War and peace: negotiating meaning in Islam

This paper provides a framework for negotiating meaning in Islam on questions of war and peace. It begins by presenting some representative and contrasting understandings of Islam, particularly with regards to militant Islam, and then suggests some ways in which negotiations of meaning can take place in this context. It argues that the varied experiences of those who act in the name of Islam and justify their actions according to the life of Mohammed and devotion to Allah requires a new and radical interpretive framework, a framework that prioritises diversity and a decentralised ethic of understanding over homogenisation and hegemonisation and avoids post-colonial constructions of inevitable inferiority and weakness. Such a framework has the advantage of being more methodologically satisfying because it can better account for and deal with the diverse perspectives and complexities in the debate and better appreciate the political implications and undertones inherent in the practice of interpretation.