By Saba Mahmood
The plight of spiritual minorities within the center East is usually attributed to the failure of secularism to take root within the quarter. non secular distinction in a mundane Age demanding situations this review via analyzing 4 cornerstones of secularism—political and civil equality, minority rights, spiritual freedom, and the criminal separation of personal and public domains.
Drawing on her vast fieldwork in Egypt with Coptic Orthodox Christians and Bahais—religious minorities in a predominantly Muslim country—Saba Mahmood indicates how glossy secular governance has exacerbated non secular tensions and inequalities instead of diminished them. Tracing the old occupation of secular criminal strategies within the colonial and postcolonial heart East, she explores how contradictions on the very center of political secularism have irritated and amplified present types of Islamic hierarchy, bringing minority family members in Egypt to a brand new historic deadlock. via a detailed exam of Egyptian proceedings and constitutional debates approximately minority rights, conflicts round kin legislations, and controversies over freedom of expression, Mahmood invitations us to mirror at the entwined histories of secularism within the center East and Europe.
A provocative paintings of scholarship, non secular distinction in an earthly Age demanding situations us to reconsider the promise and boundaries of the secular excellent of non secular equality.
Saba Mahmood is professor of anthropology on the collage of California, Berkeley. She is the writer of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist topic (Princeton) and the coauthor of Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, harm, and loose Speech.
Read or Download Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report PDF
Best comparative books
Global Corruption Report 2007: Corruption in Judicial Systems
An exam of the way, why and the place corruption mars judicial approaches.
The Unauthorised Agent: Perspectives from European and Comparative Law
The point of interest of this ebook, the felony state of affairs created whilst an agent acts with no authority, is among the most crucial concerns in organization legislation. The research is split into 3 sections: obvious authority, ratification and the legal responsibility of the falsus procurator. Adopting a special comparative standpoint, the contributions are drawn from many alternative felony structures, supplying the chance for research of the ecu universal law/civil legislation divide.
- English law
- A Diplomat’s Handbook of International Law and Practice
- Financial Development, Integration And Stability: Evidence from Central, Eastern And South-Eastern Europe
- Unjustified Enrichment: Key Issues in Comparative Perspective
Additional info for Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report
Sample text
But Coquille's search for principle goes further. Sometimes he will ask what the purpose of the custom is and will refuse to apply it in situations where he does not believe that its purpose applies. Again, the same technique was used in the interpretation of the statutes of the Italian city-states. Occasionally we will find an argument that the custom is just flat-out wrong, either that it contradicts other higher principles or that it—this argument is usually only hinted at—does not correspond with social reality.
He was charged with the responsibility of paying the legacies and frequently also charged with fideicommissa, roughly the equivalent of the modern Anglo-American trust. ‘The property shall go to the eldest son’, by contrast, means just that. Nothing is implied about obligations, administration, or trusts. In fact, it is the second alternative that corresponds to the English legal system of Bartolus' day. 43 In short, if we focus not on the wording of the ‘statute’, but on the underlying substantive differences between the English and the Italian systems of succession in Bartolus' day, his distinction may be based on an important comparative insight.
He first states the rules of that custom relevant to the title, but he immediately broadens out comparatively. Let us examine some of Coquille's comparative arguments, for they show considerable sophistication. 50 The same rule applies in Burgundy. In Poitou, Auxerre, Berry, and Rheims the rule is to the contrary. 51 Once the customs had been redacted, it is a relatively mechanical task to lay them side by side to see how the rules are similar and how they differ. But once the conflict has been discovered what are we to do about it?