Fundamentalism Research Articles

Taqiyyah as a Behavioral Method in Islamic Education: Comparison of Agreement and Disagreement Opinions

Taqiyyah means expressing or concealing one's belief and action against one's heart to avoid religious or worldly harm is one of the jurisprudential issues that has educational consequences. The purpose of this study is to investigate Taqiyyah as a behavioral method in Islamic education by applying the pros and cons from both jurisprudential and educational aspects. The method of the present study is a qualitatively comparative with an analytical-inferential approach. Researchers have used the library method to collect data, including the study of primary and secondary sources. To analyze the data, the qualitative analysis method was used based on data recording and categorization of the subject unit. Findings of research in the field of jurisprudence show that Shiite jurists were mainly in favor of Taqiyyah and Sunni scholars were against it. From the educational point of view, Taqiyyah means positive in the sense of self-control and tolerance with people whose beliefs are not in line with one's beliefs. The main similarity between the proponents and opponents of Taqiyyah is the recourse of both groups to the verses of the Qur'an and the behavior of the Prophet Mohammad and his companions through the presentation of different interpretations. Another finding of the research shows that according to the proponents, in many matters of life, it is not necessary to refer to Taqiyyah and it cannot be referred to as a permanent behavioral principle. According to the opponents of Taqiyyah, in the contemporary world and due to the new developments based on the prevalence of legal mechanisms in society, resorting to Taqiyyah is not necessary. The similarity between the two groups of proponents and opponents of Taqiyyah is the attention to positive developments such as civil rights and negative developments such as the increase of religious extremism to accept or reject Taqiyyah.

Playing to the West only? Representations of Picasso, the gendered body and Islamism in Kamel Daoud’s Le peintre dévorant la femme

This research explores Algerian writer Kamel non-fictional text, Le peintre dévorant la femme. The text addresses questions relating to religious extremism, the meaning of art, death and eroticism, and the relationship between l’Occident and l’Orient through the visual aid of Picasso’s 1932 Année érotique. Central to this research is the notion of the hybridized public intellectual (Daoud) entering hybridized public spheres (Franco-Algerian and beyond). The consequences of operating within a plural readership suggest that Daoud, subconsciously or not, speaks to particular sectors of his western-French audience more so than the Muslim-Algerian ones, risking an imbalance. This research unpicks how Daoud negotiates the relationship between aesthetics and politics in his non-fictional writing, showing how his public move to an essai in 2018 can be read as facilitating a conversation with more a bourgeois, and potentially more republican, French audience. It also analyses Daoud’s representations of Picasso, Paris, the museum, and the gendered body in western and Muslim societies. By doing so, it attempts to highlight how although Daoud appears to offer a ‘double-edged’ critique of Algeria since independence and French neo-colonialism, his tendency to make generalizations about Islam sometimes unwittingly plays to French (and more widely, western) Islamophobic assumptions.

Internet-Mediated Interreligious Dialogue A Study Case on @KatolikG’s Model of Dialogue

Internet-mediated interreligious relations could go in two directions: increasing the number of interreligious encountering with weakening process of religious exclusivism and lead people to religious fundamentalism and interreligious polarization. In the Indonesian context, the emergence of the Garis Lucu (Funny line) social media platforms allow a dialogical internet-mediated interreligious relation rather than the monologue one. This opportunity especially works in the relation between @KatolikG and @NUGarisllucu, two (unofficial) religious-based social media account that cover Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Page. This study uses @KatolikG perspective on looking for several patterns of internet-mediated interreligious dialogue. The study finds three patterns of internet-mediated interreligious dialogue: doing daily dialogue, discussing sensitive issues, and doing social actions. Within these three works, @KatolikG contributes in sharing communal agenda and concerns that enable people to work hand in hand in supporting interreligious dialogue. Following the idea of Pope Francis to have ‘a greater discernment and responsibility for contents both sent and received,’ @KatolikG supports social cohesion among Indonesians in the context of Internet-Mediated Interreligious Dialogue.

