Asian Muslim Research Articles

Identity and Belonging in Na’ima B. Robert’s Boys vs Girls (2010)

This paper investigates Na’ima B Robert’s Boys vs Girls (2010), which relates the story of two children of a Pakistani-English family. It casts light on the impact of the parents’ Pakistani culture on their children, Farhana and Faraz, who are born in England, but inherited a cultural legacy, with which they have never established any direct contact. Accordingly, Robert’s novel deals with issues common in diasporic literature, namely, identity, alienation, and belonging. The paper examines their attempt to reconcile the two parts of their identity, Pakistani and English, and reduce the pernicious impacts of their feelings of alienation. While exploring the two children’s process of identity formation in Robert’s novel, we draw on scholars, such as Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, and Salman Rushdie, who, like Robert and the two main characters in this novel, face similar challenges in negotiating identity and expressing their sense of belonging. Further, we employ Avtar Brah’s analysis of the cultural constrains imposed on young Asian Muslims in educational institutes as we trace Farhana and Faraz’s endeavour to counter the stereotyped image of Muslims in the West while celebrating their Islamic culture at. Moreover, it depicts the parents’ concerns that their children’s espousal of their Islamic culture might negatively impact on their progress in the West. Depending on non-white feminists’ notions, namely Hazel Carby, the paper critiques white feminism which marginalises the needs and aspirations of non-white women residing in the west.

The Gaza Crisis and the Indian Urdu Press

Urdu is widely spoken in India, and due to historical, demographic, and political reasons, it is commonly associated with the Indian Muslim population. India has a vibrant Urdu press represented in both electronic and print media that caters largely to the Muslim population and reflects their views. Issues related to Israel, Zionism, and Jews, in addition to other Middle Eastern developments, are widely covered in the Indian Urdu press due to religious and historical factors. The coverage also reflects the ignorance, biases, and prejudices that are widely held among South Asian Muslims regarding Jews, Zionism, and Israel, which at times acquire extremist and anti-Semitic overtones. The Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli military response have been widely covered and commented upon in the Indian Urdu press, reinforcing the established ideas of the oppressive Israeli state and the perpetual Palestinian victimhood. However, one witnesses certain nuances and a diversity of opinion within the Urdu press. A systematic content analysis of the Indian Urdu press and its coverage of the Gaza crisis provides an understanding of views held among a large section of the Muslim population in India toward the Israel–Hamas conflict, in particular, and toward the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in general.

South Asian Muslim individuals’ lived experiences of Type 2 Diabetes healthcare – ‘I just want someone to actually break it down for me’

Objective Type 2 Diabetes is highly prevalent across Aotearoa New Zealand, and South Asian people have a disproportionately high burden of disease. This research aimed to improve understanding of South Asian Muslim people’s experiences navigating New Zealand’s diabetes healthcare to promote cultural responsiveness and equitable outcomes. Method We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 South Asian Muslim individuals with Type 2 Diabetes. Interviews explored how participants made sense of their diabetes in relational and cultural contexts, and the healthcare barriers and facilitators they experienced. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes from the interview transcripts. Results Three key themes were developed: the feeling, managing, and reflecting on diabetes worry in relational contexts; the cultural and relational challenges of enacting self-control and discipline; and how diabetes is a family experience, for better or for worse. Conclusion These themes illustrated the multifaceted relational dynamics of navigating diabetes healthcare. Several avenues to consider for developing culturally sensitive diabetes care were suggested. This included: practitioners exploring dynamics of worry, shame and self-blame, building upon family supports, supporting reducing family-facilitated health barriers, addressing power dynamics which facilitate institutional distrust, and funding culturally appropriate, accessible community health interventions.

Mental health at the intersections: understanding South Asian Muslim youth mental health in Peel Region, Toronto, Canada

Purpose The purpose of this study was to understand the unique mental health concerns and access barriers experienced by South Asian Muslim youth populations living in the Peel Region of Toronto, Canada. Design/methodology/approach For this qualitative exploratory study, interviews (n = 15) were conducted with mental health professionals, educators and spiritual leaders (n = 11) who work with South Asian Muslim youth living in Peel Region, as well as with South Asian Muslim youth themselves (n = 4, aged 20–23). Interview transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings Four primary themes emerged from the data: challenges and stressors, barriers, facilitators and hope and recovery. South Asian Muslim youth navigate a number of unique stressors related to the domains of culture, religion and family dynamics, as well as the impact of migration. Practical implications The findings stress the necessity of creating culturally safe, multilevel strategies to meet the nuanced challenges and diverse needs of South Asian Muslim youth communities. Originality/value This is one of the few papers to the knowledge that addresses the mental health needs and service access barriers of youth populations at the intersections of South Asian diasporic community belonging and Muslim faith in Canada.

