BRIIFS Abstracts vol.1 no1, 1999

The introductory, theoretical part of this paper argues that the notion of 'religious segmentation in a political community' is a contradiction in terms. In cases where multi-religious segmentation is accompanied by ethnic segmentation?as well as the conflicts that necessarily result?a virile political community cannot exist. The prevalence, in state structures, of deeply-divided religious communities with minimal, or nearly minimal, interrelationships is the definition par excellence of the absence of civic society and the most basic factor behind potential religious conflicts. Alternatively, where there is a political community commanding the loyalty of most members of society, deep-seated segmental conflicts of the multi-religious variety are unlikely to occur. Religious divergences may exist between groups of individuals in society, but do not necessarily prevent a cross-religious dialogue on issues of common political concern. The paper proceeds to explore the implications of a deeply-divided and multi-religious society in a country like Nigeria, the conflicting pressures exerted by its constituent groups on public policy, and the responses to those pressures and demands by the various governments that have ruled the country, past and present. A final section examines the major factors and forces responsible for the rise of religious fundamentalism in Nigeria and, in particular, intra-Muslim sectarian conflicts in the North. The paper concludes with suggestions for future policy and action.

Ali S. Asani
MUSLIMS IN SOUTH ASIA: DEFINING COMMUNITY AND THE 'OTHER'

This paper examines the redefinition and sharpening of boundaries between Muslims and non-Muslims in South Asia over the centuries as a result of changing conceptions of religious identity. It describes the development of two conflicting attitudes among Muslims concerning the issue of being Muslim in a predominantly non-Muslim majority society, namely, a separatistic/legalistic one and an assimilationist/mystical one. The paper contends that much of the history of South Asian Muslim communities and their interactions with non-Muslims in the region can be understood within the framework of a dynamic interaction and tension between these two antagonistic attitudes. In addition, the paper discusses the impact of British colonial rule and the growth of communal nationalisms in fostering ideologies of difference between Muslim and non-Muslim in South Asia. It also considers briefly the role of variously-defined policies of Islamization in culturally distancing Muslim from non-Muslim as common cultural elements such as language, dress and music have become increasingly perceived within the framework of religiously-based communalisms.

Thomas Barfield
TRIBALISM, ETHNICITY AND RELIGION: THE CASE OF AFGHANISTAN

During the past twenty years religion has served to unite and divide ethnic groups within Afghanistan. The war against Soviet occupation used an Islamic framework of jihad to unite previously divided groups into a united front and created a national identity previously lacking in the country. At the same time, ethnic groups that had been subordinate and excluded from political power achieved local autonomy and military parity with their rivals as part of the war against the Soviet Union. In the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal, ethnicity initially played a larger role than religion in the struggle for national power. The rise of the Taliban in 1994 and their rapid expansion reintroduced religion as a critical factor in national politics. Although they drew their support primarily from the Pashtun tribes of southern Afghanistan and the Pakistan border area, the Taliban ideology was entirely based on religion. In preaching a form of radical Islam previously unknown in Afghanistan, they have created a regime that declared all its opponents to be unbelievers or apostates. This has produced a situation in which a religious ideology that previously united all Afghans has now become the focus of political rivalry, making it difficult to end the long-running civil war there.

Gerd Baumann
CROSS-FAITH CONFLICT AND INTERFAITH COMMUNITY
IN BRITAIN (FROM THE RUSHDIE AFFAIR TO THE PRESENT)

This article, which is based upon seven years of anthropological field research in London, outlines the reasons why the so-called Rushdie Affair forced Muslims in Britain into a corner that was not of their own choosing. Ultimately, these reasons are based upon a trend, in the West, to reify Islam in an unwarranted manner. There are social forces, however, among Muslims as well as other believers, to overcome reification by new modes of coexistence which go well beyond theological dialogue. They are practice-based and often local in scale; yet, they do entail processes of action and rethinking which can respond to the fundamental sociological findings about pluralist community-building. The article concludes with an assessment of their variables of success.

Pierre van den Berghe
RELIGION, PLURALISM AND CONFLICT IN SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa has experienced a high level of chronic conflict for centuries, but these conflicts have revolved around race and ethnicity much more than around religion. Nonetheless, religion has played a role in mediating and interpreting these conflicts, and in influencing both government policies and the liberation movement. Christianity has been used both to defend and to attack apartheid. Small minorities of Jews, Muslims and Hindus have played more peripheral roles in these conflicts.

