BUDAYA ISLAM VERSUS ISLAMISASI BUDAYA DALAM PERSPEKTIF GENERASI ZILENIAL

Islamic culture and religion are two things that always go hand in hand and synergize in human life or Muslims. However, the phenomena and problems that exist in society today are that Islam and culture are too mixed up, causing problems in society such as the loss of direction of Islamic teachings that are sourced from the Qur'an and hadith. This study aims to reveal the perspective of the millennial generation on the phenomenon of Islam being cultured and culture being Islamicized, whether they go hand in hand and synergize in life or are they a source of division. The research approach uses a quantitative, data collection technique using a Likert Scale which is disseminated online via google form. The subjects in this study were the Zillenial Generation. The results showed that the millennial generation had seen and carried out Islamic civilizing activities or Islamic culture. The opinion of the millennial generation towards this phenomenon is very much in agreement with the phenomenon of Islamic civilisation. Meanwhile, the majority of the opinion responses of the Zilenial generation show a neutral attitude towards the phenomenon of cultural Islamization. However, there are still responses that agree or even strongly agree. This shows that the millennial generation already understands cultural and Islamic phenomena.

ISLAMIC DA'WAH IN SOCIAL MEDIA IN AL-HIKMAH SMA STUDENTS SURABAYA (CASE STUDY OF DAKWAH COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA IN AL-HIKMAH SMA STUDENTS SURABAYA)

The existence of the internet greatly facilitates humans in finding information, establishing communication and providing solutions in various aspects of human life. It is also supported by the presence of social media in the midst of the community who take part in providing information about religion and da'wah in cyberspace. Da'wah literacy by utilizing social media has become a new da'wah method that is in vogue in recent years. In fact, you could say that social media is one of the solutions for the right da'wah method during the Covid-19 pandemic. Religious activities through social media are also widely carried out by Muslim students in Surabaya. They study Islam by browsing information from the internet and using social media. Students are free to choose religious information, for example listening to preaching tausiyah material from the ustadz they idolize. There are indications that they use social media as their alternative in studying Islam. This study aims to prove the existence of the phenomenon of da'wah islam in social media at Al-Hikmah High School Surabaya students. The analytical approach that the author uses in this research is Alfred Schutz's tradition of phenomenological thought related to Islamic da'wah activities as a social phenomenon. In this study, the authors used a qualitative method.

The Main Reasons for the Revival of Islam in Independent Kazakhstan

In the modern world history, we notice such phenomena as; globalization, digitalization, value pluralism, mass migration, terrorism, post-secularity, etc., which characterize the current nature of human civilization. Recently, among these trends, the phenomenon of the “revival of Islam” has emerged. Therefore, the systematic discussion relating to the phenomenon of Islam in the socio-cultural processes of the society has prevalent in religious studies. This topic has gained considerable attention by Kazakh researchers have also paid attention to this topic. The society of Kazakhstan has closely related to Islam in aspects of culture, history, personality, and morality. Since the collapse of the United Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR), Kazakhstan has gradually been becoming one of the fastest growing countries in Central Asia, focusing on modernization processes. Even though it follows secular nature of constitution, it has not only allowed the reentrance of traditional religious presence, but scholars have also noticed features of religious revival. Purpose of the article analyze the main factors that activated the mass- revival of Islam within the Kazakh society after the country's independence. Leading methods − conceptual analysis, structural analysis, and comparative analysis. Thanks to a systematic generalization of domestic and foreign researchers’ views, as well as sociological data, it became possible to form common knowledge about the causes of the revival of Islam in Kazakhstan.

Islam, politics, education, and modernity

Islamic education consist of a set of concepts and tenets pertaining to human nature, creed, intellect, and attitude, along with spiritual and physical values, all entwined in unified perceptual framework and relying, wholly, in its fundamentals and morals on the Holy Quran. Successfully exploited Islam is drawn into a confrontation from which it is destined to emerge deeply reformed – rethought, or slowly sink into the oblivion of history. Provoked Islamic radicalism can generate and arrange in Europe tens or hundreds of insane terrorists. It is important to show that Islam, as a public religion in international relations and in educational doctrines, can be both a powerful knowledge tool and a dangerous weapon. By delegating a divine blessing to a person, Islam in the eyes of a believer is the only and undeniably true measure of his actions, which determines the temptation to use Islam for educational purposes, giving rise, in turn, to the phenomenon of political Islam. “Radical Islam” will always be in demand where the establishment of an “Islamic order” is required, which is identified by Muslims with educational doctrines, social justice, the equality of all before the law and national equality. The danger of politicizing Islam is that here it plays by the rules of the West and under its control. And as a result – without realizing it, just doing the dirty work.

