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Mucahit Bilici

John Jay College, CUNY, Sociology, Faculty Member

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Associate Professor of Sociology, John Jay College, CUNY.

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American University

Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu

University of Chicago

Babes-Bolyai University

Rutgers University School of Law

Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta

Samir Muminović

University of California, Santa Barbara

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Papers by Mucahit Bilici

Xanî'nin Agon'u (Mücahit Bilici)

Doğu Batı Dergisi (sayi 101), 2022

Klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç meşhur isminden birisidir Ehmedê Xanî (1651-1707). Diğer ikisi Feqîyê... more Klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç meşhur isminden birisidir Ehmedê Xanî (1651-1707). Diğer ikisi Feqîyê Teyran (1590-1660) ve Melayê Cizîrî'dir (1570-1640). Eserleri günümüze ulaşabilen bu edebiyat değerleri tıpkı Q, X ve W harfleri gibi modern Türkiye'de meşruluk ve resmîliğin dışına itildikleri için Türkçe konuşan Türkiye edebî kamusunca yeterince bilinmiyorlar. Mela, Feqe ve Xanî klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç farklı tarz ve mezraını ifade ederler. Kuytudaki bir hazine gibi keşfedilmeyi bekleyen Mela aşk'ın şairidir. Onun Dîwan'ı edebî olarak bir şahikadır. Feqe ise Yunusvari bir sadelik içinde hakikati arayan bir öğrenici'dir. Kuşların dostu, varlıkta birlik peşinde Mantık'al-Tayr'daki gizemli yolculuğa manen katılmış bir hakikat yolcusudur. Mela'daki edebî-sanatsal görkem, onun bir seyda (master, üstad, hoca) olarak fazl'ını yansıtır. Zira fazilet (virtue) doğası gereği taşar. Fazilet, vericidir, etrafına kemâl katar, örneklik sunar. Feqe'de sadeliğin haşmeti ifadedeki duruluk olarak tecelli etmiştir. Bu lirik sadelik, Mela'nın literal bir öğrencisi olarak Feqe'nin alıcı ve arayıcı niteliğine tam da yakışan bir olma edası ve ifade etme biçimidir. Xanî'de hem aşk hem de hakikat duyarlılığı güçlü bir şekilde bulunmakla birlikte Xanî, Kürt edebiyatında hakikaten yeni bir ufku temsil etmektedir.

Turkish Islam and Kurdish difference (Mucahit Bilici)

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 12(1):33-38, 2022

In this article I discuss the ways in which the Turkish state uses Islam as a weapon to delegitim... more In this article I discuss the ways in which the Turkish state uses Islam as a weapon to delegitimize and render unnecessary Kurdish distinctiveness and associated rights claims. Drawing on the particular discourse employed by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a series of political rallies in Diyarbakır, the symbolic capital of Turkish Kurdistan, I highlight key patterns in the instrumentalization of religion to maintain Turkish dominance. The Kurdish question as it is experienced by Kurds of Turkey, contrary to expectations, is not at all a matter of "discrimination" and "otherization." Rather, the Kurdish problem arises from a lack of recognition of the Kurds as a separate self.

Teolojide Regicide: Tanri'nin Kellesini Almak (Mucahit Bilici)

Pasajlar: Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (3):8, 2021

What would be the theological equivalent of the abolition of monarchy in political philosophy? "R... more What would be the theological equivalent of the abolition of monarchy in political philosophy? "Regicide in Theology: Beheading God" examines a theological evolution that transcends the opposition between the secular and the religious, and points to a future where atheism and monotheism may theologically converge.

Ehmedê Xanî's Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn (Mucahit Bilici)

Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East: Shifting Identities, Borders and the Experience of Minority Communities, ed. Gunes M. Tezcur (IB Taursi, Kurdish Series), 2021

Bilici, Mucahit. 2021. "Ehmedê Xanî's Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn" in Kurds and Yezidis in ... more

Hagia Sophia and American Muslims (Mucahit Bilici)

Duvar English, 2020

For the average Muslim, who might be imagined to harbor a grudge against Western dominance and ex... more For the average Muslim, who might be imagined to harbor a grudge against Western dominance and exploitation in the Muslim world, the reconversion of Hagia Sophia is a reversal of a conquest undone. This long-delayed gratification of Muslim sovereignty and conquest could only give pleasure to Muslims who now see a Muslim leader, perhaps a caliph, defending Islam against secularism and Western powers. But many Muslims, American Muslims included, no longer see world affairs through the lens of traditional notions of dominance and conquest.

