Léon Buskens
Leiden University, NIMAR (Netherlands Institute in Morocco), Faculty Member
Research Interests: Humanities and Islam
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This special issue deals with Islamic authority-making among Muslims of migrant background in predominantly Western Europe. Religious authority is persuasive power in religious matters, regarding issues of knowledge and institutional... more
This special issue deals with Islamic authority-making among Muslims of migrant background in predominantly Western Europe. Religious authority is persuasive power in religious matters, regarding issues of knowledge and institutional competence, and of truth, authenticity, legitimacy, trust, and ethics. The seven articles in this special issue address some of the manifold ways in which Islamic authority comes about. They show that authority should not be reduced to the leadership or personal status of religious scholars and other religious professionals; it can also be attributed to bodies of knowledge, to institutions, to legal, ethical and material matters, and to events. Islamic authority is a crucial element in shaping Islamic landscapes in all their diversity.
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Research Interests: Sociology and Ethnography
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In 1957-1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana, a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively... more
In 1957-1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana, a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively limited reform of the Mudawwana in 1993 was closely linked to the beginnings of a process of cautious democratization. Since then the discussions have become more vehement, especially since the coming to power of a new government in 1998 consisting of former opposition parties. A year later this government presented a plan for extensive family law reforms. The plan has provoked considerable public debate over key concepts such as democracy, development, human rights, civil society, and ijtihād. Upon closer inspection, larger issues are at stake: Who may speak out in public and participate in politics? This new turn in the discussions is related to the emergence of a public sphere.
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CATALOGUE DES MANUSCRITS ARABES: DEUXIÈME PARTIE: MANUSCRITS MUSULMANS—TOME V, NOS. 1465–1685. Compiled by Yvette Sauvan and Marie‐Genevieve Balty‐Guesdon. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1995. 333pp. FF3000.THE CONSERVATION AND... more
CATALOGUE DES MANUSCRITS ARABES: DEUXIÈME PARTIE: MANUSCRITS MUSULMANS—TOME V, NOS. 1465–1685. Compiled by Yvette Sauvan and Marie‐Genevieve Balty‐Guesdon. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1995. 333pp. FF3000.THE CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS: PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD CONFERENCE OF AL‐FURQAN ISLAMIC HERITAGE FOUNDATION. Edited by Yusuf Ibish, General Editor, and George Atiyeh. London, Al‐Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1996. 214 pp.BAKU DOCUMENTS:
Research Interests: Economic History, International Law, English language, Political Science, Political Economics, and 15 moreMiddle East, Indian Ocean, Human right, History and archaeology, Financial Institutions, Library of Congress, Language Culture and Communication, Middle East and North Africa, Oak, North America, Public Service, Data Processing, English Language, Indexation, and Line Drawings
Attempts to assess the results of colonial anthropology in Indonesia faced some problems, which, until recently, have not been dealt with properly. Therefore, in a newly published comprehensive history of anthropology in the Netherlands,... more
Attempts to assess the results of colonial anthropology in Indonesia faced some problems, which, until recently, have not been dealt with properly. Therefore, in a newly published comprehensive history of anthropology in the Netherlands, several studies focused on the character, rather than on the substance of colonial anthropology. In the case of Dutch colonial representations of Indonesia, 'colonial anthropology' appears to be an assemblage of various disciplines that constituted a fragmented whole (Indologie; Dutch Indies Studies) from which today's Dutch academic anthropology emerged. However, projection of current conceptions of anthropology into the colonial past resulted in a tendency to neglect some major characteristics of early representations that are imperative for the interpretation of these representations. Besides, a rather limited familiarity amongst present-day anthropologists with the way in which Dutch colonial politics became immersed in international...
