Papers by Martin Riexinger
Rethinking the Anthropology of Islam Dynamics of Change in Muslim Societies. In Honour of Roman Loimeier, 2024
Mausim al-hiǧra ilā l-šimāl 1966 erschien in der vom Congress for Cultural Freedom herausgegeben ... more Mausim al-hiǧra ilā l-šimāl 1966 erschien in der vom Congress for Cultural Freedom herausgegeben Zeitschrift al-Ḥiwār der Roman Mausim al-hiǧra ilā l-šimāl (Zeit der Nordwanderung) des in England lebenden sudanesischen Autors al-Ṭayyib Sāliḥ (1929-2009), der zuvor im selben Organ mit Kurzgeschichten und der eher bukolischen Erzählung ʿUrs al-Zain (Die Hochzeit des Zain) hervorgetreten war.1 Im Kontext der arabischen Literatur seiner Zeit, steht das Werk etwas isoliert da. Der Verfasser gehörte keinem literarischen Zirkel an und äußerte sich öffentlich nicht zu seinen Werken. Er tat sich auch nicht mit Äußerungen zu politischen Fragen oder poetologischen Überlegungen hervor. Nachdem Erscheinen von Bandaršāh 1971/76, einem Doppelroman in der Nachfolge zum hier besprochenen Werk, beendete er zudem seine literarische Aktivität. In seinen letzten beiden Lebensjahrzehnten trat er mit Essays in arabischen Zeitungen hervor und gab westlichen und arabischen Medien Interviews, die meist jedoch diesen Roman nur peripher berühren und wegen des großen Abstands zu dem Roman problematische Quellen für seine Intention sind. Obwohl es abseits der Zentren der literarischen Diskussion entstanden ist, gilt das Buch mittlerweile als zentrales Werk der modernen arabischen Literatur, ja der Weltliteratur.2 Ein Grund hierfür ist der Bruch mit der dominierenden sozial realistischen Darstellungsweise durch die Fokussierung auf den Bewusstseinsstrom der beiden Protagonisten.3 Es wurde bereits 1969 ins Englische übersetzt. Andere westliche Sprachen folgten. Auf Deutsch erschien der Roman jedoch erst 1998, übersetzt von Regina Karachouli.4 Die Forschungsliteratur hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten einen beachtlichen Umfang erreicht. Einen Teil verfassten jedoch nicht Experten auf dem Gebiet der modernen arabischen Literatur, sondern Literaturwissenschaftler mit Interesse an Genderforschung und
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2021
use it as a corrective reading to well-studied literary accounts. It is debatable whether modern ... more use it as a corrective reading to well-studied literary accounts. It is debatable whether modern scholarship is less biased than the traditional Muslim picture that scholars abhor from Wansbrough onwards (Grasso, “Review of S.J. Shoemaker, The Apocalypse of Empire. Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam”, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 71, 2020, 618–20). Although the discussion on the origins of the Quran is nowadays seen within a broader context, the contemporary debate still focuses too much on attributing it to one community located in one space. The needle thus frantically oscillates between Jewish and Christian communities (but also, more recently, Manichaeans, Zoroastrians and Christian Aksūmites – the latter being the “great outcast” of the volume’s narrative/ s), as well as between North and South, East and West. This is a consequence of what I call “the emptying of Arabia”, a process well-exemplified by Cortieu’s statement that “central Arabia appears a vacuum” (p. 152), and by his proposal to “follow the compass out of Arabia” and not on “the usual path to the West” (p. 169). Yet, the most convincing chapter, the first one, highlights scholars’ unfamiliarity with the syncretism of late antique beliefs. Hence, instead of using a map, Hughes paints a fluid picture of the late antique Arabian milieu, reaching a conclusion which is similar to my own (Grasso, “A Late Antique kingdom’s conversion: Jews and sympathizers in South Arabia”, Journal of Late Antiquity 13, 2020, 352–82). Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and it is worth remembering that no archaeological expedition is currently taking place in either Mecca or Medina. We should thus avoid the temptation of transplanting (or “remapping”) the origins of Islam where our sources are more abundant (or more original). At the same time, we should also refrain from moving our compass eastwards motivated by political correctness or boredom. Only by accepting the fluidity of boundaries, identities and traditions and only after having placed the Arabic Quran in Arabia and Arabia in its broader historical and socio-political context, we will be able to advance the debate on the origins of Islam.
