Walaa Quisay | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)
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Books by Walaa Quisay
University of Edinburgh Press, 2023
Papers by Walaa Quisay
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 6, 2023
Religions
The paper examines the tenability of a project for Islamic liberation theology by exploring the r... more 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 (taddabur) of the Qur’an—rather than reading lib...
Political Theology, Apr 7, 2022
Religious Studies Review, 2021
The present thesis studies the emergence of neo-traditionalism, its public pedagogues and their s... more The present thesis studies the emergence of neo-traditionalism, its public pedagogues and their students (seekers of sacred knowledge), in the West. These pedagogues, many of whom Western-born converts, emerged in the 1990’s after having culminated their studies in the ‘traditional centres’ of knowledge in the Muslim world. They came back with the intent of transmitting the ‘traditional’ knowledge they attained to the wider Muslim community. Of these, this research focuses primarily on Hamza Yusuf, Abdal Hakim Murad, and Umar Faruq Abd-Allah. To their community of followers and students – known as ‘seekers of sacred knowledge’, they represented a connection to an authentic religious tradition marginalised by modernist voices. Their religious discourse was both highly intellectual and deeply spiritual; at a time when there was a seeming decline in both intellect and spirituality. The shuyūkh disseminate their traditional knowledge in religious retreats. These retreats – often– are isolated from the modern world and imbued with traditional symbolism. In these spaces, the shuyūkh provide the desirable orientations to the sacred world in Islam, and a rejection of the modern world around them. That is, the retreat provides both 'ways of seeing' as well as 'what is to be seen' as part of Islam within modernity. The central thrust of the sites of the transaction of sacred knowledge is to 'school' the learners into different narratives of the spiritual decline under modern condition. In the Muslim specific context, this led to the rise of different modernist post-colonial movements and activist tendencies. Such trends obscured Muslim metaphysical outlook. The shuyūkh’s critiques of modernity and discourses on the side lining of metaphysics interpret these in terms of the wider political and social principles. This research shows, on the one hand, how the neo-traditionalist shuyūkh conceive of modernity, tradition, and how that impacts their political discourse on issues such as dissent, race, belonging, and gender. The research highlights how the critique of ‘modernity’ is interlinked and reaffirms notions of authority and stability. On the other hand, it shows, through field interviews with seekers who attended their religious retreats, how young Muslims negotiate and navigate these discourses on modernity, tradition, and politics.</p
Teaching Documents by Walaa Quisay
This module will focus on 19th and 20th century trends in the study of societies and politics of ... more This module will focus on 19th and 20th century trends in the study of societies and politics of the Muslim world, including debates around orientalism and women’s studies. Through the study and discussion of key texts students will engage with significant traditional and modern scholarship, will be able to navigate critically through the relevant academic literature, and will be able to argue coherently for their own particular points of view.
This module seeks to introduce students to a range of questions, theories and methods in the inte... more This module seeks to introduce students to a range of questions, theories and methods in the inter-disciplinary study of religion, focusing especially on the social and cultural analysis of religion. A range of case studies will be used to explore how different aspects of religion can be explored as a constantly changing social phenomenon. Examples of this would include social, communal, individualistic, egalitarian, revivalist, and gendered modes of modern religiosities. An introduction is also offered to wider theories and debates in sociology, cultural studies and anthropology as a basis for the study of religion.
Religion, Culture & Society is a subject increasing in popularity both nationally and internation... more Religion, Culture & Society is a subject increasing in popularity both nationally and internationally. This subject is taught within a theoretical and conceptual framework, and will examine the impact religion has on the individual and within a global context.
This module aims to introduce students to current debates within the sociology of religion as they relate to religion and lived faith in the context of contemporary global society in general and British culture in particular, focusing most specifically on urban contexts. It will examine the broader contemporary social context in which religion and the construction of meaning takes place, as well as how religious groups are responding to contemporary social trends and pressures.
The formal name for the Syllabus SOC 392: Sociology of Muslim Experience
Thesis Chapters by Walaa Quisay
Selected Publications & Papers by Walaa Quisay
Jadaliyya, 2020
In the early stages of the Arab uprisings, one of the questions frequently posed in the analysis ... more In the early stages of the Arab uprisings, one of the questions frequently posed in the analysis of the mass mobilizations revolved around the role that Islamists would play in post-authoritarian transitions. To that end, when the Critical Currents in Islam page launched in 2013, it featured a roundtable exploring Islamism as a political force that presented a popular challenge to authoritarian rule. As events unfolded and gains of revolutionary movements were rolled back, however, the conversation shifted to the fallout from a resurgent authoritarian wave and its impact on forces of political Islam moving forward. In the interim, a phenomenon that came to demand more attention from observers was the construction of theological arguments and the enlisting of Islamic institutions in support of the authoritarian resurgence. This roundtable facilitates critical discussion on the state of this question ten years after the Arab uprisings.
