Egypt’s highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women’s veils, known as the niqab.

Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.

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We could do with a consensus as to what level of study is required to be a Sheikh as it’s currently not a protected title.

The sort of consensus Safiya mentions would ultimately require political patronage and regulation of some sort. In Muslim-majority states, of course, the political and legal clout exists to simply ban or regulate religion (I am not saying if this is good or bad, simply that it exists). This happened in the past and happens today in many Muslim countries, even secular ones, where the teaching of religion is controlled, vetted and authorised by the state.

In ‘minority’ contexts, I know Yahya and Sh. Daoud Rosser-Owen have talked about similar needs for Muslims, at least those in the UK:

[I]n 1889, when the Caliph, Sultan Abdul Hamid II jannat makan, appointed Abdullah Quilliam to be the “Shaykhu-l Islam of the British Isles”, and this was endorsed by the Emir of Morocco, the King of Afghanistan, and the Qajar Shah of Persia. The Office of Shaykhu-l Islam was the adminstrator of the system of qadis, imams, and muftis in the Ottoman Empire, and the implications of using this title for the bestowal on Quilliam cannot have been missed. It is legitimate to speculate that it was, in fact, intentional.

At about the same time, the Caliph, conscious of the vast Muslim population of the British Empire, appointed the Queen-Empress a beylerbeyi: in essence a tributary ruler over Muslims under the Caliphate.

The authority to make Islamic religious appointments, and to regulate the administrations of mosques and tribunals, including the appointment of the Office of the Shaykhu-l Islam, in the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies rests with Queen Elizabeth II as the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. And, by residuary sovereignty, in the Republic of Ireland with the President.

Perhaps it is time to petition [Her Majesty] to revive this august Office of State? It is, of course, predominantly administrative, and would bring in expert advisors as needed. It could even commission fatwas from such authoritative sources as the University of Al-Azhar, when needed. But the trouble is who has the stature to fill it?

But I cannot see how such an office will ever prevent a group of people who dislike a particular shaykh, institution, or a set of teachings they will create their own group, given the legal and political freedoms in the UK. This is apart from the problem of which Muslim political authority will grant the patronage necessary for the new office to gain widespread acceptance. The Ottomans were regarded, by and large, the rulers of (Sunni) Islam, de jure or de facto. No such political power exists today; Saudi Arabia, despite its control over the Hijaz, cannot command the same loyalty and respect. (Numerous factors have also changed considerably since the late 19th-century.)

Perhaps the emphasis would be on the symbolism of such an office (Muslims being people who are interested in symbolism), and the inevitable community pressure it would generate (the creation and acceptance of authorities is a two-way street) in speaking out against (but which will have both positive and negative consequences)?

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Hearing [Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister] describe his vision of Turkey’s future in the international arena was quite inspirational. He advocates an embrace of Turkey’s Ottoman heritage, not in any Utopian fashion, but in recognition of its very real historical connections with much of the Muslim world. But he also seems to acknowledge the advantages of the country’s headlong rush into modernity and “Westernization” in the 20th century. And, in his view, the synthesis of these two factors places Turkey in a pivotal position for both East and West. In sum, if Turkey plays its cards right neither side of the alleged civilizational divide will be able to do without it.

What would have been the impact of Turkey’s modernisation efforts, but with the office of sultan in place as a kind of figurehead? Would that even have been possible?

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“Jewish men who wear hats and ringlets are just like Muslim women with their burka. They’re proselytising,” said Yves Prat, head of the Europe Secularity organisation. “Maybe this clothing should be banned from all public places, like smoking.”

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Life (slowly) imitating art, which in turn is imitating life, and so on.

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On the evening of Wednesday, October 14, Anglican Bishop Michael James Nazir-Ali will deliver an address on “Aggressive Secularism, Multiculturalism, and the Islamist Threat to Western Culture and Society.”

Michael Nazir-Ali is an example of Christians in Europe who use ‘Islam’ as a vehicle to express their frustration and anxiety at the loss of standing their respective traditions and institutions have suffered.

If the Anglican Right does want to take the Church into a more aggressively evangelical direction, then they should seek to break the link between church and state.

(Via Andrew Brown.)

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Sunny also links to a report by Yahya on the Prevent strand of CONTEST, and its failings, which has also come under scrutiny from a parliamentary committee. Yahya’s report criticises the unfocused approach of current initiatives, which mix supporting communities with tackling terrorism.

I think it is always worth putting so-called ‘Muslim problems’ should always be placed in wider context, because when we look closer we may find poverty, a sense of alienation, political apathy, distrust of our ruling classes, etc are not really ‘Muslim problems’ at all (i.e. Muslims are human, and are not immune to social currents, trends, fashions, problems, etc).

I do have questions over the widespread appeal of attempts like Radical Middle Way, or the Solas Foundation. They’re offer (in the words of Yahya) provide a “high-end theological counternarrative”, but I think they may always have a narrow focus on people who are already interested in exploring intellectual foundations of their faith and religious practice. Groups like Minhajul Qur’an perhaps don’t offer the high-end discussions you’ll see in RMW, though they do provide a narrative of sorts, but seem to offer a more culturally-rooted experience with camps, activities at mosques, and so on (it is dominated by Pakistanis).

It so happens, I was speaking to a friend the other day who is involved in religious-based activism, and he said he first went into this line of social work with the goal of turning young British Pakistanis away from fanaticism or crime and into fully practising Muslims, at least conversant with doctrines and practice of traditional Sunnism. After several years of trying he realised this was an unrealistic goal, and it is better to simply help people with their troubles, or even simply befriend them.

Ultimately though, I don’t think anything really beats normal, everyday, interactions such as the one between a local councillor and his doctor. In other words, make friends with your neighbours, smile at the supermarket checkout, and strike up a conversation with the person sitting on the bus next to you*.

*Admittedly, this isn’t easy in London…!

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Students in Tajikistan will soon encounter something never before seen in their schools — religion.

The Education Ministry’s introduction of “Knowledge of Islam” as compulsory coursework can be seen as a baby step; eighth graders will be schooled in the subject just one hour a week.

But it marks a first for Central Asia, a region made up of Muslim-majority states that have maintained secular education since the fall of the Soviet Union. The change in Tajikistan has led some observers to speculate whether others in the region might break with tradition.

And inside Tajikistan itself, opinions are sharply divided between officials and Islamic clerics over who should teach the new subject and what, exactly, should be taught.

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President Dmitry Medvedev has urged Russia’s top Muslim clerics to join forces to stop radical Islamist groups wooing young people in the turbulent North Caucasus.

The integration of Muslim ulama into Russian state to combat resistance and violence to its control over its Muslim-populated areas is not new. Catherine II did something similar:

[Robert] Crews [author of "For Prophet and Tasr"] argues that Catherine was heavily influenced by 18th-century French thinkers who thought religion provided “an alternative means of social discipline.”

“The regime sought religious support for its policies,” Crews says. “In other words, it tried to co-opt local Muslim authorities who might be in a position to confer some kind of religious legitimacy upon state policies in order to reduce the chance of resistance.”

Having studied the Ottoman Empire, Catherine and her advisers wanted to create a hierarchical Muslim structure that would work in tandem with the Russian state.

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