UNDERSTANDING MUSLIM IDENTITY THROUGH MULTIPLE LENSES: Insights from a minority group in Australia

Abstract

Who Muslims are and what they actually do in their daily life are topics of much interest for many people. Muslims have been defined from different lenses. Some scholars suggest that Muslims are those whose parents are Muslims; while others view it differently. In this present time, studies on Muslim identity have been conducted by some Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. This article aims at exploring understanding Muslim identity from multiple lenses. In doing so, I review literature from Muslim sacred texts, the Holy Quran and also the saying of the Prophet Muhammad PbuH. I first reviewed verses of the Qur’an and also the hadith related to the nature of Muslim identity. In addition, I reviewed research literature exploring Muslim identity and identified several notions of Muslim identity. The article found that Muslims’ sacred texts define Muslim identity through the practice of Islamic sacred texts. While research on Muslim identity define Muslims as not only limited to religious practices but also to other attributes.