Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons
The paper examines the tenability of a project for Islamic liberation theology by exploring the religious lives of Egyptian prisoners—with an emphasis on their encounters with the Qur’an, devotional and contentious contemplation, and theodicy. It employs an ethnographic approach to the study of Isla...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/9/1085 |
| _version_ | 1797577391096201216 |
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| author | Walaa Quisay |
| author_facet | Walaa Quisay |
| author_sort | Walaa Quisay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The paper examines the tenability of a project for Islamic liberation theology by exploring the religious lives of Egyptian prisoners—with an emphasis on their encounters with the Qur’an, devotional and contentious contemplation, and theodicy. It employs an ethnographic approach to the study of Islam in Egyptian prisons by interviewing former political prisoners incarcerated after the 2013 military coup. By examining the work of key liberation theologians Farid Esack (b. 1959), Hamid Dabashi (b. 1951), and Asghar Ali Engineer (b. 1939), I ask: can a justice-oriented hermeneutics, concerned with pluralism and breaking down binaries, be a meaningful starting point to those struggling under oppression? I posit that the concern with developing hermeneutics can potentially limit the praxis whereby the faithful struggle with the text in the very moment of suffering. It shows how Egyptian prisoners’ devotional (and contentious) contemplation (<i>taddabur</i>) of the Qur’an—rather than reading liberation into the Qur’an—allowed for emancipatory embodiments of scripture. Furthermore, I show how prisoners stripped of their agentic power come to understand human action and divine action in history and how the metaphysical responses to human suffering inevitably shaped how they view both structures of inequality and domination as well as their potential liberation from it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:07:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1a1c49eea9b4219a30d2bc80ad53e46 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:07:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1a1c49eea9b4219a30d2bc80ad53e462023-11-19T12:44:49ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442023-08-01149108510.3390/rel14091085Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian PrisonsWalaa Quisay0School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UKThe paper examines the tenability of a project for Islamic liberation theology by exploring the religious lives of Egyptian prisoners—with an emphasis on their encounters with the Qur’an, devotional and contentious contemplation, and theodicy. It employs an ethnographic approach to the study of Islam in Egyptian prisons by interviewing former political prisoners incarcerated after the 2013 military coup. By examining the work of key liberation theologians Farid Esack (b. 1959), Hamid Dabashi (b. 1951), and Asghar Ali Engineer (b. 1939), I ask: can a justice-oriented hermeneutics, concerned with pluralism and breaking down binaries, be a meaningful starting point to those struggling under oppression? I posit that the concern with developing hermeneutics can potentially limit the praxis whereby the faithful struggle with the text in the very moment of suffering. It shows how Egyptian prisoners’ devotional (and contentious) contemplation (<i>taddabur</i>) of the Qur’an—rather than reading liberation into the Qur’an—allowed for emancipatory embodiments of scripture. Furthermore, I show how prisoners stripped of their agentic power come to understand human action and divine action in history and how the metaphysical responses to human suffering inevitably shaped how they view both structures of inequality and domination as well as their potential liberation from it.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/9/1085Islamic liberation theologyEgyptian prisonstheodicyQur’anhermeneutics |
| spellingShingle | Walaa Quisay Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons Religions Islamic liberation theology Egyptian prisons theodicy Qur’an hermeneutics |
| title | Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons |
| title_full | Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons |
| title_fullStr | Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons |
| title_short | Locating ‘Praxis’ in Islamic Liberation Theology: God, Scripture, and the Problem of Suffering in Egyptian Prisons |
| title_sort | locating praxis in islamic liberation theology god scripture and the problem of suffering in egyptian prisons |
| topic | Islamic liberation theology Egyptian prisons theodicy Qur’an hermeneutics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/9/1085 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT walaaquisay locatingpraxisinislamicliberationtheologygodscriptureandtheproblemofsufferinginegyptianprisons |