Covid 19’s Impact on American Muslims - Notes from Ramadan 2020 Maydan

Maydan, 2020

In this essay, I briefly consider the pandemic’s potential effects on Muslim communities in terms... more

Kurds between Ethnicity and Universalisms (Mucahit Bilici)

Kurd Arastirmalari, 2020

In this article, I highlight the contemporary challenge posed to Kurdish identity as a result of ... more In this article, I highlight the contemporary challenge posed to Kurdish identity as a result of the dominant position of universalistic ideologies in Kurdish political life. While allowing the Kurds to gain ideological legitimacy and some broader appeal within Turkish society, such ideologies eclipse Kurds’ cultural particularities and render Kurdish-specific claims inappropriate and divisive. Kurds seem to get lost between their ethnic-specific needs and the anonymizing effects of the universalist ideologies claiming to represent them.

Do Kurdish lives matter?

Duvar English, 2020

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of incidents in which civilian Kurds are killed by a... more There has been a dramatic rise in the number of incidents in which civilian Kurds are killed by armored vehicles operating in Kurdish cities. These casualties due to reckless driving through congested urban neighborhoods by the armored police and military vehicles that prowl Kurdish towns reveal another face of the “low-intensity conflict” itself: civilian deaths by accident constitute a steady backdrop to the conflict and find official normalization through it.

The spectacular fall of Turkey's Islamist intellectuals

Duvar English, 2019

Long gone is the iconic figure of the Islamist intellectual who used to occupy the front row of e... more Long gone is the iconic figure of the Islamist intellectual who used to occupy the front row of every public debate and speak in the name of the oppressed. The relatively sudden disappearance of Islamist intellectuals from the public scene in Turkey is a story not of silent withdrawal, but of a spectacular fall. What led to their extinction is their brush with power.

Mountains and politics (Kurds)

Duvar English, 2019

An essay on mountains and politics via a commentary on the meaning of mountains in Kurdish imagin... more

How the global left hinders Kurdish liberation: A reply to Žižek (Mucahit Bilici)

Duvar English, 2019

The global left is guilty of exactly the same thing as the so-called Great Powers, which have lon... more The global left is guilty of exactly the same thing as the so-called Great Powers, which have long treated the Kurds as a plaything in their strategic agendas. They want to see the Kurds living out all their fantasies of a utopian society with no thought as to whether it is to the Kurds’ actual benefit.

Muslims and American Constitution From the First Amendment to the Second (book chapter) Mucahit Bilici

Muslims and US Politics Today: A Defining Moment edited by Mohammad Hassan Khalil, 2019

The Muslim encounter with the American Constitution has both symbolic and practical dimensions. I... more

Mucahit Bilici 'Kürtler yok sayılmalarının bir bedeli olmadığı için... - Artı Gerçek

ArtiGercek, 2019

The most recent interview I gave on the challenges faced by the Kurdish identity in Turkey.

Said Nursi Memleketinde Ölmek istedi

Gazete Duvar, 2019

Said Nursi'nin olum yildonumu dolayisiyla Nursi ve Nurculuk uzerine degerlendirmeler.

Evrenselci kurtulus ideolojileri ve Kürtler

Duvar Gazetesi, 2018

An op-ed essay criticizing the limitations of the universalist ideologies (such as socialism and ... more

The Crisis of Religiosity in Turkish Islamism

MERIP - Middle East Report 288, 2018

Turkey is witnessing a flight from organized religion on the part of its younger generation. What... more

Said Nursi - Dehanin Ehlilestirilmesi ve Imanizm (Kürt Tarihi ve Siyasetinden Portreler)

A conceptual take on the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Saidi Kurdî) (1878-1960). Wh... more A conceptual take on the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Saidi Kurdî) (1878-1960). When Nursi's hope and ambitions for a broader reform in Islam failed due to various reasons, he turned to a much more limited reform agenda. He sought a more modest project of enlightenment for the Muslims of modern age and engaged in reform in iman (belief) [tahqiqi iman].

American Muslims between legal citizens... public exclusion « The Immanent Frame.pdf

American Muslims, citizenship, exclusion

Review: Islam, Migration and Integration: The Age of Securitization, by Ayhan Kaya. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 249pp. $100.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780230516793

Contemporary Sociology-a Journal of Reviews - CONTEMP SOCIOL, 2010

Conversion Out of Islam: A Study of Conversion Narratives of Former Muslims

The Muslim World, 2007

Xanî'nin Agon'u (Mücahit Bilici)

