Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


Resilience and the limits to religious authority

The recent changes in European societies have set limits on the capacity of Muslim figures of authority to exert influence in their respective communities. Yet, these figures of authority have shown an uncanny resilience and a sense of pragmatism in bouncing back against these restrictions. As I explained earlier in this chapter, resilience is regeneration in the face of adversity. Religious figures of authority engage in constructive dynamics at four levels I discuss here: (1) the Covid-19 health crisis; (2) relations to states; (3) relations to communities; (4) dissent. In the following, while illustrating the changes as challenges to the limits of religious authority and processes of secularising, I also consider how religious authority contributes to the positive dynamics of construction, insertion and to the training of future generations albeit through processes of re-sacralising.

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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