Suchergebnisse

Notwithstanding all differences between the two chosen examples some astonishing parrallels come to light concerning cultural frameworks & deeper social mechanisms, which foster the emergence & success of radical religious movements in these areas. The concrete causes & trigger mechanisms are a general atmosphere of political, social, & above all moral crisis as well as a state of cultural war within these societies -- a fierce struggle for religious core values & moral standards between liberal-secular parts & traditional-religious sections of the population. Some spectacular examples of religious terrorism from both cultural areas -- the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing & Palestinian suicide assassinations in Israel -- will allow a sober view on the background of religious violence. Official authorities just as these societies as a whole have enormous difficulties in handling the problem, & these societies show a specific kind of helplessness toward religious radicals & terrorists. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this article is to explain how suicide attacks, which began as a very specific & limited strategy of Islamist organizations, could become more generalized. The figure of the martyr has become the main figure of the intifada al Aqsa, & the suicide bomber is one, if not the main, incarnation. Through an analysis of the Palestinian discourse of martyrdom, this article demonstrates how the martyr constitutes the figure of the "national hero," a sacralized & exemplary figure. This derives from the double association with a cause, the Palestinian national cause, & with a system of beliefs (faith). The sacralization of this figure of the hero & its integration into religious terms of reference makes it possible to cite the next world, which at the same time authorizes the reference to death & to overcoming death. The reference to death corresponds to the evolution of the Palestinian analysis of the balance of power, to their feeling of being the losers anyway. In this context, commitment to the national struggle can only mean death, so the hero of such a struggle is the hero who dies. But the sacralization of his death & its integration into a religious context of meaning makes it possible to go beyond the level of death, & to create an instrument for victory & a better future: for the personal fate of the shahid, on the one hand, who is promised the rewards of paradise, but also for the national struggle, which each shahid connects a little more with the jihad, the sacred fight in which victory is certain in the long term. The insistence on a sacralized national hero, the martyr, thus allows, through the integration of the national struggle in a religious frame of meaning, a double overcoming: the overcoming of the death of the fighters & the overcoming of the certain failure of the national cause. Now that it is registered in another longer-term temporality, religious atemporality & the eschatological temporality of the jihad, this national fight can again be envisaged as victorious. 55 References. Adapted from the source document.

Islam has an unmistakable social & cultural presence in the European public space. It is too clearly visible & too "obstinate" for it not to give rise to debate & tension. Examples of issues that have led to lively debate on the acceptability of Islam in the European public space are the wearing of the hijab, the position of women, fundamentalism, & other intellectual & religious issues. Debates on the presence & visibility of Islam in the cities have become particularly significant, dealing with mosques, Islamic cemeteries, or the possibility of sounding the call for prayer, the adhan; these are not just debates in the public space, but about the public space. This would seem to be the main issue, since it concerns the perception of control over & the symbolic definition of territory. 52 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author proposes to study the effects of identity formation for Muslims living in Germany. In order to do this he postulates that the best research will be done by investigating religious conflicts, their causes, & consequences within Germany. He states that the Muslim religion tries to establish itself in the public space through the creation of Mosques & other established religious practices such as the prayer call. The following confrontation with the German population & its institutions will have three possible outcomes the likelihood of which an empirical approach will show. These consequences are: conflict, defense, or cooperation. 1 Figure, 24 References. S. Schieszler

This article develops some analytical & comparative perspectives on the public conflicts over the incorporation of Muslim minorities in Western Europe. Drawing on research results from a macrocomparative study on the incorporation of Muslims in GB, France, & Germany, it is argued that the transformation of the classical modern nation-state, epitomized by the decoupling of political organization & collective identity, is changing institutionalized conflict patterns over religion. On the one hand, the incorporation of Muslim migrants & the accompanying public conflicts are still shaped by the historically determined institutional logic of religious diversity. On the other hand, the inclusion of religion as a category of identity in the public sphere attests to far-reaching institutional changes. As European states face claims for a public recognition of their citizens' particularistic religious identities, which are legitimized in terms of a universalistic human rights discourse, they are increasingly developing new institutional arrangements of religious diversity, recoupling political organization & collective identities. 35 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents results of an ethnographic case study dealing with a conflict on minaret building & the call for prayer in a small German town. The author had the opportunity to observe the conflict, which was enacted in the context of several neighborhood assemblies in which Muslim & non-Muslim neighbors came together. His analysis shows that the dynamic of the conflict is shaped by arguments that rely simultaneously on formal law & deeply embedded rules of hospitality. These two dimensions & further modern forms of discourse act together in this conflict, which becomes a sort of a modern ritual of incorporation. This in turn comes very close to rituals of incorporation of strangers that are well known & widely studied by modern ethnographers. 19 References. Adapted from the source document.

Palestinians fight one another in the civil war. The political development of Hamas from a rebel movement to a party has failed, & there is terror & violence in the "biggest open air prison of the world": however, whoever will leave the Gaza Strip to its own, will not bring peace to Israel [ & turn the Palestinian cause into a playing field for the Jihad. Adapted from the source document.

Using the concept of ecumenical consciousness, this article investigates a possible connection between the modes of religious thought by religious actors & their conflict behavior. To this end, two Islamic movements are compared, that were/are both in a state of occupation: the Pathan Khudai Khidmatgars & the Palestinian Hamas. The underlying premise of the investigation is that "universal" Islamic movements prefer nonviolent forms of resistance, whereas "exclusivist" Islamic movements are prone to violence. This expectation is confirmed by an analysis of the means of communication in both movements & by an examination of their conflict behavior. The significance of the explanatory variable, however, requires further precision; hence the article includes some desiderata for future research. References. Adapted from the source document.

