Iranian Sociology and the Selective Translation of Theories of ...

International Sociological AssociationIranian Sociological AssociationBook of AbstractsRegional Conference on Social Thought andSociology in the Contemporary Middle East(28- 29 May 2011)Organizer: Iranian Sociological AssociationSupporters: International Sociological Association, IstanbulFoundation for Science and Culture, National Library and Archivesof IR of Iran, Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, Institutefor Study of Religion and Thought (Mashhad), Center forInternational Scientific Studies and Collaboration (MSRT, IR ofIran), ACECR (Social Sciences Faculty Branch), Jamee-ShenasanPublication.Scientific Coordinators: Seyed Farid Alatas (National Universityof Singapore), Seyed Hossein Serajzadeh (Tarbiat MoallemUniversity of Tehran).Advisory Board: Taghi Azad Armaki (Tehran University), SeyedFarid Alatas (National University of Singapore), Shirin Ahmadnia(Allame Tabatabaee University), Susan Bastani (Alzahra

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 3List of ContentThe Program …………………………………………………...… 7Preface …………………………………………...........…………12A Commentary of Michael Burawoy: Building A RegionalSociology In The Middle East …………...……………..… 17The Framework of a Sociology of Science: The RASÂ‟IL asEpistemological Case/ Alparslan AÇIKGENÇ ……..………….. 19Social Thought of Musa Jarullah Bigiev (1875-1949)/ ElmiraAkhmetova …………………………………………………..… 20The Possibilities for Alternative Sociologies in Iran/ Farid Alatas………………………………………………………………..…. 21Salafism and Social Identity in Kurdestan of Iran/ MansoorehAzam Azadeh, Hawjin Baghali ……………………………..….. 22The Social Sciences, Islam & Islamic Revolution of Iran/ ShahlaBagheri ……………………………………...………………..… 24A Critical Review of the Status of Women in Islamic TheologyReferring to Allama Tabatabaee‟s Views in Almizan: HeavenlyWoman vs. Earthly Woman/ Susan Bastani, Zahra Heydarzadeh…………………............................................................................26The Theory of Family in the Thoughts of Muslim Thinkers/Hossein Bostan ……………………………………..……………28What Should We Mean By Global Sociology?/ Michael Burawoy…………………………………………………………...……… 29Explorations into the new Methodology and Political Theory of IbnKhaldun‟s Umran Mind‟s/ Mahmoud Dhaouadi ...…………….. 31Hisham Sharabi and Cultural Critique of Arab Society/ AhmadDorosti ……………………………………………………..…… 32Political Perspectives of the New Middle East and the Role ofSocial Sciences/ Naser Fakouhi ………….........................…… 34The Text as a Problem and a Part of Solution; Critique of the Textby Arab Muslim Thinkers and its Social Indications/ MaghsoodFarasatkhah ………………………………………………..…… 36

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 4An Islamic Perspective on Social Issues in our World Today/Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi …………………………...….………… 38Fethullah Gülen‟s Thought: A Sociological Evaluation/Mohammad Fekri , Mina Inanloo ………………………..…….. 39Meaningful Parallelisms between Social Thought and SociologicalCulture in Iran (Analysis of Metaphors)/ M. Amin Ghaneirad…………………………………………………………...……… 40University Systems in the Arab East: Publish Globally and PerishLocally Vs. Publish Locally and Perish Globally/ Sari Hanafi…………………………………………………………...……… 42Iranian Sociology and Selective Translation of Theories ofSecularization/ Seyed Morteza Hashemi Madani ……...…….… 44Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies: An Outline/ Riaz Hassan………………………………………………......................……. 46Theoretical Reflection about Women Movement in Islamic RegionCountries/ Ali Mohammad Hazeri, Naima Mohammadi……………………………………………………………..……. 47Universalism or Particularism of Human Rights Discourse inSociology: The Politics of Human Rights in Selected IslamicCountries/Ray Jureidini …………………………………..…….. 48The Study of Political Sociology in Egyptian Universities: Movingaway from Academic Dependency?/ Mustapha Kamal Al Sayyid……………………………………...…………………………… 49The Foundations of Impoverishment and Enrichment of SocialThought in Contemporary Iran/ Afsane Kamali ………...………51Three Worlds of Iranian, Egyptian, and Turks in Confrontationwith Modernity/ Hadi Khaniki …………………………………. 53Postcolonial Approach as an Incomplete Critique: MethodologicalConsiderations/ Amir Khorasani ……………………….………. 55Beyond National Boundaries and Western Science Hegemony:World Social Science and Humanities Network/ Michael Kuhn…………………………………..……………………….……… 56The Social Thought in the Hafez's Poets: Implications for theconcerns of Today‟s Human being/ Ardeshir Mansouri ……….. 58Allama Jafari on the Past, Present and Future in the HumanSciences/ Seyed Javad Miri …………………………………….. 60

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 7Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology inthe Contemporary Middle EastTehran, Iran, 28 and 29 May 2011The ProgramFirst Day: 28 May 2011RegistrationHall 1: Opening Session (English and Persian)Recite of The Holy QuranWelcome Speech: Mohamad_Amin Ghaneirad, President ofIranian Sociological AssociationConference Report: Scientific Director of the Conference andthe Former president of Iranian Sociological AssociationOpening Lecturer: Michael Burawoy, President ofInternational Sociological Association, What Should We MeanBy Global Sociology?Gholamabas Tavasoli, Emeritus Professor of TehranUniversity and First President of Iranian SociologicalAssociation, The Formation of the Concept of “Civil Society”in the Thought of Muslim Thinkers in Middle East.Questions and Comments from the floor.Coffee BreakHall 1: Local and Global in Social Science (English)Pannel Managers: Kavous Seidemami and MichaelBurawoySociology in the Periphery: Consumers or Producers ofTheory?/ Tina UysSocial Knowledge Production System in the Arab Ease:Publish Globally and Perish Locally Vs. Publish Locally andPerish Globally/ Sari HanafiUniversalism or Particularism of Human Rights Discourse inSociology: The Politics of Human Rights in Select IslamicCountries/ Michael KuhnOrientalism and “Oriental” Sociology/ Ebrahim Towfigh8:30 – 9:009:00- 9:109:10: 9:209:20- 9:309:30-10:0010:00-10:3010:30-10:4510:45-11:1511:15–13:15

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 8Post-colonial Approach, Unfinished Critique, A Reflection onMethodology/ Amir KhorasaniPrayer and LunchHall 1: Social Sciences and Sociology in the Middle East(English)Managers: Farid Alatas and Taghi Azad ArmakiTowards a Sociology of Muslim Societies: An Outline/ RiazHasanAlternative Approaches to Modern Social Thought in Turkey:Historical Analyses and Contemporary Questions/ ُSaitOzervarliPolitical Sociology in Egypt/ Mustapha KamalReligious Social Theory as an Alternative Theory of Society/Hassan MohaddesiThe Text as a problem and a part of solution; Critique of theText by Arab Muslim thinkers and its Social Indications/Maghsood FarasatkhahHall 2: Social Thought and Sociology in the Middle East(Persian)Manager: Seyed Zia HashemiSociology of Hajj: a Model for Formation a RegionalSociology/ Seyed Zia HashemiRadical Islamism and Social Interaction: Exploring the Lack ofSocial Theory/ Seyed abdolamir NabaviIntermediary Approach: A Theoretical Solution for theProblems of Middle East/ Sayyed Mohammad MirsondosiObstacles of Development of Sociology in ContemporaryMiddle East/ Kamran RabieiInteractions and Challenges of the Sociology in Iran withWorld Sociology/ Mehdi mohamadi , Meisam malekshahCoffee BreakHall 1: Social Thought and Sociology in Iran and Islam(Persian - English)Managers: Hamid Abdollahian and Farid Alatas13:00-14:3014:30–16:3016:30-17:0017:00–19:00

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 9Methodology of Social Thought of Muslim World/ HamidParsaniaIslamic Iran: Sponsor of new Paradigm in Sociology/ A.ShojaeezandThe Nature and Trend of Muslims Social Thought Comparedwith Social Thought of Modernity and Sociology/ HosseinKachuianThe Theory of Family in the Thoughts of Muslim Thinkers/Hosein BostanHall 2: Social Thought and Sociology in Iran and Islam(Persian)Manager: Yaghoub MousaviThe Relation between Social Thought and Sociology/ SeyyedMohamad ThaghafiThe Contribution of Historic Approach in Sociological Studiesduring Recent Decade in Iran/ Yaghoub MousaviThe Project of Sociologization or local Sociology in the 1360sin Iran/ Abas KazemiIranian Social Thoughts in form of Sociology/ Seyyed MehdiYousefi and Hesamedin SafariThe Social Thought in the Hafez's Poets: Implications for theconcerns of Today‟s Human being/ Ardeshir MansouriSecond Day: 29 May 2011Hall 1: Social Thought and Sociology in Iran (English)Manager: Shirin Ahmadnia and ُSait OzervarliRecite of The Holy QuranThe Possibilities for Alternative Sociologies in Iran/ FaridAlatasIslam and Social Sciences: twofold problematical/ SaraShariatiIranian Sociology and Selective Translation of the Theories ofSecularization/ Seyed Morteza Hashemi MadaniSocial Thoughts in the Persian Literature/ B. MohammadiCoffee BreakHall 1: Social Thought and Sociology of Muslim Thinkers(English)Manager: Riaz Hassan and Mohamad Hossein Panahi8:30-10:3010:30-11:0011:00-

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 10Explorations into the new methodology and political theory ofIbn Khaldun‟s Umran Mind‟s/ Mahmoud DhaouadiThe Framework of a Sociology of Science: the Rasâ‟il as anEpistemological Case/ Alparslan AcikgencCommunity and Responsibility ;Comparison Between Scheler,Iqbal, and Tabatabaii/ Mohamad TavakolAllama Jafari on the Past, Present and Future in the HumanSciences/ Seyyed javad MiriDoes the modern development of the sociology of religionchallenge and conflict with the philosophies of MortezaMotahhari and Said Nursi?/ Norton MezvinskyHall 2: Social Thought of Muslim Thinkers (Persian)Manager: Susan Bastani (Persian)Alameh Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei‟s Functional-Exchange Social Theory/ Gholamreza Sediq OuraeiA Survey on Alameh Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei‟s on thePlace of Women in Islamic Theology: Heavenly Woman,Earthly Woman/ Sosan BastaniIntellectual Elements in the Seyyed Jamal-ad-Din Asadabadi‟sSocial Thought/ Majid KafiSociological Evaluation of Fathollah Gulen‟s Social Thought/Mohamad Fekri, and Mina InanooChallenges of Social Thought and Knowledge in Islam World(From the Viewpoint of Mohammed Arkoun and MohammedAbed al-Jabri)/ Younes Nourbaksh ….13:00- 14:30- Prayer and LunchHall 1: Social Sciences and Problems of ContemporaryMiddle East (English)Managers: Naser Fakuhi and Mahmoud DhaouadiPolitical Perspectives of the New Middle East and the Role ofSocial Sciences/ Naser FakouhiThree Iranian, Egyptian, and Turk worlds in Confrontationwith Modernity/ Hadi KhanikiRiaz Hassan, Mustapha Kamal, ُSait Ozervarli13:0014:30–16:30

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 11Hall 2: Social Sciences and Problems of ContemporaryMiddle East (Persian)Manager: Ali Mohammad HazeriTheoretical Reflection on Women Movement in IslamicCountries/ Ali Mohammad HazeriSalafism and Social Identity in Kurdestan of Iran/ MansoorehAzam Azadeh, hawjin baghaliIslamic Revolution of Iran and Change of Revolution Theories/Alireza Samiee EsfahaniThe Foundation of Poverty and Richness of Social Thought inContemporary Iran/ Afsane KamaliHesham Sharabi and Cultural Critique of Arab Society/ AhmadDorostiHall 1: Closing Session (English)Manager: Seyyed Hosein SerajzadeMichael Burawoy, Tina Uys, Sari Hanafi, Farid Alatas,Mohamad Amin Ghaneirad19:00-17:00

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 12In the Name of GodPrefaceIranian Sociological Association is holding the “RegionalConference on Social thought and Sociology in ContemporaryMiddle East” in cooperation with International SociologicalAssociation (ISI) and with the support of other domestic andforeign research institutes, whose names can be seen in theconference introduction page. The idea of holding this conferencegoes back to 2008. With the expansion of the Association‟sinternational scientific relations, its membership in ISA and thevisits of Professor Michael Burawoy, former vice-president andcurrent president of ISI, and Seyed Farid Al-Atas, former memberof the executive committee of ISA, to Tehran, the Board of IranianSociological Association decided to hold a regional conferencethrough the cooperation of the two associations to expand thescientific relations of sociologists in the region. This conferencewas scheduled for February 2009, but for some reasons waspostponed and now we are witnessing it.Iranian Sociological Association has organized several nationalconferences on social sciences up to now which have providedopportunities for critical and reflective dialogue regarding socialsciences and sociology. All of these conferences were met withsignificant contributions and participations, and have yield severalpublications 1 . The present conference is an opportunity for Iranian1 In recent years, in addition to conferences on social issues in Iran, theassociation has held five major national conferences about the situationand problems of social sciences including the conferences of“Problematic issues of Social Science in Iran” (2006), “Local and GlobalScience” (2007), “Theoretical and Conceptual Reflections on IranianSociety” (2008), “Social Science in Iran: Achievements and Challenges”(2009), and “The first National Conference on Social and CulturalResearch (2009).

