(The article below first appeared in the newsletter of the International Sociological Association Vol, 3, no, 1.) In his seminal book Muslim Society, Ernest Gellner boldly asserts: “By various obvious criteria – universalism, scripturalism, spiritual egalitarianism, the extension of full participation in the sacred community, not to one, or some, but to all, and the… Continue reading Why does the Muslim world suffer from deficits of freedom, development and knowledge?
Category: Religion
Islam, Intellectuals and Civil Religion in Malaysia.
Is there a civil religion in deeply divided Malaysia? This paper examines several institutions and one strategic group (the intellectual elite) as potential “carriers ” of civil religion. Evidence reveals, however, that civil religious symbols, although they exist, appear on the margins of key institutions. Nor do Malay-Muslim intellectuals reformulate religion in terms of a… Continue reading Islam, Intellectuals and Civil Religion in Malaysia.
Islam, society and political behaviour: some comparative implications of the Malay case
The article presents a discussion on Islam, society and political behaviour by considering the case of the West Malaysian state of Kelantan. Religion, like myth, turns often upon the relation between morality and reality. Thus many religiously inspired world views, and especially those of the universalistic religions, are in tension with social reality. A collision… Continue reading Islam, society and political behaviour: some comparative implications of the Malay case
Ethnicization of the State and Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia – The Case of Lina Joy
Paper presented at the 5th EuroSEAS Conference in Naples, Italy (September 12-14, 2007), in Panel 17 on “Civility and Social Relations???. Author: Timo Kortteinen (Academy Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland). [Download]