Doğu Batı Dergisi (sayi 101), 2022

Klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç meşhur isminden birisidir Ehmedê Xanî (1651-1707). Diğer ikisi Feqîyê... more Klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç meşhur isminden birisidir Ehmedê Xanî (1651-1707). Diğer ikisi Feqîyê Teyran (1590-1660) ve Melayê Cizîrî'dir (1570-1640). Eserleri günümüze ulaşabilen bu edebiyat değerleri tıpkı Q, X ve W harfleri gibi modern Türkiye'de meşruluk ve resmîliğin dışına itildikleri için Türkçe konuşan Türkiye edebî kamusunca yeterince bilinmiyorlar. Mela, Feqe ve Xanî klasik Kürt edebiyatının üç farklı tarz ve mezraını ifade ederler. Kuytudaki bir hazine gibi keşfedilmeyi bekleyen Mela aşk'ın şairidir. Onun Dîwan'ı edebî olarak bir şahikadır. Feqe ise Yunusvari bir sadelik içinde hakikati arayan bir öğrenici'dir. Kuşların dostu, varlıkta birlik peşinde Mantık'al-Tayr'daki gizemli yolculuğa manen katılmış bir hakikat yolcusudur. Mela'daki edebî-sanatsal görkem, onun bir seyda (master, üstad, hoca) olarak fazl'ını yansıtır. Zira fazilet (virtue) doğası gereği taşar. Fazilet, vericidir, etrafına kemâl katar, örneklik sunar. Feqe'de sadeliğin haşmeti ifadedeki duruluk olarak tecelli etmiştir. Bu lirik sadelik, Mela'nın literal bir öğrencisi olarak Feqe'nin alıcı ve arayıcı niteliğine tam da yakışan bir olma edası ve ifade etme biçimidir. Xanî'de hem aşk hem de hakikat duyarlılığı güçlü bir şekilde bulunmakla birlikte Xanî, Kürt edebiyatında hakikaten yeni bir ufku temsil etmektedir.

Turkish Islam and Kurdish difference (Mucahit Bilici)

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 12(1):33-38, 2022

In this article I discuss the ways in which the Turkish state uses Islam as a weapon to delegitim... more In this article I discuss the ways in which the Turkish state uses Islam as a weapon to delegitimize and render unnecessary Kurdish distinctiveness and associated rights claims. Drawing on the particular discourse employed by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a series of political rallies in Diyarbakır, the symbolic capital of Turkish Kurdistan, I highlight key patterns in the instrumentalization of religion to maintain Turkish dominance. The Kurdish question as it is experienced by Kurds of Turkey, contrary to expectations, is not at all a matter of "discrimination" and "otherization." Rather, the Kurdish problem arises from a lack of recognition of the Kurds as a separate self.

Teolojide Regicide: Tanri'nin Kellesini Almak (Mucahit Bilici)

Pasajlar: Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, (3):8, 2021

What would be the theological equivalent of the abolition of monarchy in political philosophy? "R... more What would be the theological equivalent of the abolition of monarchy in political philosophy? "Regicide in Theology: Beheading God" examines a theological evolution that transcends the opposition between the secular and the religious, and points to a future where atheism and monotheism may theologically converge.

Ehmedê Xanî's Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn (Mucahit Bilici)

Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East: Shifting Identities, Borders and the Experience of Minority Communities, ed. Gunes M. Tezcur (IB Taursi, Kurdish Series), 2021

Bilici, Mucahit. 2021. "Ehmedê Xanî's Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn" in Kurds and Yezidis in ... more

Hagia Sophia and American Muslims (Mucahit Bilici)

Duvar English, 2020

For the average Muslim, who might be imagined to harbor a grudge against Western dominance and ex... more For the average Muslim, who might be imagined to harbor a grudge against Western dominance and exploitation in the Muslim world, the reconversion of Hagia Sophia is a reversal of a conquest undone. This long-delayed gratification of Muslim sovereignty and conquest could only give pleasure to Muslims who now see a Muslim leader, perhaps a caliph, defending Islam against secularism and Western powers. But many Muslims, American Muslims included, no longer see world affairs through the lens of traditional notions of dominance and conquest.

Covid 19’s Impact on American Muslims - Notes from Ramadan 2020 Maydan

Maydan, 2020

In this essay, I briefly consider the pandemic’s potential effects on Muslim communities in terms... more

Kurds between Ethnicity and Universalisms (Mucahit Bilici)

Kurd Arastirmalari, 2020

In this article, I highlight the contemporary challenge posed to Kurdish identity as a result of ... more In this article, I highlight the contemporary challenge posed to Kurdish identity as a result of the dominant position of universalistic ideologies in Kurdish political life. While allowing the Kurds to gain ideological legitimacy and some broader appeal within Turkish society, such ideologies eclipse Kurds’ cultural particularities and render Kurdish-specific claims inappropriate and divisive. Kurds seem to get lost between their ethnic-specific needs and the anonymizing effects of the universalist ideologies claiming to represent them.

Do Kurdish lives matter?

