A University of Dundee professor travels to the USA next week (24/9) to speak on Islamic Fundamentalism.
Professor Tony Black who holds a personal chair in the history of political thought is to visit A&M University, Texas to give a public lecture on Islamic Fundamentalism followed by a private seminar paper on "What can we learn from the study of Islamic political thought?" He will also travel to the University of Princeton where he will be taking part in a panel on "The clash of civilizations--the Islamic tradition versus the modern world".
Professor Black, whose seminar and conference trip had been arranged previous to last week's terrorist attacks, agreed to the public lecture and the panel event following the disaster.
A synopsis of his public lecture is given below:
I argue that Islam began as an attempt to convert the world to the new revelation to Muhammad and that conquest by means of jihad (holy war) was seen as a means to this. Muhammad believed that Judaism and Christianity had failed because they did not take power. He believed that religion should govern every aspect of human life including social, economic, family and personal relations.
The Shari`a (right path, holy law) included rules about worship, contracts and divorce, eating, washing and so on. There was no distinction between church and state nor between public and private. A new kind of world-wide community was formed through adherence to common rituals and social ethics. But Muhammad laid down no political constitution. From his day until the 19th century, the Muslim world was in fact ruled by the usual dynasties which acquired, maintained and lost power by a combination of military force and consensus from religious scholars (`ulama).
The aim of most fundamentalists (or, perhaps better, political Islamists) is to apply their versions of the Shari`a by taking over state power. They reject the validity of the nation- state, or any kind of secular (non-Shari'a-based) state. Apart from that they have no identifiable political or economic programme.
The lack of any form of political constitution in the Shari`a means that any individual or group with sufficient military capability, which can persuade enough people that its interpretation of the Quran and Shari`a is correct, can gain power.
In my view, not shared by many scholars, most of the ideas of the fundamentalists have been around a long time. But all agree that one crucial difference today is the kind and degree of frustration felt in much of the Islamic world due to: (1) the perceived failure of secular political programmes, liberal or socialist; (2a) the incursion by Israel into what are regarded as core Islamic lands, in particular Jerusalem and its holy places; (2b) the (largely correct) perception that Israel is supported by Western, especially American, policy; and (3) the social dislocation, unemployment and poverty experienced in less developed countries./ends
Contact Professor Antony Black 01382 668666 (Today, Thursday) or 01382 344592 (Friday)
Note A&M University, Texas = Agricultural & Mechanical University, Texas