Religious Knowledge, Authority, and Charisma

Daphna Ephrat is associate professor of Islamic history in the Department of History, Philosophy, and Jewish Studies at the Open University of Israel. She is the author of A Learned Society in a Period of Transition and Spiritual Wayfarers, Leaders in Piety, and coauthor of the Israeli Open University series Introduction to Islam. Meir Hatina is associate professor in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and director of the Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of ?Ulama?, Politics and the Public Sphere (The University of Utah Press, 2010), editor of Guardians of Faith in Modern Times, and coeditor of The Muslim Brethren: A Religious Vision in a Changing Reality.

A Note on Translation, Dates and Periodization Foreword by Dale F. Eickelman Acknowledgments Introduction, Daphna Ephrat and Meir Hatina Part I/Constructions of Religious Leadership in the Formative Period Overview by Maribel Fierro 1. Authority within the Hanbali Madhhab: The Case of Barbahari, Nimrod Hurvitz 2. Restoring the Prophet's Authority, Rejecting Taqlid: Ibn Hazm's "Epistle to the One who Shouts from Afar", Camilla Adang 3. Succession to the Prophets: Shi'i theological and Practical Solutions, Ehud Krinis 4. Oral Torah: Ideology and History in the Epistle of Sherira Gaon, Gerald J. Blidstein Part II/Centralization and Diffusion of Authority in the Middle Period. Overview by Jonathan P. Berkey 5. Spiritual Heirs of the Prophet: Sufi Masters in a Period of Sunni Revitalization, Daphna Ephrat 6. 'Ulama' of Damascus and Ottoman 'Ulama': Career Patterns and Types of Authority, Michael Winter 7. Books, Commentators and the Democratization of Knowledge in the Geonic Period, Meir Ben-Shahar Part III/Knowledge and Leadership: Modern Constructions Overview by Itzchak Weismann 8. The Rise of a Charismatic Mujahid: The Salafi-Jihadi Quest for Authority. Eli Alshech 9. Martyrs as Preachers: Altruistic Death and Moral Authority, Meir Hatina 10. The New Media and Islamic Activism: the Case of 'Amr Khalid. Ksenia Svetlova 11. Charisma and Politics in the Evolution of Modern Shi'i Leadership, Meir Litvak 12. In Search of Religious Authority: The International Union of Religious Scholars Appendix A: The IUMS Statement on Niqab and the Islamic and Jewish Method of Slaughter Appendix B: The IUMS Statement Concerning the Events in Syria Muhammad al-Atawneh 13. "Maggid" or "Prediger"? Knowledge and Religious Leadership within Eastern-European Jewry at the Beginning of the Modern Era, Haim Gertner 14. Religious Career Opportunities of a Lay Preacher: Folk Preaching in the Haredi Teshuva Movement, Nissim Leon List of Contributors Index

"Makes a significant contribution to scholarship across several disciplines, including Islamic studies and Jewish studies, of course, but also history, anthropology, the sociology of religion, and political science."-Patrick D. Gaffney, University of Notre Dame "A rich, innovative collection. It encompasses almost all centuries of Islamic history and many different regions, Sunnite and Shi'ite traditions, and introduces challenging comparisons with Judaism. A significant contribution."-Uri M. Kupferschmidt, University of Haifa (Israel) "Offers exceptional insight to the historical development of knowledge and power within the religions of the Middle East."-Association of Mormon Letters