Critical Muslim 28: Narratives


Book Description

How do we communicate meaning in the age of fake news? What is the difference between narrative and information; between ideology and political narrative; between 'narrative fiction' and a story? Will the narration continue forever? What is history and what is propaganda? What shall we do tonight? What might we believe tomorrow? We look at the past, present and future of narratives and tell a few tall tales ourselves. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.




PK-12 Professionals’ Narratives of Working as Advocates Impacting Today’s Schools


Book Description

The PK-12 education system in the United States suffers from anti-democratic and authoritarian ideologies, policies, and power structures, leading to limited educational access and oppressive disciplinary practices for marginalized communities. PK-12 Professionals’ Narratives of Working as Advocates Impacting Today’s Schools offer a powerful solution to these challenges. This book comprises a collection of counter-narratives that empower educators, counselors, and stakeholders to challenge and disrupt the anti-democratic and authoritarian forces prevalent in schools. By sharing personal experiences, strategies, and recommendations, the book inspires academic scholars to reflect, (re)learn, and take action to support students, communities, and personal growth. It serves as a critical teaching tool, encouraging professionals to reimagine their practices and collaborate with others in creating inclusive, equitable, and transformative educational environments. PK-12 Professionals’ Narratives of Working as Advocates Impacting Today’s Schools present a path toward dismantling oppressive structures, ultimately advocating for an education system that prioritizes the needs and voices of all learners.




Counter-narratives of Muslim American Women: Creating Space for MusCrit


Book Description

This book is a poignant exploration of the lived realities of an often misrepresented group. It makes real for its readers the burden of racialized demonization carried by the innocent.




One Thousand Roads to Mecca


Book Description

“Wolfe does an exemplary job of detailing the ceremonies performed at Mecca and the reasons behind them . . . Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, starred review This updated and expanded edition of One Thousand Roads to Mecca collects significant works by observant travel writers from the East and West over the last ten centuries—including two new contemporary narratives—creating a comprehensive, multifaceted literary portrait of the enduring tradition. Since its inception in the seventh century, the pilgrimage to Mecca has been the central theme in a large body of Islamic travel literature. Beginning with the European Renaissance, it has also been the subject for a handful of adventurous writers from the West who, through conversion or connivance, managed to slip inside the walls of a city forbidden to non-Muslims. These very different literary traditions form distinct impressions of a spirited conversation in which Mecca is the common destination and Islam the common subject of inquiry. Along with an introduction by Reza Aslan, featured writers include Ibn Battuta, J. L. Burckhardt, Sir Richard Burton, the Begum of Bhopal, John F. Keane, Winifred Stegar, Muhammad Asad, Lady Evelyn Cobbald, Jalal Al-e Ahmad, and Malcolm X. One Thousand Roads to Mecca is a historically, geographically, and ethnically diverse collection of travel writing that adds substantially to the literature of Islam and the West. “Serves as an excellent introduction to a religion, people, culture, and philosophy.” —Santa Cruz Sentinel




The Wrong Kind of Muslim


Book Description

The Wrong Kind of Muslim is a call to unite those of all faiths and of no faith in the struggle for universal freedom of conscience. Since 9/11, terrorists in Pakistan have killed over 40,000-and counting. Often risking his life, Qasim Rashid journeys into the heart of that terrorism to unearth the untold story of those silenced by Taliban suicide bombings, secret police torture, and state sponsored religious persecution. Rashid exposes the horrifying truth about growing radicalism in Pakistan and its impact on Western security. But most importantly, Rashid uncovers the inspiring untold story of millions fighting back-and winning. EDITORIAL REVIEWS & CRITICAL ACCLAIM "A heartfelt memoir of Muslim-on-Muslim discrimination and oppression. A harrowing yet hopeful story of modern-day religious persecution." - Kirkus Reviews. The Wrong Kind of Muslim is the Recipient of the Kirkus Star, Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit "In his adopted home of America, Qasim Rashid has experienced stereotyping and discrimination as a Pakistani-born Muslim. In his native home of Pakistan, Rashid and his family are subject to persecution because their Ahmadi Muslim faith is considered heretical by many in the Sunni Muslim majority. Rashid's heartfelt story compels admiration for him and a deeper appreciation for America's guarantee of religious freedom." The Honorable TIM KAINE, United States Senator "The Wrong Kind of Muslim is a significant and alarming book. It tells the story of growing religious intolerance in Pakistan, a nation profoundly important to American security, where the acceptable bounds of faith have become ever tighter in recent years. Victims of persecution have included Christians and Hindus, but also Muslim believers whom Islamists deem heretical. The book demands attention as a passionate call for peace and wide-ranging toleration." Baylor University Distinguished Professor of History DR. PHILIP JENKINS, Author of Images of Terror: What We Can And Can't Know About Terrorism and recognized by The Economist as "one of America's best scholars of religion" "The Wrong Kind of Muslim is a young American's personal journey into his heritage and religion as a vehicle into the history and ongoing phenomenon of faith-based persecution and target-killings in Pakistan - starting with a childhood bullying incident in Chicago. A compelling account, often painful, sometimes uplifting, told with honesty and humor. A must-read for anyone who cares about human rights, humanity, freedom of expression, thought and conscience, not just in Pakistan but anywhere in the world." Pakistani Journalist and Film Maker BEENA SARWAR, Former Fellow at Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard "The Wrong Kind of Muslim is an inspiring book that should be in every high school and college classroom around the world. It educates and motivates its readers, whether in the East or in the West, on how to overcome ignorance and extremism peacefully-even in the face of bitter persecution." President & CEO, Silicon Valley Education Foundation, MUHAMMED AHMAD CHAUDHRY, Leading Education Advocate "In one word, heroic." USA President Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, DR. BILAL RANA, MuslimYouth.org




