Unit 1 Thought and Politics in the Islamic World

Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo

Unit Leader: KOMATSU Hisao

Islamic Area Studies Unit 1 Research Office

The University of Tokyo, Bungakubu Annexe

7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

Tel: +81-3-5841-2687 Fax: +81-3-5841-2686

E-mail: ias-hiro@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Unit 1 Research Themes and Activities

Among the various movements seen in the contemporary Islamic world, one of the most outstanding issues is the Islamic Revival Movement. This is not a mere ideological phenomenon but has been reflected in political and social movements both in Muslim countries as well as Muslim societies in areas throughout the world. This movement is based not only on the rich heritage of Islamic thought but also on the spread of Islamic awakening seen in the modern Islamic world. What role will the Islamic world play in the 21st century, and what significance will it embody in the future? In order to answer these questions we must understand holistically the Islamic Revival Movement of today.

Through our research we seek to shed light on the complex inter-relationship between modern civilization and Islam primarily by means of comparative analyses between areas. In our analyses we will look at the tendencies of Islamic thought today, and closely related socio-political movements; the status and role of Islamic areas within the post-Cold-War international dynamics; and the present situation of Islamic law, which links thought, politics and society. The three groups comprising Unit 1 have laid the following research plans:

Group 1-A ﾒContemporary Islamic Thought and Movementsﾓ will be exploring the ideas of major modern and contemporary Islamic thinkers by making use of their original texts. This will in turn complement the comparative research we will be conducting between Islamic regions to explain the Islamic Revival Movement of today. In the process of the research, historical backgrounds and interregional influences will be taken into account.

Group 1-B ﾒIslam and International Relationsﾓ will seek to situate Islam within the framework of contemporary international politics. We will be hosting workshops on such issues as the role of Islamic political movements in international conflicts; the relationship of ﾒIslamﾓ and the formation of blocs; the relationship between anti-establishment Islamic movements and international society. These workshops will be conducted with scholars from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, mainly from the disciplines of political science, modern history, and area studies.

Group 1-C ﾒIslamic Law and Societyﾓ will focus on Islamic family law, the only realm in the Islamic state today where traditional standards are applied almost unchanged to this day. While examining the form of traditional Islamic family law, we will compare this with contemporary legislation. To this end we will hold workshops with historians and anthropologists in an attempt to explain how the differences between modern legislation and traditional family law were born.

Research results of Unit 1 will be published in Contemporary Thought and Political Movements and other volumes in our Japanese IAS Series. The three groups will work together to further develop the topics addressed in these volumes through workshops.

The Central Asian Research Network based in Unit 1 will organize seminars focused on Central Asia, as well as further our work on the Ferghana Project. The Ferghana Project utilizes GIS to analyze population dynamics, ethnic structure, and changes in land use as seen in the Ferghana Valley. The Ferghana Valley is located in eastern Central Asia where Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet. While it is the region where the Islamic Revival Movement is most active in Central Asia today, the region has internal issues that must be solved, including ethnic tension and environmental pollution. It was in southern Kyrgyzstan that in the summer of 1999 several Japanese were held hostage by an armed group. In order to understand these issues it is profitable to look simultaneously at the population dynamics, ethnic distribution and geographical factors of the past century. For the past two years, the Central Asian Research Network has been working on the input of statistical data onto a map to the scale of 1:200,000. This year we plan to conduct field research in the Ferghana Valley as well as present results at the international symposium in October. We will also continue to publish important sources on recent Central Asian history as part of the Central Asian Research Series.

Unit 1 Publications

Raja A. ADAL ed., The Index of the Journal ﾒLa Nation Arabe,ﾓ Tokyo, 2001.

Translated Texts:

KASUYA Gen, Selections from the Risale-i Nur Collection

NAKANISHI Hisae, Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Jaﾔfariﾕs ﾒUniversal Human Rights: From the Viewpoints of Islam and the Westﾓ

Volumes in the English IAS Series:

KOSUGI Yasushi ed., The Manar Journal and the Manar School, London, 2001.

St姿hane A. DUDOIGNON and KOMATSU Hisao, eds., Islam in Politics in Russia and Central Asia (Early Eighteenth to Late Twentieth Centuries), London, 2001.

S.A. DUDOIGNON, Y. KOSUGI and H. KOMATSU, Intellectuals in Islam in the 20th Century: Situations, Discourses, Strategies, London, 2002.

Unit 1 International Exchange

Scholars to be sent abroad

- KOMATSU Hisao and YUASA Takeshi (The National Institute for Defense Studies) will conduct research and collect sources for the Ferghana Project. July 15-28, 2001. Uzbekistan.

- KOBAYASHI Yasuko will conduct research regarding the Uniform Marriage Act. July 31 - September 3, 2001. Indonesia.

- IIZUKA Masato will collect resources on contemporary Islamic thought in Egypt. October 21-31, 2001. Egypt.

- IKEUCHI Satoshi (Institute of Developing Economies) will collect resources on the interrelation between democratization and Islamism in Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s. July 10 - August 5, 2001. Egypt.

Scholars invited from abroad

- Shahnaz Salim HUNZAI (Khanah-i Hikmat) will lecture on the Islamic Revival Movement in Pakistan today. Dates to be announced.

- Nasaruddin UMAR (IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta) will lecture at the Joint Workshop of Units 1 and 2 ﾒSoutheast Asia Research Seminar.ﾓ July 19-25, 2001.

Unit 1 From the Group Leaders

(Group 1-A) This year we will continue to analyze political, economic, and sociological conditions through a comparison of regions, in order to elucidate the nature and development of 20th-century Islamic thought and the Islamic Revival Movement. To this end we will conduct seminars on the Revival Movement as well as on original texts and related books. This year we will hold seminars on the Islamic Revival Movement in Pakistan. We will publish a compilation of papers from the 1998 international symposium on the Manar journal as well as another of the 1999 international symposium ﾒIslam and Politics in Russia and Central Asia.ﾓ We will also prepare for publication the research presented at the 2000 international workshop ﾒIntellectuals in Islam in the 20th Century.ﾓ At the international symposium to be held in October 2001, Unit 1 will present the results of its past yearsﾕ work and explore possibilities for further research. We welcome and look forward to the participation of all those interested.

(KOMATSU Hisao)

(Group 1-B) We will present our research at the international symposium in October and publish results in the Japanese IAS Series. Our research on nationalism and nation-states delves into different aspects of nationalism in the Islamic world. One of our goals, for instance, is to establish hypotheses regarding the similarities and differences of two different aspects of nationalism, namely, nationalism as an ideology supporting governmental rule and nationalism underlying civil movements, through comparative studies of different Islamic areas in different times. (SAKAI Keiko)

(Group 1-C) Islamic law in various times and regions was discussed in three research seminars last year. Connections between traditional and contemporary Islamic law including Islamic family law have become evident through our research. This year we will investigate modern legislations in South and Southeast Asia, as well as historical documents concerning Islamic family law.

(YANAGIHASHI Hiroyuki)