Session 9 Commented [QG1]: Asif bayat argues that Muslims

Islamic Activism (IA) participate in religious practices quite oftenly These

rituals are passive acts and cannot be called activism,
activism woud be something extra ordinary like
 Contains so many different types of mobilization and activism, tableegh is extra ordinaryreligious behaviour but if the
 Propagation movement, terrorist group, inward looking groups etc. extra ordinary religious behaviour is political only than it
 Passive religiosity would be called as Islamic Activism e.g, Jamat e
 IA has to be extraordinary can’t be a part of regular routine, rituals etc. Praying is Islami.
Islamic movement is like anyother social movement.
passive but tableegh would be extraordinary Much of what activists in islamic movements do is the ...
 Jihad, is extraordinary
 Some SM are explicitly political while others are religious Commented [QG2R1]: Islamist Activism is
passively religious and contains so many different
 Classical example if Islamic movement (IM) AKP, muslim brothers types of mobilization and activism such as
 Nothing Islamic about Islamic activism. Mob. frames might be similar but by and large, propagation movement, terrorist groups, inward
ehat IA is doing is not unique to islam. Fight against terrorism, street protest etc are looking groups etc. There is nothing Islamic about
common all over. Islamic activism. Mobilisation frames might be ...
 Types of events/episode are modular type of protest. The demonstration, sit-ins, etc etc Commented [QG3R1]: The tent under which Islamist
are common to all protests. Physical form of IA has nothing islamic in it. It is all political. Social Movements are included is quite broad as it
The dynamics, process and … Activism takes … includes various propagation movements, terrorist
attacks etc. However, for something to count as
 IA would have been unique of it would have taken a unique type of Contentious politics,
activism, it definitely has to be different than what's
but all what was available to IAvists was what was out there. ordinary. It needs to be special and unusual. Islamic ...
Pakistani: We have seen it very frequently.
Commented [QG4R1]: Why does Islamic activism
SMtheory, provides us with leverage to understand many issues rising in Pakistan. Much of emerge?
what we studied so far has been drawn on events in the west. The logic was that those areas 1.Disenfranchisement
were where SM emerged, and that’s the study was taken from there. Those moments were 2.Reaction to westernization
pertivular to west (not unique). They built methods to explain it. 3.Provides existing networks that enable it to happen
A lot of these countries were liberal and participatory and mid-to-high income countries. But IA 4.Factional conflict ...
is taking place in countries that are close, non-participatory, low income and authoritarian rules Commented [QG5R1]: Islamic Activism can be
understood in different ways, for some scholars it is
defined by the mobilization of contention to support
How/Why IA started/emerged? People' view: Muslim causes and acts to be as inclusive as possible,
1. Disenfranchise (Materialism) whereas other scholars for example Bayat are of the
2. Reactionary opinion that Muslims engage in religious behavior all ...
3. Networks/NGOs Commented [QG6R1]: Islamic activism is the
4. Ideology mobilization of contention to support muslim
5. Factional causes. It includes purposefully brought acts, such as,
Commonly thought: Islamic activism is reaction to some form of external change. 1&2 is social propagation movement terrorist groups, explicitly
political movements that seek to establish an Islamic
strains. Clash of civilization stuff. We can apply Collective behaviour theory. Derived from state, and inward looking groups that aim to revice ...
structural crisis in muslim society. Muslim world (Pak never) experienced → westerinized
modernization, secular developmentalism. Authoritarianism. Eg middle east, egypt, lebanon. Commented [QG7R1]: Islamic activism can be defined as
the mobilisation of contention to support muslim topics or
Secular constitutionalism.
concerns. There are usually 2 types:
But we know that activist are not disenfranchised, very often these are reactionary, in fact many 1. Revivalist: deals with spirtuality
are adopted in Islamic culture. Hence it is not a reaction to any structural strain. It might be a 2. Political: addresses the way political power is structured ...
political
Commented [QG8R1]: Bayat talks about how the existing
3 talks about Islamic activism in terms of resource mobilization. Donations, NGOs, social movements theories were more applicable and suited
Seminaries, mosques, Religio-spatial spaces, the divine aspect provokes greater to Western societies with open political spaces and were
support. People of similar ideology rises (from madrisa), communications are vital more technologically advanced (technologically advanced
through mosques bcs the places that these occur are technologically conservative. over here means better ways of organizing and association)....
Role of informal rather than formal networks. Mosques, Ngos etc, but looking at actual Commented [QG9R1]: Asef Bayat’s intervention in the
basis of how communication occurs, i.e informal networks. IA were previously banned to social movement dimension focuses on applying
participate in politics. Eg narrow elite on top in Turkey, Turkish IM was stronger than political process model to social movements in the
anything in Pak. In every election, molvis would win. ¾ coups was happening against the Islamic framing context.
Bayat argues that most existing social movement
religious govt. So, informal networks were very important in supporting IA in Turkey. So theory developed for western societies who were ...
 instead of focusing on NGOs, SMOs, Mosques, informal networks, unorganised
networks like neighbourhood relations and other informal meetings are also very
important in understanding IM
A number of IAt (Islamic activist) have tried to work to strategically l….