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 13social science researchers to review, criticize and evaluatecomparatively the issues and problems of their discipline in abroader regional context. Unfortunately, sociology in Iran has beento some extent isolated and localized in respect to internationaland, particularly regional relations, and therefore is or lessinformed about social thoughts and knowledge, experiences andachievements, issues and challenges, and the works of socialscientists and thinkers in the region. Scientific and universitycongregations of countries in the region also have a limitedrelations and knowledge of social sciences and thinkers in Iran.Iranian, Turkis, and Arab students and academics of social scienceshave no or very limited knowledge about each other‟s sociologies,social thinkers and sociologists. Such conferences can lead toacquaintance and scientific interactions between sociologists andsocial thinkers in the region.In this context, the “Regional Conference on Social thought andSociology in Contemporary Middle East” can furthermore fulfilltwo long term requirements and necessities. First, social theory andknowledge is generally the result of thought and research aboutsocial problems and crisis. Neighboring countries and countries ofclose culture and civilization which have similar and sometimescommon historical experiences, encounter with quite similar socialproblems and issues. The current crisis through Middle Eastcountries and democratic movements in these societies areexamples of common issues of these societies. Therefore,regarding to social theories explaining social problems andempirical studies on these issues and problems, and also obstaclesand limitations they are facing with in the process of socialresearch, social scientists and researchers of the region have manythings for sharing and learning from each other.Second, social sciences and sociology as a university field, whilebeing universal and requiring to follow general rules and principles

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 14of scientific methodology, also have an indigenous and culturalnature and their formation is very much related to the intellectualcapacities and cultural traditions of societies. The Middle East isthe origin of ancient civilizations and has rich religious and culturaltraditions and therefore, when exposed to the intellectualachievements of Western civilization, including new knowledge,the contexts of these cultures have actively and influentiallyentered the stage. In this context, the role of Islamic culture andcivilization, as a commonality between these societies, is verysignificant in the formulation of social sciences. As a result, inthese societies social thinkers have either entered into aninteraction and critical dialogue with the outputs of modern times,as Islamic social thinkers who benefit from religious cultural andideological sources, or they have been faced with serious questionsand challenges from the dominant religious culture. In order toplay a significant role in their own society they need to addressthese debates. In such common contexts, scientific and intellectualrelations between social thinkers and sociologists in the MiddleEast societies and their awareness of the works and views of eachother are beneficial to the growth of social science at national andregional levels.In regard to the above mentioned points, the “Regional Conferenceon Social Thought and Sociology in Contemporary Middle East”can be a starting point to bring together sociologists and socialthinkers of the region, to establish and enhance regional scientificrelations, and to take advantages of common intellectual, culturaland religious contexts to extend social sciences and sociology andthe scientific consensus movement towards the adaptation of socialsciences with local and cultural issues.This conference, as the first experience of Iranian SociologicalAssociations in organizing a transnational conference, waslimitedly programmed so as to be a small step in the start of a

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 15journey. In this conference a certain number of local and foreignsenior social scientists and sociologists and experts on the subjectof the conference were invited to present their views in the form ofa paper or speech. In addition to this, a number of foreign expertswho were informed of the conference showed their interest toparticipate in this event. A national public call was also made toattract wider participation. Unfortunately, A number of foreigninvitees, who had submitted papers, were unable to attend theconference. Fortunately the conference call was also well receivedby local experts and researchers and by the time of scheduling theconference program 127 abstracts and 33 full papers weresubmitted. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to schedule thepresentation of all the abstracts and full papers. In the papers to bepresented were prioritized based on the submission of full papers,topic novelty, and diversity of topics and views. We thank allparticipants who have submitted abstracts and full papers.This conference is the result of a group activity. In addition tothose who submitted abstracts and full papers, many people andorganizations have cooperated and supported this activity invarious ways, which you can find their names in the conferenceprofile page and the list of paper presenters. The cooperation andefforts of these companions and colleagues and the executives ofsupporting and cooperating organizations are worthy of manythanks and appreciation.In accordance with the previous conferences of IranianSociological Association, questions related to the subject ofconference have been made and put to debate with various experts.These interviews, which are a kind of dialogue about the themes ofthe conference, have been published in the Website and Newsletterof Iranian Sociological Association. The interviews reflect thediverse views of the thinkers and experts. We thank all those whowarmly accepted our invitation for interview.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 16Finally, I hope the conference could meet the aims of theorganizers. Your suggestions and critiques will result into a betterperformance in the future events and will be greatly appreciated.Seyed Hossein SerajzadehScientific Coordinator of the Conference

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 17A Commentary of Michael Burawoy 1 :Building a Regional Sociology in the Middle EastCongratulations to the Iranian Sociological Association fororganizing this spectacular conference on “Social Thought andSociology in the Middle East.” I know it has been several years inthe planning and has required dedicated work. It reflects theascendancy of the Iranian Sociological Association both at homebut also in the profile of international sociology. The InternationalSociological Association is a proud sponsor of this long–awaitedconference. We hope it will invigorate Iranian sociology but alsoplant the seeds of a regional association.An impressive array of speakers and panelists has been broughttogether not only from the Middle East but from other parts of theworld. All of us have to be interested in the history and legacy ofthought from this key region of the world that has produced somany important sociological thinkers from Ibn Khaldūn to AliShari΄ati. Moreover, the world needs to hear about the Middle Eastfrom its own sociologists. Social thought springing from the regionneeds to animate discussion across the planet. We encourage theparticipants of this conference to use ISA journals, forums, and itsnewsletter to disseminate ideas from Iran and other places in theMiddle East.The Middle East has been one of the more turbulent andunpredictable regions of the world and sociology faces especiallyprofound challenges here – challenges to comprehend socialprocesses within nations, but equally challenges to understandsocial processes that traverse nations. We might say that theMiddle East, which embraces a vast array of political regimes andhistoric cultures, puts the possibility of global sociology on trial.Such a global sociology does not turn a particular sociology into a1 President of the International Sociological Association

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 18universal one, but emerges from a conversation among multiplesociologies, grounded in different nations and regions.Such a global sociology requires a self-conscious reflection on ourlocation in the world in appreciation of the limitations as well associal and national foundations of our knowledge. It also meansthat we have to be proactive in developing the civil societies thatspan the globe; it means that we have to partake in creating thevery world which we study; it means we have to take the project ofpublic sociology very seriously not just to defend society but alsoto develop and energize a global sociology itself. The papers at thisconference point in all these directions.Ever since Immanuel Wallerstein undertook his series ofconferences on regional sociologies when he was President of theInternational Sociological Association (1994-98), we have beencommitted to elevating their importance. Indeed, it was hisinitiative that led to the creation of a Vice-President for NationalAssociations in 2002. Tina Uys is the third Vice-President forNational Associations. Her portfolio includes not just thepromotion of national associations but also of regional associationswhich are important in their own right, but also as a supportiveumbrella for weaker national sociologies.In this regard we can draw inspiration from such regionalassociations as the Latin American Sociological Association(ALAS). For five tumultuous decades it has been at the center ofpioneering , geographical rooted visions of sociology that havecirculated around the globe. Throughout the period of dictatorshipsALAS sustained communication across the continent and beyond,building a vibrant, engaged, and innovative sociology. It holdsregional meetings every two years, bringing together thousands ofsociologists in an exciting clash of views. This is just oneinspirational story but there are countless others. I hope that thisconference will initiate a new flourishing of sociology in theMiddle East, building on its already rich and diverse tradition.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 19The Framework of a Sociology of Science: The RASÂ’IL asEpistemological CaseAlparslan Açikgenç 1Sociology of science is relatively a new field which is progressingespecially in recent years very rapidly. I believe that mostdiscussions in the West concerning this new discipline areunproductive because they seem to neglect the epistemology uponwhich scientific activities are built. It must be remembered thatscience is basically the result of “human activities” called“scientific activity”; as such it has an epistemological aspect whichsprings from “human knowledge system” and a social aspect whichsprings from “human natural togetherness”. The former aspect isepistemological and the latter is sociological; and we are able tosay on this dichotomy that based on the former aspect science,perceived mainly a cognitive activity, is static and universal. Buton the basis of the latter aspect science is the result of a dynamicprocess in history which reveals its sociological characteristicswith regard to a community of scholars and customs, called“scientific tradition”. This paper is an attempt to elaborate thisaspect of science based on epistemology. I shall try to relate thisanalysis to the well known Muslim thinker Bediüzzaman SaidNursi‟s (d. 1960) magnum opus Rasâ‟il al-Nur, 6 vols. I need tointroduce first the aim and purpose of the Rasâ‟il and try to showhow it can be taken as an epistemological basis for the sociology ofscience. In my attempt I shall try to apply Nursi‟s generalepistemology as the science of anatomy of human system ofknowledge1 Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul, acikgenc@gmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 20Keywords: Sociology of science, Epistemology, BediüzzamanNursi‟s, Human knowledge system.Social Thought of Musa Jarullah Bigiev (1875-1949)Elmira Akhmetova 1Abstract. The paper presents the social thought of the “forgotten”Muslim Tatar scholar Musa Jarullah Bigiev, who struggled to makeIslam relevant to contemporary times. An analysis of his writingsand activities found in various archives shows that Jarullah‟sthought was oriented towards issues of societal reform in severalways. Firstly, by considering the main reason behindbackwardness of Muslim societies in limiting the great potential ofthe religion of Islam into a small corner of the madhhabs, Jarullahcalled for emancipation of reason from the “sicknesses” of themadhahib and taqlid through proper education. Secondly, hecriticized Western civilization as well as the Communist regime ofRussia for their failure in building a moral and spiritual basis forsocial existence, and advised Muslims, especially women, to bewell trained Islamically. On the issue of the economicbackwardness, Jarullah recommended using of local resourcesefficiently and effectively rather than blindly exporting ofEuropean industrial civilization to the Muslim lands as there is nobenefit to local peoples. Jarullah also condemned the divisiveinfluence of nationalistic currents, such as “Turkism” and “Sovietnationalism” on the identity and unity of Muslims, and believed inmaintaining the spiritual unity of Russia‟s Muslims and theiraffiliation with the world-wide ummah.Keywords: Muslim Social Thought, Tatar Scholar, MuslimBackwardness, Russian Muslims1 International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysiaeakhmetova@yahoo.com.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 21The Possibilities for Alternative Sociologies in IranFarid Alatas 1In much of Asia and the Muslim world, the proposals foralternative discourses were preceded by assessments of the state ofknowledge that identified orientalism, Eurocentrism, academicdependency and other problems as important attributes of thesocial sciences. These critiques have their Iranian expressions inthe form of the works of thinkers and activists such as Jalal Al-eAhmad, Seyyed Fakhroodin Shadman, Ahmad Fardid and AliShari‟ati. The Iranian revolution created an atmosphere that wasgenerally receptive of such critques and which also promoted theidea of alternative discourses or thought (andisheh-ye digar) thatwas believed would replace the Westernized, Eurocentric socialsciences that Al-e Ahmad and his generation problematized. Thispaper discusses Iranian critiques of the state of the social sciencesand examines the possibilities of genuine alternative discoursesthat would constitute autonomous social science.Keywords: Alternative sociology, Orientalism, Eurocentrism,Autonomous social science, Iran1 National University of Singapore, alatas@nus.edu.sg

