Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Multidisciplinary Studies: Mathal
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The Moroccan Jurist al-Khamlīshī: Can a Woman Become a Legislator (Mujtahid)?
Full text linkThe idea of deducing legal rulings in Islamic law, or ijtihād, as well as the qualifications of the person who practices ijtihād, known as the mujtahid, has been a complex issue among Muslim ʿulamāʾ for centuries. Many Muslim ʿulamāʾ and Western scholars have maintained that the gate of ijtihād was closed. The title of mujtahid was therefore impossible to attain. The Moroccan intellectual al-Khamlīshī maintains that the strenuous conditions put forth by some of the Sunni jurists to qualify an individual to become a mujtahid actually contributed to the demise of ijtihād. These qualifications, according to al-Khamlīshī, were proven to be unachievable and stood as myriad obstacles in creating new generations to reform the old Islamic fiqh. This essay shows that, despite the extremely strenuous set of qualifications, through the writings of al-Khamlīshī, Moroccan women penetrated men’s domain in Islamic family law, breaking the long-standing monopoly men held therein
The Location of Memory: Diachronic and Synchronic Alibism and Hui Identity
Full text linkAmong China’s various Muslim groups, the Hui stand out on the basis of their ethnicity, history and location, and are considered unlike the Turkic groups in Western territories. The Hui are not confined to a definite region but are present throughout China, and exist in continuous juxtaposition with other groups. For this reason, they determine their identity by simultaneous associations to an exogenous tradition that differentiates them from other Chinese groups, and to endogenous elements that situate them as inherently Chinese.
This position of the Hui at the intersection of two presumably mutually-exclusive cultural spheres, namely Muslim and Chinese, results in mode of identity-formation, which I call alibism, and in which identity is founded on the basis of perpetual deferment to an alternative location
The Shi’a Spring: Shi’a Resistance and the Arab Spring Movement in the GCC States
Full text linkThis paper asks the question: Are the GCC Shi‘a engaged in their own “Shi‘a Spring movement”, and, if so, what does this mean for the future of Shi‘a communities in the Arabian Gulf? While the “Arab Spring” is a movement that is shared among an entire ethno-linguistic group, Shi‘a protesters belong to a group that have be both politically and religiously marginalized in the modern GCC states. Shi‘a protesters face discrimination not only from GCC political authorities, but from GCC citizens, some of whom are fellow Arabs. In addition, this paper examines both the overt and more subtle forms of discrimination imposed on the GCC Shi‘a community during the first phases of the Arab Spring movement (2011-2013)
Blogging, Nationhood, and the Egyptian Revolution: Rethinking Bridgeblogging
No full textThe common interpretation of “bridgeblogs,” or blogs written in English by bloggers in countries where English is not the primary audience, understands them as primarily serving to explain the local political context for an international audience. This article aims to complicate the existing understanding of bridgeblogs through ethnographic research into five Egyptian bridgeblogs. Specifically, this paper considers bloggers’ engagement in discussions about nationhood in 2011, in the wake of the Egyptian uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. This paper argues that by participating in conversations about the future and shape of the Egyptian nation, bridgebloggers are highly engaged in domestic political networks, are dedicated to political causes within the country, and write for both domestic and international audiences
The Independent Press after the "Moroccan Spring"
Full text linkThe wave of Arab Spring that started in Tunisia and Egypt arrived to Morocco in 2011 paving the way to unprecedented organized mass-protests all over the country. Among the demands raised by the 20 February Movement protesters was the demand for free and independent media outlets, especially the press. King Mohammed VI, the Commander of the Faithful and the highest authority in Morocco, promised in a televised speech on March 9th to introduce "radical" and "genuine" constitutional reforms that would democratize the country. In fact, King Mohammed VI has so far succeeded in calming down and co-opting the demonstrations, but journalists and political activists still get fined if they trespass the Hudud[1]. In my short article, I will briefly contextualize the Moroccan independent press and discuss its status after the "Moroccan Spring" with an attempt to show, through cases of imprisoned journalists, the contradictions associated with the liberalization of speech in Morocco. One of the main arguments of my article is that the democratization of the press could never be achieved as long as the public discourse that brings monarchical powers and actions into question is illegal
Political Islamism in Tunisia: A History of Repression and a Complex Forum for Potential Change
Full text linkThis paper argues that the growth and legalization of Political Islamism in Tunisia will naturally hinder the contemporary influence of violent extremism, leading to partnership and inclusion within a Democratic government. The basis for this claim rests on the idea that the condemnation and repression of Political Islamism in Tunisia historically backfired and led to the further underground radicalization of Tunisians, along with scores of human rights abuses by authorities. Specifically, this essay will focus on the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, the Salafist party Ansar al-Sharia, and their complex relationship to each other as well as to domestic and regional politics at large. Furthermore, this essay will examine the wide continuum of Political Islamism at present, including the Tunisian government’s most recent agenda regarding its response to violent extremism, terrorism and acts of vigilante violence. This essay advocates for the Tunisian government to continue to allow the participation of Islamist groups within the political arena while maintaining security, transparency, and accountability for the state and its citizens
