Islamic Social Movements Research Articles

TRANSFORMATION OF CHARITIES BY ISLAMIC SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN YOGYAKARTA, 1912-1931: A HISTORY OF ISLAMIC WEALTH MANAGEMENT

This article was written in order to find a model of the development ofIslamic charities organized by bumiputera in the early 20th century inYogyakarta. This socio-economic history research using historical research methods that utilize primary sources such as archives, photographs, books and newspapers as well as the contemporary of secondary sources such as books, journals, and articles. The conclusion of this article is that the presence of transformation of charities in Yogyakarta in the period 1920s-1930s caused by 1) the dynamic moments around the period of the emergence of privately plantation by European, 2) the implementation of the land reorganization in the region of Yogyakarta Sultanate, 3) the emergence of �urban santri� as the new middle class in urban Yogyakarta, and 4) dynamic Islamic social organizations. In addition, the transformationof charities happens consists of three processes. First, change the concept and definition of waqf be more specific. Secondly, changing of the charities model that presented by the Islamic social movements. Third, shift of waqf and charities authority management that also change management culture. One thing that can be seen from this phenomenon is the emergence of local responses on colonialism with a more elegant and become the new social movements as well as showing the existence of civil society.

Post-Islamist Transformations in Morocco

This article explores the continuities and ruptures of modern Islamic social movements starting with the reformist salafiyya of Egypt, North Africa, and the Levant, moving through the Islamic political activism of the Muslim Brotherhood along with its various affiliated political parties in the Middle East and North Africa (mena), and finally the radical Jihadist militant groups calling for armed insurgency in parts of the mena as well as globally. After an extensive overview of the varied movements within Salafism in its global context, I will hone in on its articulation in Morocco, its relations with other Islamist movements, as well as with the Moroccan monarchical authoritarian system. I argue that in the wake of post-Islamist adopting of human rights discourse and notions of pluralism in the workings of the Justice and Development Party (pjd) government, the Salafi trend is also undertaking a transformation in Morocco. Placed in its historical and social contexts, however, I show that this trend has never been static and continues to change in relation to competing and collaborating Islamist trends as well as toward the Moroccan government.

Neojihadist Visual Politics: Comparing YouTube Videos of North Caucasus and Uyghur Militants

YouTube videos offer a rare opportunity to gain an insight into the sequestered world of neojihadism. This study examines and compares the lines of the visual narrative associated with two Asian insurgencies that help to form the global Islamic social movement: the insurgency in Chechnya (North Caucasus) and that in Xinjiang (China). The purpose of the article is to describe the narratives used by the Islamic militants addressing the conflict and to identify similarities and differences in the use of visual rhetorical techniques by neojihadist groups to propagate their worldview. The study of the visual narratives promoted in the videos will help to provide a better understanding of the impact of the neojihadist narratives on the creation of collective identities. Our findings suggest that these narratives have similar features, which can be identified in a set of sub-narratives. Within the common pattern, however, significant differences can be found, especially in the interpretation of the videos by the audiences.

The Gülen Movement, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama: Progressive Islamic Thought, Religious Philanthropy and Civil Society in Turkey and Indonesia

This article looks at three Islamic movements, two (Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah) almost exclusively contained within Indonesia and the third (the Gülen movement, known amongst those associated with it as the hizmet or “service”) originating in Turkey but now global in its extent. These movements are Islamically inspired and generally described as Islamic social movements, but much of their activity is concerned with the provision of social services, particularly education, and all three run extensive school systems. It is often insufficiently understood that these school systems are committed to teaching modern curricula in a secular fashion. Although these movements are very concerned with the development of character and the promotion of morality, and may be described as socially conservative, they are essentially progressive social movements, looking to the future with confidence and at plural society around them with an optimism that their understanding of Islam can thrive in modern society. The hizmet and NU share a similar traditional Sunni approach, strongly imbued with a Sufi sensibility, whereas Muhammadiyah is inspired by Islamic modernism. The hizmet, seen from an Indonesian perspective, combines the modern organizational competency of Muhammadiyah and the spirituality of the NU. All three movements share similarities with Western philanthropic religious movements committed to providing high-quality education.

