Description
The definitive reference for Muslim liberation theologies across global contexts
Scholarship on Islamic thought has long centered abstract systems over lived Muslim agency. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Muslim Liberation Theologies shifts this paradigm by introducing Muslim Liberation Theology as a distinct analytic and a theological field of exploration. With over thirty original chapters from scholars representing Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, this volume maps liberative praxis across Sunni and Shi'i perspectives, minority and majority contexts.
The Companion examines theological ethics, resistance, liberatory practices, and sustainable change through conceptual essays and detailed case studies. Coverage spans prisons, grassroots movements, intellectual debates, historical and present case studies, and institutional contexts while engaging pressing issues including the War on Terror's aftermath, authoritarian rollback following the Arab Spring, Islamophobia, Gaza and Palestine, neo-colonial resurgence, racial capitalism, gendered oppression, and more.
Readers will also find:
- Systematic treatment of trusteeship (amāna) as the theological foundation for Muslim human agency and social justice activism across diverse communities
- Interdisciplinary frameworks connecting systematic theology, religious ethics, sociology of religion, political theory, and decolonial studies for cross-listed coursework
- Case studies examining Muslim civil rights movements, prison chaplaincy, faith-based NGO work, and grassroots organizing in multiple geographic regions
- Critical analysis of contemporary challenges including Islamophobia, securitization, brutalization, and authoritarian repression affecting Muslim communities worldwide
- Clear organizational structure with thematic sections designed for reference use in advanced undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral-level Islamic studies courses
Designed for scholars and graduate students in Islamic studies, modern Muslim thought, religious studies, political theology, ethics, practical philosophy, and decolonial studies, this Companion also serves practitioners including faith-based NGO staff, chaplains, and policy advisers. It provides the systematic reference these audiences need to engage Muslim liberation theologies rigorously.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Ebrahim Rasool
Biographies xviii
Preface xxv
Part I Theological and Epistemological Foundations 1
1 Setting the Stage: Situating the Muslim Liberation Theology 3
Emin Poljarevic and Ivan Ejub Kostic
2 Islam as Method: Decolonising Inquiry and the Ethical Horizon of Liberation 16
Emin Poljarevic
3 Surat al-Fatihoah: Qur'anic Foundations for Liberation Theology and Knowledge Decolonisation 37
Nazir Khan
4 Tawhoid and Its Political Exports: The Dialectics of Negative Theology and Islamic Utopianisma 49
Dustin J. Byrd
5 The Theology of Fitnah: Crisis as a Catalyst for Social Reform (Isolaho) and Theological Renewal (Tajdid) 64
Hashim Umar Ali
Part II Liberation Through Time: Reform, Resistance, and the Politics of the Present 83
6 Decolonizing Muslim Futures: Insights from Islamic Theology and Practice 85
Ermin Sinanovic
7 'Until They Change What Is Within Themselves': The Divine Sunan Discourse and the Quest for Liberation in Nineteenth- Century Egyptian Islamic Revival 97
Aseel Azab- Osman
8 Liberation Theology Among Contemporary Islamic Movements: Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood 114
Joseph Alagha
9 Escaping the Iron Cage of the Present: Chronopolitics as Liberation Praxis in Islamic Movements 132
Abdelrahman Ayyash
Part III Spatial Horizons of Liberation 147
10 'Do What You Can Though You May Never See the Fruit of Your Labour': Liberation and Critique of the Post- colonial in Egyptian Post- Islamism 149
Aseel Azab- Osman
11 Political Theologies in Morocco: Towards the Post- Islamist Moment 165
Mohammed Hashas
12 Islamist Youth and the Politics of Justice in Contemporary Türkiye 184
Sabri Ciftci
13 The Tijaniyya and the Politics of Soul Craft in Nineteenth- and Twentieth- Century West Africa 203
Farah El-Sharif
14 Recasting Islam: The Formation of Anti-caste Islamic Liberation Theology in Postcolonial India 221
Ashraf Kunnummal
15 Afro- Brazilian Muslim Community: Navigating Muslim Liberation Theologies, Identity Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges 240
Marcelo Schellini
16 Muslim Liberation Theology in Europe: Towards a Pluriversal Horizon 261
Ivan Ejub Kostic
Part IV Voices and Visions of Liberation: Figures and Paradigms in Muslim Liberation Thought 279
17 Islam and the Left: A Comparative Analysis of Mawdudi and Qutb 281
Shadaab Rahemtulla
18 Sayyid Qutb as a Liberation Theologian: A Critical Appraisal 300
Olivia Saad
19 Dignity as Praxis: Imam Hussain and Malcolm X as Paradigms for Islamic Liberation Theology 315
Hasanain Jaffer
20 Shirk, Sin and the Struggle for Liberation: Reimagining Faith with Shariati and Ellacuría 329
Yusuf Sezgin
21 Muslim Theology of Liberation Against Zionism – A Faruqian Perspective 351
Imtiyaz Yusuf
22 Said Nursi as a Theologian of Inner Liberation: Rethinking Freedom Beyond Structures 375
Colin Turner
23 Turning Opium into Blood – From Black to Red Shi'a 390
Mohammad Fazlhashemi
24 Syed Hussein Alatas on Emancipation of the 'Captive Mind' and Coloniality of Knowledge 405
Esmaeil Zeiny
25 Freedom, Tradition and the Sacred: Seyyed Hossein Nasr's Metaphysical Vision of Liberation 419
Senad Mrahorovic and Emin Poljarevic
Part V Embodied and Material Dimensions of Liberation: Ecology, Economy, and Gender 437
26 The Liberation of Hajar?: Islamic Liberation Theologies, Muslima Theology and Theological Anthropology 439
Jerusha Tanner Rhodes
27 Justice and Mercy in the Qur'an: Toward a Theology of Sustainability 456
Sayed Hassan Akhlaq
28 Islamic Liberation Theology and Sustainable Development 475
Adha Shaleh, Alexander Wain, Hjh Mas Nooraini Binti Haji Mohiddin, and Haron Masagoes Hassan
29 Power, Poverty and the Hereafter: Islamic Liberation Theology and Economics 487
Sami Al-Daghistani
30 A Return to the Self 505
Ali Sobhi Harfouch
31 A Theology of Praxis: Islamic Liberation Theology and the Quest for Material Change 519
Sharaiz Chaudhry
32 Emotional Reactivity and Behavioural Lethargy in the Time of Genocide 533
Tamim Mobayed
Index 552