Jocelyne Cesari
ISLAM IN FRANCE: THE ISSUE OF PLURALISM

Islam is now commonly considered to be the second most prevalent religion in France. The acceptance of this reality, however, has not been easy, and it still presents challenges. Although Islam is now a part of Western societies, it is persistently viewed as alien and as standing apart from Christianity or Judaism. To a certain extent, this reluctance to accept its presence is due to perceived connections between Islam, poverty and violence at the international level. Events like the Rushdie Affair, or the Gulf War, have contributed to reinforce this perception. But such reluctance is also connected to the controversial question of the compatibility of Islamic values with the secular organizing principles of Western European societies. Implicit in this vision of Islam are three major misconceptions. First, it neglects the very important processes of individualization and secularization that are going on among the new generations born or educated in France. Second, it completely ignores cultural and social differences in the various ways of being Muslim. Third, it is based upon an artificial and misguided opposition of Islam to modernity. Nevertheless, the only real question in the French context is: How and when does a migration become a religious minority? From this perspective, the article describes three major identifications with Islamic tradition among Muslims living in France, ranging from ethnicity to so-called fundamentalism.

John Crook
THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN LADAKH

Once a mountain kingdom lying between the Moghul empire and the Tibetan state, Ladakh is today the third part of the political conglomerate of Kashmir. Since Indian independence, the Buddhist Ladakhis have sought greater autonomy from the Muslim-dominated Kashmiri state government, and recently the national government in Delhi has partially answered this demand. It remains to be seen whether this device will solve outstanding issues. Historical analysis shows that the Sunni members of the Muslim minority came to settle in Ladakh due to conflict-resolving treaties and invitations to take sophisticated roles in government while Shi`as came from Baltistan to farm. All settled residents played significant roles in the economy, and there was little strife between local Muslims and Buddhists. Communal antagonism arose in this century largely because of external influence, in particular the post-independence dominance of the pro-Muslim state government over the region. The onset of international tourism intensified competition between the communities finally leading to conflict and a politically-driven Buddhist boycott of Muslims only recently resolved by the new dispensation. But the present situation remains problematic, with the continuing right of the Kashmir government to oversee development and control funding, and new divisions emerging in the body politic which both reduce the bipolar tensions of earlier communalism and cause new questions to arise. Indian politicians have often shown skill in accommodating the variety of social identities frequently found in the many multicultural regions of India. While this history of skilled political management suggests that progress might occur without strife, the recalcitrance of the Jammu and Kashmir state government continues to block effective advance, and its violent rejection is in the cards.

Farhad Daftary
THE ISMA`ILIS: A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY WITHIN ISLAM

An important Shi`i Muslim community spread over diverse cultural milieus and ethnic groups, the Isma`ilis have had a long and eventful history dating to the middle of the eighth century. On two occasions, they established states of their own, the Fatamid caliphate and the Nizari Isma`ili state of Persia and Syria. From an early date, the Isma`ilis developed an ecumenical world-view, accommodating Judaism, Christianity and a number of other pre-Islamic religious traditions within their cyclical view of history. They also refrained from forced conversions in their dominions. Many non-Isma`ilis rose to positions of prominence in the Fatimid state, in which religious tolerance was widely practiced. The Nizari Isma`ilis, too, extended their patronage of learning to non-Isma`ilis in their fortress communities. The Isma`ilis themselves were generally persecuted outside of their states, necessitating the observance of taqiyya, or precautionary dissimulation. As a result, they not only concealed their beliefs and literature, but actually resorted to ‹ufi, Twelver Shi`i, Sunni and Hindu disguises to safeguard themselves in hostile surroundings. However, they were prevented from total acculturation or full assimilation into other religious communities owing to the strength of their own religious identity and traditions, which revolved around the central institution of the Isma`ili imamate. Thus, the Isma`ilis were enabled, in the absence of state protection, to maintain their communal cohesion while adapting to changing circumstances. In modern times, the religious identity of the Isma`ilis was redefined and reasserted to set them apart from other religious communities which had provided them with dissimulating covers. Benefiting from the modernization policies of their recent imams, the Aga Khans, the Isma`ilis are now scattered in some twenty-five countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and America as an educated and progressive community.

Hastings Donnan
PRIVATE ACTS AND PUBLIC VIOLENCE:

INTERFAITH MARRIAGES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

This paper sets out to uncover some of the less prominent factors which generate antipathy toward marriage between Catholic and Protestant in Northern Ireland. Attitudes and responses to these mixed religion unions are described in the context of Northern Ireland's wider pattern of sectarian social relations. The paper suggests that particular cultural ideas about the relative influence of men and women underlie the more obvious conflict in Northern Ireland over religious and political identities which intermarriage represents. The paper concludes with some modest reflections on the 'slippage' between apparently private acts of individual 'tolerance' and wider patterns of public 'prejudice'.

