Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan PDF Author: Dobroslawa Wiktor-Mach
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110534630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The book explores the complex world of Islam from the perspective of its adherents and activists in Azerbaijan. Baku, the most secular Muslim capital city, is a battlefield for the minds and souls of „ethnic Muslims.” Visiting pirs was till now the typical expression of religiosity among Azerbaijani Muslims. Sunni-Shia division was blurred. Nowadays, Shia and Sunni Muslim movements propose new distinctive identities. Foreign and local preachers took advantage of liberal religious policies of the 1990s to promote their ideas. Salafis stress the „pristine” Islam and the idea of universalism, while Shias underline rationality in their faith tradition. Turkish model of Islam is more inclusive towards local customs. Sufism, although not as powerful as before, also finds a committed audience. Finally, independent charismatic local leaders gain supporters. The book investigates how this pluralism affects both religious groups and believers. Competitive environment requires effective strategies and flexibility. In this process, the traditional dominance of Shiism is challenged by Sunni movements. Shiism, however, is not giving up and adapts its concepts and practices to contemporary contexts.

Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Religious Revival and Secularism in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan PDF Author: Dobroslawa Wiktor-Mach
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110534630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book explores the complex world of Islam from the perspective of its adherents and activists in Azerbaijan. Baku, the most secular Muslim capital city, is a battlefield for the minds and souls of „ethnic Muslims.” Visiting pirs was till now the typical expression of religiosity among Azerbaijani Muslims. Sunni-Shia division was blurred. Nowadays, Shia and Sunni Muslim movements propose new distinctive identities. Foreign and local preachers took advantage of liberal religious policies of the 1990s to promote their ideas. Salafis stress the „pristine” Islam and the idea of universalism, while Shias underline rationality in their faith tradition. Turkish model of Islam is more inclusive towards local customs. Sufism, although not as powerful as before, also finds a committed audience. Finally, independent charismatic local leaders gain supporters. The book investigates how this pluralism affects both religious groups and believers. Competitive environment requires effective strategies and flexibility. In this process, the traditional dominance of Shiism is challenged by Sunni movements. Shiism, however, is not giving up and adapts its concepts and practices to contemporary contexts.

The Caliph and the Imam

The Caliph and the Imam PDF Author: Toby Matthiesen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198806558
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 961

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Book Description
The authoritative account of the sectarian division that for centuries has shaped events in the Middle East and the Islamic world. In 632, soon after the prophet Muhammad died, a struggle broke out among his followers as to who would succeed him. The majority argued that the new leader of Islam should be elected by the community's elite. Others believed only members of Muhammad's family could lead. This dispute over whoshould guide Muslims, the appointed Caliph or the bloodline Imam, marks the origin of the Sunni-Shii split in Islam. Toby Matthiesen explores this hugely significant division from its origins to thepresent day. Moving chronologically, his book sheds light on the many ways that it has shaped the Islamic world, outlining how over the centuries Sunnism and Shiism became Islams two main branches, particularly after the Muslim Empires embraced sectarian identity. It reveals how colonial rule institutionalised divisions between Sunnism and Shiism both on the Indian subcontinent and in the greater Middle East, giving rise to pan-Islamic resistance and Sunni and Shii revivalism. It then focuseson the fall-out from the 1979 revolution in Iran and the US-led military intervention in Iraq. As Matthiesen shows, however, though Sunnism and Shiism have had a long and antagonistic history, mostMuslims have led lives characterised by confessional ambiguity and peaceful co-existence. Tensions arise when sectarian identity becomes linked to politics. Based on a synthesis of decades of scholarship in numerous languages, The Caliph and the Imam will become the standard text for readers looking for a deeper understanding of contemporary sectarian conflict and its historical roots.

Religious Tourism in Asia

Religious Tourism in Asia PDF Author: Shin Yasuda
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 1786392348
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
This book brings together a range of case studies in the areas of religion, religious tourism and pilgrimage in Asia. It assesses the increasing linkages and interconnections between religious tourism and secular spaces on a global stage, and explores key learning points from a range of contemporary case studies of religious and pilgrimage activity related to ancient, sacred and emerging tourist destinations, new forms of pilgrimage, faith systems and quasi-religious activities. The development and marketing of religious tourism are also addressed in a few chapters. The book has 17 chapters, a list of discussion questions, and a subject index.

Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus

Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus PDF Author: Alexander Agadjanian
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317691571
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book explores developments in the three major societies of the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – focusing especially on religion, historical traditions, national consciousness, and political culture, and on how these factors interact. It outlines how, despite close geographical interlacement, common historical memories and inherited structures, the three countries have deep differences; and it discusses how development in all three nations has differed significantly from the countries’ declared commitments to democratic orientation and European norms and values. The book also considers how external factors and international relations continue to impact on the three countries.

