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Since the Islamic resurgence hit Southeast Asia in the 1980s, Muslim societies now have greater aspirations for adhering to the Shariah, the body of laws meant to govern Muslims' day-to-day lives. At the institutional level, the desire for this compliance manifested in the establishment of various institutions such as Islamic banking and financial programmes. At the personal and societal levels, there are increasing demands for the provision of halal-certified.
Syed Hussein Alatas and Critical Social Theory: Decolonizing the Captive Mind offers a variety of historical, religious, and philosophical perspectives into the significance of Syed Hussein Alatas’ life and thought today.
. . . The meaning of the phrase “Islam is socialist in nature” merely acts as a categorisation into a particular system of society based on the features that characterise it as socialist. Those who are against Islam being considered as socialist either do not understand the meaning of certain words or want to uphold the current capitalist system. This book, by the preeminent Malaysian sociologist, Professor Dr Syed Hussein Alatas, is the translation of the Malay Islam dan Sosialisme (Petaling Jaya, Gerakbudaya, 2020), which first appeared in 1976 as Islam dan Sosialisma (Pulau Pinang, Seruan Masa). Despite its size, the book covers important and critical issues, including the relationship between religion and socialism, the different types of socialism, as well as the public’s unease about the similarities and differences between socialism and communism. Most importantly, Professor Alatas calls upon us to fight the injustices of capitalism. More than 40 years after its original publication, his ideas are still relevant today.
The writings of Ibn Khaldūn, particularly the Muqaddimah (Prolegomenon) have rightly been regarded as being sociological in nature. For this reason, Ibn Khaldūn has been widely regarded as the founder of sociology, or at least a precursor of modern sociology. While he was given this recognition, however, few works went beyond proclaiming him as a founder or precursor to the systematic application of his theoretical perspective to specific historical and contemporary aspects of Muslim societies in North Africa and the Middle East. The continuing presence of Eurocentrism in the social sciences has not helped in this regard: it often stands in the way of the consideration of non-Western sourc...
A scholar from Nahdlatul Ulama by the name of Imaduddin Utsman has recently challenged the long-accepted claim that the Ba‘Alawi—Muslims of Hadhrami descent also known in Indonesia as habaib—are descendants of Prophet Muhammad. The challenge arose out of his critical examination of available records on the Prophet’s lineage from the fifth century to the tenth century of Islam. His unprecedented challenge courted controversy in Indonesia. It was even more surprising that it came from a religious scholar with a traditionalist background. The debate that ensued was inevitable as the habaib community had to defend their ancestry, and joining them in their defence were some Javanese Musli...
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What are trending Islamic ideas in Southeast Asia; how are they transmitted and who transmits them? These are questions that linger among the minds of policymakers, diplomats and scholars interested in Islam in Southeast Asia. Trending Islam maps and discusses key personalities, groups or institutions that influence Muslims in the region. This book dedicates more space to discuss the role of the Internet in disseminating religious discourses. Internet’s role, in particular the use of social media either to advance interpretations of Islamic ideas or to gain influence in the public sphere, is becoming more significant as it allows information to spread faster and wider. While not discountin...
Religious and ethno-religious issues are inherent in many multiethnic and multi-religious societies. Singapore society is no exception. It has long been multiethnic, multicultural and multi-religious, being at the crossroads of many major and minor civilizations, cultures and traditions, and its religious diversity continues to develop in the current contexts of growing religiosity, religious change and conflict often in the name of religion. Despite this background, there is lack of in-depth knowledge, nuanced understanding and regular dialogue about religions and the meanings of living in a multi-religious world. This volume covering major themes of Singapore's religious landscape, religion in schools and among the young, religion in the media, religious involvement in social services, and interfaith issues and interaction fills important gaps in the knowledge and understanding of Singapore's religious diversity and complexity. A collective effort of researchers and practitioners, it is a timely and useful reference for scholars, decision-makers, leaders and practitioners as well as for concerned citizens and followers.
By studying intersections among new cults of wealth, ritually empowered amulets and professional spirit mediumship—which have emerged together in Thailand’s dynamic religious field in recent decades—Capitalism Magic Thailand explores the conditions under which global modernity produces new varieties of enchantment. Bruno Latour’s account of modernity as a condition fractured between rationalizing ideology and hybridizing practice is expanded to explain the apparent paradox of new forms of magical ritual emerging alongside religious fundamentalism across a wide range of Asian societies. In Thailand, novel and increasingly popular varieties of ritual now form a symbolic complex in whic...