Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics

Chip Berlet cberlet at igc.org
Fri Sep 28 11:41:29 PDT 2001


Hi,

Trying to understand Osama bin Laden by studying Islamic political economy is like trying to understand fascism by studying the Rockefeller family.

-Chip

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Murray" <seamus2001 at home.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Friday, September 28, 2001 2:24 PM Subject: Re: Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics


> ========================
>
> Well, I hope I wasn't conveying that those were our choices. I do
> think we need to look critically at precisely those aspects of Islamic
> culture that have attempted rapproachment with modernity while
> simultaneously casting a critical perspective on finanzcapital.
> Obviously "they" have attempted to theorize risk, credit and equity in
> different ways from the west and to the extent they may help deepen
> our criticisms of capitalism we should make the effort to understand
> the economic consequences of their ethical norms as well as what those
> norms are. This connects up with what I was saying about the
> secularization of finance in the west and the shift in ethical norms
> that drove it.
>
> I have a book titled "Comparing Financial Systems" by Allen and Gale,
> MIT Press 2001; absolutely no material or index entries under Islam or
> Muslim or Middle East. This could easily be interpreted as parochial
> with our struggling lurches towards an
> internationalism/cosmopolitanism based on getting beyond predatory
> economic behaviors. If finanzcapital is the driver behind exploitation
> [ a normative, ethical term if ever there was one] and taking a look
> at what scholars and critics from Islamic cultures have written will
> help deepen that criticism then we ought to take a look at the stuff.
> This is no way to excuse or justify the atrocity, but we need to make
> every effort to understand any possible motivations for what took
> place.
>
> Below is a list of some stuff I pulled from the UW library under the
> library of Congress subject: Islamic Banking. I'm gonna try and look
> some of them up today, but this ought to be a team effort :-)
>
> Ian
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Author Ism¯a`¯il, Muhammad, 1911-
> Title Critical analysis of capitalism, socialism and Islamic economic
> order / by Syed Muhammad Ismail
> Pub info Lahore, Pakistan : Oriental Publications, c1989
>
> Choudhury, Masudul Alam, 1948-
> Title The foundations of Islamic political economy / Masudul Alam
> Choudhury and Uzir Abdul Malik
> Pub info New York : St. Martin's Press, 1992
>
> Chapra, M. Umer (Muhammad Umer), 1933-
> Title Islam and economic development : a strategy for development with
> justice and stability / M. Umer Chapra
> Pub info Islamabad : International Institute of Islamic Thought and
> Islamic Research Institute, 1993
>
> Kh¯am, ¯Abadula Jabb¯ara
> Title Non-interest banking in Pakistan : concept, practice and
> evaluation / Abdul Jabbar Khan
> Pub info Karachi, Pakistan : Royal Book Co., 1991
>
> Strategic issues in Islamic banking / edited by Sayed Riaz Ahmad,
> Nasir Ali
> Pub info Rawalpindi : The Bank of Punjab : in collaboration with
> Frozsons, 1995
>
> Wilson, Peter W
> Title A question of interest : the paralysis of Saudi banking / Peter
> W. Wilson
> Pub info Boulder : Westview Press, 1991
>
> Saeed, Abdullah
> Title Islamic banking and interest : a study of the prohibition of
> riba and its contemporary interpretation / by Abdullah Saeed
> Pub info Leiden ; New York : E.J. Brill, 1996
>
>
> An Introduction to Islamic finance / edited by Sheikh Ghazali Sheikh
> Abod, Syed Omar Syed Agil, Aidit Hj. Ghazali
> Pub info Kuala Lumpur : Quill Publishers, c1992
>
> Sudin Haron
> Title Islamic banking : rules & regulations / Sudin Haron
> Pub info Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia : Pelanduk
> Publications, c1997
>
> Warde, Ibrahim
> Title Islamic finance in the global economy
> Pub info Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2000
>
> Mills, Pauls S
> Title Islamic finance : theory and practice / Paul S. Mills and John
> R. Presley
> Pub info New York : St. Martin's Press, 1999
>
> Henry, Clement M., 1937-
> Title The Mediterranean debt crescent : money and power in Algeria,
> Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey / Clement M. Henry
> Pub info Gainesville, Fla. : University Press of Florida, c1996
>
> Theoretical studies in Islamic banking and finance / edited by Mohsin
> S. Khan, Abbas Mirakhor
> Pub info Houston, Tex. : Institute for Research and Islamic Studies,
> 1987
>
> Ahmad, Mahm¯ud
> Title Towards interest-free banking / Shaikh Mahmud Ahmad
> Pub info Lahore, Pakistan : Institute of Islamic Culture, 1989
>
>
>



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