From Rights To Representation: Challenging Citizenship From The Margins Post 2011
Full text linkThis study asks whether we are the same citizens as we were before the civil awakening that spilled over from tyrannical Arab states to core cities of the global economy and beyond. To address this question it offers an historical account of the role of New Social Movements, civil society, and deliberative and radical democracy as the three epistemic frameworks that have shaped the figure of the rights-bearing citizen, and which have conceived the neoliberal citizen as a choice driven individual. Taking the neoliberal shift in Israel of the 1980s as its point of departure, it then places the 2011 Tents’ Protest in the broader context of acts of resistance to the entrenchment of neoliberalism. This is followed by a thorough exploration of two post-2011 Israeli activist groups in Jewish and Arab-Palestinian societies respectively, allowing voices and new conceptions of citizenship that had arisen from the margins of the 2011 protest to come to the fore. In the final analysis, this exploration traces how the shift away from the conception of the citizen as a rights-bearing individual challenges neoliberal governmentality. It thus enables us to configure the image of a post-neoliberal citizen, one whose political subjectivity is grounded not in the discourse of rights, but rather in a new discourse of representation
Emigration as a Political Stance? Moroccan Migrants' Narratives of Dignity, Human Rights and Minority Identities in Transnational Context
Full text linkThe protest movements known as the Arab Spring brought the frustration and disappointment of the North African citizens with their governments to the world's attention. Five years after the Arab Spring, the issues of human rights and individual freedom remain important issues in the democratic transition of the Arab societies. Since the countries in North Africa have also been important migrant sending countries for decades, the connection between mass emigration and human right issues forms an interesting research area. This empirical article aims to bring a new perspective to the debate by analysing the narratives dignity, human rights and minority identities of 80 Moroccan migrants living in France. The article first identifies four particularly vulnerable groups among the migrants: women, disabled people, homosexuals and ethnic minorities. It demonstrates how the migration project in case of many study and labour migrant was also motivated by issues related to personal freedom and dignity. Finally, the article discusses the emerging forms of political participation, identities and connections in transnational context and argues for more research on the role of diasporas in the socio-cultural transformations in the North African societies
Neither Fulul nor Ikhwan: The Thought of Abdul Rahman Yusuf and the Rise of an Alternative Current in Post-Morsi Egypt
No full textSince independence, the military and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) have exerted unmatched influence and control over Egypt. However, an “alternative current” is on the rise. In this paper, first, I survey the role played by the military and the MB. Second, I highlight one of the voices of this alternative current, Abdul Rahman Yusuf. The evolution of his thought in post-July 2013 coup era unveils the difficulties facing this alternative current in competing with the well-entrenched voices of both the military and the MB. Notwithstanding such challenges, I argue that suggesting the existence and eventual resilience and popularity of an alternative current that politically and intellectually defies both the military and the MB in Egypt is not a far-fetched aspiration should the leaders of this current articulate their ideas with clarity, embrace genuine reform, celebrate diversity and difference as prerequisites for constructive societal and political pluralism
State Sovereignty and Citizen Agency: The Nationalist-Islamic Discourse of Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din
Full text linkUsing the discourse of Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din, this article examines the contestation of sovereignty in Lebanon. His discourse on questions of sovereignty and agency offers an alternative vision of modernity that is part of an evolving struggle in the Lebanese political system. Lebanon’s consociational democratic system of structured political sectarianism necessitated an enmeshed and interactive theological, organizational, and political response. The article asks how political and ideational challenge – in the sense of empowering a disempowered group – occurs within a dominant political system of democratic exclusion? In addition, the geo-political reality of diminished state-level sovereignty, both vis-à-vis regional and international powers and domestically, in state institutions, functions, and relations, begs the question of how conditions of structured exclusion affect the state’s ability to act autonomously and in the interests of the majority of its citizens? I argue that Shams al-Din’s discourse sought to reform the status quo by emphasizing a post-sectarian accommodative vision. The essence of this vision emphasized the role of the resistant struggle (al-muqawama) for truth, justice, and inclusiveness as integral to the achievement of muwatana or citizenship (ownership / voice in the nation-state) as well as nationalist sovereignty, both of which he contextualized historically and politically within open and constructive relationships with their broader Arab, Islamic, and Human milieus. Shams al-Din’s idealistic but politically-engaged vision drew on the Sunni concept of (consultation) shura and traditional Shi‘i texts to frame just rule as an aspirational struggle and as a post-sectarian framework for political and societal organization based on taqrib (drawing closer, searching for commonalities) that stretches beyond borders. This vision outlined an interactive and interdependent relationship whereby national sovereignty is fortified for being embedded in its society and in the agency of its citizens, and vice versa