University of Edinburgh Press, 2023
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Jul 6, 2023
Religions
The paper examines the tenability of a project for Islamic liberation theology by exploring the r... more 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 (taddabur) of the Qur’an—rather than reading lib...
Political Theology, Apr 7, 2022
Religious Studies Review, 2021
The present thesis studies the emergence of neo-traditionalism, its public pedagogues and their s... more The present thesis studies the emergence of neo-traditionalism, its public pedagogues and their students (seekers of sacred knowledge), in the West. These pedagogues, many of whom Western-born converts, emerged in the 1990’s after having culminated their studies in the ‘traditional centres’ of knowledge in the Muslim world. They came back with the intent of transmitting the ‘traditional’ knowledge they attained to the wider Muslim community. Of these, this research focuses primarily on Hamza Yusuf, Abdal Hakim Murad, and Umar Faruq Abd-Allah. To their community of followers and students – known as ‘seekers of sacred knowledge’, they represented a connection to an authentic religious tradition marginalised by modernist voices. Their religious discourse was both highly intellectual and deeply spiritual; at a time when there was a seeming decline in both intellect and spirituality. The shuyūkh disseminate their traditional knowledge in religious retreats. These retreats – often– are isolated from the modern world and imbued with traditional symbolism. In these spaces, the shuyūkh provide the desirable orientations to the sacred world in Islam, and a rejection of the modern world around them. That is, the retreat provides both 'ways of seeing' as well as 'what is to be seen' as part of Islam within modernity. The central thrust of the sites of the transaction of sacred knowledge is to 'school' the learners into different narratives of the spiritual decline under modern condition. In the Muslim specific context, this led to the rise of different modernist post-colonial movements and activist tendencies. Such trends obscured Muslim metaphysical outlook. The shuyūkh’s critiques of modernity and discourses on the side lining of metaphysics interpret these in terms of the wider political and social principles. This research shows, on the one hand, how the neo-traditionalist shuyūkh conceive of modernity, tradition, and how that impacts their political discourse on issues such as dissent, race, belonging, and gender. The research highlights how the critique of ‘modernity’ is interlinked and reaffirms notions of authority and stability. On the other hand, it shows, through field interviews with seekers who attended their religious retreats, how young Muslims negotiate and navigate these discourses on modernity, tradition, and politics.</p
This module will focus on 19th and 20th century trends in the study of societies and politics of ... more This module will focus on 19th and 20th century trends in the study of societies and politics of the Muslim world, including debates around orientalism and women’s studies. Through the study and discussion of key texts students will engage with significant traditional and modern scholarship, will be able to navigate critically through the relevant academic literature, and will be able to argue coherently for their own particular points of view.
This module seeks to introduce students to a range of questions, theories and methods in the inte... more This module seeks to introduce students to a range of questions, theories and methods in the inter-disciplinary study of religion, focusing especially on the social and cultural analysis of religion. A range of case studies will be used to explore how different aspects of religion can be explored as a constantly changing social phenomenon. Examples of this would include social, communal, individualistic, egalitarian, revivalist, and gendered modes of modern religiosities. An introduction is also offered to wider theories and debates in sociology, cultural studies and anthropology as a basis for the study of religion.
Religion, Culture & Society is a subject increasing in popularity both nationally and internation... more Religion, Culture & Society is a subject increasing in popularity both nationally and internationally. This subject is taught within a theoretical and conceptual framework, and will examine the impact religion has on the individual and within a global context.
This module aims to introduce students to current debates within the sociology of religion as they relate to religion and lived faith in the context of contemporary global society in general and British culture in particular, focusing most specifically on urban contexts. It will examine the broader contemporary social context in which religion and the construction of meaning takes place, as well as how religious groups are responding to contemporary social trends and pressures.
The formal name for the Syllabus SOC 392: Sociology of Muslim Experience
Jadaliyya, 2020
In the early stages of the Arab uprisings, one of the questions frequently posed in the analysis ... more In the early stages of the Arab uprisings, one of the questions frequently posed in the analysis of the mass mobilizations revolved around the role that Islamists would play in post-authoritarian transitions. To that end, when the Critical Currents in Islam page launched in 2013, it featured a roundtable exploring Islamism as a political force that presented a popular challenge to authoritarian rule. As events unfolded and gains of revolutionary movements were rolled back, however, the conversation shifted to the fallout from a resurgent authoritarian wave and its impact on forces of political Islam moving forward. In the interim, a phenomenon that came to demand more attention from observers was the construction of theological arguments and the enlisting of Islamic institutions in support of the authoritarian resurgence. This roundtable facilitates critical discussion on the state of this question ten years after the Arab uprisings.