Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


Introduction

The Muslim Executive of Belgium (EMB) has been the representative body of Islam in Belgium since 1996. Ever since its creation, this organisation has symbolised the difficulties of representing Islam in a non-Muslim society, and in dealing with the role of the state, in relation to religious authority and political power. On the one hand, the majority of mosques and Islamic actors/adherents do not recognise the religious authority of the EMB even though it claims this authority through the Council of Theologians, among other mechanisms. On the other hand, while being an official and federally funded body, the EMB maintains political loyalties to Morocco and Turkey and relies on an ethnic-religious anchorage in the Moroccan and Turkish communities in Belgium.

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//

BibTeXEndNoteMendeleyZotero

Kivonat
fullscreenclose
printsave