The Islamization of Knowledge and Its Efforts to Neutralize The Idea of Liberal Islām: A Descriptive Study

This study deals with the conflict between the Islamization of knowledge and the liberalism of Islam. The necessity of the project of Islamization of knowledge is to be purifying from Western influences and elements in thought and human sciences because they do not suitable the Islamic world view. The phenomenon of liberal Islam became one of the challenges of Islamization of knowledge to reach its goals. The study aims to present the efforts that have been made to neutralize the idea of liberal Islam. The study was based on the descriptive approach by studying the concept of Islamization of knowledge and liberal Islam and tracing the history of them in Indonesia and Malaysia. From the results of the study: The researchers concluded that the Islamization of knowledge project has exerted its efforts in various activities to implement the neutralization of the elements that are affected by the Western world view in science and thought generally. Most of the activities revolved around editorial and publishing activities, discussions, lectures and scientific debates, and the establishment of social and scientific institutions or organizations.

Jihadi Audiovisuality and Its Entanglements: Meanings, Aesthetics, Appropriations

Jihadi Audiovisuality and Its Entanglements: Meanings, Aesthetics, Appropriations

Overview of the Absurdity of Sekartaji Characteristics in the Phenomenon of Pacitan City Traditional Art

The Sekartaji character is one of the characters in the Panji puppet story. It seems that the Panji and Sekartaji stories themselves have many oral and written versions. In addition, the characterization of Sekartaji has undergone many cycles in each version of the story. Meanwhile, in each cycle of its era, the character of Sekartaji has undergone many developments in the transformation of the story which has been adapted in the form of phenomena of traditional arts. This research observes every phenomenon of traditional arts in the city of Pacitan, where each characterization of Sekartaji is very popular as a symbolization in several traditional art events. This phenomenon creates an absurdist perspective and makes Sekartaji's characterization on the side of liminality. From this analysis, this study will explore the absurdity of Sekartaji's characterization of the traditional Islamic phenomenon in the city of Pacitan using the ethnographic method.

Diversity of forms of Islam: invariance and variability

The purpose of the article is to analyze the nature of the heterogeneity of Islam in the field of Muslim culture and to determine the moderators of the variability of its forms. Methodology. The culturology analysis of Islam in the interdisciplinary space of the social sciences and humanities is the conceptual methodological core of the research. For a comprehensive study of the phenomenon, a civilizational approach was used, which made it possible to realize the uniqueness of the Muslim world as a local civilization and the functional role of the Islamic religion in it. The research strategy is based on system analysis in the author’s interpretation. The phenomenon of Islam is interpreted as an integral system in the totality of relations and connections between the invariant and variable components. Scientific novelty. To study the problem of the diversity of forms of Islam, the author's model of the system method, based on the dichotomy of the invariant and variable components of the phenomenon, was introduced into scientific circulation. The idea of the variability of Islam in the space of Muslim civilization has been verified. The invariant and variable components of Islam and the moderators of their formation are determined. Conclusions. Based on the paradigm of the invariance of the dogma of Islam and the diversity of its interpretation in the chronotope, the core moderators of the variability of the forms of Islam are established: 1) the absence in the Quran and Sunnah of direct prohibitions in relation to certain aspects of worldly life; the absence of a unified religious center that monitors the monotony of interpretation of canonical texts;2) the weakening of the connection between the sacred and the profane, which determined the politicization of Islam (in the form of Islamism of all shades); 3) symbiosis of religion and ethnic culture, which led to the dichotomy “classical-folk” Islam; 4) the correlation of the configuration of Islam with the socio-political structure of society, which, in particular, determined the binary opposition of two doctrines of building a Muslim community: the firs doctrine is based on the idea of the revival of the Caliphate, the second doctrine is based on Sharia rule within national borders,

Феномен джихада в исламе

Based on a critical analysis of the definitions of Jihad in popular science, dictionary refer-ence, commentary, and educational literature, the article establishes the methodological flaw of the abstract, one-sided representation of Jihad exclusively as a call to Muslims to wage a "Holy war". It concludes that such a one-sided definition of Jihad, imposed on the world community by Western Islamism, which is critical of everything Muslim, is used by the inspirers of interna-tional terrorism as a religious justification for the need to wage an armed war against non-believers and apostates. Understanding the Quranic provisions about Jihad, the historical en-richment of the content of Jihad, the various forms and varieties of its manifestation allows the authors to outline methodologically verified research principles and offer a conceptual defini-tion of Jihad that expresses its deep essence. The article defines Jihad as an Islamic phenome-non that consists in the concentration of consciousness, will, desires, and efforts of every Mus-lim and the entire Islamic Ummah in General to strengthen the faith in the One Allah, to protect and spread this faith, and to subordinate personal and public life to the requirements of Islam. This deep essence of Jihad is manifested in the most diverse efforts made by believers on the path of Islam, in the zeal that contributes to the qualitative improvement of the Muslim Ummah, its quantitative growth. The author of the article considers it inappropriate to claim that the religious phenomenon named by the Arabic term "Jihad" is exclusively an Islamic phenomenon. He puts forward the thesis that, although the term "Jihad" is used only in Islam to express the concentration of all ef-forts of Muslims on the path of establishing faith in the One Allah, a similar phenomenon occurs in other religions. The selfless service of Muslims to Islam should not become the basis for its characterization as a bloodthirsty religion associated with wars, battles, violence, suicides, and other negative aspects, since no religious and cult system can be established, strengthened, and spread except on the basis of the diligent service of its adherents.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF SOPHISTIC THINKING IN THE WORK “SHARH AL-AQEED ANNASAFI” BY THE GREAT THINKER SADEDDIN TAFTAZANI