Critical Ancient World Studies


Book Description

This volume explores and elucidates critical ancient world studies (CAWS), a new model for the study of the ancient world operating critically, setting itself against a long history of a discipline formulated to naturalise a hierarchical, white supremacist origin story for an imagined modern West. CAWS is a methodology for the study of antiquity that shifts away from the assumptions and approaches of the discipline known as classical studies and/or classics. Although it seeks to reckon with the discipline’s colonial history, it is not simply the application of decolonial theory or the search to uncover subaltern narratives in a subject that has special relevance to the privileged and powerful. Rather, it dismantles the structures of knowledge that have led to this privileging, and questions the categories, ideas, themes, narratives, and epistemological structures that have been deemed objective and essential within the inherited discipline of classics. The contributions in this book, by an international group of researchers, offer a variety of situated, embodied perspectives on the question of how to imagine a more critical discipline, rather than a unified single view. The volume is divided into four parts – “Critical Epistemologies”, “Critical Philologies”, “Critical Time and Critical Space”, and “Critical Approaches” – and uses these as spaces to propose disciplinary transformation. Critical Ancient World Studies: The Case for Forgetting Classics is a must-read for scholars and practitioners teaching in the field of classical studies, and the breadth of examples also makes it an invaluable resource for anyone working on the ancient world, or on confronting Eurocentrism, within other disciplines.




The Shi'i Islamic Martyrdom Narratives of Imam al-Ḥusayn


Book Description

Martyrdom narratives (maqtals) represent a prominent genre of Islamic, particularly Shiʽi, literature. In this genre, the heart-rending aspects of the martyrdom scenes of religiously prominent people are depicted graphically. Although not exclusively limited to the martyrdom accounts of Imam al-Ḥusayn and his companions, who were martyred on the plain of Karbala, Iraq, a great majority of Islamic martyrdom narratives deal with the Ashura episodes. As the first book-length treatment of this genre in English, this text takes the reader from the dawn of Islam in ancient Arabia, exploring the background of the Battle of Karbala and giving a view of the various maqtals and several related studies. Although examining Arabic and Persian sources, this book presupposes little background knowledge on the part of the reader.




Women of the Nation


Book Description

With vocal public figures such as Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam often appears to be a male-centric religious movement, and over 60 years of scholarship have perpetuated that notion. Yet, women have been pivotal in the NOI's development, playing a major role in creating the public image that made it appealing and captivating. Women of the Nation draws on oral histories and interviews with approximately 100 women across several cities to provide an overview of women's historical contributions and their varied experiences of the NOI, including both its continuing community under Farrakhan and its offshoot into Sunni Islam under Imam W.D. Mohammed. The authors examine how women have interpreted and navigated the NOI's gender ideologies and practices, illuminating the experiences of African-American, Latina, and Native American women within the NOI and their changing roles within this patriarchal movement. The book argues that the Nation of Islam experience for women has been characterized by an expression of Islam sensitive to American cultural messages about race and gender, but also by gender and race ideals in the Islamic tradition. It offers the first exhaustive study of womenOCOs experiences in both the NOI and the W.D. Mohammed community."




Narratives in Conflict


Book Description

Did Jesus die on the cross for our sins as the Gospels describe? Or, as Muslims often contend, was Jesus rescued to heaven in order to avoid the shameful crucifixion that would be unbefitting of a messenger of God? This debate has raged for generations and has caused no shortage of frustration among those seeking to explain the central teaching of the Christian faith to those influenced by the Qur’an. What this book aims to do is uncover four barriers to understanding the biblical teaching on atonement that likely exist in the minds of our Muslim friends prior to asking about the historical reality of the Christ event. What we will discover is that the Qur’an diverges from the biblical teaching on atonement at the lexical, ritual, narrative, and worldview levels. Each of these points of divergence presents a barrier to communication. Therefore, before arguing with our Muslim friends that Jesus died on the cross, we must provide an answer to the prior question, why would it matter? This book argues that the Letter to the Hebrews provides a particularly helpful biblical starting point for overcoming all four barriers.




Narrative, Political Violence and Social Change


Book Description

Narrative, Political Violence and Social Change is a call for engaging actively and critically with the ontological, epistemological, and methodological implications of narrative in the study of political violence and terrorism. Building on a basic framework of three modes of narrative – as lens, as data, and as tool – the chapters in this book demonstrate how the study of political violence and terrorism benefits from narrative inquiry as an interdisciplinary endeavour, in particular as regards diverging perceptions of social reality, the meanings of belonging, and the human drive for change. They showcase the substantial advances that scholars have made in this field to date and identify promising avenues for further research. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.