Peter Gubser
RELIGION AND COMMUNITY IN AL-KARAK, JORDAN

Muslims and Christians have lived together in al-Karak since the early days of Islamic expansion throughout the Middle East and North Africa. During the last hundred years?the focus of this paper?the relationship between the two religious groups has been symbiotic and complementary. Essentially, the Christian minority was and is an integral part of larger Karaki society, albeit with some differences, and has shared common historical experiences and evolution with it. Only on rare occasions have peaceful relations broken down, but then the strife was usually?though not always?contained. This paper examines the Christian/Muslim relationship from a number of perspectives. First, the basic societal structure, in which Christians are included, is presented. Second, the role of Christians in mainstream society is discussed by means of a brief historical narrative. Third, the paper describes and analyses some examples of stress between the two religious communities and the manner in which differences were successfully resolved or contained. Fourth, one example of a conflict with long-lasting repercussions is contrasted with the earlier examples. Finally, the paper concludes with a summary and conceptualization of the case of al-Karak as a largely successful example of a society with a substantial Muslim majority but a fully participating and integrated Christian minority.

Ornulf Gulbrandsen
CHRISTIANITY IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT:

ISSUES OF SPIRITUAL FORCE, OCCULT ATTACKS AND IDEALS OF HARMONY

This paper focuses upon the interaction between the Northern Tswana kingdoms, located in the present Botswana, and evangelizing missionaries. It thus presents a contrasting view to those contributions to the symposium that focus upon Muslim communities and their relationship to communities of Christian or Jewish faith. Agents of such highly institutionalized, monotheistic 'religions' mutually conceive of their faiths as entirely incompatible with others, and as defining radically distinct communities. The relationship between such communities involves issues of conflict and coexistence that are basically different from the case of the Tswana. Where 'religion' is immanent, institutionally as well as culturally, the interface might not only be characterized by processes of separation, but also by mutual adaptation. Evangelizing missionaries, Christianity and the Tswana interacted on the basis of cultural models that only partially overlapped, a fact that gave rise to some controversy. Coexistence may be attributed to the limited extent to which Tswana ideas about superhuman forces are externalized in public rituals that are perceived as 'religious' by missionaries. By extension, notions of 'faith' and the sacred-secular divide are questioned as concepts adequate for cross-cultural comparison. Such considerations suggest that the colonized are not necessarily the passive victims of evangelizing missionaries. Yet, amongst the Tswana, Christianity has, at times, contributed significantly to aggravate the tensions and conflicts inherent in Tswana polities. This has led Tswana rulers to tackle various challenges, including the rise of indigenous Christian movements, by incorporating the missionary church in their polities as a kind of state church, granting it a monopoly.

Douglas H. Johnson
RELIGION AND CONFLICT IN THE SUDAN:

THE WAR AGAINST PAGANISM

The Sudan's current religious confrontation began in the nineteenth century: first, with the establishment of Egyptian colonial rule, which made a political distinction between Egypt's Sudanese Muslim and non-Muslim subjects; and then, with the introduction of the organizing principles of the jihadic state under the Mahdiyya. Post-WWII Sudanese nationalism has attempted to build a national identity around the spread of Islam and Arabism, and this has made the Sudan's large pagan population the particular focus of religious conversion and oppression. This paper describes the different ways in which some Sudanese pagan societies have confronted, accommodated, or evaded Islam in the twentieth century. It also briefly discusses the different relations which exist between the Sudanese Christian churches and paganism, since the use of vernacular languages in the propagation of Christianity means that pagans and Christians have entered into a dialogue, based on a shared language of spirituality.

Gilles Kepel
MUSLIMS AND ISLAM IN THE EUROPE OF TOMORROW:
A BIRD'S EYE VIEW

Muslims who have settled in Europe have come from various cultural backgrounds rooted in Islam and are being socialized within different European cultural and political settings. Hence, there is no such thing as a united Islamic community in a united Europe. Rather, there presently exists a social process creating a range of competing political and cultural European identities from which Muslims?as citizens or would-be citizens of European nations?may choose. Initially, the identity of Muslims in Europe is dependent upon both the grassroots Muslim culture that the first generations of immigrants bring to Europe and the nature of the political culture in the state of settlement. Then, the new European-born generations negotiate their political and cultural identities using the diverse social material that the previous generation has gathered. In fact, a range of potential identities become available that can be classified according to four ideal types: communal identity outside of society (ghetto type); communal identity within society (insertion type); polymorph identities referred to non-communal variables while maintaining a cultural identification (integration type); and polymorph, non-communal identities devoid of cultural identification (assimilation type). By understanding how, why and when different identities are being negotiated, we may understand on what commonalities the future of the Muslims of Europe might be built.

