Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


The moralising state: the dilemmas of authority and subversion, order and chaos

In his The Righteous Mind. Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that authority/subversion are key moral foundations of all human societies. The latter can differ in the perception of acts of authority and anti-authority, but they are all regulated by some mechanisms of authority which guarantee the role of control to instil awareness to individuals of societal rules. All societies are also subject to subversive acts which usually end up suppressed at some point. Thus, a legitimate order has both the right and the responsibility to perform the role of control (although there can exist abuse in the use of this right and failure to assume this responsibility). The responsibility to create and sustain the moral order means also to pay attention to triggers of subversion such as acts of transgression against traditions, institutions or values that are foundational to social stability.1

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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