Vasectomy and Religious Authority: A Comprehensive Analysis

Although various studies have examined the economic and political impacts of product boycotts, research focusing on the implementation of economic boycotts driven by religious fatwas in the Indonesian context remains scarce. This study seeks to fill that gap by analyzing the Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) Fatwa No. 83/2023 concerning support for the Palestinian cause and the boycott of pro-Israel products, within the framework of fiqh siyasah and the concept of economic warfare. Using a descriptive qualitative method with a contextual content analysis approach, this research explores the substance and implications of the fatwa. The analysis finds that the fatwa emphasizes the moral and political dimensions of Muslim solidarity, positioning boycotts and the distribution of zakat and infaq as forms of ethical and humanitarian responsibility rather than economic instruments. Furthermore, the fatwa illustrates the integration of fiqh siyasah principles into contemporary discourse on global justice and Muslim solidarity. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how religious authority can influence moral reasoning and collective action within Islamic economic thought. The findings provide conceptual insights for scholars, policymakers, and community leaders on the role of Islamic legal perspectives in shaping ethical responses to global political issues, while promoting peaceful and principled engagement in international relations.

Introduction Sterilization is a permanent and an effective method of contraception. However, fertility rates increased in Egypt, lately; sterilization is rarely utilized. Psychosocial factors and religious issues are considered in all societies. Objective To find out physicians' perception of vasectomy as a permanent contraceptive method and factors that might influence recommending vasectomy in Egypt. Design A cross- sectional questionnaire based study. Setting and methods The study included 181 physicians practicing, as gynecologist and family planning doctors, in Egypt. The questionnaire was designed to explore the physicians' perception of vasectomy and their attitudes to advise Egyptian men to undergo the procedure. Results 94/181 (52%) physicians positively perceived vasectomy as the best method of permanent contraception but only 45/181 (24.9%) advised the procedure. Positive perception was associated with advice of vasectomy (P = 0.001). The majority, 119/136 (87.5%) physicians, did not recommend vasectomy for: a possible post vasectomy sexual dysfunction, anticipation of non-acceptance of vasectomy by Egyptian men, religious issues and concerns regarding regaining future fertility when needed. The majority, 43/45 (95.5%) physicians recommended vasectomy when female contraception was contraindicated or when couples completed their families. Conclusion However more than half of physicians had a positive perception of vasectomy, only 24.9% advised Egyptian men to undergo the procedure. Sociocultural factors and religious issues hindered physicians to recommend vasectomy in Egypt. Vasectomy was recommended when it was absolutely needed.

Since the beginning of the universe, religion is a key element of the society across the globe because religion is the collective forces that binds and provide the satisfied explanations regarding the metaphysical queries and force to the members of society. Therefore, it has played the crucial role in the nourishment and development of the core religions. In fact, despite of the universality or relativity between religions the diversity of religious principles, faith, practices and other cultural elements are manifested in numerous states or nations which is one of the significant factor of spreading the religious bigotry sectarianism sentiments among the masses of the society. Even in contemporary modern and advanced era, it is distressing that people are still conflicting with each other on religious basis. The people are being killed; divided and their holy places are occupied and tear down just because of the religious differences and practices. In this context, if we talk about Pakistan so it is the sacred state with religious and cultural diversity. In spite of this the sectarian and religious beliefs, practices, and teaching of other sects and religion is not acceptable at any level in our society which, led hazardous and anarchy situations in the society because in Pakistan sectarianism is being promoted by the political and religious authorities in order to established their political regime and authenticity. Unfortunately, the imam or religious scholars could not play their significant and effective role in condemning such religious violence and exploitations and took part in stressing and promoting the violent behavior by teaching the narrow point of view and brainwashing of their students and followers. The diverse religious beliefs, principles and practices are really a cause of confusion, disorganization and alienation among the masses regarding adherent which belief, principle and traditions. In such hazardous situation there is need of the interreligious dialogue to protect the humanity and to comprehend the diverse religions and their belief structure as well. In this article researcher will yield a brief historical background and introduction of the interreligious discourse, after that author will talk about the need and significance of interreligious dialogue in 21st century. The content will be helpful to understand the discourse between world’s core religions and will be beneficial to eliminate the biasness and misinterpretation regarding the other religious beliefs and practices. Here it is significant to understand the benefits of this discourse such as inception of fairness and world harmony, to escape communities from disintegration, the safety of human rights and the ethical values of diverse religions across the world