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 22Salafism and Social Identity in Kurdestan of IranMansooreh Azam Azadeh 1 , Hawjin Baghali 2With the end of the Cold War and the retreat of socialism versuscapitalism and defeat the renewal process between governments inthe Muslim world, a situation was prepared for intellectual growthof an ideological and political flow in the Middle East as IslamicResistance.Although this process has attended throughout the world regardlessof geographic and national borders, but it was more effective insome areas due to political and religious conditions. Kurdish areasof Iraq and Iran after the attack of coalition forces to Iraq in 2003are such areas which have accepted this intellectual and social flowas Salafism.This paper tries to introduce this social flow and its internaldivisions and answer the question of salafism alternation to anidentical source in Sunni Kurds of Iran. In order to do that, thepaper has gathered the needed information in semantic andideological and social system of Salafi Kurds of Iran withreviewing the documents and using case study method andobservation technique with interviewing and implicational andtheoretical coding in this target population.The results of this study show that the structure and organizingmode of Kurd Salafists of Iran can be categorized around area offour concepts which are Jihad, Idolatrous (Taghoot), Takfir andwoman, and in four groups which are Radical jihadis, moderateones, traditional Nonjihadis and provident Nonjihadis. Theorganization of Jihadi Salafis has more complicated and orderedstructure than Nonjihadis one, and it forms based on Emirateconcept. According to this concept, in every palace in Muslimworld, Muslims can form an Emirate with gathering in smallgroups, and choose an Amir and then they can fight with Koffar.The Nonjihadi activity, which is away from power requesting andspecial organizing, is mainly formed around belief areas and via1 Alzahra University, maazadeh@gmail.com2 , Hawjin Baghali@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 23study class formation and communicating with colleagues inmosques and societies. But, thing that connect these four grouptogether is Salafism ideology which is formed on dissatisfaction ofpresent situation and other concepts of the thought have beenformed round the matter. In women narration of Salafism, religiousconcepts have more semantic value than men and so they have amore prudent view toward social and political affairs.Finally with concluding the results, it seems that Salafism shows akind of resistance identity based on religion entry concept versussecular and dominant discourse of Kurd society with emphasis onthe concept of protest against present situation, and with adherenceon Islam ideal past and with acceptance the radicalism andfundamentalism label.Keywords: Salafilms, Jihadi Islamic groups, Non-jihadi Islamicgroups, Islamic ideology, Islamic resistance.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 24The Social Sciences: Islam and Islamic Revolution ofIranShahla Bagheri 1This paper comprises three major sections: The first sectiondiscusses modern social assumptions concerning the existence ofhuman beings and their societies .It also explains the impact ofthese assumptions on organizational theory. Then, it exploresIslamic assumptions concerning these same two elements andexplains a major attribute of Islamic organizations.The second section, compares the above-mentioned assumptions ofmodern social sciences to those of Islam and illustrates thatknowledge-transfer creates its own organizational and socialproblems.The third section, the paper is trying to present some evidence foran emerging social science in IRAN and also show its generaldimensions. The governing style of the country in Iran has undergone a lot of changes after the Islamic revolution. Because of thesechanges the place of I. R. IRAN has changed within the othercountries of the world, and therefore some changes have emergedin world‟s political formulas. The internal and external changes arecause and effect of the change in the dominant social science ofthis country. In other words, without changing our idea aboutsocial science, at least without changing our theories of socialscience, we can not change the governing style of a country; andwhen we change the governing style of a country, new changeswill emerge in the new social science promptly.Method in this paper is a kind of subjective study in macrosociology. My logic is the logic of current sociology. The paper istrying to analyze the effects of Islamic ideology in the governing1 Tarbiat Moallem University of Tehran, Iran,sbagheri@tmu.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 25style of I. R. IRAN by using the theory of Robert K. Merton aboutsocial structure, published in 1938 (1) . By this analysis I am tryingto find out the main aspects of emerging different social sciences inI. R. IRAN. Islamic ideology has a special view toward socialphenomena. This view appeared with appearance of an Islamicgovernment and will find its new dimensions by this governmentindeed.In this study the emergence of a new subject and a new method isinterpreted as the sign of a new science emerging; and socialscience is all those sciences which deal with society‟s differenteffects and dimensions, like: sociology, economics, planning, andlaw.Keywords: Human & society, Islamic & modern assumption,Islamic Republic of Iran, New social sciences

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 26A Critical Review of the Status of Women in IslamicTheology Referring to Allama Tabatabaee’s Views inAlmizan: Heavenly Woman vs. Earthly WomanSusan Bastani 1 , Zahra Heydarzadeh 2This paper explores Allama Tabatabaee’s view on the status ofwomen in Almizan. Allama Tabatabaee’s view, as that of aprominent contemporary Shia interpreter with a wide andprofound impact, is of great importance. This study applies thetheological theory of Fiorenza to Allama’s interpretation. As such,Allama’s view on women in his work Almizan is consideredthrough the method of emancipatory critical hermeneutics. Basedon this method, religion is qualified to provide answers toquestions and problems of today’s individuals and one can exploretheology to find out the factors that emancipate and empowerwomen.Fiorenza’s theory indicates that all interpretations have bias andno interpretation is disinterested. With such a proposition, thispaper explores Allama’s social theory in the realms of marriage,divorce and heritage, inspired by his theological insight.In Allama’s interpretations, all living beings are created in couplesexpect God who is one. He believes that considering a gender forGod is in contradiction with his unity; because God is unit, hecannot be a father, a mother or a child in order to have a gender.In Allama’s view, humans are equal from the point of “truth ofhumanity.” The attributes of man mentioned in Quran and therelationship between God and man, are characteristics of allhumans including both men and women. At the end of human life,as well, both men and women will be judged similarly and equally.Allama, based on his theology, considers women as similar beingsto men and equal to them in dignity and worth. However, hissocial theory diverges from his theological insights. He believesthat men and women are naturally different and because of this,1 Associate Professor, Alzahra University, sbastani@alzahra.ac.ir2 M.A. , Women’s Studies, Alzahra University

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 27they have different social rights. Men based on their nature areactive and wise, while women are passive and emotional. Allamasuggests that men and women’s rights are related to their nature,and since men have more natural advantages, they enjoy morerights compared to women, as such, men have guardianship overwomen.By comparing Allama’s theology with his social theory, one candistinguish between heavenly woman inspired by his theology andearthly woman emerging from his social theory. He talks aboutgeneral man and woman because he views them as dependent ontheir natural conditions. However, in real world, special man andwoman exist who have been raised in a specific social, historicaland cultural context.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 28The Theory of Family in the Thoughts of Muslim ThinkersHossein Bostan 1Nowadays the advancement of various sciences is to large extentdue to theory-making. So, Islamic or native social sciences have tooffer efficient theories in order to make progress. This article is anattempt to present an Islamic theory of the family in which theemergence factors, the secondary factors as well as the supportingfactors are discussed; that is, natural differences of men andwomen is the basic factor of the formation of the family relation,yet there are some secondary factors such as the gender roles andlimitation of sexual relationships just within the family as well asmany supporting factors such as extending awareness of thecouples, moral development of them, familial laws, and socialprotection and controlling mechanisms would increase theeffectiveness of the link. Besides, there are several mediator factorswhich are to be considered. Among them the mass media are ofspecial important, because they have very effective role inexpanding sexual permissiveness on one part and in devaluatinggender roles and showing them inefficient on the other part.Given the theoretical approach of the paper, I have not organized aspecial empirical research to advocate the theory. Yet, thetheoretical frame introduced has the capacity of being the basis ofvarious researches which would make us able to test empiricallythe statements of the theory.Keywords: family, family theories, Islamic theorizing, family inIslam.1 Research Institute of Hawzah and University, Qom, Iranhbostan@rihu.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 29What Should We Mean By Global Sociology?Michael Burawoy 1Classical sociology has conventionally been trapped within theframework of the nation-state. Today we have to think globallybut without denying the importance of the national container. As afirst step this means comparing different countries, but the moreimportant step is to try to see the world as a unit unto itself,populated by organizations, networks and movements thattranscend national boundaries. In this context what shall we meanby global sociology? We have to first ask a prior question: what issociology? This paper is based on the premise that sociology takesthe standpoint of civil society, just as economists take thestandpoint of markets and political scientists take the standpoint ofthe state. Civil society first emerged at the end of the 19 century inEurope in response to the destructive expansion of nationalmarkets, especially labor markets. Today, the capitalist economyassumes a global character, but a global character with amomentum that is outside the control of nation states. Thedestructiveness of this contemporary wave marketizationtranscends national boundaries as we see in such phenomena asfinancial crises, global warming and human trafficking. Incontesting this destructiveness civil society must also transcendnational boundaries as it does, potentially, in social movements,NGOs, and religion. Such a putative global civil society calls for asociology that is based not just in a local or national civil society,but assumes global dimensions. This global sociology is verydifferent from the hegemonic project of national sociologies thatfalsely present themselves as universal, just as it is different fromthe retreat into particularism. Rather a global sociology requires usto stitch together national sociologies from below. It requires a1 Berkeley University, USA, burawoy@berkeley.edu

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 30community of sociologists that transcends national boundaries, butcreated through a dialogue among national sociologies.Keywords: Global sociology, National sociologies, Dialogue,Civil society.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 31Explorations into the New Methodology and PoliticalTheory of Ibn Khaldun’s Umran Mind’sMahmoud Dhaouadi 1In a time of calls by social scientists in the Third World foralternative social sciences, Ibn Khaldun is surely the singleclassical sociologist who represents best the mark of non-westernsociology. He wrote his sociological treatise/the Muqaddimahmany centuries before August Comte. He invented his own methodto study Arab Muslim societies by using new concepts of which„asabiyya/group feeling, badàwa/primitive culture andhadàra/civilized culture are the most important concepts of IbnKhaldun‟s New Science (Ilmu al-umranu al-basahari/humancivilization and social organization). This paper attempts toidentify the factors leading to the birth of Ibn Khaldun‟s newparadigm which offers better credibility to the study of historicalevents by the help of the law of al-mutabaqah (conformity ofhappenings with the general conditions of human societies). It willbe shown that the above novel concepts has helped the author ofthe Muqaddimah to develop a political theory relevant to theexplanation of the political governing systems which Arab Muslimsocieties have known since the Prophet‟s death and theimplications of his theory for the explanation of contemporarypolitical issues of Arab world will be discussed.Keywords: Ibn Khaldun, Alternative social sciences, Politicaltheory, Arab Muslim societies1 University of Tunis, Tunisa, m.thawad@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 32Hisham Sharabi and Cultural Critique of Arab SocietyAhmad Dorosti 1Hisham Sharabi is one of Palestinian contemporary theorists whois regarding the nature of social and political structure of theArabic countries by sociological perspective and have left notableworks by itself. Sharabi as a committed writer is committed to thesocial mission of intellectuals. Along with academic andtheoretical work, he had pay attention to practical action and howto affect on social space as the ultimate goal of his efforts. One ofhis main concern is how to interface with modernity in the Arabworld and, in several books, sharabi has discussed the theoreticalreplies of Arab intellectuals and thinkers about modernitychallenges. He saw not only the process of modernization in theArabic countries are not well, but the common stream of thought,could not pay answer correct to the Arab world problem (thetransition to modernity) the efforts of thinkers ranging fromIslamic fundamentalists to secular westernized have not presentedany way except, reinforcing patriarchal system.From sharabi viewpoint, Arab‟s efforts on the way ofmodernization, in the past hundred years, are not very successful.He believes that in process of modernization not only patriarchalstructure of Arab society has not been weakened, but also, bycombining domestic petty bourgeois interests and internationalcapitalist, alongside with Cultural heritage remains from the past,leading to reproduce this authoritarian structure. Such a situationleads to the formation of social structure that sharabi calls "newpatriarchy". This type of formation, is an abnormal and fragilecombination that contains Conflicting elements from tradition andmodernity, Simultaneously. Sharabi reveals introducing the featureof such society as his main purpose and believes that it is possible,only, with promotion a new critical discourse.His research works ranging from important sociological topics topolitical and intellectual discourse and social structure in theArabic countries in the Middle East countries. In this article, at1 Emam Hossein University,Iranahmad_dorosti@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 33first, author tries to explain the key components of sharabiintellectual system and it‟s theoretical origins, then, evaluate hisideas with the terms of the three following criteria critically:Theoretical invention and innovation,Logical coherence and theoretical strength,Correspondence between theory and the reality of Arab societies.Final the paper will answer the question whether this theory canexplain main features of other Middle Eastern societies or not?Keywords: Hisam Sharabi Arab countries, Patriarchy, politicalsystem.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 34Political Perspectives of the New Middle East and theRole of Social SciencesNasser Fakouhi 1Since 50 years ago, the Middle East constitutes the most importantcenter of world energy geopolitics. This is the main reasonexplaining the political map of the region after WWII: the creationof too many Nation-States on the basis of tribal or military localcommunities with high dependency toward western countries. Thishas been the primarily source of different political and social trendsin the region, from Ba'thism to Pan Arabism and IslamicFundamentalism. The final result is the appearance of a vastunderdeveloped area, poor and full of sociological tensions, moreand more in risk of social revolts and urban violent confrontations.The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential role ofsociologists and sociological research and institutions to avoidmore violence and to find a real, durable solution, a social way outof this situation. During decades, social sciences actors andinstitutions in the region have been under pressure, especially forthe reason that the political powers of these countries take them for“responsible of unrest” for the real “trouble makers”. Though,without denying the role of these sciences to give consciousnessto the population , and especially to youth by enrolling them in thehigher education system and educating them to understand thesocial systems, we think that the real reason s of this catastrophicconditions have to be found in the incompatibility betweenpolitical and social systems in these countries due to their rapidsocial and economic change. Conditions in which, sociology and1 University of Tehran, Iran, nfakohi@ut.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 35sociologists can be considered as a main resource to find a socialand peaceful compromise.Keywords: Political anthropology, Middle East, PoliticalSociology, Democracy, Ethnicity.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 36The Text as a Problem and a part of Solution; Critique ofthe Text by Arab Muslim Thinkers and its Social IndicationsMaghsood Farasatkhah 1Perhaps it will not be exaggeration that Islamic civilization hasbeen generated “Text- centered”. It was full of the Text. ReligiousTexts (specifically the Qur'an and generally the religious) have been located in the center of Islamic societiesthinking adventures. Due to this, the first religious reasoning in theearly history of Islam were entitled as (the speech).Because, the first discussions were about Devine Speech andwonderfully it is remaining yet. The Text was been represented asa whole truth. God‟s immanence in the religious society was beingrepresented by centeredness of the Text. Through this, theprophecy was being continued and flowed in the history andsociety for the duration of the ages and the generations.But this traditional perception became problematical by newchanges in the late two centuries. The emergent conditions of Arabsocieties made the new elites to the new perspectives of thinkingabout the Text . It became a problem that whether the difficultiessuch as dictatorship , hostility with the rationality , backwardness,decadence and so on have hiden themselves behind the sacrednessof the Text? What does the Text indicate itself? And otherquestion.This study focuses on the Arab Muslim thinkers about the Text,including such as Tahtawi, Sayyid Jamal, Abdoh, Abdol Razagh,Taha Hossein, Amin El Khouli, Muhammad Abed Al-Jaberi, NasrHamid Abu Zayd and Mohammed Arkoun. The outlooks contain acontinuum from modernistic interpretations and adaptive readingsof the Text until literature-based, hermeneutical, discourse analysisapproaches and finally critique of the Text. Although it issurprising that some of solutions have been yet sought from theText and in the Text, there are approaches that desire to round it or1 Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education, Iran,maghsoodf@gmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 37to pass over it. The research method of this study is historical andcomparative one; emphasizing the sociological origins and socialindications of the outlooks.Keywords: Religious text, Hermeneutics, Critique, Sociologicalorigins.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 38An Islamic Perspective on social issues in our worldtodaySayyed Mohsen Fatemi 1Sundry scholarly research may demonstrate the opulent andprolific engagement of traditional scholars of Islam in addressing awide variety of issues within the realm of philosophy,jurisprudence, exegesis, rhetoric, mysticism, etc. This presentationhighlights the significance of a recondite exploration of societaland social issues within the Islamic perspective and argues that theunderlying ontological and epistemological components of Islamicperspective would open up illuminating avenues of understandingfor the social issues of our world today. The presentationexemplifies diverse points of such exploration and presentspractical implications of an Islamic driven approach for social andcultural issues.Keywords: Traditional scholars of Islam, Islamic perspective,Social issues,1 Harvard University, USA, smfatemi@hotmail.comsayyedmohsen.fatemi@ubc.ca