Bringing Social Movements into the Inclusion-Moderation Thesis

Many scholars argue that democracy tames religious fundamentalism. This inclusion-moderation theory holds that when radical religious movements are incorporated in the democratic system, they have incentives to adhere to institutional frameworks to influence politics and access power. But despite these claims, we have witnessed a growing influence of religious fundamentalism in Asian democratic politics, with immoderation becoming prominent. Why have religious fundamentalist movements become influential in various democracies in Asia? How have they shaped policies? Using a most-different-systems approach, I investigate religious fundamentalism in two dissimilar democracies: Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia and Christian fundamentalism in South Korea. In both cases, I argue that religious fundamentalist movements facilitate immoderate politics through strong mobilization capacity, agenda-setting power, and framing. The study contributes to the inclusion-moderation literature through its discussion of religious fundamentalism and its cross-religious comparison.

Ibn ʿUmar’s Interpretation of the Qur’ānic Verse ‘Fight them until Fitnah is No More’ and its Relevance to Contemporary Muslims

The main focus of this article is to bring the Qurʾānic verse (2: 193) under discussion and specifically the interpretation of a popular Islamic term fitnah in it that not only changes the verse’s meaning, but overall the purpose of dīn (religion). There are multiple meanings of fitnah, the term used in verse (2: 193), available in the early exegetical literature but majority exegetes have adopted its meanings as ‘polytheism (shirk) or disbelief (kufr) which resulted in numerous complications and shall duly be examined in this study. Next the interpretation of fitnah as ‘religious persecution’ shall be discussed in detail by a famous companion of the Prophet, ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUmar that he offered in the days of civil unrest (fitan wars). It is this specific interpretation that forms the focus of this research. The heart of the argument lies in the interpretation of fitnah as ‘religious coercion’ rather than polytheism (shirk) or disbelief (kufr) that has many positive aspects. First, Ibn ʿUmar’s interpretation does not lead to any complications or contradictions. Second, by adopting this, the verse (2: 193) does not lose its relevance and remains as relevant to the contemporary times as it was in the yester years. Third, on the part of Muslims this commentary enhances in the virtuality of peace and refutation of religious extremism.

Public acceptance of evolution in the United States, 1985-2020.

The public acceptance of evolution in the United States is a long-standing problem. Using data from a series of national surveys collected over the last 35 years, we find that the level of public acceptance of evolution has increased in the last decade after at least two decades in which the public was nearly evenly divided on the issue. A structural equation model indicates that increasing enrollment in baccalaureate-level programs, exposure to college-level science courses, a declining level of religious fundamentalism, and a rising level of civic scientific literacy are responsible for the increased level of public acceptance.

The Vetting Impasse: The ‘Churches Law’ and Kenya’s Religious Regulation Debate

Abstract Over the last decade Kenya has been seeing a lively debate over the regulation of its ever-expanding religious market and demands for a new ‘Churches Law’. Tales of hypocritical abuse of power and of emerging cults coalesced with security concerns regarding religious extremism, leading to the proposal to tighten regulatory control over the religious market, which expanded rapidly since the 1990s. Despite widespread recognition of the problem, new legislative steps have failed so far, notably even leading to a controversial 2014 moratorium on the registration of new religious denominations. This article analyzes this legislative impasse and offers an explanation in terms of the ambivalent yet symbiotic relations between religion and state in Kenya.

Religious Fundamentalism and Quest as Predictors of Moral Foundations Among Iranian Muslims

AbstractDoes religion make us moral? How do individual differences in religious beliefs influence morality? Can we predict differences in moral concerns by certain facets of religiousness? Here, we attempted to answer these hotly debated questions within a novel psychological framework called “moral foundations theory.” We extended past research on the relationship between moral foundations and religiosity that was limited to Christian samples in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies. Data were collected from 276 Iranian Muslims who completed an online survey measuring religious dimensions and the endorsement of five moral foundations (Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Purity). Each of the moral foundations was positively correlated with intrinsic religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and religious activity, while quest religiousness was negatively correlated with binding foundations. However, controlling for general religiosity and demographic variables, we found that religious fundamentalism predicted binding foundations; quest religiousness predicted individualizing foundations; intrinsic religiosity predicted care, authority, and purity.

-COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERCONFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN KAZAKHSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN

The article examines the history of religions of the Turkic past, Islamic Renaissance, Tsarist imperialism, Soviet atheism, and nowadays. The author analyzes constitutional and special laws, describes religious diversity and cultural pluralism, examines the system and institutions of religious education, identifies the main reasons for the radicalization of the two countries. He pays special attention to the specifics of the manifestation of religious radicalism in each of the two countries, their approaches to this problem and ways of countering the terrorist threat, and systematizes the opinions of various scientists. The negative consequences of historical and political events on the religious life of the Uzbek and Kazakh societies are determined. The choice of these states is due to the similarity of their history, culture, and political system. A comparative analysis of the state of interfaith relations in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is carried out according to the following criteria: historical stages, legislative and legal framework, religious associations, religious education, the problem of religious extremism and fundamentalism. The purpose of the article is to determine the features of the interaction of the authorities with religious and confessional structures, to identify the main problems of interfaith relations and the religious situation in general. This study contributes to a better understanding of ethno-confessional and inter-confessional politics in modern realities, as well as an analysis of the state and forecast of the prospects for the development of tolerant inter-confessional relations in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the context of religious pluralism, globalism, and actual challenges of the postmodern era. It is necessary to gradually strengthen the legislative, political and socio-economic base, which will be aimed at the secular path of development of our countries, without prejudice to confessions and religious organizations, which are separated from the state by definition. In the Turkic period history of Central Asia, many concrete examples testify to the positive experience of historically peaceful coexistence of various religions in the Central Asian Turkic-Muslim region. These historical facts should and can positively influence the further strengthening of interreligious cooperation and harmony

Orthodox Anti-Ecumenism as an Element of the Mobilization Model of Society: Political Aspects of Religious Fundamentalism

Orthodox Anti-Ecumenism as an Element of the Mobilization Model of Society: Political Aspects of Religious Fundamentalism

TOWARDS DERADICALIZATION OF INDONESIAN COMMUNITIES: THE NEED FOR A BALANCED EDUCATION SYSTEM BETWEEN RELIGION AND THE STATE IN SEVERAL ISLAMIC BOARDING SCHOOLS IN SOUTH KALIMANTAN

This study discusses the potential of Islamic boarding schools in the deradicalization of Indonesian society through a balanced education system between religion and the state. This study tries to look at the strategy of deradicalization of religious extremism in Indonesia, especially in Islamic boarding schools. Even though the Islamic Boarding School is a place for studying Islam, it does not mean that it cannot be separated from extreme understandings that sometimes act in the name of religion. Allegedly, one of the causes is an unbalanced education system. A cohesive, directed and planned/organized education system can produce responsible citizens, whereas if a fragmented education system naturally results in confused citizens and without direction, and even tend to be apathetic. This study aims to analyze the influence and education system in several pesantren to prevent radicalism for students at the High School level in Indonesia. The method used in this research is a field study with a qualitative approach using purposive sampling in recording pesantren which has a salafiah and modern curriculum. Data collection is done through observation. The analysis is done by collecting, presenting, reducing, and drawing conclusions. The results of this study prove that the education system and the role of the Kiai have a positive impact on counteracting religious radicalism by combining Islamic and state education. This research implies that the management system in Islamic boarding schools can establish intensive partnerships with the government in various aspects of politics, culture, and economy. It should be ruled out that boarding schools are included in education which is sometimes marginalized by the government because sometimes it is considered inclusive. Therefore, every effort to overcome the problem of radical understanding in the name of religion is not possible to achieve significant results, unless there is a cohesive education system between the institution and the government.

Religious orientations, prototypicality threat, and attitudes toward church–state separation

AbstractWe investigated whether stronger religious fundamentalism predicted negative attitudes toward church–state separation as a consequence of perceiving low in‐group prototypicality (IGP). Across two studies (N = 635), Christians from the United States reported their religious orientations (intrinsic, extrinsic‐personal, extrinsic‐social, fundamentalism) before we measured (or manipulated) their perceptions of IGP. The dependent variables were attitudes toward church–state separation (S1, S2) and attitudes toward religious–national integration (S2). Results showed that stronger religious fundamentalism predicted negative attitudes toward church–state separation. Results also showed that fundamentalists’ negativity toward church–state separation was stronger when Christianity was not perceived as prototypical of America's identity. Religious fundamentalism did not predict attitudes toward church–state separation when perceiving high IGP. Religious fundamentalism predicted support of religious–national integration irrespective of IGP. The results suggest that fundamentalists will oppose the separation of church and state when they perceive their religion is not prototypical of their national identity.