The article deals with “oppressed - oppressors” (mustadʻafun - mustakbirun) dichotomy. It was proposed inside Shiʻism and became an important element of International Relations (IR) theory and practice of such countries as Iran and Lebanon. The author discovers peculiarities of the Muslim states’ IR perception and also explains differences between a process of world view formation in the West and the Islamic world. The most important aspects of “oppressed - oppressors” dichotomy that underlies Shiʻite interpretation of IR and Influences on foreign policy of Iran and Lebanon, were elaborated by such Shiʻite religious scholars as Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Musa al-Sadr, Ruhollah Khomeini, and Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. Their world views are based on the interpretation of the most important sources of Islam - the Qurʻan and hadiths. Thoughts of Shiʻite religious authorities took a wide distribution and popularity at different countries of the Islamic world in 1970’s. It was determined by the fact that these thoughts became a reaction on discontent of the Middle Eastern countries’ population on interference into their domestic affairs by the Western states, monopolization on the region’s natural resources by the Western companies and also negligence of the local governments that allowed neo-colonialism. Moreover, by that time the Middle Eastern countries had disappointed either in Socialism or in capitalism that both couldn’t resolve problems which impeded the Muslim states’ development. Shiʻites as a part of the Islamic world that during their long history were nearly always persecuted by Sunni majority, expressed that the oppressed Muslim nations didn’t need to adopt any Western ideology because the only Islam could become the answer on all the questions and a key weapon in the struggle against the oppressors.

The Sword of the Lord is the first book to examine military chaplains and the development of the military chaplaincy across history and geography - from the first to the twenty-first century, from Europe to North America. The scope of this work reveals the astonishing fact that the military chaplaincy has existed in a recognizable form for more than 1600 years. Contributors analyze specific historical moments in the development of the chaplaincy, beginning in antiquity and progressing through the Crusades, the English Civil War, the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. Four key themes connect the chapters of this book. The first is the basic issue of historical development over time. Where and when did the military chaplaincy begin and how has it changed? A second theme involves the emotionally and spiritually intense relationships that develop between chaplains and the men and women they serve. How have military chaplains dealt with the enormous responsibility of ministering to soldiers about to kill or possibly be killed? The third theme is that of chaplains' often precarious position between military and religious authorities. Are military chaplains primarily morale boosters, retained by rulers and military commanders because they prepare soldiers to fight hard and face death bravely? Or are they above all pastors, caring for the spiritual needs of their constituency? How do they balance conflicting duties and demands? A fourth related theme is the profound moral and theological dilemmas raised by the chaplaincy. Even under the least morally ambiguous circumstances, chaplains work in the midst of violence, coercion, and suffering. How have they understood their tasks and carried them out in deeply troubled and brutal times? What are the ethical implications of their work? In addition to contributions by historians, this book includes vivid accounts by two former chaplains - an American rabbi who served in World War II and an American Catholic priest who served in Vietnam. This remarkable work treats with care and sensitivity a fascinating and important topic. Anyone interested in military history, religious studies, ethics, or pastoral care will profit from reading this book.

Agency versus Insurgency

This paper focuses on the discourse of local religious traditions and its implication for the shifting religious authority among young Muslims in Banten and Yogyakarta dealing with their activity in social media (clicktivism). The existence of freedom of opinion and expression since the fall of the New Order and the widespread use of new media has had a significant influence on youth’s Muslimness, including the local Islamic tradition issues. In collecting data, this study utilized visual ethnography, observation, interview, and focus group discussion. While analyzing the collected data, we use Talal Asad’s Discursive Tradition. The research finds that the dissemination of information through social media was able to have a significant influence on the change in religious practices, especially in dealing with local religious (Islamic) traditions. This change is inseparable from the dynamic process of the discursive tradition of young Muslims on social media. Another implication of the process is a shift in religious authority from personal to impersonal.