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 39Fethullah Gülen’s Thought: A Sociological EvaluationMohammad Fekri 1 , Mina Inanloo 2Fethullah Gülen, contemporary Turkish thinker, is known assignificant and affective thinker in the world. But he hasn‟t knownin Iran. The most important characteristic of Gulen‟s discourse isthe link between education and Islam. He emphasizes on creatingsocial networks and cultural capital through education. Trying totrain Muslim and modern youths is the other trait of his thought.Another important aspect of Gulen‟s thought and discourse is hisemphasize on creating development culture in Turkey. Hepromotes a mode of ethics and education in his schools,educational centers and Medias that is very similar to Weber‟sProtestant ethic.Gulen has very emphasized for permanent work for happiness andsalvation. In his thought, servicing to Islam and society is possibleonly through knowledge. He believes that human withoutknowledge is lack of necessary equipment for servicing to society.Gulen is known as the father of social Islam in turkey. But therange of his thought is more than turkey‟s boundaries. Gulen lies atthe center of a network with numerous investors, commercials andscientist. He handle a wide network of publishing centers andschools, colleges, investment companies, cultural centers, insideand outside turkey via administering some corporations andassociations. His ability and possibilities distinct him from anotherthinkers who do only mental work. Number of Gulan‟s schools isestimated 300 schools in turkey and more of 1000 schools inuniverse.A sociological analysis of his thoughts via reviewing his books andspeeches will be presented in this article. We will also examinesomething which is known as Gulan‟s movement, and power of hisinfluence in Islamic and third world.1 Research Institute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution, Tehranm.fekri@yahoo.com2 Buali Sina University, Hamedan

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 40Key words: Fethulla Gulen, Turkey, Modernity, Development,Education, Islam.Meaningful Parallelisms between Social Thought andSociological Culture in Iran (Analysis of Metaphors)M. Amin Ghaneirad 1Present paper studies relationships between two cognitive spaces ofsocial thought and sociological culture in Iran‟s socio- historicalcircumstances. The relations between social thoughts andsociological ideas can be explained by using the category ofsymbolic or meaningful correspondences and consistencies, orstylistic similarities or differences between these two intellectualdomains. Comparing these two cognitive spaces will be facilitatedby using the concept of sociological culture that include not onlyconceptual, theoretical and methodological dimensions ofsociologists‟ ideas but their used models, analogies and metaphors.The metaphor analysis will be used as method of study; this is amode of analyzing texts for going beyond the ordinary conceptsand closing to literary and interpretative implications of them. Wechoose a set of works written by Iranian social thinkers andsociologists, respectively with focusing on two concepts ofrevolution and messianism and two other concepts of modernityand globalization ,and then describe and classify existingmetaphors is selected texts as representations of writers‟conceptions of social categories and processes of the change ofsociety. Finally we propose some hypotheses about relations ofthese cognitive spaces- conceptually different but metaphoricallysimilar- with socio-historical situations as well as their manifestand latent functions especially in the contexts of resistance and1 National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP), Iran,ghaneirad@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 41criticism, preserving power and stability, and providing motivesand confidence.According to our findings, social thoughts and sociologicalcultures in Iranian context have not experienced the priority ofideas and mentalities over structures and objectivities thereforethey suffer from a kind of intellectual reification and alienation.Based on this state of mind, the people, whether as laymen orexperts, find themselves influenced by external or historical factorsand necessities. This reified image of future transform individualsand social groups to players of pre-determined projects or trends.These images prevent thinkers to pass from social experience tosocial thought and finally to theoretical consciousness in terms ofthe state of society and its challenges and possible choices forshaping a better future.Keywords: Social thought, Sociological culture, Metaphoranalysis, Necessities, Intellectual reification, Alienation.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 42University Systems in the Arab East: Publish Globally andPerish Locally Vs. Publish Locally and Perish GloballySari Hanafi 1In this paper, I attempt to demonstrate how the university systemand the system of social knowledge production greatly influenceelite formation. Many elements are at play, namely, the admissionsystem, new processes, such as accreditation, curriculum updating,administrative tasks, community services, and fundraising skills,but also publication that allows scholars to compete for academicand institutional promotion. For the purpose of this paper, I willdeal with three factors associated with the university system:compartmentalization of scholarly activities, the demise of theuniversity as a public sphere, and the criteria for publication thatcount towards promotion. This last factor will be the main focus ofthis paper. Publication indeed is the central communication tool ofscientific activity; it entails the diffusion of knowledge, training,and the peer assessment of scholars. It has been widely studiedfrom an evaluative perspective (by the productivity of scientistsand laboratories, by countries, etc.) but few authors have studied itfrom a power structure perspective. By reconsidering publication‟sstatus, this study will attempt to bring to the forefront thatpublication is an element in the construction of research practicesas is a structured space shaping this very research practice.This paper is based on interviews that I conducted in the Arab East(in Egypt, Syria, the Palestinian territory, Jordan, and Lebanon)with 23 social scientists about their authorship practices and theirparticipation in promotion evaluation of their colleagues.Interviews were organized around accounts of personal stories ofresearch and publication, the importance of writing, the different1 American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Sh41@aub.edu.lb

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 43tasks undertaken in the research process, and the decision-makingprocesses of journals. In addition, many CVs of scholars fromEgypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territory werestudied. These CVs were collected in the last four years throughweb research (particularly in universities‟ websites) and UN humanresource department (providing consultants CVs), as well as thosewho sent manuscripts for publication in the journal Idafat- ArabJournal of Sociology (benefiting from my position as editor of thisjournal). This „sample‟ cannot be considered in any sortrepresentative of Arab Eastern social scholarly community,therefore I will not use percentages in my analysis. Being a facultymember at the American University of Beirut (AUB), I will drawmany arguments from my experience and consider this universityas a case study.Keywords: University systems, Science production, Academicpublication, Arab East, Research practices

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 44Iranian Sociology and Selective Translation of Theories ofSecularizationSeyed Morteza Hashemi Madani 1We can classify the theories of secularization in two majorcategories. The first group of thinkers believes in a radical breakbetween tradition and modernity. They take the view thatsecularization means the end of the religious world view. The othergroup of thinkers belongs to those who want to see modernity asthe continuity of religious past in a new guise; among them areCarl Schmitt and Karl Lowith. It seems that we cannot find anymajor reference to the second type of theses of secularizationamong Iranian sociologists. This article strives to explain somehistorical and theoretical roots of the problem of „selectivetranslation‟ of theories of secularizationI tend to see it as a problem which comes out of the firstconfrontation of Iranian intellectuals with modern Europe. Afterthat confrontation, Iranian intellectuals found themselves at thecentre of a political struggle against religion. Because of thatpolitical project, it was impossible for them to ask question aboutboth „legitimacy‟ and „theological roots of modernity‟. To findhistorical roots of this political project, we have to reconstruct thatspecific European academic sphere with which the first waves ofIranian intellectuals confronted. In this way, I want to emphasizeon the role of the specific anthropological theories. They used toassume that Iran and India were the ancient homelands ofEuropean races.Hence, the concept of „authentic ancient Iran‟ played pivotal rolein the process of identity constitution for those first Iranian secularintellectuals. They went to Europe with an important question inmind, i.e. a question about the causes of the flourishingdevelopment in modern Europe and the main problem againstIran‟s development. The combination of this question with thoseanthropological theories led them to the mentioned political project1 University of Warwick , UK, s.m.hashemi-madani@warwick.ac.uk

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 45against religion. By pushing religion into the position of accused,they tended to ignore the very theological roots of modernity itself.Keywords: Secularization, Sociology, Theology, Iran,Intellectuals.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 46Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies: An OutlineRiaz Hassan 1Muslims are now estimated to be 1.9 billion or 23 per cent of theworld population residing in 49 Muslim majority countries and inover 120 countries as a minority. Social pervasiveness of Islam inthe modern world and the socio-political and religious trajectoriesof contemporary Muslim societies, as recent events in Tunisia,Egypt and a number of other Middle Eastern countries havedemonstrated, raise important sociological questions. This paperwill offer an outline of some of the key questions and issues thatmake the sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies a challengingfield of social inquiry. It will argue that empirical studies ofMuslim societies can be a rich source for evaluating the validity ofsome of the major propositions of social theory that have beenformulated in the context of increasingly secular social settings ofmodern European and North American countries. Throughsystematic and comparative studies of Muslim societies, modernsociological scholarship can lay the foundations for a moreinformed understanding of the social reality of the Muslim worldKeywords: Sociology of Islam, Muslim Societies, Social theory,Comparative studies.1 Flinders University, Australia, riaz.hassan@flinders.edu.au

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 47Theoretical Reflection about Women Movement in IslamicRegion CountriesAli Mohammad Hazeri 1Naima Mohammadi 2In recent years, the demands of women in Islamic countries are notbased on the economic and legal dimensions it is according tocultural and identical aspects. IN this article by using historicalmethods, some of the most famous idea about recognition ofwomen in relations between social forces and ruling power hasbeen studied. Results of this paper shows that, thinkers approachescan be divided to 2 parts according to the rate of contempt,Misrecognition, Invisibility and unfair in distribution of resources:1) In countries where the government is secular and believeWestern values, traditional and religious values have been rejectedso Theorists and leaders of women insist on local traditions 2) Incountries where government defend religious traditions, leaders offeminism movement promote modern , postmodern andsecularism values against government. Each of these approachescan highlight a certain types of political and institutional action andit provide Resistance group.Keywords: Women social movement, Gender identity, Structureof power, Social recognition.1 Tarbiat Modares University.Iran, shoma1316@yahoo.com2 Shahid Bahonar University, Iran, naima.mohammadi@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 48Universalism or Particularism of Human Rights Discourse inSociology: The Politics of Human Rights in Select IslamicCountriesRay Jureidini 1Western sociological thought, has, until recently, largely ignoredthe issue of human rights and the United Nations primarily becauseof the universalistic nature of international law and human rightsconventions. This has been largely because of the principle ofcultural relativism predominant in the ethical and operationalapproaches of the discipline. It has often been the case that Islamiccountries have also extended reservations upon signing andratifying UN conventions because of their perceived culturalparticularism in areas such as religion, the family and sexuality aswell as refugees and migrants. In a discussion of the history ofhuman rights discourse in sociology, comparative examples will bedrawn from the concerns of Islamic states to western-influenceduniversalistic principles as articulated in select UN human rightsconventions. Conclusions will be drawn regarding the politics ofhuman rights in select Islamic countries with specific reference toRefugees and Asylum Seekers.Keywords: Human right, Sociology, Islamic countries,Particularism, Cultural relativism1 Lebanese American University, Lebanon, rayj@aucegypt.edu