Azerbaijan Since Independence

Azerbaijan Since Independence PDF Author: Svante E. Cornell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317476212
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
Azerbaijan, a small post-Soviet republic located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, has outsized importance becaus of its strategic location at the corssroads of Europe and Asia, its oil resources, and

Muslim National Communism in the Soviet Union

Muslim National Communism in the Soviet Union PDF Author: Alexandre A. Bennigsen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226042367
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
In this study, Bennigsen and Wimbush trace the development of the doctrine of national communism in Central Asia and the Caucasus. At the heart of this doctrine—as elaborated by the Volga Tatar, Mir-Said Sultan Galiev—was the concept of "proletarian nations," as opposed to the traditional notion of a working class. With such ideological innovations, Sultan Galiev and his contemporaries were able to reconcile Marxist nationalisms and Islam and devise an "Eastern strategy" whereby the national revolution was to be spread. The authors show that the ideas of Muslim national communism persist in the land of their birth and have spread to such developing societies as China, Algeria, and Indonesia. This doctrine is an important factor in the ideological split and increasing tensions between industrial and nonindustrial nations, East and West, and now North and South, which grip the world communist movement.

Religion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies

Religion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies PDF Author: Mark D. Steinberg
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253220386
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
"This collection reveals the presence and power of religious belief and practice in public life after the demise of Soviet socialism. Based on recent research and interdisciplinary methodologies, Religion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies examines how religious organizations and individuals engage the changing and troubled environment in which they live, which presents expanded civil freedom but much everyday uncertainty, unhappiness, injustice, and suffering"--Page [4] of cover.

The Dynamics of Sunni-Shia Relationships

The Dynamics of Sunni-Shia Relationships PDF Author: Sabrina Mervin
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1849042179
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Sheds light on the political, sociological and ideological processes that are affecting the dynamics of Sunni-Shia relations

Political Quietism in Islam

Political Quietism in Islam PDF Author: Saud al-Sarhan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838607668
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
In recent years, Islam – whether via the derivatives of 'Political Islam' or 'Islamism' – has come to be seen as an 'activist' force in social and political spheres worldwide. What such representations have neglected is the strong countervailing tradition of political quietism. Political quietism in Islam holds that it is not for Muslims to question or oppose their leaders. Rather, the faithful should concentrate on their piety, prayer, religious rituals and personal quest for virtue. This book is the first to analyze the history and meaning of political quietism in Islamic societies. It takes an innovative cross-sectarian approach, investigating the phenomenon and practice across both Sunni and Shi'i communities. Contributors deconstruct and introduce the various forms of political quietisms from the time of the prophetic revelations through to the contemporary era. Chapters cover issues ranging from the politics of public piety among the women preachers in Saudi Arabia, through to the legal discourses in the Caucasus, the different Shi'i communities in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan, and the Gülen movement in Azerbaijan. The authors describe a wide range of political quietisms and assess the continuing significance of the tradition, both to the study of Islam and to the modern world today.

The Dialectics of Post-Soviet Modernity and the Changing Contours of Islamic Discourse in Azerbaijan

The Dialectics of Post-Soviet Modernity and the Changing Contours of Islamic Discourse in Azerbaijan PDF Author: Murad Ismayilov
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498568378
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Azerbaijan’s independence came after seven decades of militant atheism of Soviet modernization project and emerged into staunch secularism of Western modernity, two factors that, on a par with the country’s precarious neighborhood, promised a sustained indigenous effort towards the desacralization of the country’s political space and the associated exclusion of religion from politics, a modern blueprint that the Azerbaijani state and its society have stood united to diligently follow over the cause of the country’s independent existence. Yet the specific dynamics facing the country in the third decade of independence and the changing contours of its international engagements have gradually been working to set the country free from the stifling grips of Western-style modernity and lay the groundwork for quintessentially and esoterically Azerbaijani pathway of statehood to follow, one combining the nation’s historical embeddedness in an Islamic milieu with its century-old practical experience of modern policy making. This book offers a detailed account of the dynamics behind the religious-secular divide in Azerbaijan over the past two decades of independence and the conditions underlying the ongoing process of normalization of Islamic discourse and the rising cooperation across the country’s secular-religious political landscape and looks into some future dynamics this transformation is set to unleash. It begins with an outline of hybrid intentionality behind the elite’s manifold attitudes to Islam, with particular focus on the strategy of separation between religion and politics in which those attitudes have found expression. It then proceeds to show the complicity of civil society and the broader populace, as well as the international community and the country’s Islamic stratum itself, in the reproduction of the narrative of Islamic danger and the resultant religious-secular divide in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The study then continues with an account of a number of dialectical tensions inherent in policy outcomes to which the hybrid nature of elite intentionality has given rise. It then follows on to discuss key factors contributing to the ongoing normalization of Islam across the public realm and the gradual bridging of the religious-secular divide amidst the ongoing state repression. The volume concludes with a comparative insight into some common features and conditioning factors behind the dynamics underlying the religious-secular nexus in Azerbaijan and across the broader region of the Middle East. It also offers an insight into some future potentialities that the current dynamics have laid bare.