Un análisis del genero en las religiones desde disciplinas tan diversas como la hermenéutica bíblica, la teología feminista, la sociología, la antropología y la historia de las religiones configura la presencia de los estudios de mujeres y su accionar politico dentro de los diversos universos religiosos en los tiempos contemporaneos.

irst, let me say how happy I am to participate in this session. I feel honored that Joan has claimed me as a teacher though she was already a recognized scholar when she took the NEH seminar, and I have, over the years, learned a great deal from her and her work. It is tempting to try to survey all the various things that medieval women’s correspondence reveals they were thinking about: medical issues, family problems, legal and financial claims, [fighting] divorce, political negotiations, the conflicting claims of world and cloister, the need for moral support in a difficult job, pride in their heritage or in the accomplishments of other women, rebellion against religious authority, and these are all interesting, but there is not enough time for them. I will focus mainly on religious issues, but I would like to remind you first of the influence women patrons had on the writing of secular texts, particularly histories. Women were guardians of history, sometimes in the works they commissioned, sometimes in their persons, often bringing the prestige of an older family to give legitimacy to their more parvenu husbands. It was to their advantage to press the claims of their families, but the same claims were pressed by women religious. In some cases, the interest seems to be mainly in preserving and asserting the prestige of the family, and presumably their own. Gerberga commissioned Hrotsvit’s two epics; one the life of her uncle, Otto I, the Gesta Ottonis; the other, the history of the founding of their monastery by the women in the family, the Primordia Coenobii Gandeshemensis. Matilda, abbess of Essen, the last survivor of the line of Liudolf, Duke of Swabia and son of Otto I, and his first wife, the English princess Edith, grand daughter of Alfred, asked her English cousin AEthelward for a history of her English ancestors [Chronicon AEthelwardi]. Sometimes the histories

Reviewed by: Conversion and Narrative: Reading and Religious Authority in Medieval Polemic by Ryan Szpiech Michelle M. Hamilton Keywords Religious Studies, Medieval Iberia, Intellectual History, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Ramon Llull, Alfonso de Valladolid, Anselm Turmeda, Catalan Studies, Mediterranean Studies, Translation, Conversos, Jewish Studies, Ryan Szpiech, Michelle M Hamilton Szpiech, Ryan. Conversion and Narrative: Reading and Religious Authority in Medieval Polemic. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2013. xi + 311 pp. In this study, Ryan Szpiech shows how various medieval authors (many of them Iberian) avoid or reify inherited models of conversion and conversion narratives to meet their needs as polemicists. Szpiech chooses from the large corpus of available material those conversion narratives associated with ‘‘explicitly polemical and interconfessional apologetic writing’’—beginning with Augustine, but focusing on the medieval Mediterranean world of Muslims, Jews, and Christians and how the latter either legitimate or discredit accepted authoritative knowledge and discourses. Szpiech’s comparative approach, which seeks patterns of similarity and of methodology across time and religion, proves fruitful and offers a portrait of polemical literature, often authored by converts, and of the changing and developing role of narrative within it. Each of the six chapters presents case studies of converts, and illustrates how their conversion narratives have been shaped to establish the authenticity of the convert’s new identity by paradoxically establishing his authority in the old faith. In chapter one, ‘‘From Peripety to Prose,’’ Szpiech explores how a convert from Islam, Juan Andrés, and a convert from Judaism, Pablo de Santa Marίa, both include autobiographical accounts of their conversions in fifteenth-century polemical treatises. Once converted, both Juan Andrés and Pablo de Santa Marίa use their knowledge of the proof texts of their former religion (the Quran and tafsir for the former, and Talmud and works of Jewish authorities like Rashi and Mai-monides in the case of the latter) in an attempt to convert their former coreligionists. These two examples reveal the strategies and models that are the end result of a long process of development and adaptation to which Szpiech turns in the following chapters. In the second chapter, ‘‘Alterity and Auctoritas,’’ Szpiech explores how two twelfth-century Jews, Judah/Herman of Cologne, and Petrus Alfonsi, a Judeo-Andalusi intellectual, adopt elements of the accepted Augustinian/Pauline conversion paradigms and meld them with the new Aristotelian rationalism entering Europe to forge a new type of conversion narrative. Both Alfonsi and Judah/Her-man introduce Jewish authorities and Scripture into their narratives, thus proving [End Page 251] their authenticity as former Jews, but also beginning a process of destabilizing traditional Christian authority. In Petrus Alfonsi’s Dialogue Against the Jews, his fictional converted self debates with his former Jewish self who demands an explanation, and in the process Alfonsi makes alterity visible. As Szpiech points out, Alfonsi uses Jewish texts both as authorities recognized by his former Jewish self, and as authoritative sources for Christological interpretations—thus he wants it both ways, and in so doing ‘‘throws the meaning of auctoritas into flux’’ (79). Szpiech explores in the following chapters how this crisis in authority played out as a growing ambivalence toward all authorities and toward the teleological notion of Christian history that undergird them. In chapter 3, ‘‘In the Shadow of the Hazards,’’ Szpiech takes up conversion to Judaism as an illustrative counterpoint to narratives of conversion to Christianity discussed in the second chapter. He compares the conversion of two ninth-century Christians, Bodo/Eleazar and the Austrian Wecelinus, with that of the legendary conversion of the king of the Khazars as recounted in the letters of the Genizah and in Judah Ha-Levi’s twelfth-century Book of the Khazars. Bodo/Eleazar’s account survives only in Paulus Alvarus’s account of the epistolary exchange he purportedly engaged in with the latter, and Wecelinus’s conversion account survives only in the work of the Benedictine chronicler Alpertus of Metz. Both are presented by their Christian narrators as invalid. In contrast, Judah Ha-Levi’s twelfth-century account of the conversion of the legendary King of the Khazars, although also polemic in nature, is presented as a logical and rational choice on the part of the...

