Islam, Alcohol, and Identity: Towards a Critical Muslim Studies Approach. (1st April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Is Part Of: ReOrient. Volume 3:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 211
• Publication Date: 2018-04-01
• Subjects: khamr -- nabīdh -- Ḥanafis -- madhhab -- ontic -- ontological -- intoxication -- Barelvi -- Deobandi; Muslims -- Periodicals; Islam and the social sciences -- Periodicals; Islam and culture -- Periodicals; Islam and politics -- Periodicals; 297.27
• DOI: 10.13169/reorient.3.2.0185
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2055-5601

Abstract

Abstract : Framed in a critical Muslim studies approach, this article offers a new understanding of the Ḥanafī position on alcohol, following major public debates on the question of alcohol sparked by prominent members of Al-Azhar University (Egypt) in 2012. Close textual analysis of a range of primary sources in Arabic and Urdu are foundational to the article, as are the categorisation and contextualisation of Ḥanafī discourse. This is all but a starting point, however, for an argument that constitutes a radical break from conventional Islamic studies, seen as "normal science, " in its critique of hegemonic discourses which have essentialised Islam on the basis of specific ontic manifestations, such as the prohibition of alcohol.