Constructing a Religiously Ideal ',Believer', and ',Woman', in Islam: Neo-traditional Salafi and Progressive Muslims' Methods of Interpretation

by Adis Duderija

In this comprehensive study, Adis Duderija examines how Neo Traditional Salafi thought (NTS) and progressive Muslims interpret the normative concepts of 'Believer' and 'Muslim Woman' in contemporary Islam

Genres: Islam

271 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2011

Reviews

[Khalid Almoghrabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

يستعرض الكتاب أهم افكار المدرسة السلفية الجديدة من امثال الالباني وابن باز وابن عثيمين وافكار المدرسة التقدمية من حيث تفسيرهم للقران وطرق استنباطهم الفقهي ونظرتهم للمراة وغير المسلم وغيرها من القضايا الجدلية.
يتميز الكتاب بحشد كبير من المراجع المهمة التي عرفتني على اعلام من مثل: ابراهيم موسى، واثل الحلاق وفضل الرحمان وخالد ابو الفضل وغيرهم ويعيبه كثرة الاستشهادات لدرجة افقادك التركيز في النص وضياع الفكرة التي تشكل مأساة وعدم قدرة المترجم على الامساك بالكاتب وتحديد وجهته فعابه التشتت.

[Edz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well fleshed out analysis of two opposing contemporary interpretative communities as well as their manahij (aka methodologies) situated within the Islamic tradition, that of the Neo Traditional Salafis (NTS) and progressive Muslims.

The book starts off with presenting a genealogy of current debates regarding several sources of Islamic legal authority, focusing on two differing approaches that defined the emerging religious tradition (viz. madhab and ahl-hadith) and additionally situating Salafism as a conceptual framework within the Islamic tradition. Then, the NTS community of interpretation is put under the microscope, relating most of its manhaj to that of the premodern ahl-hadith especially in regards to its conceptualization of ‘ilm (i.e. religious knowledge) and Sunna. Afterwards, the author goes back in time to assess the various "assumptions informing the premodern embedded manahij with respect to the Qur’an and presents a critical analysis of the interpretational implications of these assumptions." (p.23) as well as that of the NTS manhaj (unsurprisingly they mostly overlap). Subsequently, we see the application of the NTS manhaj in regards to the concepts of a religiously ideal believer and that of a Muslim woman, tracing the textual sources used which help inform the NTS scholars’ opinions. We then jump into the progressive Muslim camp in which we get an analysis of their worldview as well as their intellectual predecessors in both Muslim and non-Muslim contexts (a huge influence from the European Romantic tradition is present), culminating in their unique understanding of the Islamic tradition aided by a postmodern episteme. Similarly to one of the previous chapters, the progressive Muslim manhaj is meticulously dissected and given application to the aforementioned concepts of a religiously ideal believer and Muslim woman. Finally, the author concludes with a summary of the findings, highlighting the importance of such research in the contemporary discourse surrounding “authenticity” and “modernity” that is so prevalent among Muslims in this day and age.

A nice addition to the field, much has been written about either Salafism or progressive Islam as contemporary religious movements but seldom has a comparison between the two been made, especially in regards to their epistemologico-methodological underpinnings and overall Weltanschauung. One glaring drawback which irritated me occasionally is the incredibly verbose language that the author uses (and is present in his other works) which makes the reading seem to drag for longer than it actually is, in addition to being prone to repetition.