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 49The Study of Political Sociology in Egyptian Universities:Moving away from academic dependency?Mustapha Kamal Al Sayyid 1To what extent has academic dependency in the field of PoliticalSociology diminish over the years in Arab countries? Academicdependency could be defined as a situation in which academics ofthe periphery are resigned to be only mouthpieces of social scienceschools in countries of the Center.This study strives to find out the extent to which academicsinvolved in the teaching of Political Sociology in one Arabcountry, namely Egypt, have succeeded in moving away from thissituation to one in which they do not ignore the work of Westernacademics in this field, but examine it from a critical perspectiveand contribute to the enrichment of Sociological thought by addinginsights, theoretical perspectives and analyses inspired by theirown culture and their countries‟ historical experience. How did thestudy of this sub-discipline of Sociology start in Egyptianuniversities, which are among the oldest in the Middle East? Whatwere the dominant intellectual schools that influenced the earlyacademic writings of Political Sociology? How did the teachingevolve over the years? Have these intellectuals schools gave way toother schools, what are these other schools? What positions didEgyptian sociologists, influenced by their training in Westernuniversities, take on works of pioneers of Western Sociology, likeMax Weber, Talcott Parsons, Mosca, Pareto and Mitchells andKarl Marx? Did they echo the evolution of sociological thought, orkept repeating ideas of those pioneers? Were they only a vehiclefor Western thought in this sub-discipline or did they take a morecritical stand towards their ideas? Did they offer any newcontribution, or they were satisfied to act simply as transmission1 Cairo University, Egypt, mustapha@pidegypt.org

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 50belt of Western Sociological thought. The early survey of PoliticalSociology textbooks in Egypt suggests that the academic thoughtdid evolve over the years. It moved from an early phase duringwhich professors of Political Sociology were more interested inintroducing their students to major currents of Western thought to alater stage in which they started to take a more critical stand. In thislater stage, some of them manifested this critical stand by sidingwith one particular school of Western thought while others wentfurther further, digging in Arab and Muslim history, using Arabsources in order to come up with Sociological analysis inspired bywork of Arab and Muslim thinkers.The paper will thus engage in an analysis of academic textbooks ofPolitical Sociology in an attempt to answer these questions. Twotypes of academic writings would be the focus of analysis, thegeneral introductory textbooks of this sub-discipline and the worksthat focus more on specific themes of the Political Sociology ofArab countries.Keywords: Political sociology, Academic dependency, Westernthough, Muslim thinkers, Egypt, Text books.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 51The Foundations of Impoverishment and Enrichment of SocialThought in Contemporary IranAfsane Kamali 1There are so many discussions about social science and sociologyin Iran and its growth and progress and the obstacles and barriersof thinking about it. However, statistical data indicate that in thethreshold of Islamic Revolution the number of graduates andstudents in these fields was equal to 47,456 in 1986 and reached to1,347,012 in 2006. The vast propensity and broad trend ofgraduates and students provided a part of external consumers ofsocial science which are at least a part of the system of scientificcommunity. On the other hand because of the growth anddevelopment in components of the social realm, scientificcommunity system found other external consumers of socialscience though numerous challenges and complexities. Despite allefforts that are primarily personal, social thought in onlyhas benefited a limited level of development and deepness.There are different critiques (/arguments) around this subject.The first issue is the lack of an "internal scientific community"inside it. Hence theorizing in Iran social sciences is more of apersonal activity without any connection to intellectual Paradigmand schema. Such an ideology that is not based on any wellknownscience stream will reproduce the lack of scientificcommunity and makes the theoretical and experimentalachievements with no fundamental connectivity and in contrastwith each other. Another point is the lack of relevance betweensocial science and social sphere, in Iran. The name of this branchof science comes from the fact of it being social. However thisdistinction is pretty clear in the ideas and publications of socialsciences in Iran.There are many discussions on the structural and formaldifferences of social thought and religion, and this issue as themain theme or maybe the fundamental property of society hadbeen criticized by many thinkers. Along this direction the social1 Al-Zahra University, IranAfsane_kamali@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 52thought in the recent history of our country has been criticized asbeing westernized, and this had been a popular topic of discussionsfor many years now.Whenever the social thought has attempted to overcomethis difficulty by lining towards the internal boundaries of society,it has been trapped in reactionary approaches and beensignificantly slowed in its way of understanding and explaining thesocial phenomena.The outcome of these difficulties for the social thought in Iran canbe seen in its self-foundation and lack of structural relevance withother branches of sciences, and inefficiencies in applicationperformance and policy making and Sterilization and the inabilityof social renaissance.In this article, while studying the properties of social thought inIran, using the Amartia Sen‟metaphor‟s view, we discussed thefollowing: the role of political situation specially thegovernment, facilities and weaknesses of Economic structures, andthe role of Knowledge economy, social situation and combinationof religion and tradition at one handand philosophical foundations of knowledge on the other hand, andfinally protective security and The feasible price of theoreticalthinking and knowledge.This article is mostly about the lifeof social thought in heavy shades of political-social spheres ratherthan reciting the poverty and pinches of it.Keywords: Scientific community, Social thought, Reactionaryapproach, Structural relation

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 53Three Worlds of Iranian, Egyptian, and Turks inConfrontation with ModernityHadi Khaniki 1“Islamic world” vs. “Western world” is one the most widely usedcategorizations in contemporary discussions on civilization, cultureand politics. The actual relations among these two worlds and theway they confront and treat each other in theory is an importationsubject in social sciences. Modernity did not appear in Islamiccountries in a homogenous and synchronous way. Initially it wasmore concerned with civilization and technology and lessconcerned with culture and theory. This made plural manifestationsof modernity in the Islamic world. “Iranian world”, “Arabicworld”, “Turkish world”, “Malay world”, “African world”, andeven “European world” each embody different experiences,understandings and narratives of the confrontation betweentradition and modernity in Islamic social thought. Adopting ahistorical and a comparative approach, this paper investigates onthe main approaches to tradition and modernity confrontation inthree Iranian, Turkish, and Egyptian societies as three locations ofmodernity in Islamic worlds.The paper aims at classifying and explaining the transitions anddominant discourses in the Iranian, Egyptian and Turk world, asthey confront modernity. It also looks into the relations amongsubjective and objective transformation in the three societies.Therefore, the following questions will be asked for an answer:1. What are the main subjects of the discourses of Muslimintellectuals and social reformists; who are the representatives;and what are the forms?2. What is the relation between social networks and civilinstitutions with social thought and new intellectual orders inthese countries?3. What are the necessities that formed a dialogue among“Islamic world” and the “Western world”?1 Allameh Tabatabaee University, Iran, hadi.khaniki@gmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 544. How are the problems and horizons of dialogue; and how isthe other formed in the language of the region?The paper uses a documentary and historical approach and workson a comparative meta-analysis of them. The paper will shoe thatthe three Iranian, Egyptian and Turkish worlds, according to theirsimilarities and differences in culture and civilization, tend tocriticize rather than reject both tradition and modernity. Thisapproach is very well represented by contemporary intellectuals.The approaches in three societies are similar in their struggle toachieve an open and democratic understanding of Islam incontemporary world; they are different in the existence or power ofpolitical and civil institutions for the development and promotionof a critical dialogue. Since early time of modernity, the threesocieties of Iran, Egypt and Turkey, in their political actions andsocial thought, has undergone different paths; a path that can behighlighted with reference to the location of civil society.Keywords: Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Modernity, Social thought

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 55Postcolonial Approach as an Incomplete Critique:Methodological ConsiderationsAmir Khorasani 1Soon after its publication in 1978, Edward Said`s Orientalism hasgained nothing less than the exalted status of a canonical text inhumanities. The book has received high praise from across thetheoretical spectrum. A number of third world scholars, however,have provided some critical evaluations of the differentconstitutional parts of the book, inter alia, method, historicalaccuracy, implied ideology. But not surprisingly, the main thesesof the book, (even its object, i.e., an Orient which has beenconstructed through discursive mis / representation of a colonialWest) has transcended all critical concerns and implicitly becomethe sole undeniable consecrated truth which would unite the widelyheterogeneous “subalterns” around that very mis/representationand bring them back into universal history.Ironically, upon this very ground, consecrated and glorified as ithas been so far, after some modifications, contextualization ,extensions , and more significantly post modernization of Said`sarguments, the post -Saidean/colonialist approach came into being.This point of departure, or more precisely, the particular treatmentof “third world” scholars with Said`s arguments has made themstuck in the morass of reproducing colonial logic in the very act ofdecolonizing.The present article explores primarily how the above fact, the veryfailure in being sufficiently radical in critique, that is, violating itsconstitutive logic , spelled doom for postcolonial approach, then,after taking the salutary methodological lesson of this failure intoconsideration, the contours of a substituting path will be drawn.A path which may lead us to the production of decolonized socialunderstanding in near future.Keywords: Immanent Critique, Materialism, Orient, Postcolonial,Subjectivism.1 Allame Tababtabai Univty, Iran

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 56Beyond National Boundaries and Western Science Hegemony:World Social Science and Humanities NetworkMichael Kuhn 1After the Soviet Union has transformed the opposition of societysystems into the opposition of nation states about world power and,as matter of efficiency, detected the western society system asmore successful for the competition of nation states, the Westernsociety model has successfully transformed the world into a globalmarket, often - a bit neatly - called Neo-liberalism - and, despite ofthe announced “end of history” created all kind of new oppositions,often coming from ambitious political entities, which in manycases were strongly supported by the US against the Soviet Union,last but not least major parts of the Islam world, the EU andcountries in Latin America. The world of social sciences todaymirror the new opposition movements against the claim of ascientific universalism, the reign of a world science system, oftheories and categories created in the context of the Western modelof “civilisation”, today slightly de-historized called “modernity”,which the very “globalisation” reveals as the universalisation of thelocal world view of this very Western society model. Though thescientific opposition against the Western science world systemshows in what and how it opposes in many cases itsepistemological origin in the Western sciences, the opposingpoliticized analytical framework of nation states and their claims ofvarious locals against the Western dominated perspective of theglobal, this opposition erodes the so far unquestioned reign of theWestern science system.My paper will present a newly establish network of social scientiststhat aims to develop a world social sciences and humanitiescommunity beyond the hegemonic patterns of Western science,1 World SSH Net, mkuhn@worldsshnet.org, michaelkuhn@knowwhy.net

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 57that suggests to reflect on social phenomena worldwide beyondthe theoretical frameworks of nationally confined societies, beyondany ethnocentrism and that promotes dialogue and cooperationfrom the social sciences and the humanities beyond the boundariesof disciplines.Keywords: Opposition ovements, Western society model, Westernscience, World system, Scientific opposition, Network of socialscientists