This study explores the interpretation of Fiqh al-Munākaḥāt by students of State Islamic Senior High Schools (Madrasah Aliyah Negeri) as a form of early sex education in the digital era, along with its implications for contemporary Islamic jurisprudence. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected from 112 students in Buleleng and Jakarta through online questionnaires and document analysis. Data analysis was conducted in three stages: reconciliation, presentation of patterns, and meaning construction. The theoretical framework integrates Habermas’s post-secular theory, Badran’s Islamic gender discourse, and Campbell’s concept of digital religion. The findings show that 78.6% of respondents acknowledge the significant influence of digital media on their understanding of Islamic marriage norms, while 61.6% find technology helpful in understanding related legal concepts. The integration of post-secular perspectives reveals religion’s relevance in modern public spaces. Islamic gender discourse provides insights into the evolution of gender roles among Muslim youth, while digital religion explains how religious authority and moral reasoning are mediated by online platforms in marital matters. This study introduces ‘digital fiqh’ as a new academic concept that reconceptualizes the understanding and practice of Islamic law within digitally-mediated religious spaces. Further research is recommended through longitudinal and comparative studies to understand the long-term impact of digitalization and to develop the framework of digital fiqh in contemporary Islamic legal studies.

According to Jürgen Habermas, equality amongst those of unequal social standing in 18th-century society was limited to the private sphere. Though Gottsched shows how to use this sphere strategically for private policy and cooperation, he knows how to modify his publication strategies wisely in order to achieve the greatest and best possible effectiveness in his attempt to popularise Enlightenment. By his Moralische Wochenschriften as well as by his more popular way of academic writing for students he spreads controversial ideas such as theoretical and practical reason’s primacy over theologic argumentations, the academic education of women, or female authorship. Yet, he does so prudently and expertly uses the opportunities offered by publishing anonymously or under a pseudonym to support scientific integration of women. Gottsched relied upon a variety of rhetorical strategies to introduce controversial ideas to the broader public without embracing them openly. Employing different strategies of publication, he pursued his agenda as a moral educator, promoted emancipation from religious authorities, and advanced his own brand of cultural nationalism in order to unfold and popularise the German literary tradition. He thus significantly contributed to the structural transformation of the public sphere as described by Heinrich Bosse.

Ethical reasoning is an integral part of the work of a clinical ethics consultant (CEC). Ethical reasoning has a close relationship with an individual's beliefs and values, which, for religious adherents, are likely to be tightly connected with their spiritual perspectives. As a result, for individuals who identify with a religious tradition, the process of thinking through ethical questions is likely to be influenced by their religious worldview. The connection between ethical reasoning and one's spiritual perspective raises questions about the role that CECs' personal religious worldviews should play in their professional lives and their consultative work. This paper offers numerous arguments critiquing the inclusion of a consultant's own spiritual perspective in her work and has identified only limited circumstances under which such inclusion might be permissible. In particular, these arguments lead to the conclusion that a CEC's personal beliefs should never influence her ethical analysis or development of a recommendation. Further, religious appeals should not be used in communication during decision-making conversations other than to describe the patient or surrogate's stated perspective. There may be limited cases in which a CEC may share her spiritual worldview with a patient with the intent of building a collaborative relationship, but such situations should be approached with extreme caution.