This article analyzes the socio-philosophical and logical aspects of sophistic thinking in the work of the thinker Saduddin Taftazani “Sharh al-Aka’id”, who defned knowledge as the essence of human life. Sophistic interpretations of various sociological considerations that have arisen in the context of the history of Islamic philosophy are described from a scientifc point of view. All the information presented in the article is covered based on comparative historical, logical methods, the attitude of representatives of the philosophy of the new period to the sophistic and scientifc approaches is theoretically analyzed. This study, which analyzes the scientifc signifcance of sophistic thinking for time and space, conducts a historical and philosophical study of the appearance of this term in the region, its objective and subjective reasons. From an ontological point of view, the article examines the attitude of Islamic philosophy, in particular theology, to certain sociophilosophical issues arising based on sophisticated views. Also, scientifc solutions to the problems of everyday life, the social signifcance of sophistry in space, and time are philosophically analyzed. Based on the epistemological knowledge of the scientist Saduddin Taftazani, the following are stated: the reasons and factors for the penetration of the subject of philosophy into the Arab regions, as well as the philosophical and historical attitude to the features associated with the role of individuals in this process. In the fnal part of the article, based on dialectical views, the importance of the spiritual heritage, which has arisen based on the Islamic phenomenon, is explained in ensuring social harmony between peoples and nations. In particular, the theoretical and methodological foundations of the factors that serve to ensure social balance in society have been investigated, as opposed to the unsubstantiated notions of perverted trends that arose in the process of the Islamization of the regions. This article cites quotes from the frst edition of Sharh alAqaid al-Nasafya, published in Arabic in 2009 by Maktabat ul-bushro publishing house in the state of Pakistan, Karachi.

Pendekatan Fenomenologi dalam Studi Islam

Religion is the gift of God Almighty which is intended for humans (Muslims) as a guide to getsafety in the world and the hereafter, because in Islam there are rules that must be followed byindividuals and groups in order to distinguish between good (constructive-moralist) and which isbad (degradation-immoralis). Nevertheless, studying religion that collaborates science is notsomething that is prohibited. In fact, the correlation between religion and science is somethingthat is very likely to be carried by religious scholars, including in Islam. Understanding of theIslamic religion which has tended to be “theologically-normative” for decades has closed Islamicthinkers to study the phenomenon of Islam, such as understanding the practices of religiousteachings that tend to be ritualistic in each of the Muslims themselves. To understand it, aspecial method is needed called “phenomenology”, where this method describes the experienceof the religious practice of religious adherents consciously of the religious phenomena that arecarried out.

Crusaders in Reverse? The Emergence of Political Islam in the Middle East and the Reactions of British Foreign Policy, 1978–1990

British foreign policy in the Middle East has been well researched. However, there are still aspects of Britain’s approach towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that have yet to be researched. One such aspect is Britain’s encounter with the rise of political Islam in MENA and the way(s) in which this phenomenon was deciphered. Even though political Islam dates back to the late 19th and early 20th century, our study focuses on the period between the turbulent years of the outburst of the Iranian Revolution in 1978–1979 and its widely-felt influence until 1990. Our methodological tools include Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) archival material that addresses the phenomenon of political Islam and its implications for British interests and international relations in general. We choose the concept of political Islam and its adherents that are widely acknowledged as political, comparatively to those of da’wa and Jihadi Islamism. We argue that British officials were widely influenced by the intellectual debates of the period under consideration and that they mainly adopted four analytical schemas which focused firstly on the rise of sectarian politics in MENA, secondly on the gradual accommodation of non-state actors and organizations in political analysis, thirdly on the worrisome prospect of an alliance between Islamist and communist forces, and lastly on the prevalence of the idea of Islamic solidarity and Islamic exceptionalism in exerting international politics. Our findings suggest that, at times, the FCO approaches the issue of political Islam with a reassuring mindset, focusing on its divisions and weaknesses, while at other times it analyzes it with a grave concern over stability and Britain’s critical interests.