Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


The activist as the main beneficiary of the globalisation of resources

The figures of the activist and the preacher have dominated the field of Islamic authority in recent years. For example, in Belgium, the current president of the Muslim Executive of Belgium, Mehmet Üstün, although in reality a religious manager, has close ties to the Islamist Turkish movement Millî Görüş. The latter movement is also in the crosshairs of France, where it manages 70 mosques.1 The globalisation of resources favours the activist because he is now able to mobilise networks and funding across borders, which allows him to have a greater impact than a local imam. Recent restrictions on Islamic funding in France and Austria show the challenge of mobilising global resources for activists. Yet, various systems of circumventing controls have always operated through unofficial networks and intermediaries (the hawala system, for example2).

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Tartalomjegyzék


Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó – Ludovika Egyetemi Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2024

ISBN: 978 963 454 960 4

Authority is a key question in Islamic studies and beyond. This book examines the nature, figures, structures and functions of religious authority in contemporary Islamic ethics. It also discusses how Islamic authority and political power compete and/or cooperate in Muslim contexts and Europe. Moreover, it provides a coherent framework to understand authority as a moral foundation in relation to community, power, tradition and subversion. Various cases from Europe and the Muslim world are studied here to showcase the claims and practices of authority in their contexts. Despite its active role and resourcefulness in contemporary Islam, religious authority has to confront many limitations, including the dynamics of secularisation and individualisation. The author is a senior researcher at the Religion and Society Research Institute of the Eötvös József Research Centre at the University of Public Service (Budapest).

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/belhaj-authority-in-contemporary-islam//

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