Elizabeth Koepping
FAMILY, STATE AND CONVERSION:

MULTIPLE DISCOURSES FROM SABAH AND SOUTH AUSTRALIA

This paper examines conversion from animism to Christianity or Islam in Borneo, whether collective or individual, and from Lutheranism to other denominations in South Australia, in an attempt to discern the implications for identity among Kadazan, and among Australians of German origin. Taking a historical as well as a micro-anthropological perspective allows us to examine the effect of external hegemony on local religious discourse and the negotiation of religious conversion by individuals, attitudes which are affected by external processes. Belief often has tenuous links to the assumed 'universal' doctrines of a faith, and it is misleading to expect them to be stronger. Some believers may indeed depend on 'orthodox' content and boundaries, while others find doctrinal details interfere with religion as social identity. Conversion for the latter may be more a matter of changing friends and food than of changing ideology. Conversion discourses couched in religious terms may nevertheless be a way of talking about quite different issues, which may be political, economic or personal in nature. Tension arises from the linkages between the individual, the local group and the state with regard to religious identity. A comparative approach to this process requires an examination of the parameters of the society and state within which the person acts, as well as the actual parameters of the particular belief.

Klaus-Peter Koepping
COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND THE DISCOURSE ON CULTURAL HEGEMONY IN JAPANESE SYNCRETISM

Japan has often been acknowledged as a major example of successful cultural, in particular religious, syncretism and has, in modern times, projected this positive self-image to the outside world. In a long process of mutual accommodation, several religious and value systems from China have permeated Japanese culture to be amalgamated with indigenous ritual practices and idea systems. This has led to the coexistence of Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and a plethora of New Religions, as well as folk-religious practices. Each of these has been allocated a specific position in the life-trajectory of the individual, as well as a niche in the social domain of different forms of community organization. By testing some hypotheses about the historical trajectory of religious coexistence against the present-day example of the New Religions, the paper explores some of the preconditions for such coexistence in the future. It also examines the different forms which the syncretistic mixing of ritual practices may take, and the correlates in the value-system?and in the type of community?the diverse religious forms seem to engender or attempt to satisfy. The Japanese case seems to raise some important theoretical questions as to the distinction between syncretism and pluralism in the framework of exclusivity and inclusivity for processes of cultural diffusion. Therefore, the paper concludes with some general observations on the reflexive dimensions of self-identity and otherness in Japanese discourse and their relevance for post-modern theories of cultural hybridity.

Emanuel Marx
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN ISRAEL

The paper seeks to explain why a centralized etatist state like Israel has assigned jurisdiction over matters of personal status to autonomous religious communities. These communities hark back to the historical Ottoman millet. The largest millets are the Jewish community, represented by the Chief Rabbinate, the Rabbinical courts and the municipal Religious Councils controlled by the Chief Rabbinate; followed by the Muslim shari`a courts, the Druze religious courts, and the courts of the various Christian denominations. The millets are often described as conservative, anti-feminist, legalistic priestly gerontocracies. This critical view disregards a major aspect of their role: that the millets were, in days past, precursors of pluralism and protectors of individual rights in the Middle East. Most of the successor states of the Ottoman empire have abolished the millet system. The outstanding exceptions are Lebanon and Israel, and the paper deals with the latter. In Israel today, the religious communities restrict, in a modest way, the powers of the state, and thus reinforce pluralistic and democratic tendencies. This is because most of them are hybrid organizations: while the religious courts and ritual functionaries are either appointed or confirmed by the state and, in the case of the Jewish, Muslim and Druze communities, are also financed by it, they also have a grassroots component which struggles to preserve a degree of independence from the state. As this self-government is subject to changing policies, and variable and arbitrary administrative practices, the religious communities must constantly be prepared to defend their rights and privileges. Both dependence on, and struggle against, the state are characteristics of the millets.

Shaul Mishal
Hamas and Israel: Is Coexistence Possible?