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 58The Social Thought in the Hafez's Poets: Implications for theconcerns of Today’s Human beingArdeshir Mansouri 1There are some different Ideas about the relationship betweenHafez' poets and the problems of development of Iranian society.In one hand, a number of thinkers, unencumbered of the modernsocial problems, reduce Hafez' poets to Iranian classical mysticismand he called as the mystic tongue (Lesan-ol-Gheib). According tothis Idea, Hafez's apprehension was "the typical man" as the Birdof Heaven Garden, which is banishment in the ground, for somedays. On the other hand, the other thinkers maintain Hafez's poets,is the mirror of Ash'arism and fatalism that is mixed with lovelymysticism and the thesis of living in pleasure, without anyattention to the social problems. Based on this attitude, Hafez'slanguage is full of irony, equivocation, allusion, and this is theexigency of a despotic and undeveloped society.I think there is an intellectual theme in Hafez's poets, that gives usa kind of out going from the conflict situation for Iranian, and alsoglobal, Human. In this article I try to get through some Ideas about"social subjects" in Hafez's poets:- Social criticism in Hafez's poets: critique of public culture,by emphasis on two social institute: "religion" and"government", reflection on literature techniques, such asamphibology and scoffing in the severity time;- "Ideal Man" and "Ideal society" in Hafez's poets: Anoutgoing from closed society;In this article I try to illuminate an imagination of "Godlyenjoying-freeman",between two radical imaginations of mankind:1-"unreligious-enjoying-freeman" vs. "obedient-unenjoying-1 Tehran University, Iran, amansouri@ut.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 59human". A critical approach about asceticism, Sufism andscholasticism, and promotion of toleration, are some themes inHafez's poets that can prepare the conditions for making a fair,good and religious life in the modern world.Keywords: Culture, Mysticism, Social thought, Hafez poet,Enlightenment.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 60Allama Jafari on the Past, Present and Future in the HumanSciencesSeyed Javad Miri 1One of the most significant issues within the social sciences is thequestion of research and its position within the sociologicalparadigm, both historically and contemporarily. Allama Jafarifocused on this issue at Sheffield University is 1995. Inconceptualizing this problematique, he believes that we need toconcentrate on three periods of time, i.e. Past, Present and Futureof the human sciences in relation to the position of the humanities,which need to be strengthened in the light of research. In thisregard, Jafari proposed four issues, which are of significance interms of humanities:1. The special position of human sciences visavis technology in itsgeneral sense2. The particular place of humanities among other branches ofknowledge and sciences in a general sense3. The normative position of social sciences visavis other branchesof knowledge and industry4. Who does research in the humanities and under what conditions.Keywords: Allama Jafari, Human sciences, Humanities1 Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies & Scharif University ofTechnology, Department of Philosophy of Science, Iran,seyedjavad@hotmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 61The Intermediary Approach: A Theoretical Solutionfor the Problems of The Middle EastSayyed Mohammad Mirsondosi 1Since Modernity expanded beyond its original center to otherregions, including The Middle East and the Islamic world, itcaused various challenges for the scholars of those areas, andraised serious questions among them. Put in a spectrum, theirreactions can be typically categorized into three general trends:"fundamental traditionalism" and "Westernism" on the two ends ofthe spectrum, and the intermediary approach, which takes themiddle point and tries to present an interaction betweentraditionalism and Westernism and makes a logical use of both ofthem.A general review as well as the typology of the issue indicate thatthe thinkers of the Islamic world have not been able to present aconcurrent and unique model for dealing with the phenomenon andpresenting a method for handling the outcomes of modernity andthe modern situation of today's social life. Evaluating each of thesethree approaches, this research intends to find an answer for thefollowing question: "Which of these approaches is reliable enoughfor the presentation of a theoretical solution appropriate for today'ssituation?"It is obvious that this research, which is intended to investigate thehistorical experience of the methods used by the followers of eachof these approaches, as well as the answer to the question, can beplaced in a historical approach framework. The outcomes indicatethat the traditionalism and Westernism have not been able to freethe world of Islam from the problems and crises caused bymodernity. Hence, it seems that the intermediary approach, whichplays a mediatory role between the traditionalism and Westernism,1 Imam Hossein University, Iran, Mirsondosi@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 62deserves more attention. Therefore, the researcher will try toexplain the characteristics of the third approach, compared with theother approaches, and present it as the core of the Islamic view andtheoretical solution of the Islamic world for dealing with theoutcomes of modernity.Keywords: Intermediary approach, Traditionalism, Westernism,Modernity, Islamic world, Historical approach

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 63Religious Social Theory as an Alternative Theory of SocietyHassan Mohaddesi 1Social thought includes each proposition on society and socialphenomena and the various knowledges produce a special type ofsocial thought. Theories of society, included social theories andsociological theories, are a part of social thought. But they arearticulated and complicated, works of the learned of pre-modernand modern ages. Theories of society represent the cohesivesystems of ideas on society and social phenomena. Religion makesa special form of knowledge called religious knowledge. Itproduces a special type of social thought and specific social theory.In each social theory, it is two principal constituents: man andsociety. Each of social theory defines in special form thesementioned constituents and articulates some ideals on them.Paradigms of social theory are determined in terms of contents ofeach social theory about man, society and typical relation ofbetween them.In this article one intends to provide religious social theory. Thereare four view that constitute the religious social theory: the primaryabout man, secondary about society, and third about the relation ofbetween man and society, and the last about the transcendent andits relation with social order. Elementary Islam, for author,represents a radical humanistic social theory.Keywords: Religious social theory, Paradigms, Constituents ofreligious social theory, Social theory of elementary Islam1 Islamic Azad University- Central Tehran Branch, Iran,hmohaddesi@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 64Social Thoughts in the Persian LiteratureBoyouk Mohammadi 1Abstract In the Persian literature especially the poetry there exist atremendous amount of social thoughts pertaining to wise sayingsand a condensation of deep look at the world and socialrelationships. Yet some mistakably take that as a sign of socialscientific knowledge, and claim that they had known most of socialsciences before they were theorized by the western thinkers.Even though we believe that the social thoughts rooted in thePersian literature especially the poetry is not by any means thescientific knowledge in the modern sense of the word and yet thereare ample social thought that can be useful both to laymen as wellas professionals.In lecture room and friendly discussions also, a poetic versesummarizes a great deal of what we have been saying. Often apoem quoted from a well-known poet at the onset of an articleportrays what the writer is about. These and some other benefitsgained from the social thought present in the Persian literature arethe subject of this article.Keywords: Persian literature, Poetry, Social thought, Scientificknowledge.1 Research Center of Humanities, buik@ihcs.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 65Interactions and Challenges of the Sociology in Iran withWorld SociologyMehdi mohamadi 1 , Meisam malekshah 2This paper investigates Social Interactions and interventions in Iranwith world sociology in two social characteristics:1- Sociology in addition to expression, recognizing and showingthe facts, construct and formation the facts .and2- sociology dependant to the location and situation, namelyviewpoint of peoples makes possible the science.As the peoples viewpoints could not be completely independentthus the idea of complete and comprehensive sociology isn'treachable .it may be a viewpoint pointed to the sexual identity,racism, nationality or cultural like Asian or western, Muslim orunmuslim,making of religious community relation or unreligiouscommunity relation and regime of secular politics or religiouspolitical regime and …. .here it is the viewpoint which makes ourlooking to the community, we can't know the world isolated fromour viewpoi. what who are we, dependant to this that what wecould say or know about the world.The paper investigates Iran's Interactions and interventions by itsstructure and social condition with three axis consideration:1-religious and its historic records2-regime of religious politics3-modernism effects on noble's thoughts and actions.Also the paper challenging sociology in two points:1- Claim of human scienceespeciallyidentical sociology whichhas generality, disciplinary and universality characteristics.2- Claim of simultaneously progress in science and social1 Mazandaran university , mohammadi.amoli@gmail.com2 meisam.malekshah@gmail.com.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 66The paper with historic –comparing method and with a theoreticframework started which its main context got from theorist inparadigm on structural tendency and also the sociologist whichtheir viewpoint was on renovation and reviewand against classicalsociology, like Robert bela,fransis fokoyama,Edward saeid andboby saeid.and also according to some conditional analysis whichthe paper propound like :situational and national sociology,behavioral responsibility of sociology and behavioral crisis, thisresult earned that identical sociology as scientific explanation ofsociology and also for progress and development of society, is notuseful and comply option for our country according to our societyconditions .and with discussing about its negative results in theworld and Iran, let us more thinking about this problem.Keywords: Sociological pathology, Local sociology, Identicalsociology, Moral responsibilities of Sociology, Moral crisis.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 67The Contribution of Historic Approach in sociological StudiesDuring Recent Decade in IranYaghoub Mousavi 1There has been a wide argument about the role of history orhistorical approach in sociological studies through a long historyoriginated from establishment and expansion of sociology. Bothmany history discipline followers and sociologists have arguedregarding to a great significant application of associated methodsin these sciences. Despite an interactional and an effective relationbetween twofold spheres of human science, however, the qualityand scale of this relation always was the core of arguments. A greatdeal of studies shows that there is relatively consensus amongsociologists about the historical origins of social subjects andbelieving to use historical data which are conceded from pasthistory correctly and these data at present time can be capablelyused in sociological analysis. Moreover there is less agreementamong some sociologists that disregarding of historic experiencesmay brings a poor recognition regarding to social studiesHowever it seems that in any social study particularly in the case ofcomplexity society with a multi-lays situation such as Iraniansociety consideration on different historical analysis and historicalviews can certainly provide possible tools to better understand thecurrent social problems and it can also make a sensitive outlookabout the future of social events. Even some social thinkers believethat the existing of present ambiguity analysis of issues is probablyrelated to an inadequate attention to historic approach amongsociology analysts.These critics argue that the lake application of historical approachin social study itself is an important element in non-productivity of1 Alzahra University, Iran, Mousavi35@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 68social thoughts process in it's theory-analytical way and itconsequence causes the weakness understanding of historic andalso present propositions of socially forms in Iran. However,reviewing of some sociological works indicates an enough existinginterests related to the significant of historical approach.Nevertheless the present study shows that the functions ofhistorical approach and concentration on historic materials amongsocial researchers have not an equal significant in their works.Generally, this article aims to review some important productionsof well-known social writers in contemporary Iran and it analysisesthe content of their works in order to clarify the weakness orstrength of application of historic approach in their productions.Finally, in this writing the try will be concentrated on question ofwhich forms of contemporary major social problems are moreanalyzed through historical approach.Keywords: Historic approach, Sociological analysis, Historicmaterials, Content analysis, Social propositions

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 69Radical Islamism and Social InteractionExploring the Lack of Social TheorySeyed Abdolamir Nabavi 1In its theoretical and practical endeavors throughout recentdecades, radical Islamism has entered many words and conceptsinto the atmosphere of political thought and practice in Middle-East. “to demolish the Jaheliyyah (ignorant) Society and establishthe so-called Ummah”, “recovering and reestablishing Khalapha”,“Jihad against (near or far) enemies”, are among the words andconcepts intellectuals as Sayyid Qutb, Mohammad Abd al-SalamFaraj, Abdullah Azzam, and Ayman al-Zawarhiri have introduced.However, this current could not yet introduce either a theoreticalframework within which an explicit formulation of socialinteraction or a practical agenda for an ideal Islamic society, andsimply focused on the explanation of the features of the idealUmmah. This weakness is so real that one can obviously witnessthe lack of potential for not only a theory of social interaction, butalso maintenance and sustainability of their own concernedconcept, namely the Islamic state.Focusing on this point, the present study attempts to explore thisfield via the hypothesis that: “there are 3 reasons for why radicalIslamist intellectuals could not yet articulate a new concept ofsocial interaction; first, decreasing all the socials into the narrowfield of political power; second, ignorance of history in analyzingsociety and social interaction; and third, focusing on control ratherthan nature and trends of social transformations”. it seems thatconfirming this hypothesis would lead to the deep explanation of1 Institute for Social and Cultural Studies (ISCS), Iran,nabavisa@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 70the truth that why radical Islamism –in contrary to moderateIslamism- could never make a proper, valid, sustainable, and solidrelation with the society.Keywords: Radical Islamism, Society, Sharia, Social interaction,Social theory.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 71The Challenges of Social Thought and Knowledge in IslamWorld from the Viewpoint Mohammed Abed al-JabriYounes Nourbaksh 1Mohammad Esmaeel Hajhashemi 2Sedigheh Soltaniyan 3The social thinking of Muslim intellectuals in two recent decadeschiefly has begat in responding to Muslims needs in new age. Onone hand, the appearance of the new sciences, industrialtransformations in western societies, and the occurrence ofcolonialism, and on the other hand the influx of modern thoughtsand ideas among intellectuals of Islamic societies resultedunilateral modeling from western civilization in the ideas andstatements of some of them. On the other side, there were Muslimtheorists who wanted to detect reasons of the Muslims retardationof Muslims, and returned initial pride to Muslims. They wasattempting properly to answer the problems in front of Islamicsociety via idea of „return to Islam‟, and at times with thepresentation of new understanding of Islam and its reconstructionby borrowing many of the western concepts -such as individualism,freedom, equality, council, democracy and combination of themwith Islam. Or in the superior level, they would produce the propernew knowledge. Development thought and secularism which theirfulfillment in the Middle East was in challenge with the religionand social traditions were two important issues for them.In this article we perused the idea of creation of the nativeindependent social thought by examining of Arkoun and Al-jabri‟sideas in three levels –subject, method, and theory – with theemphasis on Arab and Islamic Reason. In subject level, we perusedthe native pathological points, as well as the phenomena andconcepts noticed by them. In theory and method level we perusedboth of them according to the theoretical and educational1 Tehran University, Iran, ynourbakhsh@ut.ac.ir2 ehajhashemi@gmail.com3 s.soltaniyan@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 72environment, the effective theories and thinkers, and the theoreticalframework utilized by them.Keywords: Al-jabri, Arkoun, Reason, Secularism, Islam, Socialthought, Tradition, Naturalization.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 73Alternative Approaches to Modern Social Thought in Turkey:Historical Analyses and Contemporary QuestionsM. Sait Özervarlı 1Studies on social thought in the Middle East in the 19th and 20thcenturies are mostly limited, especially in Western literature, toworks dealing with positivist figures. This approach is moreobvious in presenting Ottoman/Turkish intellectuals. However, aclose investigation into a number of yet uncovered thinkers ofIstanbul, such as Said Nursi, Ismail Hakki, and Elmalili Hamdi canprovide us with more interesting aspects of this period. This paperaims to demonstrate that these scholars can make significantcontributions to the current knowledge, not only in political issues,as has been the main focus so far, but also in social thought. It willshow how a contact was established between modern Europeanand Ottoman thought, in which ways the issue of modernizationbecame an important theme, and what kind of perceptions tookplace among critical thinkers about its content and limits.As it is known the spread of modern Western education in the 19 thcentury, the growing interest in modern science and thought, andcultural interactions, made an impact on the Middle East, whichhelped the production of a group of radical modernists, who arguedthat faith and reason, religious beliefs and modern life wereincompatible. The alternative approach, however, suggested thatwithin the Ottoman context in my case, historical tradition could beunderstood and explained in modern terms. In fact the verystructure of both tradition and modernization for them cannotsimply be reduced to a pair of opposites, as each includessomething from the other. The overall neglect regarding thecontribution of the alternative approach to the question ofmodernization is mostly caused by the hitherto exclusive focus1 Ibn Khaldun Society, Turkey, ozervarli@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 74only on the radical secularist perception of modernization and thefailure to see its dynamic interaction with the existing culturalfactors of society.In my paper I will analyze the approach of the above mentionedsocial thinkers, who tried to reach new syntheses in the historicaltradition and also wanted to minimize the imposing and excludingaspects of Western social thought in Ottoman/Turkish culture.Keywords: Modernization, Social thought, Ottoman/Turkishsocial thinkers, Radical modernists,

