Séminaire PredicMO avec Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen
Séminaire mensuel du programme PredicMO - Grammaires de la prédication : lexique, cartographie, mise en scène (Moyen-Orient, XIXe-XXIe siècles)
Mardi 23 septembre 2025, 10h00-12h00, médiathèque de la MMSH, salle Seurat, Aix-en-Provence et en visioconférence.
Lien Zoom / ID de réunion : 965 2915 8676 / Code secret : 452714
“Preaching and Media” - Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (University of Copenhagen)
Taking my cue from the project focus on preaching as “(re-)faire croire quelqu’un” in a time characterized by « l’ignorance sacrée », I would like to begin by discussing whether there is a “holy ignorance” in the Arab World. In many ways it seems to be the opposite; still, Olivier Roy has a point. Via a short recapitulation of my own scholarly trajectory, I’ll then discuss the subject of fatwas, the role of the ulama and the mediatization of Muslim societies. On fatwas, I would like to discuss the enormous amount of fatwas, “fatwa chaos”, and the responses to it by a number of scholars and, increasingly, states. On the ulama, I would like to discuss their search for a new role, and what they have found. From a major crisis in the first half of the 20th century the ulama have managed to reassert themselves as custodians, not just of Islamic law and learning, but of social and cultural identity and norms. On media, I would address the issue of mediatization, religious programming, and provide an overview of the types of programs, the new da`iya, and the ulama. A final theme will be the more (or less) subtle negotiations on the role of Islam in historical and religious dramas.
Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Copenhagen. His field of research is contemporary Islam in the Arab World, more specifically the establishment of a modern public sphere and the role Islam on Arab television, for instance in the long TV-dramas aired during Ramadan. Another field of interest is the role of the Sunni ulama in Arab states, societies and media, the ulama institutions such as the madrasa and the muftiship. A third field is the interpretation of the life of the Prophet Muhammad in Muslim and non-Muslim traditions. His books and edited books include : Muhammad of the Muslims – and of everyone else. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2020 (in Danish), Arab Media Moguls. Eds. Della Ratta, Sakr & Skovgaard-Petersen, London: I.B. Tauris, 2015 ; The Global Mufti. The Phenomenon of Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Eds. Gräf & Skovgaard-Petersen. Hurst/Columbia University Press, 2009.