In the name of honour and freedom: the sacred as a justifying tool for ISIS’ and secular violence
In this paper, I challenge the misconception that ISIS justifies violence in an ontologically Islamic manner. I argue that ISIS and Western secular governments justify violence against each other through the same logic, by resorting to the notion of the sacred. The sacred is a historical and context...
| Published in: | Culture and religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2017]
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| In: |
Culture and religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Islamischer Staat
/ State
/ The Holy
/ The Profane
/ Violence
/ Foundations of
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BJ Islam |
| Further subjects: | B
Secular
B Terrorism B Violence B Religion B Sacred |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In this paper, I challenge the misconception that ISIS justifies violence in an ontologically Islamic manner. I argue that ISIS and Western secular governments justify violence against each other through the same logic, by resorting to the notion of the sacred. The sacred is a historical and contextually contingent structure of meaning manifested through bipartite sets of cultural forms, informing social practices based on moral and emotional identifications. ISIS appropriates the Islamic sacred forms of Caliphate (legitimate governing authority) and ummah (collective Islamic identity), and projects the latter as humiliated by Western hegemony; ISIS calls upon Muslims to engage in violence in order to gain honour and recognition. In Western secular states the public sphere is a sacred space and popular sovereignty is the secular collective identity; they justify violence against ISIS as the defence of freedom from ISIS’ alleged barbarity and uncivility. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-5610 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Culture and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2017.1358191 |