Moral Authority Leadership and Progressive Islamic Discourse: The Gulen Movement and the Nahdlatul Ulama in Comparative Historical Perspective

Much of the current scholarships on Islamic social movements in Muslim-majority countries focus on the political discourses of conservative/fundamentalist Islamic groups such as Al Qaeda and Hamas. Fewer scholarships have examined the role of theological ideas in influencing the political discourse of progressive/liberal leaning Islamic groups such as the Gulen Movement (GM) from Turkey and the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) from Indonesia. Virtually none of the scholarships on these two movements have examined them from a comparative historical perspective. Utilizing constructivist international relations theory, this study attempts to make a theoretically informed cross-regional comparison between these two groups. It analyzes similar and different strategies utilize by these groups to promote and institutionalize progressive Islamic ideas - defined in this study as theological support toward democracy, state-religion separation, and religious tolerance/pluralism - within their respective societies. By conducting comparative historical, cross-regional study of these two Islamic movements, my project serves as a theory development exercise of the role of moral authority leadership and its role in disseminating new theological ideas beyond the artificial regional boundaries that has historically made scholarship on political Islam and Islamic social movements in the Middle East and Southeast Asia to exist largely separately, with little dialogue and collaboration with one another. This study brings together existing knowledge about Islamic social movements from the two countries in order to develop a new theory on the role of theological change within Islamic social movements that is generalizable across the Islamic world. The data of this research consist of historical documents, secondary studies, and in-depth interviews with officials and activists from these movements.

Radical Islamic Parties and Movements in Uzbekistan 1990–2012

Uzbekistan, so as other Central Asian Republics, turned into turbulent times in the beginning of 1990’s. After collapsing USSR, 5 Republics gained its independence. The whole region was very well-known from its religiosity. However, besides the fact that Islamist movements and parties were banned on any political activity and had no right to act as an opposition within the system of Uzbekistan, they have emerged subsequently especiallly in this country. The modern history of Uzbekistan is full of radical Islamic political and social movements. From the very beginning of the Republic, Islam Karimov, its first and the only one till now president, rules though and solidly. He was the biggest opponent of any Islamic initiative which showed up and tried to damp it down immediately. The aim of this study is to explore all the Islamist parties and movements which have been raised in Uzbekistan between 1990 and 2012. Which of them were and still remaining crucial and have the impact on Uzbek political and social life. The Author is trying to investigate the reasons and circumstances that led Islamist movements to arise and effectively influence on Uzbekistan political arena.

GERAKAN PEMBAHARUAN ISLAM INDONESIA DARI MASA KE MASA: SEBUAH PENGANTAR

This paper attempts to explore the roles of Islamic social organizations which have been very instrumental in the social and cultural transformations in Indonesia. The birth of Islamic organizations and Islamic leaders cannot be separated from oppression of the colonials which had resulted in poverty and backwardness among the Indonesian people. The exploitation of the colonial rulers as well as the oppression of the feudal authorities had created bad attitudes which were against the values of Islam. This paper also observes the conditions which gave birth to some Islamic social movements and describes how social and cultural environments had forced the Islamic leaders and social organizations to find the way out of the problems by conducting social and cultural reformation. They had been successful and the present reformists should learn from their success.

The Use of the Internet by Islamic Social Movements in Collective Action: The Case of Justice and Charity

The article addresses the use of the internet by Islamic social movement organizations (SMOs), focusing on the case of Justice and Charity (JC), the biggest opposition political group in Morocco. It examines the extent to which the SMO exploits the potential of the medium in collective action, and the implications of this use for the SMO’s capacity to advance its cause and resist state repression. Drawing on social movement and radical democracy theories, the study highlights the implications of the internet for collective identity‐building in the political project of the Islamic SMO. The article argues that while JC draws extensively on the internet to enhance collective identity‐construction and build an antagonistic public sphere, it fails to benefit from the potential of the medium to promote gender equality and genuine participative communication, and to build an agonistic political sphere.

