Chapter Thirteen. In defense of Muhammad: ʿUlamaʾ, DaʿIya and the new islamic internationalism

Abstract

This chapter is about the relationship today between the ʿulamaʾ and the daʿiya -that is, the new Islamic media preachers, in their endeavor to form a new Islamic internationalism. Few of the daʿiya are ʿulamaʾ. And those who are have been selected because they commanded other, more media-relevant qualities than those of the average ʿalim . But to examine this phenomenon with relevance to the issue of Islamic internationalism, the chapter begins with a brief discussion of Pan-Islam. Al-Qaradawi became an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1940s and was their leading representative among the students of al-Azhar. Finally, the chapter moves to 2006 and the so-called cartoon crisis in order to trace the most direct interaction and confrontation between the new "Islamic" media stars, and the competing attempts at new Islamic internationalism that have sprung from it. Keywords: ʿulamaʾ; Al-Qaradawi; cartoon crisis; daʿiya ; Islamic internationalism; Pan-Islam