Inside the Nation of Islam

The discursive constitution of Pakistani women: the articulation of gender, nation, and Islam.

I disrupt notions of the passive, unidimensional Islamic "Woman" by outlining the discursive constitution of gendered subjectivtities and practices in Pakistan. I trace the shifting intersection of discourses of gender, nationhood, and Islam, and demonstrate how this intersection both effects an ideological tool "Pakistani Woman" and incites women's resistance.

‘‘Returning Home to Our Rightful Place’’: The Nation of Islam and Muhammad Farms

This paper demonstrates how the Nation of Islam (NOI), a well known black nationalist organization, is utilizing notions of community to promote the activities and goals of its farm to other black people. The NOI ownsMuhammad Farms in rural southern Georgia, USA. Its stated purpose is to feed all black people in the United States. Historically, theNOI has occupied a radical space in the black c...

Legal Pluralism Between Islam and the Nation-State: Romantic Medievalism or Pragmatic Modernity?

This Essay attempts a reconciliation of sorts between two perspectives on legal pluralism, via specific reference to Islamic law, most notably in its pre-modern guise. The Essay begins with a provisional commitment to legal centralism, but primarily as a means of securing a functional place for sub-State reglementary regimes. To this end, legal centralism, as presented, is tempered by a demonst...

Shari’ah, Democracy, and the Modern Nation-State: Some Reflections on Islam, Popular Rule, and Pluralism

In this article, the author examines two considerations that are critical to a full and meaningful assessment of the degree to which Islam, and Islamic law in particular, can find authentic expressions of themselves under what may reasonably be considered a democratic form of government. The first of these has to do with the scope of Islamic law, or more properly, the scope of the interpretive ...

Islam in an Era of Nation-States POLITICS AND RELIGIOUS RENEWAL IN MUSLIM SOUTHEAST ASIA