Islamic Social and Political Movements in Turkey

In recent decades, political Islam has increasingly become a focus of politicalscience. Numerous branches of scholarship that analyze its dynamicswithin seemingly divergent theoretical frameworks have emerged. Somescholars have concentrated on international security threats stemming frompolitical Islam (what can be called the outcomes of this phenomenon),whereas others have focused on the causes of religious resurgence in anattempt to identify what has led to political Islam’s revival. This reviewessay will evaluate the second branch of scholarship, which, I believe,explores the core of the overarching issue and helps identify the causes, the“how” and “why” of the matter, rather then providing a descriptive analysisof “what” is happening.How and why Islamic social/political movements (ISPMs) haveemerged, as well as what sociopolitical circumstances determine where theyare headed, is essential to studying political Islam effectively. To this end, Iwill narrowly focus on the literature of ISPMs in Turkey,1 whose “secular”identity makes it an intriguing and unique case in comparison to other predominantlyMuslim countries, presumably with the exception of Tunisia.Thus, the emergence of strong Islamic movements in Turkey, how the interplaybetween the state and these groups have unfolded, and the futureprospects have broader implications for social movements, civil society, anddemocratization in numerous countries. Moreover, the academic work onIslamic movements is highly dynamic, since current social and politicalevents continuously shape these movements, which affect the country’s sociopolitical context ...

Religious Participation among Muslims: Iranian Exceptionalism

Recent research has suggested that secularization, understood either as the decline of religious beliefs or the marginalization of religion in public life, has not occurred in most parts of the world. Islam especially has remained a vibrant force that affects how people make sense of social relations and politics. However, the indicators of religiosity in predominantly Muslim countries have not been studied extensively. Although these societies are assumed to be characterized by high levels of religious belief, research has demonstrated significant variance in mosque attendance rates. In particular, mosque attendance rates in Iran are surprisingly low. This article aims to specify the reasons for the low rates of mosque attendance among Iranians. The data for the article come from the World Values Survey that was conducted in Muslim countries 1 and a survey conducted in Tehran by the authors. The article asks whether the peculiar characteristics of Shi’ism or of Islamic government in Iran are responsible for the low rates of mosque attendance. The survey evidence indicates a strong correlation between frequency of mosque attendance and positive evaluations of political governance. It also reveals that many people with strong religious beliefs do not attend Friday congregational prayers. Consequently, we need to inquire whether the politicization of religion in Iran has been a factor in its ‘privatization,’ that is, the tendency of pious believers to restrict their prayers to the privacy of the home. The revitalization of religion as a major social force has been most remarkable—and even controversial—in countries with Muslim majorities or significant minorities. Islamic social and political movements enjoy considerable public support in Middle Eastern countries and have been among the major revisionist forces that challenge the political and social hegemony of authoritarian rulers. Islamic movements pursue agendas of social justice that resonate strongly with the working poor and lower middle classes. Meanwhile, violence, which has been carried out in the name of Islam or against Islam as in the former

Islamic Activism

This book, an exciting development in the study of Islamic activism, is destinedto become a landmark text. The reason for this, as Kurzman observesin his conclusion, is as simple as it is strange: The authors treat Islamicactivists as normal human beings who make decisions about activism inways that are similar to decision-making methods used by non-Muslimactivists. Were it not for the persistent notion in both academic and popularcircles that Islamic activists are their own species, one that is motivated byan irrational fanaticism, any such conclusion would be seen as humdrum.Such is the isolation of Islamic studies from theoretical developments inother fields that it was not until the turn of the twenty-first century that scholars began to study Islamic activists from the vantage point of state-of-the artinsights on social movements. For this, Wiktorowicz and the contributors tohis book are pioneers who deserve our appreciation.Islamic Activism is divided into three parts: “Violence and Contention,”“Networks and Alliances,” and “Culture and Framing.” It also features aforeword by Charles Tilly, an introduction by the editor, and a conclusion byCharles Kurzman. Each chapter is a strong contribution based on solidempirical research with Islamic activists from various Muslim societies.Many chapters also provide synopses of social movement theory beforemoving on to a discussion of their particular case study. Due to the profundityof social movement theory, this never becomes repetitive, and a nonspecialistreader will gain an understanding of social movement theory whilelearning more about Islamic social movements. For this reason, both Tillyand Kurzman note that the study of Islamic social movements is not just aone way street – applying theoretical insights in social movement theoryderived from the study of non-Muslims to Islamic activists. Rather, thebroadening and deepening social movement theory itself is accomplishedvia the empirical study of Islamic activists ...