Much of Hamas' politics can be explained in terms of its dogmas and practical needs within the context of a national struggle against a non-Muslim power occupying an Islamic land and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas' awareness of the need to secure its presence and influence among Palestinians necessitates flexibility in its uncompromising attitude toward a settlement with Israel. Yet, by adopting such a strategy, Hamas runs the risk of losing its standing as a normative opposition to the PLO. Taking into account Hamas' need to search for a policy that balances national and local interests, one cannot exclude the possibility that a continuity of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and of patterns of coexistence between Hamas and the PA, may encourage the organization to search for political understandings with Israel. Close examination of Hamas' declared principles shows it is not in the organization's interest to exclude the possibility of a settlement?albeit of a temporary character?through non-violent means.

Gerald Obermeyer
RELIGIONS AND COMMUNITIES: THE PLACES OF THE SACRED
AND SACRED SPACESAncient South Arabian civilization has been largely ignored by anthropologists in their comparative study of complex cultures. This omission of South Arabia from the catalogue of civilizations is difficult to explain considering that during the first millennium BC this region gave rise to an economy based on long-distance trade in luxury goods and a complex division of labour which supported an urban culture and mature state politics manifest in a social structure based on class, a developed ritual life, and a military organization which conducted full-scale warfare with other regional civilizations. This paper deals with the evolution of the state in South Arabia and distinguishes the key factors which define a specifically South Arabian political culture. Besides the monopoly on the incense and spice trade between the Indian East and the Mediterrranean region, South Arabian civilization was characterized by a dynamic tribe-state relationship; this dialectic promoted the rise and fall of numerous polities, as well as competition between ritual centres and peripheries. Overall, South Arabian political culture provided a rich and complicated background to the rise of monotheism in the peninsula, an inter-civilizational competition for control over the Red Sea shipping lanes, and the appearance of Islam.

Renato Oliveros
COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT IN MORO-CHRISTIAN
ZAMBOANGA-JOLO, THE PHILIPPINES

This paper attempts to understand the nature and functioning of the society of Zamboanga-Jolo, a society characterized by cultural pluralism and a complex relationship between Christians and Moros (Muslims). Christianity came to the Philippines in 1521, when the region fell under Spanish rule; since Muslims had only been militarily ejected from Granada some three decades earlier, it is unsurprising that the Spanish brought with them an antagonistic stance toward Islam. Spanish campaigns against Muslims united the divided Moro tribes under the banner of jihad against both Spaniards and Christian Filipinos. Thus, the main effect of Spanish rule was the creation of two groupings divided along clearly religious lines; the inhabitants of Luzon and Visayas opted for Christianity, and the inhabitants of Mindanao opted for Islam. This legacy has had three major effects on Moro Filipinos: animosity both from and toward Christians; a damaged culture prone to the violence inspired by a militant type of Islam; and a belief in the necessity of defending Islam and Moro cultural institutions against outsiders. In 1996, the Philippine government signed a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an armed Muslim secessionist movement supported by a number of Islamic countries. The peace agreement, and the corresponding Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), initially proved to be controversial solutions to the conflict, polarizing the population of Mindanao. It is apparent that the cultural rift between Christians and Moros cannot be resolved by a political palliative like the SPCPD. Concrete policies and programs still have to be developed to heal the wounds suffered by the two cultures/religions.

John A. Saliba
UNDERSTANDING NEW RELIGIOUS SECTS IN AMERICA:

THE SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY

Many sociological theories on new religious movements (sects or cults) point out that they create new types of community in response to contemporary social and cultural changes that have had deleterious effects both on the family and on communal relationships. This paper examines three contemporary groups in the United States as religious communities. ISKCON, a Hindu sect, has become a well-structured parish-type community whose members are engaged in different levels of involvement. It maintains its identity not only by its unique religious practices and lifestyle, but also by regional and international meetings. The Aetherius Society, a UFO religion, teaches occult wisdom and encourages its members to participate in many missions whose goals are to further the good of the earth and its inhabitants. Finally, Promise Keepers, the most recent Christian evangelical revival, while allowing its members to keep their denominational ties, bonds them together by a strong, conservative theology and by means of small group meetings, and local and national rallies. These groups differ in their ideologies, in their religious goals, in their relations to society at large, and in the type of communal relationships they have established. However, they are all characterized by a homogeneity in ideology and religious practice, and by an opposition to the secular ideology that pervades Western culture.

