Islam is a religion of vast dimensions which has inspired great civilizations and today offers many men and women comfort and ethical guidance. In this paper I suggest that the tension between the Qur'an accepted as the perfect timeless word of God and the encultured dynamic Islam of nearly a quarter of the world's population results in contending perspectives of women's role and rights. The Qur'an gives men and women spiritual parity, but there are verses in the Qur'an that some feminists find difficult to reconcile with the modern rights of women. Most Islamic feminists make a clear distinction between cultural practices (what actually happens to embodied women) and the pure word of God. 1 There are profound differences in the status of women within and between predominantly Muslim countries. In some countries it is illegal for women to drive a car, or to move freely outside the home, in others women have become heads of state. The decision to wear the veil, often a sign of empowerment in Europe, is in parts of the Islamic world obligatory. Voices representing an exclusivist, literalist understanding of Islam have entered the mainstream of Muslim lives due in part to the fact that Wahhabism imposes a narrow, sectarian view of Islam, and the Saudi government with its massive oil wealth propagates this puritanical form of Islam across the world. Some traditionalist maulanas and maulvis are concerned above all with women's modesty and enforce customs that refine, purify and protect their chastity. They, like some Islamic feminists, position Islamic rights and roles for women with regard to the exoticized and eroticized `other' — in this case Western civilization, Western imperialism and the rise of Western feminism. `The West' becomes for traditional interpreters a kind of contemporary jahilya. There are also many progressive Muslim scholars who seek to articulate a historically accurate, non-idealized, now challenged, now challenging, view of Islam with an uncompromising emphasis on social justice, equality and pluralism (Safi 2008: 215). This paper argues that the ongoing, postcolonial battle against Western `imperialism' demands epistemological humility. Nevertheless, women are fighting for basic human rights and freedoms in parts of the Islamic world where the State, religious authorities (the ulema) and the patriarchal family assume the right of legal and moral surveillance. In considering the nature of violence to Muslim women in Pakistan and the UK, I hope to show that accusations of orientalism should not deter us from recognizing the courage of women activists who themselves risk imprisonment and of the struggle of women victims of rape and domestic violence to overcome feelings of shame and dishonour. I argue that both the private and public spheres need to be made safe for all Muslim women, and not just a professional elite. This can only be achieved by a fuller recognition of women's rights encapsulated in law and all aspects of public life.
Spirituality has increasingly featured in writings about religion. This article explores the diverse and often contradictory ways in which this term is now being employed, it questions the reasons for its present popularity, and asks to what extent it can serve the purposes to which it is being put. Finally, by using the insights of contemporary anthropology and especially the work of Michael Carrithers, it suggests a more satisfactory way in which the ideas associated with spirituality might be investigated. Academic Press LimitedA distinguishing characteristic of contemporary religious studies is the extraordinary popularity of the idea of spirituality and the proliferation of its use in courses, conferences, discussions, journals and books. 1 What is also apparent is the widespread and radical differences that exist over the use of the term, its possible meanings and significance. For some it represents the move of phenomenological studies of religion into a new key, stressing subjectivities and experience as over against dispassionate objectivity, the soul rather than the form of religion. To others it signifies an escape from the unnecessary confines of religion into the more inclusive realm of our common humanity, rendering any necessary reference to the transcendent obsolete. To yet others its obscurities and ambiguities render it an empty and misleading slogan. And such different uses can be multiplied. What do we mean by Spirituality?Professor Flew gives a striking example of the contemporary use of the term. 2 The mother of a young woman who had died tragically in a demonstration over the export of veal calves to France said that her daughter was not religious, but spiritual. I can think of many other examples when a speaker has detached spirituality from religion. A student told me firmly that she was not interested in religion but in spirituality. Another said about paintings by Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky that they were spiritual, not religious. A third said that her own spirituality was about going for walks in the country and looking at the flowers.Are these simply examples of a loose use of language? How are we to understand them? In the case of the young woman mentioned above, her mother may have meant that her daughter did not go to church but that she had chosen a life of moral responsibility that involved sensitivity to, or compassion for, all sentient beings. The student who said that for her spirituality meant walking in the country felt embarrassed at the apparent simplicity of this statement, but it struck a strong chord with her friends. Perhaps by spirituality she meant feelings of harmony, serenity and well-being. We may safely hypothesize that for both her and her friends spirituality is a wider and more accessible concept than religion, expressed not only through religion but experienced through art, music and nature.More formally, spirituality has been variously described as an approach to God, a religious practice, a devotional path, a discipline, a creative energy, a sense ...
This article explores whether a relational approach to peacebuilding, shared multireligious perspectives and widening networks can bring sources of strength which enable positive peacebuilding and create grassroots, cross-community peace. While religious peacebuilding organizations have become the object of a burgeoning literature, the role of multireligious organisations in peacebuilding has received far less attention. The purpose of this paper is to redress this lack. By examining the influence, challenges and benefits of multireligious approaches to transnational peacebuilding, we hope to develop a sharper and more critically nuanced understanding of the potential role of multireligious organisations in global peacebuilding, and consider what, if anything, distinguishes them from secular and other faith-based organisations. We do so by analysing the impact of a project carried out in Myanmar by Religions for Peace. The project provides three case studies which offer unique opportunities to consider the limits and potential of multireligious grassroots interventions in conflict contexts with very different histories and cultural configurations.
This article reflects the growing interest of governments, international development, peace and interfaith organizations, and academics in the link between religions and conflict, and in the fact that religion often serves as a vehicle and language for protest and conflict. It is often deeply implicated in national, ethnic, cultural, and/or geopolitical considerations. The article also reflects the fact that religious studies as a discipline is increasingly required to demonstrate public relevance and impact in debates concerning the role of religion in conflict and conflict transformation. It grows out of a research project which explores the potentially constructive role of religions in active peacebuilding, postconflict reconciliation and restorative justice while acknowledging that there are multiple interpretations of religious traditions that can relate to militancy, chauvinism and nationalist ideologies. The project is focused on post-conflict Nepal, and works horizontally and vertically with grassroots and local organizations as well as with transnational institutions and international bodies. This article is a preliminary contextualization of one strand of the project, Buddhist contributions to the peace-building and post-conflict recovery. It draws a broad picture of the ways in which Buddhism has been constructed politically as a universalist culture of peace, but is also associated with competing ethnic identities and ‘nationalities’. It considers how far Buddhist organizations, communities and leaders have been able to engage with the immediate causes of the civil war (1996–2006), and the deep structural issues, inequalities and injustices which drive grievance and violence.
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