Mobilisation politique et mouvements politico-religieux au Pakistan

In Pakistan, the position that Islam should have in the State apparatus is a dilemma without consensus. The slow but effective disintegration of the Pakistani public institutions, the reintroduction of the Islamic rhetoric in mainstream politics have brought islamisation to an inescapable position. The Islamist opposition to a so-called Islamic regime can only express itself through marginal means as some sectarian and violent trends have shown. Since the beginning of the nineties, new Islamic social movements have emerged. Those movements are mobilising the masses through education, social action and research of closeness with the masses. Their purposes is to impose a renovated Islamic order. They want to become moral entrepreneurs filling up the social emptiness left by non-legitimate politicians or intellectuais.

Arab Sociology Today: A View from Within

Some of the accomplishments and shortcomings of Arab sociology during the last few years are assessed from the perspective of Arab sociologists. This assessment of Arab sociology from the insiders' perspective involves (a) reviewing selected papers presented at one of the most recent Arab sociology conferences, (b) analyzing the results of a survey of 36 Arab sociologists, and (c) describing in detail the major contributions of Arab sociologists and social scientists to the study of Islam, with particular reference to Islamic social movements. Recent socioeconomic changes and political events in the Arab world help explain the rising interest in sociology. Arab sociologists view their discipline as still in process of becoming and in a state of crisis. The sociopolitical and disciplinary aspects of this crisis and the solution suggested to remedy it are described. Arab sociological studies of Islamic social movements have the following features: (a) an emphasis on the diversity, complexity, and historical specificity, of these movements, (b) a recognition of the need for an interdisciplinary approach, (c) a focus on the sociological characteristics of leaders and followers, (d) analyses of the origin of the movements, and (e) an emphasis on the need for a methodology more personal and subjective than the one used in the West. This research, as well as the survey of Arab sociologists, indicates that there is a noticeable trend toward the substantive indigenization of Arab sociology and that Arab sociologists are aware of the need to be innovative and flexible in their selection and use of research methods. These also show that there has been little theoretical indigenization of Arab sociology. This may explain, in part, the sense of crisis felt by Arab sociologists.

Arab Sociology Today: A View from Within

Some of the accomplishments and shortcomings of Arab sociology during the last few years are assessed from the perspective of Arab sociologists. This assessment of Arab sociology from the insiders' perspective involves (a) reviewing selected papers presented at one of the most recent Arab sociology conferences, (b) analyzing the results of a survey of 36 Arab sociologists, and (c) describing in detail the major contributions of Arab sociologists and social scientists to the study of Islam, with particular reference to Islamic social movements. Recent socioeconomic changes and political events in the Arab world help explain the rising interest in sociology. Arab sociologists view their discipline as still in process of becoming and in a state of crisis. The sociopolitical and disciplinary aspects of this crisis and the solution suggested to remedy it are described. Arab sociological studies of Islamic social movements have the following features: (a) an emphasis on the diversity, complexity, and historical specificity, of these movements, (b) a recognition of the need for an interdisciplinary approach, (c) a focus on the sociological characteristics of leaders and followers, (d) analyses of the origin of the movements, and (e) an emphasis on the need for a methodology more personal and subjective than the one used in the West. This research, as well as the survey of Arab sociologists, indicates that there is a noticeable trend toward the substantive indigenization of Arab sociology and that Arab sociologists are aware of the need to be innovative and flexible in their selection and use of research methods. These also show that there has been little theoretical indigenization of Arab sociology. This may explain, in part, the sense of crisis felt by Arab sociologists.