Religious & nationalist political movements have often been interpreted as defensive reactions to rapid social change, situations of anomie or alienation. The spread of Hindu-nationalism & communal violence in India likewise have often been seen as reactions to modernization or globalization. However, the current increase of communal violence between Hindus & Muslims is related to the Hindu-nationalist project. This is not a defensive one but a proactive project that seeks to replace a republican concept of the body politic with a religiously coded majoritarianism. Violence, organized by religious enemy images, communalized local social conflicts. Thereby diverse motives of discontent with the Indian state were integrated. Violence, moreover, opened spaces for action that conventional politics does not provide. The resolution of the conflict would be detrimental to its purpose for those who postulate its urgency as it serves as a perpetuum mobile of a movement, as a way of unifying a community, & of establishing a hierarchy of relevance whereby those who propagate the conflict also become the spokespeople for the community defined thereby. They have nothing to negotiate since the conflict is their aim. The claim that a religiously coded conflict cannot be negotiated is a means to perpetuate the conflict. 63 References. Adapted from the source document.

A review essay on books by (1) Jason Burke, Al Qaida. Entstehung, Geschichte, Organisation ([Al-Qaeda. Formation, History, Organization] Dusseldorf, Germany: Artemis & Winkler, 2005); (2) Jean-Charles Brisard, Das neue Gesicht der Al-Qaida. Sarkawi und die Eskalation der Gewalt ([Al-Qaeda's New Face. Zarquawi and the Escalation of Violence] Berlin, Germany: Propylaen, 2005); (3) Oliver Schrom, Al Qaida. Akteure, Strukturen, Attentate ([Al-Qaeda. Actors, Structures, Assassinations] Berlin, Germany: Aufbau Taschenbuch, 2005); (4) Eric Laurent, 9/11/01. Die Wahrheit ([9/11/01. The Truth] Munchen, Germany: Piper, 2005); (5) Katharina von Knop, Die Quellen der Macht von Al Qaida: Aus der Perspektive des Institutionalismus nach Robert Keohane ([Al-Qaeda's Sources of Power: From the Perspectives of Institutionalism according to Robert Keohane] Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang); (6) Guido Steinberg, Der nahe und der ferne Feind. Das Netzwerk des islamistischen Terrorismus ([The Near and the Distant Enemy. The Network of Islamic Terrorism] Munchen, Germany: C. H. Beck, 2005); (7) Joseph Croitoru, Der Martyrer als Waffe. Die historischen Wurzeln des Selbstmordattentats ([The Martyr as Weapon. Historic Roots of Suicide Attacks] Munchen, Germany: Hanser, 2003); (8) Navid Kermani, Dynamit des Geistes Martyrium, Islam, Nihilismus ([Spiritual Dynamite, Martyrdom, Islam, Nihilism] Gottingen: Wallstein, 2002); (9) Hans Kippenberg & Tilman Seidensticker [Eds], Terror im Dienste Gottes. Die 'Geistliche Anleitung" der AttentaRFUMter des 11. September 2001 ([Terror in the Name of God. The 'Spiritual Guidance' of the 11 September 2001 Attackers] Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2004); & (10) Mohamed Sifaoui, Bruder des Terrors. Ich war Mitglied einer Al Qaida-Zelle ([Brothers in Terror. I Was a Member of an Al-Qaeda Cell] Berlin & Munchen: Ullstein, 2003.

What does Islam mean for the life-worlds of both Muslim & non-Muslim children & young people in Germany? To explore this question, in 2003/4 the initiative Schule ohne Rassismus-Schule mit Courage (School without Racism-School with Courage) set up five open spaces involving approx. seven hundred students from Berlin, Dortmund, Cologne, & Neinkirchen. Participants included students aged twelve to twenty-one from all types of schools excepting primary schools & special schools. In the course of the open space debates it became clear that young people are far less interested in the theological issues of Islam than in issues more closely related to their immediate life-world. Sexuality, friendship, family, & worries about the future were a frequent topic, but Jews, Israel, Palestinians, & the Middle East conflict were also the subject of heated debate. It also transpired that teachers frequently do not know how to deal with Islamist anti-Semitism & have too little information about the historical, socioeconomic, & religious roots of gender roles & images. Adapted from the source document.

Waldman's study thoroughly analyzes the ramifications of the attacks of September 11 (2001) & how the events of that fateful day changed the scope of terrorism forever as well as the mindset of the general population. It was on this day that Americans came face to face with a major act of terrorism on their own ground. The significance of the terrorists' selection of the World Trade Center & the Pentagon, the economic & political centers of the western world, cannot be understated. Citizens were forced to reevaluate their view of terrorists from the image of violent & impetuous religious fanatics to one of trained & competent adversaries capable of orchestrating a detailed attack. Americans also began to acknowledge that many countries in the world have a negative perception of the US. Furthermore, Waldman analyzes Bin Laden's character by describing him as a type of warlord who appeals to the honor of those belonging to Islam. Finally, the author explains how the attacks irrecoverably affected the domestic & foreign affairs of the US & those of numerous other countries. 3 References. A. Simms-Clark