Islamic Law and Politics in Asia

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

This subject is taught by a team of guests, coordinated by Professor Lindsey.

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have an understanding of the history and development of Islamic law and jurisprudence in Asia
• Have an understanding of the role of Islam in modern law and politics, with a focus on selected states in the Asian region
• Understand the tensions between Islamic scholarship, law and religious belief on the one hand and, on the other, the notion of the secular nation state.

Syllabus:

This subject examines the relationship between the modern nation state and Islam in Asia, focusing on the 240 million Muslims in Australia’s South East Asian neighbourhood, but offering coverage also of South and Central Asia. Islam does not recognise a distinction between religion and law because both are derived from God’s revealed message, written in Arabic in seventh-century Arabia. The result is an inevitable tension between Islamic belief and the modern (secular) nation state that lies at the heart of the politics of Islamic law in Asia. This tension, and the legal, political and social controversies that result from it, are the focus of this subject, which is based on selected comparative case studies.

Principal topics will include:

• How the original Arabic-derived legal thought has been adapted in its new homelands, including the contemporary application of Islam to modern technology and cultures
• The essential position of Islamic law as an alternative authority to the contemporary state
• Current political and religious controversies arising in South East Asia. These will be selected from a range that may include:
  • Islamic legal codes
  • Islamic criminal punishment
  • Interest-free banking, ‘Islamic economics’ and commercial law
  • The meaning of jihad
  • Islamic approaches to the status of women
  • Zakat and other forms of philanthropy
  • Education and the role of Madrasa and Pesantren
  • The introduction of revivalist Islamic codes
  • Islamic radicalism and terrorist groups in South East Asia, including Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah, Al Qaeda.

• Take-home examination (100%) (4–7 December)
  
  or
  
• Research paper 10,000 words (100%) (18 January 2010) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have an understanding of the history and development of Islamic law and jurisprudence in Asia
• Have an understanding of the role of Islam in modern law and politics, with a focus on selected states in the Asian region
• Understand the tensions between Islamic scholarship, law and religious belief on the one hand and, on the other, the notion of the secular nation state.

Syllabus:

This subject examines the relationship between the modern nation state and Islam in Asia, focusing on the 240 million Muslims in Australia’s South East Asian neighbourhood, but offering coverage also of South and Central Asia. Islam does not recognise a distinction between religion and law because both are derived from God’s revealed message, written in Arabic in seventh-century Arabia. The result is an inevitable tension between Islamic belief and the modern (secular) nation state that lies at the heart of the politics of Islamic law in Asia. This tension, and the legal, political and social controversies that result from it, are the focus of this subject, which is based on selected comparative case studies.

Principal topics will include:

• How the original Arabic-derived legal thought has been adapted in its new homelands, including the contemporary application of Islam to modern technology and cultures
• The essential position of Islamic law as an alternative authority to the contemporary state
• Current political and religious controversies arising in South East Asia. These will be selected from a range that may include:
  • Islamic legal codes
  • Islamic criminal punishment
  • Interest-free banking, ‘Islamic economics’ and commercial law
  • The meaning of jihad
  • Islamic approaches to the status of women
  • Zakat and other forms of philanthropy
  • Education and the role of Madrasa and Pesantren
  • The introduction of revivalist Islamic codes
  • Islamic radicalism and terrorist groups in South East Asia, including Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah, Al Qaeda.

• Take-home examination (100%) (4–7 December)
  
  or
  
• Research paper 10,000 words (100%) (18 January 2010) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is taught by a team of guests, coordinated by Professor Lindsey.