Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

7 2Islam i n World Cult u r e sbelongs to women deepening their understanding and piety in study circles orto men who see their duty as bloody martyrdom, whether it belongs toMuhammad Shahrur or to Osama bin Laden, depends not just on indigenousevents and currents of thought. It certainly depends very little on what thescriptures of Islam “really” say, since, even when people pay attention to scripture,the issue of their meaning is one of the major points of contention, justas it is for Christians, Jews, and adherents of other religious traditions. It depends,rather, on whether the international order becomes one of justice andrespect or one of hypocrisy and exclusion, whether the global economy distributeswealth fairly or not, whether the wealthy and militarily powerful nationsof the world encourage freedom and self-determination or support repressivepolitical structures who traffic in class, gender, ethnic, or confessionalrepression. It depends on where all of us, regardless of our respective religioustraditions or lack thereof, decide to guide this new century.ReferencesA b u - A m r, Ziad. 1994. Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: MuslimB rotherhood and Islamic Jihad. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Armbrust, Wa l t e r. 2002. “The Riddle of Ramadan: Media, Consumer Culture, and the‘Christmasization’ of a Muslim Holiday.” In E v e ryday Life in the Muslim Middle East,edited by Donna Lee Bowen and Evelyn Early, 335–348. Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press.Bin Laden, Osama. 1998. “Jihad against Jews and Crusaders. World Islamic FrontStatement.” February 23. http://www. f a s . o r g / i r p / w o r l d / p a r a / d o c s / 9 8 0 2 2 3 - f a t w a .h t m .Euben, Roxanne Leslie. 1999. Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limitsof Modern Rationalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.F a n d y, Mamoun. 1999. “CyberResistance: Saudi Opposition between Globalizationand Localization.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 41, no. 1: 124–147.Fortna, Benjamin C. 2000. “Islamic Morality in Late Ottoman ‘Secular’ Schools.”I n t e rnational Journal of Middle East Studies 32, no. 3: 369–393.Gulalp, Haldun. 2001. “Globalization and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Tu r k e y ’sWelfare Party.” I n t e rnational Journal of Middle East Studies 33, no. 3: 433–448.Hamzeh, A. Nizar, and R. Hrair Dekmejian. 1996. “A Sufi Response to PoliticalIslamism: Al-Ahbash of Lebanon.” I n t e rnational Journal of Middle East Studies 28, no.2: 217–229.Hirschkind, Charles. 2001a. “Civic Virtue and Religious Reason: An IslamicCounterpublic.” Cultural Anthro p o l o g y 16, no. 1: 3–34.———. 2001b. “The Ethics of Listening: Cassette-Sermon Audition in ContemporaryEgypt.” American Ethnologist 28, no. 3: 623–649.Hoffman-Ladd, Valerie J. 1992. “Devotion to the Prophet and His Family in EgyptianSufism.” I n t e rnational Journal of Middle East Studies 24, no. 4: 615–637.