Asia Institute - Research Publications
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ItemA Critique of the Concept of Ḥākimiyya: Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s Approach(MDPI AG, 2022-11-14)This article seeks to demonstrate how the Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010) challenges the concept of divine sovereignty (ḥākimiyya), or the rule of God, developed during the twentieth century, primarily by Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi—a concept that has inspired many Sunni Islamist movements. The article first explores key aspects of the concept of ḥākimiyya as presented by these two thinkers. Then, key components of Abu Zayd’s humanistic hermeneutics are explained briefly. The article argues that Abu Zayd uses this hermeneutic to challenge the concept of ḥākimiyya and the three main ideas associated with it: (1) the notion of divine sovereignty; (2) the associations between divine sovereignty, the Prophet, and the Qurʾān; and (3) the necessity of implementing Sharia. The article concludes that while challenging the concept of divine sovereignty, Abu Zayd argues for a political theory which seeks to de-politicize Islam—a theory which emphasizes that the state should take a neutral position toward the religious orientation of its citizens and the state law should not necessarily be derived from religious principles.
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ItemA Historical-Contextualist Approach to the Joseph Chapter of the Qur’an(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2022-01-01)Abstract This article applies a historical-contextualist approach to analyzing the Joseph sūra of the Qur’an. It first explores the theoretical framework of this study and introduces the historical-contextualist methodology employed and then provides a brief explanation of the Qur’anic account of the story of Joseph. The Joseph sūra is analyzed in light of the context of its revelation and the use it makes of fundamental Qur’anic teachings. This article demonstrates that the revelation of the sūra of Joseph was closely related to the sociopolitical context in which Muhammad and the Muslims lived, and that the sūra highlights several fundamental theological teachings of the Qur’an, including God’s unity and omnipotence, revelation and prophethood, and the afterlife, all themes emphasized in earliest sūras of the Qur’an including those revealed before the Joseph sūra.
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ItemFreedom of Religion: The Contribution of Contemporary Iranian Reformist Scholars(MDPI, 2021-06)This article examines a specific line of thinking shared by several contemporary reformist Iranian religious scholars who present arguments in favor of freedom of religion. Focusing on the ideas of five prominent reformist Iranian scholars—Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945), Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari (b.1936), Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (b.1950), Mohsen Kadivar (b.1959), and Ahmad Qabel (d.2012)—the article argues that these thinkers’ defense of freedom of religion is based not only on their interpretations of the Qurʾān and historical Islamic sources, but also philosophical arguments in which concepts from the fields of epistemology and hermeneutics are deployed. As the article demonstrates, some of these scholars connect the notion of freedom of religion to political arguments supporting religious tolerance, or the view that, in order to guarantee religious freedom, the state must be neutral towards the religious orientation of its citizens.
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ItemAyatollah Yusuf Sanei's Contribution to the Discourse of Women's Rights(MDPI, 2021-07)Ayatollah Yusef Sanei was a prominent contemporary Shia scholar whose particular methodological approach led him to issue some of the most progressive Shia fatwas on the subject of women’s rights. However, the ideas he expressed in the last decades of his life have scarcely been addressed in the English language scholarship. This article explores Sanei’s broader jurisprudential approach and how he applied it to analyzing and often challenging traditional Shia rulings related to gender issues. The article first differentiates Sanei’s approach towards jurisprudence from established methodologies, particularly in relation to his consideration of the Sunna as secondary to the Qurʾān, his rejection of the practice of using consensus as an independent basis of legal rulings, his idea that Sharia rulings may change over time, and his strong emphasis on the Qurʾān’s messages of justice and human dignity. The article illuminates how this combination led Sanei to challenge traditional ideas about men’s authority over women, a fixed socio-political role for women, and men’s superiority in the areas of divorce rights, testimony and worth in blood money (dīya), while concurring with earlier scholars on the unequal division of inheritance. Notwithstanding this latter exception, the article demonstrates that Sanei drew upon jurisprudential approaches in arguing in favor of equality between men and women in many areas.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAbdolkarim Soroush's Theory of Revelation: From Expansion and Contraction of Religious Knowledge to Prophetic Dreams(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2021)The Iranian scholar Abdolkarim Soroush has recently developed an account of revelation referred to as the theory of Prophetic Dreams. This article seeks to analyse this theory and its relation to two earlier theories developed by him (that of the Contraction and Expansion of Religious Knowledge and that of the Expansion of Prophetic Experience). In addition, it explores whether the theory of Prophetic Dreams has any roots in classical Islamic literature and the ideas of Muslim theologians, mystics and philosophers in the pre-modern era. Finally, it discusses the implications of Soroush’s theory of Prophetic Dreams for issues related to exegesis and theology, suggesting that it has an important bearing on Islamic theological discourses. The article aims to contribute to scholarly understanding of the development of Soroush’s thought by investigating aspects of his project that have not hitherto been explored.
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ItemIran's Regional Influence in Light of Its Security Concerns(WILEY, 2021-09)Abstract During the past two decades, Iran has gained a prominent position in the Middle East. Its influence in Iraq has gradually increased following the US invasion in 2003, and in Syria after the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. Many scholars and political analysts frame Iran's actions in the region as driven by the country's desire for expansionism. This article, however, demonstrates that Tehran's foreign policy rationale for exercising regional influence, especially in Iraq and Syria, has mainly been oriented around guaranteeing Iran's national security.
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ItemFazlur Rahman's Influence on Contemporary Islamic Thought(WILEY, 2020-06-01)This article examines the influence of Fazlur Rahman, one of the most widely quoted scholars among contemporary Muslim modernists, on contemporary Islamic thought. It explores how Rahman’s ideas about revelation and the interpretation of the Qurn have influenced some contemporary Muslim scholars of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, such as Abdolkarim Soroush, Arash Naraqi, Abdullah Saeed, Nurcholish Madjid, Farid Esack and Amina Wadud, and thus have given rise – whether directly or indirectly – to such schools of thought as Islamic liberation theology and feminist exegesis of the Qurn. The article also provides a critical evaluation the thought of Fazlur Rahman, and examines how its shortcomings have been rectified by his followers.