Based on interview material, observations and content analysis, this book captures the everyday life structures of a cohort of Muslim/ex-Islamist female youth in Egypt who have joined or established new networks that share the common interest of doing ‘good’ to the society based on their religious worldviews, representing a broader societal movement.
Female Youth in Contemporary Egypt posits that despite the fact that the 2011 Egyptian uprisings did not necessarily materialize with the political effects anticipated by some of its activists, it seems to have led to the formation of a new generation of active youth with a distinct worldview. Four broad and intertwined theoretical considerations have been taken into account. First, the book delineates the emergence and continuous development of post- (and sometimes non-) bourgeois public spheres in Arabo-Islamic contexts and conceptualizes multiple publics of overlapping Islamic structures rather than one Islamic public. Second, it offers an empirical as well as a conceptual understanding of the positioning of religion as public/private. Third, it presents a critique of Islamist thought conducive to the rise of post-Islamism; and fourth it offers a critique of feminist thought to throw light on novel forms of Muslim women's discourses and activism in line with post-Islamist worldviews.
This book will be of interest to scholars in Middle Eastern Studies, women’s studies, and political studies.
Author(s): Dina Hosni
Series: Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Society
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 240
City: London
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Introduction
Toward a New Understanding of Post-Islamism
'Female' 'Post-Islamist' 'Youth'
Critique of the Habermasian Public Sphere
Conventional Forms of Islamist Activism
Book Approach
Structure of the Book
Notes
1. A Historical Analysis of Islamism and the Shift to Post-Islamism
Islam and Its Dual Nature
Islam between the Universal and the Local
Islam between Traditionalism and Modernity
The Da'wa (Call) to Islam
Charity and Islamic Social Institutions
Islam between the Sacred and the Secular
The Islamic and the Secular in Pre-modern Islamic Societies
The Transformation of Islamic/Secular Formation in Modern Islamic Societies
Historical Relationship between the Islamic and the Secular in Egypt
The Rise of Islamism
Transformation within Islamism
The Advent of Post-Islamism
Post-Islamism and the 2011 Arab Uprisings
Egypt as a Case Study
Islamization of the Egyptian Society
The 2011 Egyptian Uprisings and Islamist Trajectories
The Turn to Post-Islamism in Egypt
Young Muslim Women and the Move from Islamism to Post-Islamism
Notes
2. Framing the Post-Islamist Woman Question
What Is Post-Islamism?
Religious Muslim, Islamist or Post-Islamist?
Notion of Post-Islamism as Reconciling a Number of Duals
Traditionalism and Modernity
The Sacred and the Secular
Religiosity and Rights
Why Post-Islamism? Is It the Idea of Wasaṭiyya (Moderate Islam)?
Worldview Not Ideology
Open/Closed Societies
Role of a Good Company
Da'wa
Performing Da'wa Curriculum and Qualifications
Attitudes toward New Preachers
How to Perform Da'wa
Da'wa to Children
Notes
3. Post-Islamist Women in the Public Sphere
The Notion of the Public
Habermasian Notion of the Public Sphere
Critique of the Habermasian Notion of the Public Sphere
Exclusion of Publics
Public/Private Dichotomy
Role of Religion in the Public/Private Debate
Islamism and the Public Sphere
Post-Islamism and the Public Sphere
Women's Participation as Islamist and Post-Islamist in the Public Sphere
Veiling and the Public-Private Debate
The Role of 'Change' in the Conceptualization of the Public Space/Sphere
The Square (maydān) and the Mosque in Arabo-Islamic Contexts
The Online Sphere
Notes
4. Visibility of Post-Islamist Female Youth
Introduction
Visibility as a Social Category
Veil and Visibility
Visibility as Seeing and Being Seen
Visibility and Mobility
Visibility as 'Feminists'
Seven Post-Islamist Entities
Salafio Costa and the Disintegration of the Public Sphere
Misr al-Qawiyya Party and the Mixing of Roles
Serenity Society and the Reconciliation of Duals
Gender Segregation among Active Muslims
No Claiming of Religious Knowledge
Super Muslims and the Bi-directional Da'wa
Being Youthful and Religious
Resala AUC Organization and Da'wa through Charity
Bedaya Organization and the Collaboration between Entities as Open Societies
The Rahalah Organization for Sustainable Development (mu'assasat raḥḥāla li-l-tanmiya al-mustadāma) and the Interplay between Religiosity and Responsibility
Active Muslims or Active Citizens?
Charity
Dressing within Entities
Gender Mixing within Entities
Gender Equity Not Equality
Visibility of Post-Islamist Entities as 'Political'
Notes
Conclusion
Plurality of Publics
Religion as Public/Private
Critique of Islamist Thought
Critique of Feminist Thought
A New Understanding of Post-Islamism
Role of New Media
Egyptian Uprisings
Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
Lectures and Seminars
Interviews
Online Sources
Index
