Islam

Who Justifies Violence in Dagestan and Why? A Comparative Analysis of Value Profiles of Muslim Religious Groups in Dagestan

This article describes the results of quantitative value research into the Muslims of Dagestan and outlines the difference between religious groups present in this republic of Russia. It also presents information on the determinants of the justification of violence (in its different forms). According to this analysis, religious groups have certain value profiles. Sufis, for example, value obedience, disapprove of violence, and tend to trust people.

The Ideology of Russian-Language Jihadism before ISIS: Its Soviet Reception as the Origin of Post-Soviet Radicalism

This article is devoted to the origin and development of the propagandist ideology of Russian-language Jihadism, which is linked with the events in the Middle East over the last few years. It develops the idea that the jihadism in Russia should be considered not so much in the context of the Islamic issue or as a result of the influence of foreign countries, but rather as an example of post-Soviet radicalism, formed on a native ideological and intellectual base.

The Post-Secular Age of the Neomodern in the Middle East

This article is dedicated to an analysis of the current situation in the Arab world within the framework of Neomodernism theory and to the detection of the religious component of the socio-political process. According to Neomodernism theory, contemporary human society is at the point of transferring from the postmodern stage to a new one. This stage is characterized by the combination of three elements: the need for a new positive message, the archaic content of this message, and the use of postmodern tools to construct it.

Islam in the West or Western Islam? The Disconnect of Religion and Culture

The definitive presence of a huge Muslim population in Europe will have long-term consequences. There is, nevertheless, some debate about the size of the Muslim population, partly due to imprecise data, partly due to the difficulty of knowing who qualifies as Muslim. Is one defined as a Muslim because of one’s choice of religious community, or is one a Muslim by ethnic background? Beyond the demographic aspect, the fact that Islam is taking hold in Europe seems to call into question European identity. What does the rise of Islam in Europe entail in terms of shared culture and values?

“Islamic Reformation”: Positive Project or Artificial Concept?

Today the concept of “Islamic Reformation” acts as a universal framework for a large number of research projects within the field of Islamic and Muslim studies. This theory, mediated by Western modernization theory, claims a comprehensive understanding of Islamic reality and thus attracts many researchers. However, this universality results in a lack of attention to some important areas, which stimulates criticism from experts on Islam.

Islamism and the New Disintegration of Empires

In this interview, Georgi Derluguian discusses the reasons of Islamism’s popularity in the context of collapse of two great projects of the West — liberalism and communism. He pays special attention to organizational peculiarity of Islam, which allows this religion to lead successful wars against powerful empires. People who find this ideology attractive are not “new barbarians”; on the contrary, we are dealing with modern socially active people, whose access to social lifts has been blocked.

“What Do We Believe?”: Rebirth of “Traditional Religion” in Post-War Abkhazia

The Exaltation of Holy Cross and the Deposition of the Emperor of Ethiopia: Lïj Iyasu and a Mäsqäl Drama

On September 16, 1916 the Ethiopian ruler Iyasu was excommunicated and deposed. Although there in a great deal of literature concerned with the local and international political forces behind this coup, its timing has been considered only in passing. This article focuses on the fact that this event coincided with the major Christian festival of Mäsqäl (The Festival of the Cross), an early Christian celebration, which was elevated to the de facto status of a major feast by the Ethiopian Church in the 15th century.

History of Ecumenism: The Forgotten Early Period

In the histories of ecumenism, its initial formation is usually dated by the early 20th century. The World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910 is referred to as its “symbolic beginning”. A quest for the origins of the ecumenical thought led researchers to find some early voices in the previous centuries, even as early as in the 15th–16th c. However, there are Oriental sources which witness a much earlier formation of the ecumenical paradigm of the ecclesiological thought, typologically corresponding to the one developed in the 20th c.

On Bryan S. Turner’s Anti-Orientalist Sociology of Islam

The article makes an overview of the work of Bryan Stanley Turner, prominent expert on Islam and the author of an original theory as reflected in his papers recently put together in the volume called «Sociology of Islam». The crucial point of most of the chapters included in the volume is a thorough analysis of Orientalism and its implications to current Islamic Studies.

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