Riaz Hassan - ISS 14 Islam and Society

The Islamic Studies Series (ISS) is aimed at producing internationally competitive research manuscripts. This series will showcase the breadth of scholarship on Islam and Muslim affairs, making it available to a wide readership. Books in the ISS are based on original research and represent a number of disciplines including anthropology, cultural studies, sociology and political science. Books in the ISS are refereed publications that are committed to research excellence. Submissions on contemporary issues are strongly encouraged. Proposals should be sent to the ISS Editor.

Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh
ISS Editor (shahrama@unimelb.edu.au)

Associate Professor Syed Farid Alatas
Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore

Professor Howard V. Brasted
School of Humanities, University of New England

Professor Robert E. Elson
School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, University of Queensland

Professor John Esposito
Director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding, University Professor of Religion and International Affairs, Georgetown University

Emeritus Professor Riaz Hassan AM, FASSA
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Flinders University

Professor Robert Hefner
Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University

Professor Michael Humphrey
Chair, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney

Professor William Maley AM
Director, Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National University

Professor James Piscatori
Head, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University

Professor Abdullah Saeed
Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, Director, National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne

Professor Amin Saikal AM
Director, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (The Middle East and Central Asia), Australian National University

Professor Samina Yasmeen
Director, Centre for Muslim States and Societies, School of Social and Cultural Studies, University of Western Australia

Riaz Hassan

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING
An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited
1115 Argyle Place South, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
www.mup.com.au

First published 2013
Text Riaz Hassan, 2013
Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2013

This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.

Text design by Phil Campbell
Cover design by Phil Campbell
Typeset by J&M Typesetting
Printed in Australia by OPUS Group

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Hassan, Riaz, author.
Islam and society: sociological explorations/Riaz Hassan.

9780522862560 (paperback)
9780522862577 (ebook)

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Islamic sociology.
Islam.
Muslims.
IslamCustoms and practices.
Islamic fundamentalism.
Islam and state.

297.27

There are few recent studies of Islam that rigorously show how sociological factors such as commercial life and demographic changes explain the emergence and development of what is generally understood by believers to be a transcendental supernatural phenomenon. This book by Professor Riaz Hassan does not seek to replace a theological with a sociological explanation of Islam, but to restate the importance of understanding Islam as a socially constructed reality. His approach is likely to raise the most controversy where he considers the centrality of economic and psychological factors in determining the success of the Prophet Muhammads 25-year-long marriage to Khadija, or where he argues that Muhammads prophetic consciousness was determined by the social context in which he lived. This is a timely work that, if read in conjunction with Riaz Hassans other works on Islam, provides the beginnings of a new sociology of Muslim societies, continuing the tradition established by Ibn Khaldun and continued by Pirenne, Weber, Gellner and Geertz.

Associate Professor Syed Farid Alatas
Head, Department of Malay Studies
National University of Singapore

Earlier versions of some of the essays in this volume were presented at seminars in Australia and overseas. The comments received from seminar participants allowed me to refine some of my arguments and interpretation of empirical data. The data for Singapore in is from the MUIS Survey, which I gratefully acknowledge.

I would like to thank Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh, the editor of Melbourne University Publishings Islamic Studies Series, for his interest and encouragement in the publication of this volume and the Institute of South Asian Studies National University of Singapore and its Director, Professor Tan Tai Yong, for his support. I have also received critical comments on some of the essays in this volume from many friends and colleagues at the Institute of South Asian Studies and elsewhere. I would especially like to thank Mr Shahid Javed Burki, Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Professor Muhammad Khalid Masud, Professor Bryan Turner Professor Robert Goldney and Dr Ronojoy Sen for their comments, and Dr Laurence Lester, Ishraq Ahmed and Carolyn Corkindale for their research assistance.

I would like to thank Sally Heath, Executive Publisher at Melbourne University Publishing for her interest and support in the production of this book and Diane Leyman, Lily Keil and Cathryn Smith for their editorial assistance. Finally, this book owes much to the affectionate support of my wife Selva. None of the people mentioned here and in other parts of the book is, of course, responsible for any shortcomings of this book. I accept full and sole responsibility for those.

Riaz Hassan
Institute of South Asian Studies
National University of Singapore

The central focus of this volume is to explore and highlight the nexus between the ideology of Islam and social and cultural milieus with the aim of reconceptualising the sacred as a socially constructed reality and not a transcendental supernatural phenomenon. From this perspective, human agency and society become the main focus for shaping, perpetuating and institutionalising religious beliefs, ideas and practices, opening up space for empirical and sociological analyses of religious phenomena. The seven essays in this volume seek to explore and examine some of the key debates in contemporary sociology of Islam. The topics explored are: social factors in the origins of Islam; social theory and Muslim society; Islam and politics in South Asia; Muslim piety; anti-Semitism; the social foundations of Muhammads prophetic mission, with a special reference to Arab historical memory and the role of his first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid; and the barriers to social inclusion of Australian Muslims in Australian society.