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Books The New Imagined Communi, Shari'a and Muslim Minorities, Islamism and the West: Fro, Zionism in Arab Discourses, Scientific and Political F | ||
Uriya shavit charney report
Uriya Shavit (born June 22, 1975) is an Israeli scholar of Islamic law, theology and politics, the author of a best-selling novel and five books for young readers, and a former journalist. Since 2014, he has served as an associate professor of Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Contents
Research
Shavit is a specialist in the study of the development of fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-Muslima – the field in Islamic jurisprudence that deals with issues pertaining to Muslim minorities. His works, largely based on material collected in mosques across Europe and the United States, suggest that two main contesting doctrines developed in this field – the wasati and the salafi. Shavit holds that notions of migrants as missionaries facilitated pragmatic religious decisions that promote integration. In field studies, mainly in Germany, England and Iceland, he examined the creative ways in which Muslim communities accept, reject and mitigate fatwas.
Shavit has also written on modern Islamic political thought. His studies analyze Islamist works that attempt to reconcile political though based on traditional revelation with liberal democracy. He argues that the Muslim Brothers have intentionally avoided a decision on whether the ultimate arbitrators on constitutional matters in an Islamic democracy should be unelected theologians. His studies also examined the role of concepts of Western "cultural imperialism" and decline in modern Islamist thought. Shavit has also studied Arab writings on Zionism, suggesting that since the late 19th century, the Zionist project has played the dual role of an enemy and a role model among both Arab Islamists and liberals.
Shavit's studies on political violence in Islam argued that the Muslim Brothers accepted juristic notions that rendered a violent revolution legitimate only to the extent that its success is assured.
Several of his works examined through field studies how advanced media technologies impact migrants, arguing that the internet and satellite television allow, for the first time in history, a separation between affinity to a territory and a sense of belonging to an imagined community. He introduced the ideal-type of "passive transnational" to describe one result of this development. He also demonstrated the failure of Islamic web portals and satellite channels to create a global imagined Muslim nation.
In his study on the theory of evolution in Arab thought, Shavit argued that through the impact of American fundamentalists, Islamists shifted from critically legitimizing Darwinism in the early 20th century to fiercely attacking it at the end of the century.
Journalism
Between 1997 and 2008 Shavit was s international affairs analyst and editor for Haaretz, where he was also a senior writer for the weekend magazine and a columnist. He later served as the editor-in-chief of the weekend magazines of Maariv and Makor Rishon, and a literary reviewer for Yediot Ahronot. Today he comments frequently on current Middle Eastern Affairs on Israeli national Television.
Books in English
Fiction
Shavit authored a best-selling novel, "The Dead Man" (in Hebrew, 2013). He is also an acclaimed author for children books in Hebrew, of which two, "The Boy Who Read Minds" and "Like Magic", were selected on the National List of Israel's Ministry of Education. Shavit is also author of Israel's best-selling Guide for University Students.