This thesis studies the formation of the basic ideology of the Muh&dotbelow;ammadiyah during the period 1912--1942, analyzing in particular the fundamental aspects of its religious and social beliefs. The words and deeds of its leaders were crucial during the period in forming the Muh&dotbelow;ammadiyah's ideology, for these alone provided the basis for the movement's program. Their religious outlook reflected the movement's philosophical view of this world and the role of reason in understanding religion. This view was marked by openness, tolerance, and pluralism in dealing with other ideas, and a belief in the salutary character of change. What set the Muh&dotbelow;ammadiyah apart from other reformist groups was its insistence that the way to revive belief in and observance of Islamic injunctions was not limited to merely purifying certain aspects of religious practice ('ibadah), especially khilafiyah (controversial) matters such as takhayyul (fancy), bid`ah (innovation), and khurafah (superstition), but in pursuing social reform in line with a theology of practical action. For the Muh&dotbelow;ammadiyah, basic Islamic teachings served to encourage social responsibility; religious principles thus underlay every action.

No description available.

伊斯蘭作為一個世界性宗教，早於十九世紀下半葉已在香港落地生根，在港定居繁衍的穆斯林社群主要包括了南亞裔穆斯林、非洲裔穆斯林、印尼裔穆斯林以及華人穆斯林等不同的社群，構建了一個多元的穆斯林社群。本研究以香港的華人穆斯林的社群發展歷史為核心，嘗試探討他們在香港的「在地化」歷程。香港的華人穆斯林社群之源起可追溯至十九世紀末，最初來港的華人穆斯林從中國廣東一帶遷至香港，可被稱為「廣東穆斯林」，而在二戰戰後來港的華人穆斯林則由華北及西北地區南來至香港，被稱為「北方穆斯林」。兩大香港華人穆斯林社群在展開「在地化」的過程，希望能在融入香港主流社會生活的同時，仍能保存傳統伊斯蘭的信仰和文化內涵。在強調生活世俗化的香港，維持和傳承宗教傳統並不容易，社會客觀條件和接受正統伊斯蘭教育的穆民愈來愈少，使香港華人穆斯林的宗教承傳出現了明顯的「斷層」問題。與此同時，在宗教意識日益薄弱的情況下，香港華人穆斯林社群的政治影響力在香港主權移交至中國後開始顯著增加，並與其他非華人穆斯林社群之間出現了政治勢力此消彼長的現象。本文最後會嘗試探討在這種看似矛盾的現象背後，香港的華人穆斯林如何在世俗化的香港繼續傳承其宗教以解決宗教傳承的「斷層」問題。 / As one of the most important and popular religions in the world, Islam planted its roots in Hong Kong beginning since the 1850’s. The spread of Islam spread in the city was linked with the development of local history. Muslims from South Asia, Africa, Indonesia and Mainland China all started their groups in this highly globalized city. This research focuses on the historical development of Chinese Muslim communities in Hong Kong. In fact, the first batch of Chinese Muslims arriving in Hong Kong were mainly Muslim families living in Guangdong, which was geographically linked with the boarder of Hong Kong during the mid to late 19th century. This batch of incoming Muslims could be categorized as "Cantonese Muslims". Then, immediately after the end of World War II, a number of Chinese Muslims from the north and northwest regions of Mainland China migrated to Hong Kong as a result of the war. This batch of Chinese Muslims is categorized as "Northern Muslims". This paper seeks to outline the migration history of local Chinese Muslim communities as well as the process of "localization". Batches of Chinese Muslims started their new lives in Hong Kong and interacted with different sectors of local society. Many of them tried hard to assimilate into local society while maintaining their Islamic religious traditions. However, it was not an easy task to keep Islamic traditions in a highly secular and commercial society such as Hong Kong. / Structural changes of Hong Kong society had significantly re-sharped the identities and historical track of the Muslim communities. Owing to the lack of basic Islamic education and a secularized social environment, chasms appeared between generations of Chinese Muslims in Hong Kong in terms of the inheritance of Islam’s religious traditions. Although the religious identity of Chinese Muslims have blurred, especially for the younger generations, the political power of the Muslim community has significantly increased due to different factors, with the handover of the colony being a critical one. This has constructed a new political arena for the community, resulting in a shift in political power between Chinese and non-Chinese Muslim communities. Finally, this paper will also seek to explore what local Chinese Muslim communities could do to inherit their traditions and identities in a sustainable manner in the secularized society of Hong Kong. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 霍揚揚. / Parallel title from English abstract. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-173). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Huo Yangyang.