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 75Obstacles of Development of Sociology in ContemporaryMiddle EastKamran Rabiei 1One of the accepted assumptions of sociologists is that humanthought and knowledge is influenced by social conditions at anygiven time. In explaining the situation of sociology at thebeginning of 21 st century, Michael Burawoy defined the trilogy ofpolity, market and civil society, with sociology being the science ofcivil society, which is under constant pressure by both economyand politics. Of course given the current state of affairs, it isutopian, rather than realistic, to think of sociology as a servant ofcivil society.Inspired by Burawoy`s trilogy, the present paper discussesobstacles in the way of sociology to develop in the Middle East inall the aforementioned areas. When it comes to polity, the politicalstructure of emerging totalitarian states, the ideological nature ofpolitical power since the 1960s, and the revival of political Islam inthe 1970s, are among the most important obstacles towardssociology‟s development. In the realm of economy, exogenousorientation of economic development, its related issues, and thetendency of policy-makers to promote modernization withoutsocial modernism, constitute the main obstacles. Finally, in thesocial realm, fragility of civil society, lack of a powerful publicsphere, and lingering conflicts between tradition and modernity inboth thought and society are among the most important obstaclestowards sociology‟s development in the region.Keywords: Sociology, Middle Eastern countries, State, Economy,Civil society1 University of Isfahan, Iran, rabiei_k@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 76Islamic Revolution of Iran and the Evolution of RevolutionTheoriesAlireza Samiee Esfahani 1Before the event of Islamic revolution in Iran, the maintheoreticians on revolution have an structural orientations. But thevictory of Islamic Revolution not only disrupted and confused thesuperpowers politics, but also specially challenged theoretical andconceptual frameworks of the predominance approaches. On thebasis of modernization theories revolution is a modernistmovement toward secularization, but Islamic Revolution in Iranwith specific focus on religious leadership, Islamic ideology andmass mobilization ,presented a new political identity to the world,so that theorists such as Jack Goldstone and John Foran speakabout forth generation of revolutions. Furthermore, In the Islamicworld, Iranian Revolution produced a new emancipatory discourseand challenged the west-centre theories of revolution .so, the mainpurpose of this article is criticizing the fundamental assumption ofclassic approaches in the ground of sociology of revolution, thenwill explain the theoretical and practical pattern of politicalspirituality resulted from Islamic Revolution and finally evaluatingit's consequences and effects for arena of Islamic social science.the approach of this study is political and historical sociology andit's method is descriptive on the basis of library resources.Keywords: Islamic revolution, Sociology of revolution,Spirituality, Sociology of Islamic countries.1 Yasouj University, Iran, asamiei@mail.yu.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 77Islam and Social Sciences: Twofold ProblematicalSara Shariati 1What is the place of social sciences in history of Islam and theplace of Islam in social sciences? This question is crucial in tworespects: first, due to the hidden tension that has always existedbetween Islam and new social sciences, and has as a result verymuch weakened these sciences in Islamic countries; and seconddue to the significant place of studying Islam in social sciencestoday. A variety of factors have been involved in forming thistwofold situation among which the historical tension betweenreligion and social sciences (“secular sciences”) and the westernorigin of these sciences (“The colonialist west”) can be pointedout. None the less, Islam‟s new position in the second half of thetwentieth century, as a political power, a source of identity, andone of the most important population dispersals in the UnitedStates and Europe, has fundamentally changed the abovementioned relation between Islam and social sciences and hasconsequently completely altered the related scientific data.Theestablishment of disciplines such as the “Islamic studies” in manyuniversities in Europe, educational institutions for classifying“Human sciences of Islam” and in some cases “Islamization ofhuman sciences” in many Islamic countries, are indications ofIslam‟s new position. Today, Islam is not merely the subject ofresearch of orientalists, anthropologists, and theologians, but it hasalso become one of the main themes in social sciences andinterdisciplinary majors.The subject of this paper is investigating the relation betweensocial sciences and Islam and emphasizing on the necessity ofsocial scientific studies of Islam aside from political conflicts. Thepaper is divide into two sections; studying the place of socialsciences in historical transformation of Islam and Islam‟s newposition in social sciences. With proposing this twofoldproblematical issue, the aim of this paper is shedding some light onsocial scientific studies of Islam.1 Tehran University, Iran, salarsara@hotmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 78Keywords: Islam, Social sciences, Islamization of human sciences,Secular sciences.The Islamic Iran: Founder of New Theme and Paradigm inSociologyAlereza Shojaee-Zand 1“The Islamic Iran” is a particular term which historians make useof in order to identify the post-Islamic era and to distinguish itfrom the pre-Islamic periods. In this research, however, theparticularity of the socio-epistemological conditions which haveemerged in the post-Revolution Iran has prompted us to intend amore specific meaning of the term.The Islamic Iran, thus perceived, has influenced the sociologicalthought in two senses, and given the possibility of reaching aproper perception regarding its position and capacity; thesignifications of the term can be regarded as the source ofimportant benchmarks in the process of development of sociology:firstly, in terms of thematic innovations, and secondly, in terms ofepistemological inaugurations.The Iranian society, as the object of sociological studies, has beenfacing events and processes heretofore unprecedented. It has alsofound itself at odds with mainstream expectations:1. The occurrence of the revolution in a society which showed noapparent indications of chaos and disturbance, emergence ofspecific factors and formation of a different process whichhardly had precedence in previous revolutions, these allcontributed to the necessity of important revisions in theories ofrevolution2. Cessation and reversal of the past upward trend ofsecularization and the return of religion to the midst ofcommunity and the placement of it at the apex of the politicalauthority1 Tarbiat Moddares University, Iran, shojaeez@modares.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 793. The advent of a completely innovative convergence of thetraditional and the modern4. Proposing a relatively different model for governance, politicalparticipation and organization of power5. Demonstrating worthy capacity and capabilities in adoption ofdifferent models and paths for the development process6. The emergence of micro and macro symptoms asconsequences of such unique event accompanied by its ownpathologyIn epistemological sense for reasons of:1. Feeling some kind of pessimism and alienation vis-à-vis theparadigm dominating the human sciences2. Seeking goals partially different from it3. A feeling of self-sufficiency and dependence on richepistemological heritage4. Having high motivations to get ahead and to open newhorizons to humanity5. A glimmer of light indicating the emergence of a new model inperception of existence, human being, and his/her individualand social lifeThe Iranian society has been empowered to have an influential andconsequential role in the epistemological world. Nonetheless, thereare three main obstacles in the path:1. A lack of understanding on the part of the Iranian sociologistsin recognition of situation and position of Iran as a differentphenomenon deserving making of special efforts2. Disbelief and distrust in their potentialities among the Iranianintellectuals and their academic counterparts3. The absence of institutionalization in the path of scientificinnovation in the area of human sciencesKeywords: The Islamic Iran, Islamic Revolution, ThematicInnovations, ٍEpistemological enhancement, Secularization,Development

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 80Alim, Academic and Activist: Asghar Ali Engineer’sContributions to Muslim SociologyYoginder Sikand 1India‟s most prolific contemporary Islamic scholar, Mumbai-basedAsghar Ali Engineer is also one of the few well-known present-dayIndian Muslim sociologists. At the same time, Engineer is alsoamong India‟s most prominent and respected progressive socialactivists. Combining three roles, of „alim, academic and activist,that are conventionally thought of as distinct from, and, indeed,sometimes contradictory to each other, 72-year old Engineer has,for decades now, been actively involved in serious social scienceas well as Islamic scholarship, and is known throughout the worldfor his efforts to articulate a socially progressive and emancipatoryunderstanding of Islam and of its relevance to our times. Based onan examination of Engineer‟s voluminous writings, my paper seeksto highlight his pioneering contributions in developing an Islamicliberation theology in the contemporary Indian/global context. Thisit does by examining the ways in which he has sought to relateIslamic teachings to a range of contemporary social concerns,including inter-faith relations, the relations between the gendersand socio-economic classes, Western imperialism and localdespotisms, issues of war and peace, the issue of radicalism in thename of Islam (particularly what is known as „Wahhabism‟) andother religions, the question of alternate understandings of shariahimperatives and so on. The key to Engineer‟s remarkable ability, asboth a sociologist and an Islamic scholar, to address and articulatecontextually-relevant and socially progressive understandings onthese issues, I argue, stems, at root, from both his personal faith inan expansive, inclusive and progressive understanding of Islam as1 Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhiy,sikand@gmail.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 81well as his years of practical involvement in struggles for socialjustice, not just in his own Shia Ismaili Mustalian (or Bohra)community, but also in other such struggles, first in India and thenglobally. In this sense, he can well be called the Indian Ali Shariati,at least in some sense .In this way, my paper argues, Engineer indicates the need forMuslim social scientists to critically immerse themselves instruggles for justice and equality in their own societies, inspired bya progressive and compassionate vision of Islam, a stance that setshim apart from that of the „objective‟ and „outsider‟ spectator (thetypical academic sociologist) and that of the scholar whoapproaches social issues from the perspective oftraditional/medieval fiqh and tafseer (the typical faqih).Keywords: Asghar Ali Engineer, Muslim sociology, Radicalism,Progressive understanding of Islam,

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 82Community and Responsibility; Comparison Between Scheler,Iqbal, and TabatabaiiMohamed Tavakol 1The concept of responsibility ,and more specifically, socialresponsibility, is an underlying concept in ethical phenomenologyof Max Scheler,and in Islamic philosophy of Mohammad Iqbal,and Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Tabatabaii--though each of thethree comes from very different philosophical traditions. Scheler isone of the pillars of the Western Phenomenology, whose socialphilosophy is an strong background for his sociological andmetaphysical compounds . Iqbal is an English educatedphilosopher who combined the Western and Islamic philosophicalreflections in the reconstruction of Muslim social thought.Tabatabaii is the greatest philosophical force in contemporaryIslamic intuitive philosophy--at least in Iran-who has far reachinginnovations in bringing in social interpretations into classic idealistmetaphysics. The concept of Responsibility in Scheler can becompared in importance and in implications, with TAKLIF inIslamic ethical philosophy. The social and communal aspects ofsuch a responsibility also can be seen similarly emphasized in allthese three thinkers. The point will be further explained in thepaper.Keywords: Scheler, Iqbal, Tabatabaii, Responsibility, Society,Community, Phenomenology1 Tehran University, Iran, mtavakol@ut.ac.ir

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 83The Relation between Social Thought and SociologyS. M. Thaghafi 1Social man as long living in society is a member of the society. Healways thinks about the society and tries to solve social problems.The history of social thought rooted in the life of man, still alive inthe man‟s knowledge. From the ancient Greece to now, he hasfaced with so many social problems, in his life, so he tried to solvethem, by some plans, and thoughts which originated in hisphilosophical and theological ideas. The pattern of social issuesand problems (like as woman, family, training, war and etc). In thethoughts of sophists, Ferdowsi and Saadi trying to solve them is thebase of social thought. Also in the Muslim world, the patterns ofsocial problems in the thoughs of Sayyed Jmal-al-Din and Igbal ofLahoor are the same. They are showing a way, and guidingMuslims to solve them by Islamic unification, all of these patternsare social thoughts. But when a social thinker projects a theorywhich considers the social life, discussing it‟s varieties and tries tostudy the society and the sociology, we can named it the science ofsociety or sociology. He planed a systematic theory to study thestructure and the qualities of the society. This kind of thinking is ascientific thought. As Farabi and Ibn-Khaldoon etc did. Science isa system of systematic arguments and studying of the specialsubject (the society). In our view, the sociology began much earlierthan the time of August Conte. The writer tries to explore thissubject by evidence.Keywords: Social thought, Social problems, Sociological theory1 Islamic Azad University- Central Tehran Branch, Iran