Die welt des Islams, 2009
Of all scientific theories the theory of evolution arguably poses the greatest challenge to theis... more Of all scientific theories the theory of evolution arguably poses the greatest challenge to theistic religions because it threatens to undermine teleology and the central position of mankind in nature. Nevertheless, modernist thinkers among South Asian Muslims like Sayyid Aḥmad Khān and Abū l-Kalām Āzād strove to demonstrate its compatibility with the Qur’ān. Their efforts were rejected by Islamists like Mawdūdī and more traditional scholars writing on the subject. They defended the concept of a consciously designed universe instead. That the defence of this idea is the main motivation for resentment against the theory of evolution among Muslims is underscored by the fact the even a thinker like Ghulām Aḥmad Parwez, who readily dismissed central concepts of traditional theology, accepted the concept of evolution only without the principle of natural selection. Although negative assessments prevail, the theory of evolution did not foment a campaign among South Asian Muslims as it did...
Numen, 2017
The Turkish author Muhammed Bozdağ, who has no formal religious education, has been popular since... more The Turkish author Muhammed Bozdağ, who has no formal religious education, has been popular since the late 1990s because of his self-help seminars and self-help books. Though they are based on the adaptation of Western New Age-inspired models, Bozdağ uses many of the models’ parascientific concepts while carefully eliminating other elements that could undermine Islamic normativity. Furthermore, he emphasizes that worldly success must not be sought without being aware of the hereafter. For this purpose, he has written a book dedicated to the interpretation of traditional Islamic eschatology in parascientific terms. The strong emphases on collective normativity and on a theistic worldview clearly characterize his adaption of elements from new religiosities as highly selective and restricted to very specific purposes.
Ein traditioneller Gelehrter stellt sich der Moderne, 2017
Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 vols.), 2017
Because studies on modern Islam tend to focus on political and legal aspects, eschatology has bee... more Because studies on modern Islam tend to focus on political and legal aspects, eschatology has been neglected for quite some time. The fact that authors like Ghulām Aḥmad Parwēz (Pakistan, 1903-86),1 Maḥmūd Muḥammad Ṭāhā (Sudan, 1909 or 1911-85),2 or Ḥasan Ḥanafī (Egypt, b. 1935), the advocate of the "Islamic Left" in Egypt,3 reformulate salvation as an inner-worldly concept seems to correspond to this politically focused approach to modern Islam. However, this should not distract from the persistence of more conservative interpretations in which the individual afterlife and traditional eschatological concepts play a dominant role. Jane I. Smith and Yvonne Y. Haddad have taken a first step toward filling the gap in research on such concepts by collecting references to the Intermediate World and the hereafter in nineteenth and twentieth-century Arab publications.4 More recently, interest in modern Islamic eschatology has been boosted by the discovery of the importance * General notes: In the summary of the sources, "Allah" is used when the authors use the word "Allâh," whereas tanrı is translated as "God." The English equivalents of religious terms that are generally capitalized in Turkish religious writings are capitalized. Content and URLs of all websites referred to were last checked on
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2002
Starting from the assumption that Islamic modernism and fundamentalism represent two antithetical... more Starting from the assumption that Islamic modernism and fundamentalism represent two antithetical worldviews, in Contemporary Debates in Islam, Moaddel and Talattof have compiled a representative anthology of texts from both ideological currents, covering a wide field of subjects. For the editors, gender relations, legal reform, political theory, the attitude towards science, everyday manners, and the attitude toward non-Muslims are the key issues that separate modernism and fundamentalism, and hence they are given the greatest attention. Economic concepts, a field too often neglected, have not been forgotten. It also becomes clear which subjects are relevant for only one current (conspiracy theories in the case of fundamentalism, historical criticism in the case of modernism). The compilation allows the reader to discern differences inside fundamentalism, for example, outright rejection of majority rule vs. appeals to 'the people,' or obsession for technology (a manifesto of the "Front islamique du Salut") vs. Luddism (Al-e Ahmad). Nevertheless, Moaddel and Talattof are not inclined to hide the problematic aspects of fundamentalism from their readership. The texts selected are unlike those in some other anthologies in that they are long enough to enable the reader to comprehend complete arguments.
