ABSTRACT
The theme of this book has posed two questions, one of which is, “What relation is there between the study of the religion of Islam and the study of those cultures that have shaped and been shaped by that religion?”. This immediately provokes both fascinating and difficult issues for me. This very question has been a constant challenge for the discipline of religious studies, and Islamic studies specifically. It is a question that demands both pragmatic and theoretical answers. It is also a topic that I have tried to approach in a recently edited book of mine entitled Defining Islam: A reader. 1 Although the intent of that work is not so much to answer the question as to provide the materials for the debate, my initial thinking about how and why to do that book is as relevant as ever. The book asks what it means to say that something that some Muslims do is “not really Islam”, whether that be suicide bombing 2 or wearing a niqab. What is “not Islam”? What does it mean to say “Islam is a religion of peace” when violence is done in the name of “Islam”? These questions are at the heart of the topic of Islamic education in universities, precisely because they are of central concern to all scholars in the area. Can we (and how would we) as scholars ever make the judgement that something is “just” cultural and not “really” Islam?
