The Islamic Crescent: Islam,Culture and Globalization

This paper is an interdisciplinary consideration of Islam in general, and of Islam within the Islamic crescent in particular. Scholarly approaches to the study of Islam are explored, as well as the unity and commonality of attitudes and sentiments that exists right across the Islamic world. This last point is contrasted with differences within Islamic countries in the crescent, particularly in the context of culture. Indeed, this paper stresses the need to understand the relationship between culture and Islam. The paper concludes with an analysis of Islam and globalization, paying particular attention to modernization and Islamic identity.     

Islam as Drama: Wedding Rites and the Theatricality of Islam in South Sulawesi

This article discusses the prominence of wedding rituals in South Sulawesi to illuminate Islamic development in post-Suharto Indonesia and theatrical expressions of Islam through dramaturgical and social drama analysis. Theatre metaphors help explain the theatricality of Islam and the centrality of wedding rites in social and religious life in South Sulawesi, two social facts not easily understood by people outside this region. Through the performance of wedding rites, Muslims know themselves as Muslims, display social status and transform local politics. Analysis of wedding rites illustrates not only the importance of theatricality in the expression of Islam for the Bugis Makassar Muslims, but also how massive social and religious transformation is structured around a particular life-cycle ritual, namely weddings. Giving emphasis to theatricality, this article nuances recent studies about contemporary Islam, which largely focus upon the importance of discourses in the life of contemporary Muslims.     

伊斯兰与转型中的中东

“政教合一”是伊斯兰教的特性，这是它区别于其他宗教的显著特征。但是，作为一种入世性宗教，伊斯兰教是随着时代的进步不断发展的。在当代中东国家，存在着多种伊斯兰思潮。这些思潮虽有不同，但与穆斯林的生活密切相关的特性却始终如一，对中东社会的发展影响很大。     

伊斯兰与转型中的中东

"政教合一"是伊斯兰教的特性,这是它区别于其他宗教的显著特征.但是,作为一种入世性宗教,伊斯兰教是随着时代的进步不断发展的.在当代中东国家,存在着多种伊斯兰思潮.这些思潮虽有不同,但与穆斯林的生活密切相关的特性却始终如一,对中东社会的发展影响很大.     

Reconciling Islam and feminism

This paper objects to the popular view that Islam supports a segregated social system where women are marginalized, and argues that certain Islamic texts are supportive of women's rights. The article proposes that Islam reconcile with feminism by returning to the Qur'an. The Qur'an provides rights which address the common complaints of women such as lack of freedom to make decisions for themselves and the inability to earn an income. One example is a verse in the Qur'an (4:34) that is frequently interpreted as giving women complete control over their own income and property. This article also explains how Islam has been used as a method of controlling women, particularly in the practices of veiling and purdah (seclusion). The article points out the need to engage in Islam from a position of knowing, and to ensure that Muslim women have access to this knowledge. It is only through this knowledge that women can assert their rights and challenge patriarchal interpretations of Islam.     

伊斯兰与恐怖主义行为

(一) 2005年7月7日和7月21日,伦敦相继发生恐怖主义爆炸事件;2005年7月23日埃及沙姆沙伊赫也发生了恐怖主义袭击事件,这些事件引发了许多亟待解决的问题.     

Islam and the legal enforcement of morality

Over 60 years ago, British high court judge Patrick Devlin and legal philosopher H.L.A. Hart fought out a famous debate over the legal enforcement of morality, which was generated by the question of whether homosexuality should be legalized or not. Jurists agree that this debate was won by Hart, also evidenced in the fact that the state has since been retreating from its previous role of moral watchdog. I argue in this article that the two most conflicted and essentially unresolved issues in the integration of Islam, the regulation of the female body and of free speech, have reopened this debate anew, pushing the liberal state toward the legal regulation of morality, thus potentially putting at risk its liberalness. I use the Hart-Devlin debate as a template for comparing and contrasting the Muslim quest for restricting free speech with the host-society quest for restricting the Islamic veil. Accordingly, there is a double threat to liberalism, which this paper brings into view in tandem, one originating from Islam and another from a hypertrophied defense of liberalism.     