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Research Interests: Art and Ethnography
The proclamation of Jihad by the Sultan-Caliph in Constantinople, after the Ottoman Empire’s entry into World War I, made the headlines. This book investigates the background and nature of the Ottoman Jihad proclamation in addition to its... more
The proclamation of Jihad by the Sultan-Caliph in Constantinople, after the Ottoman Empire’s entry into World War I, made the headlines. This book investigates the background and nature of the Ottoman Jihad proclamation in addition to its effects in the wider Middle East − both among the Arabs and the Turks, and among Sunni Muslims as well as Shi’ites. It brings to light the German hopes for and British fears of a worldwide uprising of Muslims in the colonial empires at that time. Moreover, it scrutinises the fierce academic debates caused by the Jihad proclamation, in which the 1915 manifesto of Leiden Islam scholar Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (“Holy War Made in Germany”) played a key role.
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La charia appartient a ces vocables constamment utilises et jamais etudies, ou si peu. Il n'existe en tout cas aucun ouvrage de langue francaise tentant d'aborder la question non pas dans ses representations fantasmees, mais dans... more
La charia appartient a ces vocables constamment utilises et jamais etudies, ou si peu. Il n'existe en tout cas aucun ouvrage de langue francaise tentant d'aborder la question non pas dans ses representations fantasmees, mais dans ses formes et pratiques concretes. C'est donc un vide beant que le livre La charia aujourd'hui entend combler. L'objectif est de le faire " au temps present ", c'est-a-dire dans le phenomene de referencement a la charia que l'on peut observer a l'œuvre dans le contexte contemporain. Cet objectif est aussi de se centrer sur le cœur de la charia, a savoir la normativite juridique, tout en ne negligeant pas la nouvelle dimension politique que ce terme et ses usages n'ont manque de prendre.
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This volume examines the use of legal documents for the history of Muslim societies, presenting case studies from different periods and areas of the Muslim world from medieval Iran and Egypt to contemporary Yemen and Morocco, and... more
This volume examines the use of legal documents for the history of Muslim societies, presenting case studies from different periods and areas of the Muslim world from medieval Iran and Egypt to contemporary Yemen and Morocco, and involving multiple disciplinary approaches.
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C'est un truisme de dire que la notion de " droit musulman " est une categorie sociale. Il est sans doute plus etonnant et irritant d'ajouter qu'il s'agit d'une construction scientifique ayant servi a... more
C'est un truisme de dire que la notion de " droit musulman " est une categorie sociale. Il est sans doute plus etonnant et irritant d'ajouter qu'il s'agit d'une construction scientifique ayant servi a comprendre le phenomene de la normativite dans les societes musulmanes. Ce phenomene existait bel et bien avant que la science orientaliste ne s'y interesse, mais pas la categorie. Pourtant, de nos jours, cette notion est devenue si naturelle et politisee, aussi bien pour les musulmans que pour les non-musulmans, que certains parmi les premiers prennent comme une provocation le fait d'en mettre en question la genese. Dans ce texte nous proposons neanmoins de considerer le developpement et la propagation de cette nouvelle facon, tout d'abord occidentale, d'appeler pour la comprendre la normativite islamique. Nous abordons aussi brievement la maniere dont cette notion a ete integree et diffusee dans les societes musulmanes actuelles. L'en...
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In recent decades, traditional methods of philology and intellectual history, applied to the study of Islam and Muslim societies, have been met with considerable criticism from rising generations of scholars who have turned to the social... more
In recent decades, traditional methods of philology and intellectual history, applied to the study of Islam and Muslim societies, have been met with considerable criticism from rising generations of scholars who have turned to the social sciences, most notably anthropology and social history, for guidance. This change has been accompanied by the rise of new fields, studying, for example, Islam in Europe and Africa, and new topics, such as the role of gender. This collection surveys these transformations and others, taking stock of the field and showing new paths forward.
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In 1957-1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana, a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively... more
In 1957-1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana, a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively limited reform of the Mudawwana in 1993 was closely linked to the beginnings of a process of cautious democratization. Since then the discussions have become more vehement, especially since the coming to power of a new government in 1998 consisting of former opposition parties. A year later this government presented a plan for extensive family law reforms. The plan has provoked considerable public debate over key concepts such as democracy, development, human rights, civil society, and ijtih¨d. Upon closer inspection, larger issues are at stake: Who may speak out in public and participate in politics? This new turn in the discussions is related to the emergence of a public sphere.