A Companion to Muslim Cultures
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Culture shapes every aspect of the relationship between God and the believer in Islam – as well as among believers, and with those beyond the fold. Fasts, prayers and pilgrimages are attuned to social rhythms old and new, no less than the designs of mosques and public gardens, the making of ‘religious’ music, and ways of thinking about technology and wellbeing. Ancient deserts and modern urban landscapes may echo with the same call for transcendence, but in voices that emerge from very different everyday realities. Scripture itself, as the Prophet Muhammad knew, is ever seen through a cultural lens; both language and what it communicates are intimately tied to context. And the cosmopolitanism that runs through Muslim history from the outset recalls T.S. Eliot’s remark that culture is ‘that which makes life worth living’. It frames how the deepest religious values are understood and practiced, from modesty in adornment and solidarity with the underprivileged, to integrity and accountability in political life. Muslims have never been content with a passive separation of faith from their daily lives, whether public or private. What are the implications of this holistic view in a diverse world of Muslims and non-Muslims? How do core ethical values interface with the particulars of local cultures in all their complexity, especially when it comes to matters like the status of women and the scope of individual religious freedom? The answers – at a time when secular and Muslim identities appear to be locked in conflict – are explored in this Companion by some of today’s finest scholars.
About the Contributors
List of Illustrations
1. Introduction: Faith and Culture
Amyn B. Sajoo
2. Everyday Tradition
Earle Waugh
3. Modernity: Secular and Sacred
Abdullahi An-Na'im
4. Spiritual Life
Carl W. Ernst
5. Gender and Identity
Elena Caprioni and Eva Sajoo
6. Science and Social Change
Morgan Clarke
7. Architecture and Community
Hussein Keshani
8. Moving Words
Jonathan M. Bloom
9. Moving Sounds
Jonathan Shannon
10. A Taste of Mecca
Mai Yamani
11. Cosmopolitanism: Ways of Being Muslim
Karim H. Karim
Index
‘Until now we have never had a single published source that conveys Muslim approaches - normative and descriptive, ancient and modern - to the most pressing issues of our time. A Companion to Muslim Ethics fills that lacuna. An edited work that does not eschew the benefit of art and literature, it also treats the public square – ecology, health care and economy – and offers the riposte to violence, namely, dispute resolution, tolerance and nonviolence. Each of the essays, from a range of well known authorities, is carefully crafted in lucid, accessible prose. A Companion to Muslim Ethics is at once a welcome and much needed guide to Muslim aspirations for the 21st century.’
– Bruce B. Lawrence, Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Professor, Duke University
‘The field of Islamic ethics is resuming its rightful place among the disciplines of Islamic thought. Scholars are now recognizing the ways in which ethics mediate the connection between law and spirituality, the realms of the public and the private. Amyn Sajoo's scholarship is very much at the forefront of this renewed interest in Islamic ethics. Highly recommended!’
– Omid Safi, University of North Carolina
'Social, cultural, and intellectual currents are surveyed in their multiplicities and highlighted in their varying features by a group of recognized scholars in accessible prose. Unique and a solid contribution.’
– Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria, Canada
Amyn B. Sajoo is Scholar-in-Residence at Simon Fraser University's Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures in Canada. He has held visiting appointments at Cambridge and McGill universities, as well as at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. Dr Sajoo's publications include A Companion to Muslim Ethics (2010), A Companion to the Muslim World (2009), Muslim Modernities: Expressions of the Civil Imagination (2008), Muslim Ethics: Emerging Vistas (2004), Civil Society in the Muslim World (2002) and Pluralism in Old Societies and New States (1994). He is a frequent contributor to the news media on both sides of the Atlantic, and serves as the general editor of the Muslim Heritage Series at The Institute of Ismaili Studies.