一脉相承、和谐共荣

世界各文明之间既存在差异,又具有共性。同属世界三大宗教的伊斯兰教与基督教均属天启宗教,可谓特点鲜明,但又同根同源,一脉相承,尤其都主张宗教信仰自由,倡导相互尊重、平等善意的对话。因此,在平等和相互尊重的前提下,两教开展对话与交流,皆在宣传自己、增进了解、求同存异、扩大共识,这将有助于共同构建社会主义和谐社会。     

一脉相承、和谐共荣

世界各文明之间既存在差异,又具有共性。同属世界三大宗教的伊斯兰教与基督教均属天启宗教,可谓特点鲜明,但又同根同源,一脉相承,尤其都主张宗教信仰自由,倡导相互尊重、平等善意的对话。因此,在平等和相互尊重的前提下,两教开展对话与交流,皆在宣传自己、增进了解、求同存异、扩大共识,这将有助于共同构建社会主义和谐社会。     

浅析佛教和伊斯兰教在中国的传播差异

佛教和伊斯兰教传入中国后,由于自身教义宗旨和传播时机、方式的不同,在中华民族的思想领域产生了不同深度和广度的影响,衍生出不同文化现象.本文由这些相异的文化现象入手,通过对两种宗教文化在中国影响差异的历史原因分析,明确两者在民族性格和文化特征中所发挥的作用,以期对促进民族团结有所帮助.     

浅析佛教和伊斯兰教在中国的传播差异

佛教和伊斯兰教传入中国后，由于自身教义宗旨和传播时机、方式的不同，在中华民族的思想领域产生了不同深度和广度的影响，衍生出不同文化现象。本文由这些相异的文化现象入手，通过对两种宗教文化在中国影响差异的历史原因分析，明确两者在民族性格和文化特征中所发挥的作用，以期对促进民族团结有所帮助。     

浅析伊斯兰教的生态观

伊斯兰教认为人与自然界万物都是真主的造化物,两者地位是平等的,人类只是真主的"代治者".伊斯兰教在强调爱护自然、与自然界和谐相处的前提下,主张把握自然的本质和规律,通过对自然界进行合理的开发利用,为人类造福.同时,伊斯兰教也坚决反对狭隘的功利主义、反对只顾眼前利益而忽视人类的长远利益.这些主张均对增强环保意识、促进人类与自然的和谐发展、维护正常的生态环境具有极大的指导意义.     

Historical background and characteristics of the evolution of Islam in Albania

Religious beliefs and practices are to a large extent influenced by historical conditions. The present paper outlines the development of religion in Albania, and specifically the development of Islam, and examines the historical, political and social factors that originally led to the ‘extinction’ and recently the ‘rebirth’ of religion in the country.     

Reading the Other Women,Feminism, and Islam

This essay focuses on the complex gendered particularities of the Arab region (including Iran). The debate between Islamic feminists and secular feminists is explored. Islamic feminists claim that liberation for men and women lies in following the Islamic faith and it is Islam that provides the best protection for women. Secular feminists argue for the separation of religion from civil society and the State. The essay explores the inextricable link between masculinity and the nation, and the impact of postcolonial relations on subjectivity.     

Religion and Incorporation: Islam in France and Germany

This article attempts to examine religion, particularly Islam, as an emergent type of corporate ethnicity in France and Germany and how Islam is represented and recognized in relation to the established principles governing the interaction of church and state both in the histories of each country and in comparison to the United States. Although religion constitutes one element of pluralism and diversity in which Islam would be the “religion of a minority” among other ethnic groups in the United States, in Europe Islam emerges as a “minority religion” in European nation‐states. Such a conceptual difference is reflected in the understandings and applications of multiculturalism and recognition in European countries and the United States. The question then is how to insure a historical continuity between principles and ideals of states on the one hand and how to integrate the religious diversity raised by Islam into the secularism of liberal European societies on the other.