Abdessamad Belhaj

Authority in Contemporary Islam

Structures, Figures and Functions


Saʿd al-Dīn Hilālī vs al-Azhar

Religious authority in Egypt (represented by al-Azhar) maintains a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Egyptian state.1 While competition within the Egyptian religious sphere is a fact exploited by the Egyptian state to keep religious authority under control, it is also true that the state and al-Azhar cooperate for the purposes of religious and political legitimisation.2 The state, equally skilfully, uses state institutions to boost al-Azhar’s popular legitimacy – albeit to ensure that it remains useful for the purposes of political legitimisation. Political power and religious authority in Egypt although separate remain inextricably intertwined. This cooperation gives rise to the Egyptian official Islam, controlled by the State, however fragmented, represents the majority legal schools and theological doctrines in the country, supervises preaching, teaching, fatwa and religious foundations.

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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