Islamic Political Theology

201 Pages·2021·1.626 MB·English

by  Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato

Islamic Political Theology
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key
Series Editor: Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame
“Political Theology” is a theme which straddles two major areas of inquiry: political phi-
losophy and theology, or differently phrased: the realms of secular politics and the sacred.
The relation is marked by difference, sometimes by tension or confict. During the past
century, such confict reached a boiling point when the Nazi regime sought to co-opt or
integrate the Christian population. In opposition to this attempt, a “Confessing Church”
was formed which, under the leadership of Karl Barth, issued the Barmen Declaration
(May 31, 1934) which insisted on the independence of faith from political power structures
while, at the same time, guarding against the pure “privatization” of faith. In our time, it is
important to remember this precedent because there are strong tendencies to push religion
into similar dilemmas. This series will launch new investigations into the relations between
faith and politics on a broad ecumenical and global level. Its guiding question will be, “to
what extent do different theologians or different political theologies make possible the
prospect of a divinely sanctioned ‘kingdom’ of peace and justice?”
Recent Titles
Islamic Political Theology, Edited by Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance, Edited by Lori Brandt Hale & W.
David Hall
The Legacy of the Barmen Declaration: Politics and the Kingdom, by Fred Dallmayr
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
Islamic Political Theology
Edited by
Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato
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© LEXINGTON BOOKS
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giryp Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
Published by Lexington Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefeld Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www .rowman .com
6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2021 by The Rowman & Littlefeld Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Campanini, Massimo, 1954- editor. | Di Donato, Marco, editor.
.de Title: Islamic political theology / edited by Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato.
vre Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, 2021. | Series: Faith and politics: political
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ir llA ISBN 9781498590587 (cloth) | ISBN 9781498590594 (epub)
.sko Subjects: LCSH: Islam and politics.
o Classifcation: LCC BP173.7 .I86945 2021 (print) | LCC BP173.7 (ebook) |
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no DDC 297.2/72—dc23
tgn LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005524
ixeL LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005525
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th National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
In memory of professor Massimo Campanini
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
Contents
Introduction: What Is Islamic Political Theology? 1
Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato
1 Alfarabi’s Political Theology in The Virtuous City 11
Catarina Belo
2 Ibn al-Tiqtaqa’s End of History: The Just Ruler according to
an Imami Shiite after the Fall of Baghdad 27
Leonardo Capezzone
3 Political Theology of Violence: Religion and Revolution in a Few
Contemporary Islamic Thinkers 39
Massimo Campanini
4 Art and Political Context in Islam: Some Methodological Issues 51
Oliver Leaman
5 Muhammad ‘Abduh and the Doctrine of Tawhid: From Theology
to Politics 67
.de Margherita Picchi
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ir llA .sko Pejman Abdolmohammadi
oB 7 Critique of the Islamic Political Thought in the Middle Ages:
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vii
Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
viii Contents
8 The Political Theology of Taha Abderrahmane: Religion,
Secularism, and Trusteeship 113
Mohammed Hashas
9 Rethinking Political Theology in the Islamic Context: The Case
of Iran 135
Ahmad Bostani
10 Political Theology in the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries 159
Josep Puig Montada
Index 181
About the Editors 185
About the Contributors 187
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook
Introduction
What Is Islamic Political Theology?
Massimo Campanini and Marco Di Donato
Editing a book on political theology in Islam is a challenge. First of all
because the expression “political theology” is ambiguous and open to diverse
interpretations. Secondly, because we must oppose the widely shared—even
in the academy—view that Islam is naturally theological-political since it is
“theocratic.” The question in itself is simple: how can a religion like Islam,
connecting heaven and earth, faith and society, worship and mundane action,
not be political? Rather, the answer is diffcult.
The concept unifying these elements is that of a religious community
(Umma) which could be, at one and the same time, the privileged subject and
the object of political theology. The idea of a religious community or Umma
is pivotal in Islam, being charismatic (Watt 1980); therefore, Islam seems
particularly ftted for political theology. Moreover, connecting politics and
religion does mean in Islam connecting politics with jurisprudence, insofar
as Islam is a normative religion (like Judaism) and, as is well known, the
law (shari‘a) is of divine origin. Through the revealed basis of the law (the
shari‘a) and the consequent human elaboration of positive jurisprudence
.d (fqh), God made manifest His will both in social life and in politics: the
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.skoo t(oalg-eGthhearz athlie 2 d0i1m0e).nsion of religious science with the dimension of legal acts
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Islamic Political Theology, edited by Massimo Campanini, and Donato, Marco Di, Lexington Books, 2021. ProQuest Ebook