Duvar English, 2020

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of incidents in which civilian Kurds are killed by a... more There has been a dramatic rise in the number of incidents in which civilian Kurds are killed by armored vehicles operating in Kurdish cities. These casualties due to reckless driving through congested urban neighborhoods by the armored police and military vehicles that prowl Kurdish towns reveal another face of the “low-intensity conflict” itself: civilian deaths by accident constitute a steady backdrop to the conflict and find official normalization through it.

The spectacular fall of Turkey's Islamist intellectuals

Duvar English, 2019

Long gone is the iconic figure of the Islamist intellectual who used to occupy the front row of e... more Long gone is the iconic figure of the Islamist intellectual who used to occupy the front row of every public debate and speak in the name of the oppressed. The relatively sudden disappearance of Islamist intellectuals from the public scene in Turkey is a story not of silent withdrawal, but of a spectacular fall. What led to their extinction is their brush with power.

Mountains and politics (Kurds)

Duvar English, 2019

An essay on mountains and politics via a commentary on the meaning of mountains in Kurdish imagin... more

How the global left hinders Kurdish liberation: A reply to Žižek (Mucahit Bilici)

Duvar English, 2019

The global left is guilty of exactly the same thing as the so-called Great Powers, which have lon... more The global left is guilty of exactly the same thing as the so-called Great Powers, which have long treated the Kurds as a plaything in their strategic agendas. They want to see the Kurds living out all their fantasies of a utopian society with no thought as to whether it is to the Kurds’ actual benefit.

Muslims and American Constitution From the First Amendment to the Second (book chapter) Mucahit Bilici

Muslims and US Politics Today: A Defining Moment edited by Mohammad Hassan Khalil, 2019

The Muslim encounter with the American Constitution has both symbolic and practical dimensions. I... more

Mucahit Bilici 'Kürtler yok sayılmalarının bir bedeli olmadığı için... - Artı Gerçek

ArtiGercek, 2019

The most recent interview I gave on the challenges faced by the Kurdish identity in Turkey.

Said Nursi Memleketinde Ölmek istedi

Gazete Duvar, 2019

Said Nursi'nin olum yildonumu dolayisiyla Nursi ve Nurculuk uzerine degerlendirmeler.

Evrenselci kurtulus ideolojileri ve Kürtler

Duvar Gazetesi, 2018

An op-ed essay criticizing the limitations of the universalist ideologies (such as socialism and ... more

The Crisis of Religiosity in Turkish Islamism

MERIP - Middle East Report 288, 2018

Turkey is witnessing a flight from organized religion on the part of its younger generation. What... more

Said Nursi - Dehanin Ehlilestirilmesi ve Imanizm (Kürt Tarihi ve Siyasetinden Portreler)

A conceptual take on the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Saidi Kurdî) (1878-1960). Wh... more A conceptual take on the life and thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Saidi Kurdî) (1878-1960). When Nursi's hope and ambitions for a broader reform in Islam failed due to various reasons, he turned to a much more limited reform agenda. He sought a more modest project of enlightenment for the Muslims of modern age and engaged in reform in iman (belief) [tahqiqi iman].

American Muslims between legal citizens... public exclusion « The Immanent Frame.pdf

American Muslims, citizenship, exclusion

Review: Islam, Migration and Integration: The Age of Securitization, by Ayhan Kaya. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 249pp. $100.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780230516793

Contemporary Sociology-a Journal of Reviews - CONTEMP SOCIOL, 2010

Conversion Out of Islam: A Study of Conversion Narratives of Former Muslims

The Muslim World, 2007

Finding Mecca in America: How Islam Is Becoming an American Religion

Mucahit Bilici, Finding Mecca in America: How Islam Is Becoming an American Religion (University ... more

Hamal Kürt (cover page)

Kurd, the Porter: Turkish Islam and the Kurdish Question (Istanbul: Avesta, 2017) A critique of T... more

Finding Mecca in America: Muslim Directionality and the Codification of American Space (chapter)

Finding Mecca in America: How Islam Is Becoming an American Religion , 2012

Finding Mecca in America: How Islam Is Becoming an American Religion (University of Chicago Pres... more

İSLAMDA SAVAŞ BİTMİŞTİR (book - Turkish)

War Is Over in Islam (İSLAMDA SAVAŞ BİTMİŞTİR) is a collection of my politico-theological essays ... more

Kurdish Studies Conference Program at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago

Kurdish Studies Conference Program, 2019

International Kurdish Studies Conference Program at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago

Double Bind: A Conversation about Islam and the Culture/Religion Binary

by Mucahit Bilici, Jeanette S. Jouili, Esra Ozyurek, and Kabir Tambar

CSSH in Dialogue, 2019

A Conversation with Jeanette Jouili, Mucahit Bilici, Esra Özyürek, and Kabir Tambar about Islam a... more