ABSTRACT Within the context of Islamic revival and the influx of overseas workers, the number of Christian converts to Islam in the Philippines, called ‘Balik-Islam’, has increased since the 1970s. This study focuses on Balik-Islam individuals’ everyday religious practices and explores Muslim–Christian relations in the southern Philippines. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it reveals that Balik-Islam people viewed conversion from Christianity not as a detached experience but as a continuous experience in the ‘dalan’ (pathway) of seeking a true religion, and they continued to engage in a daily exchange of information with other religions. This perception was formed by observing the interaction between leaders and participants in daʿwa (missionary activities) seminars held by the Balik-Islam organization. This article posits that religious practices and the sense of belonging to Islam or Christianity have fluctuated among Balik-Islam people because they have faced difficulties in practising Islam due to various factors, including adaptation to different life habits and relations with Christian family members. Thus, the conversion experience in Balik-Islam is a continuous but winding path. It embodies alternative interreligious relations that are distinct from ecumenical coexistence, which sees religious boundaries as evident, or coexistence through hybrid and creative rituals.

ABSTRACT In the late-eighth century, the East-Syrian Patriarch Timothy I participated in a debate with the ‘Abbāsid Caliph al-Mahdī. During their discussion, Timothy responded to a question about how he understood the Prophet Muḥammad. His answer is now well known to scholars. ‘He walked in the path of the prophets and trod in the track of the lovers of God’. What, exactly, Timothy meant by this eloquent response is interpreted by scholars in a variety of ways. In this article, I examine these interpretations and introduce new evidence that gives us a better idea of what Timothy meant when he answered al-Mahdī's question. I argue that Timothy's response was more than a politically expedient reply; he drew upon a worldview formed by sacred literature, liturgy and piety in order to affirm Muḥammad as a prophet within a Christian framework.

ABSTRACT Sheikh Dr Yasir Qadhi is one of America’s most famous intellectual senior clerics, and is a member of the generation of young American preachers that burst into Western public awareness during the post-9/11 era. During the 1990s, Qadhi was a hardcore Salafi, but the 9/11 attacks and his doctoral studies on Islamic theology at Yale University (2005–2013), influenced and reformed many of his world views, causing him to adapt a more moderate and pragmatic stance. This article’s main argument is that Qadhi represents a case study of the American Islamic reform mindset in the post-9/11 era, which attempted to reconcile the tension between conservative and pragmatic Islamic trends with contemporary American reality. These clerics try to pave the way for Islam’s essential principles to remain while bravely confronting contemporary issues with new consideration. The article explores Islam in America in the post-9/11 era and a variety of examples of his doctrine relevant to the American Muslim minority. Qadhi’s Islamic rulings manifest his affinity to wasaṭī scholars, such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, which shed light on one of Qadhi’s primary goals – preserving Islam in America and the West for future generations.

ABSTRACT In Türkiye, religious education, entitled ‘Religious Culture and Ethics Knowledge’ (RCEK), has been compulsory in primary and secondary schools since 1982. Even though Christian and Jewish children are exempted from RCEK, they can still attend, and some have chosen to do so. Moreover, the RCEK curriculum seeks to present Christianity and other religions objectively and descriptively using their own texts, sources and assumptions. Hence, this article aims to examine the presentation of Christianity in a documentary fashion in the curriculum and textbooks of compulsory religious education in Türkiye. The research question addressed is whether the textbooks present Christianity objectively and descriptively or not. The analysis shows that there are improvements in the presentation of Christianity in the current textbooks as compared with previous textbooks. However, there are also problems, such as passages that seek to negate some fundamental Christian teachings and instances of confrontational language.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to explore James O’Kinealy’s (1838–1903) contribution to scholarship around Islamic movements in India, while a functionary of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) from 1862 to 1899. It seeks to recover from obscurity a little-known personage and his involvement in significant episodes in the history of Islam and British colonialism in India. O’Kinealy’s situatedness as an Irish Catholic in the ICS, and how this influenced his approach to Islam and his study of Wahhabism, will be closely examined. Serving the same imperial system in India that prevailed in Ireland presents a complex and entangled history. O’Kinealy’s background, it will be argued, influenced his activities as a senior official in the colonial administration. His writings (and translations), directed towards preserving the status quo against the fear of Muslim revolt, evidence a nuanced perspective when set against that of his ‘Anglicist’ contemporaries. Juxtaposing his approach and attitudes against that of the influential colonialist and scholar, W.W. Hunter (d.1900), will highlight his discreet approach and serve to foreground the intricate nature of this history. Though his publications are few, O’Kinealy’s work is unique, and represents one of the earliest engagements with the Wahhabi movement in the English language.