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Class
Prep
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- 9-11,
the Afghanistan War & Apocalyptic
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- We have seen that there are certain manifestations of apocalypticism
in Islam, namely in the heavy emphasis on the day of judgment
in the Qur'an and in the role of the mahdi in that judgment. The
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were not ostensibly
linked by Al Qaeda to Islamic apocalyptic or end-time speculation.
Nevertheless, the events of that day have generated some apocalyptic
responses not only among Muslims but also among Christians.
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- Soon after 9-11, the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University hosted a conference on apocalypticism in contemporary Islam. Some of the papers from this conference will provide the perspectives for our reflection today.
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- As you read these articles, consider the following issues and
questions in light of 9-11, the consequent war in Afghanistan, and the current situation in Iraq:
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- Apply Wallace's categories of revivalist movements to "Islamism" as Landes defines it.
- Use all of the papers from the Center for Millennial Studies, as well as any of the web sites listed below, to compile the apocalyptic script in contemporary radical Islam.
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- Apply Barkun's notion of apocalyptic bricolage to the Cook piece on Muslim apocalyptic writers and Christian evangelicals. What paradoxes are implied in the fusions of thought that result?
- Oliver and Steinberg offer some ideas about the function of
apocalyptic symbolism in Hamas circles during the Palestinian
intifada of 1987-1993. What benefits does the symbolic
world of apocalyptic offer?
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- Assigned Readings
- Primary: Exposition of surah 75:20-21 at Al-Qiyamah.org
- Secondary: Juergensmeyer 60-83, 164-86, and the following
articles (all but the first listed for Cook are Position Papers
on Islam and apocalyptic from the Center for Millenial Studies,
Boston University):
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- Further Reading
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- See also the section of the Course Bibliography on Contemporary
Islamic Apocalypticism.
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- Links
- The following list includes many of the links mentioned by Cook
that are still active:
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- Sources
- Photograph: AP Photo from CNN.com, taken from Twin Towers:
Aftermath of September 11, 2001, online, http://www.aboutnewjersey.com/TwinTowers/
911.htm, 27 October 2002.
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- Adapted photograph from Mark W. Herold, "A Dossier on Civilian
Victims of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan: A Comprehensive
Accounting (revised)," Cursor (March 2002), online,
http://www.cursor.org/stories/civilian_deaths.htm, 27 October
2002.
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