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Middle East Politics
ISLAM, DEMOCRACY & RIGHTS
ISLAM, DEMOCRACY &
RIGHTS
POLITICAL ISLAM
II. ISLAM & DEMOCRACY
III. ISLAM & HUMAN RIGHTS
I.
Terms to know
sharia
New Mardin Declaration
Salafism
hadith
Hizb’ut Tahir
Ibn Taymiyya
I. POLITICAL ISLAM
 Political Islamist: one who believes
that Islam as a body of faith has
something important to say about
how politics and society should be
ordered, and who seeks to
implement this idea in some fashion.
Ia. THE RISE OF POLITICAL
ISLAM
 UMMA & CALIPHATE
 REACTION:
 CRUSADERS & MONGOLS


INTERNAL DECAY


Ibn Taymiyya
Al-Wahhab, MB, The Taliban
WESTERN IMPERIALISM & HEGEMONY



EUROPE:
SOVIET INVASION: Mujahideen & the Arab Afghans
THE “ZIONIST-CRUSADER ALLIANCE”: Al Qaeda
Ib. VARIETIES OF POLITICAL
ISLAM
Goals & Means
Radical
Means
Radical Goals
Transnational
national
Al Qaeda
Islamonationalists:
Moderate Goals
??
Taliban, GIA
Moderate
Means
Islamonationalists:
Hizb ut Tahrir
Hizb’allah, FIS
Reformists:
Pak Governor
Salman Taseer
(Pakistan People’s Party),
Jordan’s Islamic
Action Front, AKP
SOURCES OF ISLAMIC LAW
Al-QUR’AN (THE KORAN)
Hadith
Sharia
Hanafi
 Maliki
 Shafi’I
 Hanbali

Jafari
Zaidi
Ibadi
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4670.htm
Salafism
(‘pious ancestors’)
The New Mardin
Declaration
Only sources are
 Ibn Taymiyya not grounds
Quran & hadith
for:
 Muhammad’s original
 Charging heresy v. Muslims
community is ideal
 Rebelling against rulers
Ibn Taymiyya (1268-1328)
 Killing Muslims or non-Muslims
 man made laws=
 Division of Abode of Islam
jahiliyya (pagan ignorance)
& Abode of War not valid:



Dar al-Islam & Dar
al-Harb
 accusations of
heresy or apostasy

v.fellow Muslims
 Jihad: obligation to
fight infidels & allied 
apostates/heretics

international treaties
guarantee peace & religious,
ethnic, national rights
Armed conflict is exclusive
right of heads of state
Only qualified religious
scholars can issue fatwas
II. Islam &
Democracy
Abu Musab AlZarqawi:
“for Muslims
support for
democracy
is the very
essence of
heresy"
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/Upload/5_TessIslamDem_2.pdf
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2008/0517/p12s05-wogi.html
http://people-press.org/commentary/?analysisid=107
http://www.newint.org/features/2009/10/01/islam-facts/
III. Islam and Human Rights
http://www.muslimsinengland.com/archives/37-Hijab-Part-3-Islam-womens-rights.html
http://freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/section/269.pdf
http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2007/issue2/jv11no2a2.html#_edn1
IIIb. Women’s Rights
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=384&key=8&parent=1&report=56
Attitudes about
Gender
http://www.gallup.com/consulting/worldpoll/26410/Gallup-Center-Muslim-Studies.aspx
PAKISTAN
 Since 2007, over 170 schools have
been blown up by local Taliban
militia
AFGHANISTAN
 Shamsia Husseini: 17-year-old, 1
of over 15 girls who have had acid
thrown on them for going to school
Political
Power
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/image/14072829
http://www.unifem.org/progress/2008/im/mdgs/MDG_figure_3.3.gif
What Women Wear
“believing
women should lower their gaze
and guard their modesty…they should not
display their beauty and ornaments except
what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that
they should draw their veils over their
bosoms ... ” — Qur'an [24:31]
“Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the
women of the believers to draw their
cloaks close round them. That will be
better, so that they may be recognized
and not harassed.”
— Qur'an
[33:59]
http://www.arabiccelebrities.com/Gallery_S_pages/Suzanne_Tamim.htm
http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Clothing/Islam_Clothing,_Jewelry_Ma.html
Marriage Rules and Rites
Polygamy
Egypt
Marriage Age: 18 for males; 16 for females
Iran
Civil Code provides marriage contracted before
puberty is invalid unless authorized by natural guardian
with ward’s best interests in mind (minimum age is 9).
Saudi Arabia
January 2009: Saudi senior cleric says it's OK for
girls as young as 10 to marry
Government-run Human Rights Commission
condemned marriages of minor girls
http://www.law.emory.edu/ifl/legal/egypt.htm
http://www.law.emory.edu/ifl/legal/iran.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6643257
ISLAMIC FEMINISM
Youth Olympic
Games
The Federation
Internationale de
Football Association
(FIFA) ruled that the
Iranian girls may
not play while
wearing the hijab.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107941
Young women who
wear a headscarf
(@60%), cannot
attend Turkish
universities
wearing this
covering.
Syria bans full veil
(niqab) in 2010
(<1% wear)
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2555452/posts