Description
October Istanbul Meetup | The concept of Umma & Navigating Islamic Solidarity within Nation-States
Dr. Kasım Kopuz explores the concept of the Umma from its Quranic, linguistic, and early historical roots to its place in the age of the modern nation-state. He first examines how the term Umma appears in the Qur’an, hadith, poetry, and classical Arabic lexicons, and how it connects to ideas of mother, imam, fitra, and a shared way of life that binds believers. He then turns to the Medina document and early Islamic history to show how theological and political unity were originally intertwined. Finally, he contrasts this with the secular nation-state and colonial disruption, asking how Muslims today can think and act as an Umma intellectually, economically, and culturally beyond state borders.
Dr. Kasım Kopuz
Dr. Kasım Kopuz graduated from the School of Law and Sharia at Al-Azhar University, and from the Law School of Istanbul University. He has studied history and sociology at Binghamton University (SUNY) where he earned his MA in Ottoman History. He was part of the research group for the Structures of Social Sciences at Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations. His academic concentration is on reproduction of legal culture in Ottoman society during the 17th and 18th centuries. His main areas of interest are fiqh, usul al-fiqh, Islamic legal thought, social theory, cultural studies, knowledge production, world systems and civilizations.