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 84Orientalism and “Oriental” SociologyEbrahim Towfigh 1This article is an attempt to provide an explanatory account of thesituation of “oriental” sociology, with a focus on the case of Iran.Regardless of not less significant layers of this account, theformative core of it can be encapsulated in the following thesisstatement:Despite the fact that “oriental” sociology, same as its westerncounterpart, is deeply rooted in orientalistic world view, its veryformation, unlike the Western one, involves the suspension of thePresent.This suspension is realized by - and reflected on - its dominantapproach (modernization theory) and the notion of “transitionalsociety” and consequently gives rise to a sociology which is noteven capable of providing a typical positivist explanation of statusquo let alone allowing for the possibility of historical-criticalunderstanding of the social.Sociology has an implicit firm foundation in orientalistic notion ofthe world. The most explicit manifestations of the intervention ofthis undercurrent notion are transparently observable throughfollowing suppositions: (1) moving from individual moraljudgment toward social moral judgment (from species‟ evolution tohuman evolution in Comte/ from psychology to sociology inDurkheim) involves defining an actual existent evil society; (2)Transforming social categorization into social classification (fromSittlichkeit to class in Marx/ Spenser`s degree of differentiation)demands an external taxonomic criterion. In the opening chaptersof his magnum opus, Orientalism, Edward Said described thisphenomenon in terms of comparative studies and its role in theprogress of western sciences. All these conceptions presuppose theimage of an incomplete Orient without which knowing westerncivilization and its internal differentiation becomes impossible.Having travelled from its motherland -to Oriental country,1 Sociologists and university professor, Iran,ebrahim_towfigh@yahoo.com

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 85sociology failed to maintain its differentiating quality. On the otherhand, because of the perpetuation of its orientalist tendency,sociology seems intrinsically inclined to subject all comparisons tothe normative presence of superior being, namely west (in contrastwith the east as the inferior one). At the same time this innateorientalism does not allow us to recognize the differentiation of outthere – in this case West. As a result, there remains for us thenotion of a torn apart present that joins an oriental past andoccidental future together, however, while the former isorientalistic in nature the latter remains sociological. As a result ofthis particular form of becoming through which sociologybecomes “oriental”, gaining an understanding of evolutionaryprocess or any historical path which conjoins future and past isrendered impossible.Keywords: Orientalism, Sociology, Modernization theoryComparative studies, Transitional situation

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 86Sociology in the Periphery: Consumers or Producers ofTheory?Tina Uys 1In her book Southern Theory, Raewyn Connell argues that there isa general tendency for theorizing in social science to be consideredthe domain of the global North, while the global South is relegatedto the location of data-collection and application. The theory that isproduced in the periphery tends to be issue/ phenomenon based(i.e. race, gender, postcolonial theory) and therefore does notqualify for the canonization of theorists within the corpus of keysociological theories as it covers specific issues, in specificcontexts. The metropole as well as the periphery tend to only valuesocial science knowledge production if it is grounded in northerntheory and disseminated in so-called „international‟ publications,which mostly entail English language publications published in theUS or the UK. By using South Africa as a case study, this paperconsiders issues of the validation of social science knowledge andscholarship in the periphery, in particular the debate aroundindigenous knowledge systems, indigenization or Africanisation ofcurricula, and the natural vs. social science bias debate so prevalentin third-world contexts. With our first-third world scenario inSouth Africa, our environment is especially rich as a context forthis kind of analysis. The paper concludes by arguing for analliance among scholars in the periphery to demonstrate the valueof southern theory, in particular through comparative research andthe strengthening of avenues for the publication of knowledgeproduction in the global South.Keywords: Sociological theories, Southern theory, Northerntheory, Periphery, Metropole, South Africa1 University of Johannesburg, South Africa, tuys@uj.ac.za

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 87Iranian Social Thoughts in form of SociologySeyyed Mehdi Yousefi 1 , Hesamedin Safari 2The Iranian first encounter with cross-national relations in thecontemporary period, articulated some community social thoughtthat identified itself in relation to an “important other”, namelyWest, in which “state” has a major role. This form of thought wasnot necessarily limited to nation-state borders. But, sociology, in asense, is based on question of society and realizing nation-state inmodern era. Formal similarities between these forms of knowledgemake it possible that some parts of Iranian social thought_ afterestablishing sociology_ reconstruct itself in the form of sociology.Thus, traditional social thought, which revised in the form ofsociology, has been read in a way that serves neither in explanationof nation-state phenomenon nor in question of its possibility, butsuspended it in relation to important others, put it in the shade, andso, miscarried itself. In fact, publishing some early books such as“Qorbat-i Qarb“ or "Án-che Xod Dáśt“ by pioneers of sociologyin Iran have not be only an accident and would has not have anyconsequence except a sociology of transmission period. Analyzingearly Persianate sociological works, we will problematize thishistorical moment.Keywords: Social thoughts, Sociology, Iran, Nation-state.1 Tehran University, Iran2 Islamic Azad University, Iran

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 88Title of other Abstracts 11. Aghapour, Seyed Mehdi/ Social Solidarity Approach inMuslim Thinkers‟ Thought2. Akbari tabar, Ali Akbar and Farhad Nosrati Nezhad/ MuslimThinkers‟ Social Thoughts: a Study on Seyyed Hossein Nasr‟sThoughts3. Amjadian, Mohamadali/ The Necessity of Application ofMeta-Ideological Thought in Sociology4. Arabi Sotude, Tahere/ Comparison of Social Interactionsamong Social Scholars and Philosophers ( A study onIran,Turkey, Lebanon and Syria)5. Babazadeh, Saheleh/ A Study of Ali Shariati‟s ReligiousSociology6. Bagheri, Danial and Sahele Babazadeh/ A Review of SocialThought of Abdolkarim Soroush and Mostafa Malekian onSecularism7. Bastani, Susan and Zahra Heidarzade/ A Study on AlamehMuhammad Husayn Tabatabaei‟s View on the Place ofWomen in Islamic Theology: Heavenly Woman, EarthlyWoman8. Bolkhari, Mansureh/ City in the Macro and Micro Gap: toUnify the Iranian Sociology9. Bostan, Hosein/ The Theory of Family in the Thoughts ofMuslim Thinkers10. DaeeZadeh Jeloudar, Amin and Ghanbari bita/ The Ideas ofSocial Interactions in Persian Literature and the UniversalSociology11. Dehdazi Farid/ The Possibility of Islamic Sociology12. Dorosti, Ahmad/ Hesham Sharabi and Cultural Critique ofArab Society1 The abstract of these papers have printed only in Persian.

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 8913. Eslami Ruhollah/ Reconsidering Akhbari School as a Potentialto Integrate Modern Social Science into Islamic Tradition ofScience14. Fateme Helali/ Typology of Views of Sympathetic Orientalistson Muslim Social Thought and Cinilization15. Fekri, Mohamad and Mina Inanoo/ Sociological Evaluation ofFathollah Gulen‟s Social Thought16. Fuladi, Hafizollah/ Religion and its Root: The late MotahariPerspective17. Fuladian, Majid and Zeinab Fatemi/ Three Approach toReligion in Confrontation to Modernity in Mashrotiat18. Ghadimi, Abas and Ahmadi Davod/ Global Sociology andLocal Sociology (with Emphasizing on Muslim Countries)19. Hashemi, Seyed Zia/ Sociology of Hajj: a Model for Formationa Regional Sociology20. Hashemian, Hasan/ Social Thoughts of Nasr Hamed Abuzaid21. Inanloo, Mina and Mohamad Fekri/ A Sociological Analysis ofSeyyed Hussein Nasr's Thought22. Izadi, Roya/ Reconstruction of Relations within SocialThought: a Study of Mohammad Abed-al-Jaberi‟s Intellect asthe Representative of Moderate Intellectualism in the World ofIslam23. jafari, Gholamreza/ The Relationship between Social Thoughtand Sociology24. Javadi, Alireza/ Epistemology of Academic Institution ofSociology in Iran25. Javadiyeganeh, Mohamadreza/ Iranian Pre-MashrotiatThinkers and Deficient Understanding of Modernity26. Kafi, Majid/ Intellectual Elements in the Asadabadi‟s SocialThought27. Kalantari, Abdolhosein/ Law-governed or Rule-governedSocial Science? Excavating Alameh Muhammad HusaynTabatabaei‟s Ideas

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 9028. Kamali, Afsane/ The Foundation of Poverty and Richness ofSocial Thought in Contemporary Iran29. Karimian, Sonia/ Return to Myself; Al Ahmad and Shariati30. Kazemi, Abas/ The Project of Sociologization or LocalSociology in the 1360s in Iran31. Khalilevich, Saeid/ Balkan‟s Muslim Society and DesirableProgress32. Khorasani, Amir/ Post-colonial Approach, UnfinishedCritique, A Reflection on Methodology33. Koluri, Seyyed Reza/ Social Justice in Seyyed MohhamadBagher Sadr‟s Thought34. Kord, Ahmad/ Sociological Reflections in the Ideas of IbnKhaldun and Alameh Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei35. Madani Lavasani, Shayesteh/ Malek Ben Nabi‟s Perspective ofCulture36. Maleki, Amir/ A Modified Model for AnalyzingModernization in Islamic Countries (Syndrome ofModernization in Postmodern Era)37. Malekshah, Meisam and Mehdi mohamadi/ SociologicalAnalysis of Current Social Ponder Formation in the MiddleEast38. Meriji, Shamsollah/ Social Function of the Islamic FiqhCommands in Allame Tabatabaee‟s Thought39. Miranee Moghadam, Hadi/ Social Solidarity in Shahabadi‟sThought40. Mirzaei, Hossein/ The Necessity of Critical Reinterpretation ofJalal-al-Ahmal‟s Social Thought in Absence of SociologicalTheory in Iran41. Mirzaei, Hossein/ Necessity of Return to Local Social Thoughtfor Restructured New Sociological Thought in Iran42. Mohajeri, Vahid/ Sociological study of Muslim Brotherhood ofEgypt and its influence on the evolution of Egypt Society

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 9143. Moinipour, Masoud/ Imam Khomeini‟s Political DevelopmentModel44. Moinipour, Masoud/ Social Justice in Shahid Beheshti‟sThought45. Moinipour, Masoud/ State and its Genesis in the SocialThought of Seyyed Mohammad Bagher Sadr46. Morshedi, Abolfazl/ Ibn Khaldun: a Thinker betweenTraditional and Modern Epoch47. Nasiry-Poor, Elham/ The Reflection of Postmodern ideas in theSocio-Political Thoughts Of Muslim Thinkers48. Nikkhah Qamsary, Narges and Mina Helali Sotuodeh/ APondering on Methodology in the Islamic Social ThoughtDiscourse49. Radan, Fateme/ A Comparative Study on Social Thought ofMahatma Gandhi and Asadabadi50. Rasekh, Karamatollah/ The Iranian Sociology: A TheoreticalEffort51. Razi, Davood and Razieh khavari/ Interactions and Conflicts ofSocial Thoughts of a Global Sociologist (Brian Turner) and aLocal Sociologist (Ali Shariati) on Islam52. Safikhani, Samareh/ Social Theory in the Social Imaginary inContemporary Iran53. Sajasi, Maryam/ Ibn Khaldun, Contemporary SocialPhilosophy and Sociology54. Salimi, Minoo/ The Effect of Recent Social Movements in theMiddle East on Political Sociology55. Sediq Ouraei, Gholamreza/ Allame Tabatabaee‟s Functional-Exchange Social Theory56. Shah Esmailinejad/ Articulation of Social Theory in theContext of Muslim Thinkers57. Shariat, Ehsan/ Shariati`s Social Thought58. Soleymani Gharegol, Hadi/ Formation of Opposing Modernityin Islamic Countries; Comparative Review of Social Thoughts

Regional Conference on Social Thought and Sociology in the Contemporary Middle East 92of Bediouzzaman Said Nursi & Sayyid Jamal-ad-DinAsadabadi59. Soltani, S. M./ A Sociological and Comparative Study of FourReligious Intellectuals of Iran about Rights of Women60. Taheri, Mohammad Amin and Zeinab Moghtadaei/ ASociological Study on the Role of Religious Intellectuals inSecular Trend of Iranian Society61. Tavasoli, Gholamabas/ Genesis the “Civil Society” in Thoughtof Muslim Thinkers in Middle East62. Terrier, Metu/ Critique of Marxism in the Thoughts ofMuslim Thinkers: From Afqani to Motahari63. Vaezi, Hashem and Pourhashemy Mahnaz/ Native Sociology,Missing Link Between Social Thought And Sociology64. Vafaee, Mehdi and Alireza Javadi Namini/ Pondering onMethodology of Social-Historical Research in Iran65. Yarmohammad Touski, Maryam/ The Sociological Analysis ofIranian Intellectual‟s Life in the Last Fifty Years66. Yousefi, Mehdi and Hesamoddin Safari/ Iranian SocialThought at the Frame of Sociology67. Zakeri, Alireza/ Islam and Social Science