Judging Islamism in a ‘Land’ Deprived of Fiqh: Islamism That Lost Its Memory Versus Indigenousness

• Main Author: Erdal Kurğan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: İlmi Etüdler Derneği 2016-06-01
• Series: İnsan & Toplum
• Subjects: Islamism; indigenousness; fiqh; nation-state; nation; homeland
• Online Access: http://insanvetoplum.org/makale/fikihtan-yoksun-bir-yerde-i%CC%87slamcilig%CC%86i-yargilamak-hafizasini-kaybetmis%CC%A7-i%CC%87slamcilik-vs-yerlilik/

Islamism, in all environment that it becomes a matter of debate, is considered as independent from relations with Islam/Muslims. This preferred approach, generally, is to ignore the epistemological relationship of Islamism with its roots. It tends assessments of Islam only a modern phenomenon because of its troubled relationship with modernity. Although it has partially truth, in the final analysis it makes it ‘nouveau-riche’ accepts it ‘homeless’ and sentences it ‘rootlessness’. In this context, it will be examined in this study, specifically in Turkey, the dominant criticism that Islamism has been faced following 60’s is ‘non-native’, ‘based on translate’ etc. In this examination, constitutively, it will be tried by putting procedural approach which Muslims have built up collectively after Exalted Prophet’s (a.s.) passing away in the center. In this context, the critics of indigenousness, groundlessness, universality that Islamism has faced has been thought mostly independent from nation state. In another words, it will be examined that how much critics which is made after presupposition of nation-state’s territory that is fictional coincide with Muslim’s ontological and epistemological acceptances. In this article, it is not aimed to absolve the mistake of Islamism. On the other hand, legitimacy of the rhetoric of indigenousness that is defended against phenomenon of Ummah which Islam emphasize in context of universality is interrogated in terms of the method of classical Fiqh –by examining the concept of main homeland with the concept of modern homeland. Also, the rhetoric of indigenousness will be considered around the questions ‘How was Muslims approach to the traditions of intellectual throughout history?’, ‘Does Muslims approach based on territory?’.