Kamal Salibi
RELIGION AND COMMUNITY IN LEBANON

Lebanon presents an example of a multi-communal society in which the norm is one of peaceful coexistence between the component religious communities, and where occasional outbreaks of conflict have historically been followed by political readjustments. The mechanism for the norm, as for the periodic readjustments, seems to lie in a traditional duality within Lebanese communal leaderships, with one leadership capitalizing on the individuality of the community, and the other on its capacity for resilience and cooperation in the common weal. The historical paradigm for this duality of leadership is the old division of the Lebanese Druzes between the Jumblati and Yazbaki political factions. The same duality, however, is detectable in the political behaviour of other Lebanese communities, Muslim as well as Christian.

Seteney Shami
ISLAM IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE:
IMAGINATIVE GEOGRAPHIES OF THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

This paper discusses prevailing representations in social science studies on the successor states of the Soviet Union, as well as on the 'ethnic fringe' of the Russian Federation. Whereas the critique of Orientalism has led, over the past twenty years, to a more historical and nuanced approach to understanding Islamic societies, post-Soviet Studies tend to uncritically incorporate and apply Orientalist, static and over-deterministic portrayals of Islam. In reviewing the basic critiques of Orientalism, particular attention is paid to how 'regions' and their boundaries are constructed through scholarship. Comparing scholarly and popular notions of 'the Orient', 'the Balkans', 'Central Asia' and 'the Islamic world', highlights the similarities and differences of these 'imaginative geographies' and the ways in which they shape perceptions of the societies and peoples of these regions. Nationalism, ethnic identification and Islamic beliefs are all offered as major factors embroiling these regions in political and armed conflict, and preventing them from integrating into the global economy and polity. This paper argues that the focus on Islam, as both the cause and the explanation of conflict in these regions, is as much a result of the disorder in post-Soviet Studies as of real political struggles taking place. The implications of conceptually assimilating these regions into the 'Islamic World Order' need to be carefully considered.

Puck de Wit
ISOLATION, CONFRONTATION OR INCORPORATION:

COPTIC OPINIONS ON EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

Egyptian Copts have responded to recent sectarian incidents in Egypt in ways that indicate a variety of attitudes and behaviours concerning the position of their community in Egyptian society. This paper analyses and compares three such viewpoints and relates them to anthropological theories of ethnicity. The first position examined is that of lower-class Copts, who attempt to avoid conflict by combining their Egyptian identity with their religious identity while privately emphasizing the latter; their strategy is characterized as 'isolation.' Next, the paper looks at the perspective of certain Coptic emigrants and human rights activists, who tend to focus upon a separate Coptic identity while criticizing the policies of the Egyptian government; the strategy of these groups is characterized as 'confrontation.' Finally, the paper considers the attempts of some Coptic?and Muslim?intellectuals to use a theoretical framework identical to the 'Egyptianism' of the 1920s in order to show that Copts and Muslims constitute one Egyptian nation and that sectarian difficulties are the result of external factors. In this context, the historical and theological ideas of four authors?Milad Hanna, William Qilada, Taliq al-Bishri and Samira Bahr?are discussed, as well as the strategy of 'incorporation.' Yet, although this third alternative, or 'harmony ideology', seems the only viable alternative for Egyptian society, it is presently confined to a small group of intellectuals, as both Muslims and Copts tend to emphasize religious identity over national identity.

Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan
RELIGION AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS:

THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

This paper examines how heightened religious consciousness occasioned by Islamic revivalism affects the structure of relationships between groups of different religious and ethnic backgrounds in a multiracial urban community in Malaysia. Since its exposure to resurgent Islam in the 1970s, there gradually evolved in the community of Pekan Raja two camps holding divergent views with regard to Islam's role in modern society: the 'moderate' and 'extremist' Muslims. While the former revitalized Islamic beliefs and rituals through accommodation to consumerism, the modern urban lifestyle and existing hierarchical social relationships, the latter totally rejected the traditional cultural elements in favour of an egalitarian and theocratic social system. As the two groups consolidated their positions, religion, which previously played a less crucial role relative to race, became the major factor guiding individual and collective behaviour in Pekan Raja. The Malay-Muslim residents, for example, ceased to incorporate their non-Malay neighbours into the network of mutual help and support as the latter were seen as spiritually and morally inferior when compared to Muslims. A cleavage also appeared among the Malays as differences in religious orientation and attitudes toward the state and indigenous heritage were used as the rationale for rejecting or supporting cooperation. The paper argues that although the experiences in Pekan Raja may not be generalized to show typical trends in Malaysia, the possibilities are always there for religion to help revitalize ethnicity.

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