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Who speaks for Islam? To whom do Muslims turn when they look for guidance? To what extent do individual scholars and preachers exert religious authority, and how can it be assessed? The upsurge of Islamism has lent new urgency to these questions, but they have deeper roots and a much longer history, and they certainly should not be considered in the light of present concerns only.The present volume – grown out of an international symposium at the Free University, Berlin in 2002 – is not so much concerned with religious authority, but with religious authorities, men and women claiming, projecting and exerting religious authority within a given context. It addresses issues such as the relationship of knowledge, conduct and charisma, the social functions of the schools of law and theology, and the efforts on the part of governments and rulers to organize religious scholars and to implement state-centred hierarchies.The volume focuses on Middle Eastern Muslim majority societies in the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, and the individual papers offer case studies elucidating important aspects of the wider phenomenon. Individually and collectively, they highlight the scope and variety of religious authorities in past and present Muslim societies.
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SPEAKING FOR ISLAM SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STUDIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA (S.E.P.S.M.E.A.) (Founding editor: C.A.O. van Nieuwenhuijze) Editor REINHARD SCHULZE Advisory Board Dale Eickelman (Dartmouth College) Roger Owen (Harvard University) Judith Tucker (Georgetown University) Yann Richard (Sorbonne Nouvelle) VOLUME 100 SPEAKING FOR ISLAM Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies EDITED BY GUDRUN KRÄMER AND SABINE SCHMIDTKE LEIDEN • BOSTON 2006 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Speaking for Islam : religious authorities in Muslim societies / edited by Gudrun Krämer and Sabine Schmidtke. p. cm. — (social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia, ISSN 1385-3376 ; v. 100) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-90-04-14949-6 ISBN-10: 90-04-14949-X (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Authority—Religious aspects—Islam. 2. Islamic law—Islamic countries. 3. Scholars, Muslim—Islamic countries. I. Krämer, Gudrun. II. Schmidtke, Sabine. III. Series. BP165.7.S64 2006 297.6—dc22 2006044022 ISSN 1385-3376 ISBN-13: 978-90-04-14949-6 ISBN-10: 90-04-14949-X © Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS List of Contributors .................................................................. vii Introduction: Religious Authority and Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. A Critical Overview .......................... Gudrun Krämer and Sabine Schmidtke 1 “This day have I perfected your religion for you”: A ¸àhirì Conception of Religious Authority ...................................... Camilla Adang 15 The Epistemology of Excellence: Sunni-Shi'i Dialectics on Legitimate Leadership .........................................................