Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


Practices of authority

I defined practices of authority as actions taken to perform the claims of authority. In the case of IUMS, three major practices of authority have gained focus since its foundation in 2004: (1) producing and disseminating religious knowledge; (2) promulgating fatwa and legislation; (3) playing an active role in Muslim society and politics. While teaching and fatwa issuing are traditional practices of authority for a theologian-jurist, social and political activities are usually overlooked in the academic literature. Sunni ʿulamāʾ are believed to transmit rather than to take action, while, in fact, the latter is an integral part of their authority.1 Next, I will elaborate on each of these practices.

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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