Sociology of Religion in Muslim World Week 12 Course Materials By Asst. Prof. Dr. Selman Yılmaz

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) Among the founders of sociology but he has been neglected because of Eurocentrism in sociology. Born in Tunisia. Experienced much political upheaval and witnessed what he considered to be the cultural decline of his society.

Muqaddimah Wrote his famous Muqaddimah in 1378. Introduced a new science that today would be understood as sociology but which he named ‘ilm al-‘umran al-bashari (the science of human social organization) or ‘ilm al-ijtima‘ al-insani (the science of human society Considered the study of society as it is rather than as it should be. His substantive concerns were with the macro issues of the rise and decline of dynasties and states.

Asabiyyah Theory The key to understanding the rise and decline of North African states lay in the essential differences in social organization between pastoral nomadic and sedentary societies. Asabiyyah refers a type of group feeling or social cohesion. Asabiyyah tends to be stronger among the pastoral nomadic peoples. Asabiyyah is not wholly dependent on kinship ties. Religion can also function to bring about or strengthen such solidarity.

Ali Shariati (1933-1977) He was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He presents “a geometrical figure of a school of thought and an ideology which every Islamologist and aware Muslim should have of Islam, not only as explanation of their religious belief but as a logo of a school of thought and ideology.”

Islamology Islam, as an ideology, is not a scientific specialization but is the feeling one has in regard to a school of thought as a belief system and not as a culture. It is the perceiving of Islam as an idea and not as a collection of sciences. It is the understanding of Islam as a human, historical and intellectual movement, not as a storehouse of scientific and technical information. It is the view of Islam as an ideology in the minds of an intellectual and not as ancient religious sciences in the mind of a religious scholar. Islamology, then, should be taught in this way.

Review Any further comments and questions?

References Alatas, Syed Farid (2011). Ibn Khaldun. In George Ritzer & Jeffrey Stepnisky (eds.). Major Social Theorists. Wiley-Blackwell. Shariati, Ali (n.d.). Islamology: The Basic Design for a School of Thought and Action. http://www.shariati.com/english/islam/islam1.html