Madrassa Education System and Political Socialization in Pakistan

Madrassa system in Pakistan is providing an alternative mean to education. In Pakistan, different education systems are involved in developing different kinds of social and political beliefs. The most influential of which is madrassa system that is directly affecting the process of political socialization. Being an Islamic state, this system was given much importance after the independence of Pakistan. Islamization policy made religious education more significant. At that time, religious extremism was also increasing in the country. After 9/11 and Enlightenment policy, madrassa system became a controversial system in the world and in Pakistan as well. People now perceive madrassa system as a place of spreading terrorism and extremism. Though, not all the madrassa in Pakistan are involved in extremist militant activities. Most of the madrassas are spreading peace and harmony in the society. This research aims at to analyze the perception of people about madrassa on local and global level. And the most important point is analyzing the impact of madrassa education on its students. But the question arises how does madrassa education is involved in spreading extremism and effecting the social and political beliefs of every individual in the society. The nature of research methodology is qualitative and research design used is content analysis. In this research, the relationship between madrassa education and political socialization is developed where it is directly and indirectly influencing each other and the public specifically. Though, result shows that people still think of Madrassa system as a negative system but now studies show that there are some good and peace loving madrassa as well. But since the religious political parties are affiliated with madrassas, the social and political beliefs are also shaped according to the policies made by religious leaders and Ulma’s showing that religion effects society and politics to a great extent.

Religious Fundamentalism and Modernity

The paper is inspired by the author's effort to point out the need for a more comprehensive consideration of religious fundamentalism, in relation to modern society. The intention of this paper is to analyze fundamentalism in its historically known manifestations and to try to objectively point out its aspects that are not always Islamic or religious, and to place it in the context of modernism. This paper aims to answer two research questions: How does religious fundamentalism view the modern world and how does the contemporary world view religious fundamentalism? What are the common points and differences between modernism and religious fundamentalism, especially Islamic? The justification of the work stems from the fact that this paper seeks to contribute to the expansion of existing scientific and professional knowledge in the field of security studies, especially religious fundamentalism. This paper will contribute to shedding light on certain misconceptions that exist in today’s modern society regarding Islamic fundamentalism.

The Resemiotisation of Chokri Belaid’s talk before his assassination: roles of sign-maker interest and re-reading forces

ABSTRACT The present study explores resemiotisation in political discourse through an investigation of a video by Chokri Belaid, a Tunisian politician, lawyer and left-wing activist. Belaid, who was invited to a panel by Nessma TV in January 2012 to talk about a specific legal case, known as the “Persepolis case”, was assassinated a year later on February 6th 2013 by religious extremists. Building on these contextual factors, the present paper highlights two levels of resemiotisation in this video. At a first level, Belaid repurposed the original legal purpose of the panel to assume several roles (politician, thinker, and lawyer) in order to infuse his ideology and political views. Second, the literal death of the author has induced several re-interpretations of this talk. The present study undertakes a multimodal analysis of the different frames and shots of this talk to argue that these two levels of resemiotisation are facilitated and highlighted by the integrated use of semiotic resources (gaze, gestures, camera movements, sound features and language) and other emergent semiotic resources exploited by secondary sign-makers for the re-interpretation of this video.