American Religion 2, no. 1 (Fall 2020), pp. 10–13 Copyright © 2020, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.2.1.03 Reconfiguring the Boundaries of American Religious Studies Abtsam Saleh Harvard University, Cambridge, USA Why is American Islam is so Rarely Framed as an “American Religion” in the Field of Religious Studies? Despite existing in America long before the establishment of the United States, Muslims have been largely left out of discussions on American religion within the field of religious studies. In order to answer the question of why, one has to ask what scholars of religious studies have understood “American religion” to be. According to most surveys of American religious history, the term has been used to denote the history of Christianity in America, white Protestantism more specifically, some dating the origins of American religion back to the Protestant Reformation.1 Narratives surrounding American religion were constructed to center Protestantism and the ways it has dominated public religious life in the United States, reified by legal and political actors.2 Considerations of what fell under the category of American religion were largely based on proximity to mainline Protestant churches, casting all other denominations and/or religions outside of the category. Over time, however, 1 For more recent work on this topic see John Modern, “Marshall McLuhan, Playful Prophet” in “Forum: The Religious Situation, 1968 (Part 2),” Religion and American Culture 29, no. 2 (2019): 153–162. 2 See Marie A. Failinger, “Islam in the Mind of American Courts: 1800 to 1960,” Boston College Journal of Law and Social Justice 32, no.1 (2012): 1–29. Abtsam Saleh 11 historians of American religion have begun to expand on this narrow definition. R. Laurence Moore’s Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans,3 although working with this mainline definition of American religion, expands on the category by examining its relationship with denominations and/or religions deemed as religious outsiders on the basis of dissenting from mainline Protestantism. Moore concludes that this categorization based on consensus-dissent is inadequate in expressing the plurality of American religious life in-so-much as it continues to center mainline Christianity as the religion of the US as a nation. In the more recent “The Study of American Religions: Critical Reflections on a Specialization,” Finbarr Curtis critically examines the category of American religion as a specialization within the discipline of religious studies, including its history of Protestant bias. Curtis highlights how despite attempts at expanding American religion to include narratives of underrepresented religious groups, these inclusions remain peripheral despite being recognized.4 This precise centering of Protestantism as the American religion and the locating of those not in proximity to it in its periphery is a reason why American Islam is so rarely framed as an “American religion” in the field of religious studies. Narratives of American religious history place American Islam in the periphery, dismissing its influence on American culture and American culture ’s influence on it. American religionists reify this categorization both in their scholarship and institutionally when American Islam is positioned as peripheral to the construction of the American nation and religion. Can Islam be “American religion”? If we move away from an understanding of American religion that centers white Protestantism and expand the category to mean religions who have both shaped and been shaped by this nation, whose understandings are put in conversation with the legal, social, political, economic, and cultural life of the United States, then Islam is certainly an American religion. American Muslims are part of the patchwork of American social-religious life, preceding the formation of the United States. Enslaved African Muslims were brought to the Americas centuries prior to the American Revolution, bringing with them their religious traditions, many maintaining them in conversation with their new surroundings, and some preserving them over generations.5 Over centuries, Islam lived and grew within 3 R. Laurence Moore, Religious Outsiders and the Making of Americans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). 4 Finbarr Curtis, “The Study of American Religions: Critical Reflections on a Specialization ,” Religion 42, no. 3 (2012): 365. 5 See Sylviane A. Diouf, Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas, (New York: New...

“Korean Religion” is often thought to be a simple sum of various religion like Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and “new religions” in Korea. However, it might be more accurate to say that it is what the unique Korean religious mind has manifested and transformed in the framework of particular religious traditions during a particular time. In a time of modernization, the concept of Korean religion above all has become largely reduced and purified through social differentiation. It has also become popularized and has taken on distinctively global traits beyond its Asian provincialism. “Korean Religious Studies” in its process of becoming concretized since the 20th century has regarded the aspects of Korean Religion such as basic religiosity, universality formed through comparison, and indigenous peculiarity as its core research themes. In the future, we can expect that Korean Religious Studies will actively share a horizon of comparison with studies that are based on religious experiences of East Asian countries including China and Japan. Moreover, it will participate in the restructuring of world religious studies, while at the same time pursuing a more profound identity of Korean Religion.