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2001
Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science
Die Welt des Islams, 2015
Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb embeds in his Mukhtaṣar sīrat al-rasūl the biography of Muḥammad in an... more Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb embeds in his Mukhtaṣar sīrat al-rasūl the biography of Muḥammad in an overarching vision of history that begins with Adam and ends in the Mongol period. In this cyclical concept the promulgation of Islam is followed by a relapse into shirk due to misdirected piety. But whereas until the time of Muḥammad God himself reinstalled Islam with the help of prophets and miracles, the true Muslims are obliged to fight aberrations. The paradigmatic example for this is the defeat of the ridda, the event which is dealt with most extensively. The author makes clear what he considers as the two main aberrations of his time: sufi practices which he equates with pagan practices by the choice of suggestive vocabulary and the – as he sees it – excessive veneration of Muḥammad. Therefore Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb plays down all aspects which could lead to an ascription of a different ontological status to him and following Ibn Taymiyya he even affirms the historicity of th...
Islamfeindlichkeit, 2009
ABSTRACT Im Mai 2001 erschien bei Herbig das über 500 Seiten starke Werk Von Gott zu Allah. Ohne ... more ABSTRACT Im Mai 2001 erschien bei Herbig das über 500 Seiten starke Werk Von Gott zu Allah. Ohne die Ereignisse des 11. September wäre es vielleicht in der Versenkung verschwunden. Aber so läutete es als Beispiel politischen Weitblicks die bemerkenswerte publizistische Karriere seines Verfassers Hans-Peter Raddatz als einem der bekanntesten Islamkritiker Deutschlands ein. Bis zu 25.000 Exemplare werden von seinen Büchern, seit 2001 pro Jahr eins, verkauft (Die Zeit, 27.1.05). Rezipiert werden sie von einem ideologisch weit gestreuten Leserkreis. Raddatz publiziert in der linkskatholischen Zeitschrift Neue Ordnung, in Die Welt (17.1.06; 22.9.06), aber auch in der Jungen Freiheit (6.4.01). Die konservative Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung lädt ihn als Experten ein (Raddatz 2005a), ebenso das Studienzentrum Weikersheim (studienzentrum-weikersheim.de), zugleich findet er Annerkennung bei linken Antideutschen (Knoop/Osten-Sacken 2004; Jungle World 3.11.05) und Alice Schwarzer (Rohe 2007). In einschlägigen Weblogs wie Politically Incorrect oder Fakten & Fiktionen sowie auf den Internetseiten von Antimoscheebaukampagnen wird Raddatz in Dutzenden von Postings als Autorität zitiert.1 In den USA wurde er vom konservativen Internetmagazin Front Page interviewt (10.6.05; 21.5.08), in der Schweiz von der SVP-nahen Weltwoche (16/2004), während in der Türkei die linksnationalistische Aydinlik seine Schriften anpreist (vgl. moschee-schluechtern.de).
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Darwin and Evolutionary Thought, 2013
Numen, 2013
Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (1703–1792), the founder of the puritan Wahhābī movement in Islam, has... more Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (1703–1792), the founder of the puritan Wahhābī movement in Islam, has written a biography of the prophet that differs markedly from other later works of this genre. He passes over many episodes that are supposed to elevate the status of Muḥammad beyond that of an ordinary human, whereas he includes episodes that show him as human, or even fallible, such as the controversial “Satanic verses.” The purpose of this selection is to demonstrate that apart from events specifically related to revelation, Muḥammad was a human being whose actions can be imitated. However, the scope of Muḥammad’s actions is reduced to the eradication of unbelief and idolatry. This is supposed to suggest that Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb himself is completing what Muḥammad has begun and to legitimize the warfare of followers against the “idolaters.”
Die Welt des Islams, 2007
Hasan Hanafī is often described as leading and original reformer of Arab thought, renovator of th... more Hasan Hanafī is often described as leading and original reformer of Arab thought, renovator of the Islamic cultural heritage (turāth) and advocate of political freedom. But these categorizations are based on insufficient analyses of his writings on both the Islamic and the Western intellectual heritage as well as his statements on current political issues. A critical reading of the first unveils that Hanafī misrepresents religious and philosophical doctrines and that he systematically passes over the fact that the relations between intellectual currents which he claims as role models for the "Islamic left" were marked by deep enmity. His writings on Marxism reveal that he merely condemns capitalism on moral terms without deeper analysis of the way it works. He himself proposes the idea of historical cycles determining the course of Eastern and Western civilization. This allows him to predict the imminent decline of the latter. The contradicting elements in Hanafī's tho...
Masaryk UJL & Tech., 2008
The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam, 2021
Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Thi... more Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, 2021
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