Intifada:
IAt can adapt tactics (Political process) depending on their political condition.
Activists were scared of getting rejection from people, seen as hardlines, Hamas was
against the peace process, wanted to fight against occupation, but didn’t have enough
support. Ot framed peace as short term struggle (Sabr) and said long term struggle
would be for freedom but then were able to gain support.

- Structural strain dictating political behavior

- People cultivated informal networks of activism to mobilize

- Framing is imp for Islamic activism

o Religion is a cultural frame
o Our view of the world is informed by our beliefs, values, practices
o Islamic activists provide a diagnosis, prognosis, and try to motivate others joined the
movement
o “Pakistan is underdeveloped because our leaders have strayed away from Islam”

- Islamic activism is a wide arena, there is competition among different frames

o Islamic scholars aligned to the state would claim that jihad is the responsibility of the
state
o TTP would argue that jihad is the responsibility of every citizen.
 Both are a larger prognosis to an issue.
o The state argues that blasphemy is a case that the state has to take cognizance of, file
an FIR, follow legal framework to pursue justice and punish the blasphemous
o Right wing activists would argue that justice must be taken into your own hands when a
blasphemous event has occurred – lynching is the way to go.

- Asef Bayat’s intervention

- Bayat argues that most existing social movement theory developed for western societies who
were politically advance, technologically developed (the organizations and techniques people
us)
- The question that Bayat poses – how do we explain the emergence of solidarity and activism of
societies that are politically closed and technologically limited?
o How is there an Islamic movement in a politically repressive country?
o Existing models are inadequate to explain this
 Collective behavior theory is a non-starter because crowds are irrational
 Rational mobilization theory – this cannot be applied wholesale to the case of
Islamic movement. The reason why one believer will be a part of a movement is
 significantly different from another participant. All movements are internally
significant.
 Existing theories tend to privilege what leaders are saying. This overt focus of
movement leaders rather than participants gives us the wrong impression of the
reason for their participation. The assume that what the leaders are saying has
been imbibed by the participants, they believe everything that is said by the
leader. There are lots of competing ideas and narratives
 Theories tend to assume that social movements are homogenous and unified,
which may be applicable in the West. But in countries which do not possess the
technology or communization that can develop the consensus needed to
o We need to look at social movements as dynamic entities, it sets out with one goal but
its changes over time.
 Social movements produce their own consequences internally and externally.
When you become part of a movement your reasons for participation may
change. Your interaction within the movement influence the direction of the
social movement which adds a degree of dynamism to how the social
movements operate.
 The Muslim brotherhood in Egypt wanted to revolutionize political practices of
the state. It was banned, so it went underground and branched into society
through welfare activities and became part of the cultural fabric. Then, instead
of overthrowing the state through jihad, the movement aimed to reform the
political state.
o How does activism come about when you have internal riffs?
 There is always a bare minimum level of solidarity that exists within a group.
 Imagined solidarities exists