Abdulkader Tayob Bücher

This book leads the reader into Islam by walking him or her through a mosque. It is a somewhat meandering tour, based on the principle that the immediate object or concept calls for attention and explication. Beginning with the minaret, and ending with the minbar (pulpit), it uses the structures of a mosque to wander through the rich and fascinating images, symbols and values of Islam. It begins with the tangible and quickly moves to the intangible and abstract, and back again. Social significance is not far behind an exploration of how Muslims use and grapple with the challenges of their faith and tradition. Each of the key structures of the mosque is used to explore other, seemingly unrelated, aspects of Islam. Thus, for examples, the minaret calls attention to the significance of height in Islamic architecture, but also to the presence of Islam among other religious traditions, the issue of music in Muslim society and the place of modern technology in Islamic rituals. The author has avoided the tendency to oversimplify the complex questions concerning religion in the modern world. Thus, in almost every case, the book explores and informs, but also grapples with the familiar and commonplace. This introduction is not simply an introductory gloss on Islam but a challenging encounter.

This edited collection presents Islamic education in South Africa and a number of countries in Europe. It brings together general concerns of education among Muslims, together with current and unique developments in each country. Given the place of Islamic education in public debate, the collection includes a variety of contributions that respond to the goals and future of Islamic education, the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism, the place of religious education in the context of secular education and the role religious education plays in promoting or hindering social cohesion. It includes reflections on where Muslims should be directing education in the next few years to make it socially relevant and contribute to the democratization of society, as well as some comments on the unfortunate but real crosscurrents in educational policy and counter-terrorist initiatives. In between, it contains some reflective essays on the uniqueness and commonalities of Islamic education in various countries, on unexpected and unknown outcomes, and on new philosophies of education. In fact, the essays may be seen as critical contributions on a number of themes that are debated in the public sphere and within these schools.

From the mid 1970s, the awareness of injustice and apartheid in South Africa increased in the media and in scholarship. From the secular perspective, it was no surprise to find a Christian denomination directly involved in the formulation of the apartheid-doctrine. However, it was far more surprising to fing opposition leaders, even many members of the African National Congress, referring in their strucggle to religious doctrines. South Africa imposed a challenge to all the voices that claimed that the process of democratisation was only possible through secularisation. The contributions to this book represent a spectrum of religious and political perspectives in South Africa in their social context. Some tackle the important question of transformation within religions. Since the period of transition and democracy, the country is witness to a re-ordering and re-classification of values and priorities within society and religious traditions. The contributions also focus on the possible role of religions in fashioning values and identities on a broad national scale. They subject to evaluation multi-culturalism, education, and development under the impact of religious values, ethics and symbols. Authors: Abdulkader Tayob, Johann Kinghorn, Azila Reisenberger, Ezra Tisani, James Cochrane, Heribert Adam, Phillip Dexter, Nokuzola Mndende, Cornelia Roux, Gordon Mitchell, Juergen Luethje, Freimut Duve, Sibusiso Bengu, Wolfram Weiße, Peter Körner, Ursula Guenther, Juergen Ossenbruegge, Erhard Kamphausen, Andreas Heuser