Martha Nussbaum’s Capability Approach and the Relevance of Universality in the Af-Pak Region

ABSTRACT This paper aims to show the relevance and applicability of Martha Nussbaum’s Capability Approach (MNCA) in feminism to the lives of the women in Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) regions who are impacted by war, underdevelopment, entrenched patriarchy and religious fundamentalism and face its deadly repercussions on their daily lives and human rights. Contrary to the reductionist representation of women in these regions in terms of their religio-cultural identity, this article bases itself in their harsh, socio-economic-political reality, history of the cold war, erosion of democratic institutions, war on terror and the rise of militarism and nationalism. Thus, issues of development, specifically, gender gap and human rights need to be brought centre-stage to address the systematic violation of women’s rights. The MNCA, being rooted in the dignity and personhood of each individual, is an indispensable baseline in terms of basic human rights for women in the Af-Pak region. Here, I show how the MNCA does not contradict institutions of family, culture and religion in the region and actually serves to build a bridge between universality and the specific local context.

Culture Reproduction or Value Conflict? The Morally Fraught Experience of Chinese Christians in Virtual Communities

Based on Robbins' understanding that both Durkhcimian and Weberian approaches could help the study of social morality, this paper explores the dynamics of cultural reproduction and value conflicts in Chinese Christians' communication on the WcChat platform. It evaluates ten religious WeChat groups' norms and activities and categorizes them into four typologies according to their group inclusiveness and interactivity. It collects group chats from the WeChat platform and reveals the forming dynamics of group verbal abuse, and further explores the Chinese Christians' morally fraught experience in the virtual communities, ‘『his research shows that Christian values as an external force encourage Christians to fulfill their gospel mission and seek their group identity. Christians exhibit their discursive power through group norms and group behaviors. Cultural authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism arc the ideological factors that underline the exclusive group behaviors of the Christian virtual comm unities. The contradiction between exclusive and inclusive group cultures reflects the incompatibility between Chinese authoritarian tradition and the call for a more open society. Under the current social structure and cultural environment, particularistic ethics and exclusive practices would still be dominant in Chinese Christian virtual communities for a comparatively long time.

The Subjugation of Women through Lexical Innovation in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Given the importance of novel formations in science and speculative fiction, the aim of this paper is to analyse a selection of morphosemantic and semantic neologisms that occur in the feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), namely those items more closely connected with women’s lives. These items are gathered, classified and discussed by resorting to the tools provided by Morphology, Lexical Semantics, Onomastics and Women’s Studies. Therefore, the paper explores how new names for people (Econowives, Offred), activities (Particicution), artifacts (Birthmobile) and places (the Colonies) play a part in the linguistic task of female subjugation. It shows how in a fictional republic where gender roles and religious totalitarianism are taken to extremes, the forms and meanings of words are manipulated to enhance power relations and gender inequality, impose an orthodox frame of mind (comply with the system), and avoid uncomfortable truths. Neologisms provide a sense of authenticity in the narrative and show how language evolves to satisfy various needs, not only pragmatic, but also social, ideological and euphemistic.

On Terrorist Groups: An Introduction

ABSTRACT This article introduces the contents of this special issue on terrorist groups. After some general remarks, we review essential concepts germane to the issue’s eight articles. Those concepts include the notion of terrorist groups and their alternative ideologies and goals. Differences between domestic and transnational terrorist attacks are briefly reviewed along with time-series plots of such attacks during 1970–2019. Other plots compare and contrast leftist and religious fundamentalist terrorist groups based on their number of attacks and active groups during 1970–2016. The introduction is devoted mainly to highlighting the individual articles and their contributions.

Of Women’s Bonds: Female Friendship and Feminist Ethics of Care in Tabish Khair’s Just Another Jihadi Jane

Set in a contemporary British Muslim context, Tabish Khair's 2016 novel Just Another Jihadi Jane grapples with the issue of religious extremism from a female perspective. The narrative arc, however, journeys from radicalisation to redemption, which is captured in powerful and enduring female bonds. The article examines how the female bonds, as portrayed in the novel, are shaped by and reshape the context and what they mean for the feminist conversation on solidarity and sisterhood. Drawing on feminist scholarship on friendship and psychoanalysis, the article explores how the novel's charting of female bonding and its vicissitudes underline an unequal personal and political setting within which female friendship is being forged. Nonetheless, the multiple sisterhoods depicted in the novel evince ethical and subversive potential. Offering a close reading of the text through the prism of care ethics, the essay argues that the text locates ethical relationality in its female bonds and sisterhoods, which in turn advances an ethic of care that both recognises and transcends differences.