This study is an attempt to present the thought of Yusuf `Abd Allah al-Qarad&dotbelow;awi and his views on the Islamic awakening of the last two decades. Considered one of the contemporary world's leading moderate Islamic thinkers and activists, he has undertaken the mission to promote the idea of what he sees as a "true Islam," which he envisions as a moderate force that is all-encompassing in human life. An Egyptian, now living in Qatar, he leads a major stream within the Islamic movement today, the tayyar al-wasa&dotbelow;tiyah al-Islamiyah , which believes in the "inevitability of the Islamic solution." Al-Qarad&dotbelow;awi recommends a "long-term plan," seeking in the first place to transform individuals as a prelude towards changing society. The chief step toward accomplishing this mission involves renewing the religion by rediscovering Islam's soundest foundation and going back to its purest sources, i.e., the Qur'an and Sunnah, in addition to applying the "moderate" methodology of the salaf (early Muslim generation). Al-Qarad&dotbelow;awi employs this traditionalist methodology and the wasa&dotbelow;tiyah's ideology in his approach to guiding the Islamic awakening and to directing the Islamic movement in its particular fields of work (which include education, politics, social work, economics, jihad, the media and propaganda, and finally, thought and learning) out of a conviction that these domains represent the crucial issues facing the Muslim world today. Yet despite al-Qarad&dotbelow;awi's fondness for logical discourse, he is a victim of the tendency to make axiomatic statements, which in turn endangers the entire structure of his arguments and leads him into inconsistencies. Despite these problems, his moderate voice is a welcome corrective to some of the more extremist discourse of today.

No description available.

No description available.

Rules of engagement, ethics of war, and codes of chivalry are all phrases which remind one of human attempts to rein in and regulate what is perhaps the most anarchic and illogical of all human activities: organized war. The role of the great religions of the world both in propagating war through crusades and jihads as well as their attempts at transcending its savagery through images of miles Christianus or the pious ghazi has also been much discussed. The aim of this thesis is to study the ethics of war in the context of Islamic societies in the Early Middle Ages from several complementary perspectives. Our sources for the period vary greatly from decade to decade and from region to region. This has often led historians of ideas and mentalities to concentrate on one aspect to the exclusion of others. This is particularly so in the case of ethics of war where most of the argument seems to concentrate on a few passages from the Qur'an, supplemented by some quotations from manuals of ḥadith and commentaries on them in the legal textbooks of the different religious schools. That all these are crucial for an understanding of Muslim attitudes and reactions to war throughout centuries is beyond dispute. But it remains, nevertheless, a lop-sided view: neglecting large areas of debate and speculation in literature, philosophy, and mystical meditations, presented as fully-fledged arguments or as occasional remarks and observations embedded in the extant texts from the period. By evaluating these scattered sources and listening to the different voices heard through them, I hope to show some of the different attitudes and responses to the ethics of war and avoid the monolithic and doggedly timeless approach which, at its worst and most extreme, envisages a non-existing consensus among the Muslims from the rise of Islam to the beginning of this new century and neglects the evidence of regional traditions and innovative thinkers by relying solely on a handful of quotes.

This dissertation studies the evolving relationship of the early 'Abbasid caliphs with the proto-Sunni 'ulama'. By the time of Harun al-Rashid, the 'Abbasids had aligned themselves with the emergent proto-Sunnitrends; a pattern of state - 'ulama' relations, with the caliph's view of his function approaching that of the 'ulama ', had begun to emerge. al-Ma'mun was uncharacteristic of the early 'Abbasids in claiming religious authority for himself, apparently to challenge the 'ulama's influence and authority. That effort proved abortive, and confirmed in its failure the earlier pattern of state - 'ulama' relations. The pattern was one of collaboration between the caliphs and the 'ulama'. Proto-Sunni scholars were among the beneficiaries of extensive caliphal patronage, and it was their viewpoints which caliphal interventions in religious life upheld. Owing perhaps to the effects of 'Abbasid patronage, but also to the implications of certain proto-Sunni viewpoints, proto-Sunnis were generally favourable towards the 'Abbasids. A convergence is discernible in the interests of the Caliphs and the 'ulama', and partly explains not only the latter's pro-'Abbasid sentiment but also why it was the proto-Sunni viewpoints that the 'Abbasids came to patronize.

M.A. / The history of Islam in modern times is essentially the history of the Western impact on the Muslim society. The Islamic religion assumed a position as the ultimate and final revelation versus Christianity and Judaism. Islam also developed its own unique civilisation within the religious parameters that were different from those in the West. With territorial expansion the two worlds had an impact on each other. Although contact had taken place before, the Crusades were the first major impact of the West on the Islamic world. With the decline of the OttomarrEmpire and the subsequent colonial expansion into the Islamic world, the adoption of Western views and influences were increasingly seen as being progressive, while those of the Islamic world represented stagnation. Together with colonisation came the mind set of the Western world towards the Islamic world that influenced perceptions, as well as policies. With modernisation came disillusionment that resulted in the questioning of what the West had to offer. This resulted in various actions and reactions against the West, but the Islamic world still experienced that it was behind the contemporary world. Its retrogression has been blamed on the failure of the Muslim society to transform the theoretical civilisation framework of Islam into an operational form, while the West has kept and enhanced its parameters. The problematic issues taking the two civilisations into the twenty-first century are what adjustments are to be made to ensure survival. The question is in what manner Islam can be modernised or whether modernity must be Islamised and what adjustments are going to be forthcoming from the Arab world. The choice is between submitting to one of the contending versions of modern civilisation that are offered to them, merging their own culture and identity in a larger and dominating whole, or following those who urge them to turn their backs upon the West. In this manner they may succeed in renewing their society from within, meeting the West on terms of equirco-operation.

No description available.