Normalization through Religious Representation: A Lebanese Druze Response to the "Muslim Question"
This article examines a secular liberal state’s demand for religious representation of minorities, exploring how one heterodox Muslim community has responded to this demand in a context of intense public scrutiny. In order to gain recognition and rights as a legitimate religious community in modern...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox
2022
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| In: |
Implicit religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 23, Issue: 4, Pages: 363-387 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Lebanon
/ Druzes
/ Representation
/ Organizational structure
/ Religious leader
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam KBL Near East and North Africa NCD Political ethics RB Church office; congregation XA Law |
| Further subjects: | B
Lebanon
B Druze B Minorities B Religious Representation B RELIGIOUS leadership B Muslim Question B religion-making |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article examines a secular liberal state’s demand for religious representation of minorities, exploring how one heterodox Muslim community has responded to this demand in a context of intense public scrutiny. In order to gain recognition and rights as a legitimate religious community in modern Lebanon, Druze leaders created a new figurehead to look something like the head of a Christian church. Their project offers a striking case of how a secular democracy can end up generating the "religion" it expects to find; how the politics of religious representation can transform Muslim communities that lack a church-like structure; how ambiguous the notion of "religious representation" turns out to be when these Muslims try to do it from scratch; and how much harder heterodox Muslims often have to work to gain recognition within a world religions paradigm. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Implicit religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/imre.20626 |