Muslim Diaspora in Britain: Identity and Transnationalism Among South Asian Muslim Communities, by Sabah Khan

Muslim Diaspora in Britain: Identity and Transnationalism Among South Asian Muslim Communities, by Sabah Khan

Collective vulnerability between the researcher and the researched: a reflection on researcher positionality and ‘safety’ in the study of Islamophobia in economic Muslim migrants

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on collective vulnerability shared between the researcher and the researched, specifically in relation to studying the impact of Islamophobia in South Asian Muslim women in Britain. I reflect on my PhD study, and explore the tensions within the research space vis-à-vis researcher positionality. Puwar’s ‘Space Invaders’ is employed to explore the possibilities of disrupting power within research. This paper, therefore, reflects on the role of ‘collective vulnerability’ as a key to creating and maintaining a ‘safe’/ ‘counterspace’ to dislodge the trappings of employing a vertical gaze on data.

Becoming Modern and Secular: A Review Essay on Recent Work on Islam and South Asia

Abstract The Muslims of South Asia are more than five hundred million people, distributed between Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and there are more Muslims in South Asia than in any other region in the world. After Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are the second, third, and fourth largest Muslim countries, respectively. Although the prevalent approach in the study of Islam is to consider its so-called Arab character as central, the Muslims in pre-Partition India constituted the largest body of Muslims in the world, and the vast political and intellectual influence exerted by South Asian Muslims on the wider Muslim world is often neglected. Many of the most important political, intellectual, and spiritual developments within Islam have had their origins, or have flourished, in South Asia, and Muslims from the region have played important roles in the global history of Islam, including during the colonial period, in resistance to colonial rule, and in intellectual responses to and dialogue with Western thought. Pakistan was specifically created to provide a homeland for South Asia’s Muslim population and its trials and tribulations over the past seventy-five years have been carefully watched by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims constitute India’s largest minority, with an often uneasy—to say the least—relationship to the majority. In the context of the three books under discussion, I explore issues, such as secularism, modernity, and religion, and their impacts on the conception of the nation-state that was promoted during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as an expression of political modernity.

The influence of Islam on Zulu Muslims in KwaZulu-Natal

This article explores the influence of Islam among the Zulu Muslims in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Although several studies focus on the history and experiences of the Asian diaspora or Asian Muslim community, there is a considerable lack of literature on the influence of Islam on the Zulu Muslims’ personal experiences beyond the conversion narratives. This study seeks to examine the impact of Islam on the cultural and religious identities of individuals who have converted to Islam within the Zulu community. This research article used qualitative research with a phenomenological approach conducted in several areas in KZN. The data for this study were acquired from literature, interviews and observations conducted among the Zulu Muslims in KZN. The data analysis technique employed in this work utilises a comprehensive approach, wherein all the acquired data are considered significant, and no reduction is applied.Contribution: The non-Muslim Zulus in KZN tend to stigmatise Zulu Muslim converts, perceiving them as having abandoned their cultural heritage. The Zulu Muslims who converted to Islam developed their own unique interpretation of the religion by blending Islamic principles with Zulu cultural elements. This allowed them to establish a sense of identity that they believe to be both authentically Zulu and free from colonial influences, in contrast to the Christianised Zulu population.

The pilgrimage (hajj) of Central Asian Muslims before joining to the Russian Empire

This study examines the pilgrimage practices of Central Asian Muslims to Mecca before the region became part of the Russian Empire and shows that despite the importance of the Hajj in Islam, participation from this area was limited. The analysis outlines the various barriers to making the pilgrimage, such as the strict Sharia requirements that many could not meet, the financial and logistical challenges involved, and the fear of the dangers associated with the journey. In addition, social and family obligations prevented a significant number of Muslims from making the Hajj, leading to a preference for local pilgrimage sites in Central Asia as an alternative. The research also examines the socio-political implications of the hajj for Central Asian Muslims, including the different routes taken to reach Mecca and the role of socio-economic status in facilitating or hindering the pilgrimage. Through this examination, the article sheds light on the complex interplay of religion, culture and politics in the practice of hajj among Central Asian Muslims prior to Russian annexation.

Understanding lived experiences and perceptions of resilience in black and South Asian Muslim children living in East London: a qualitative study protocol

IntroductionIt is important to promote resilience in preadolescence; however, there is limited research on children’s understandings and experiences of resilience. Quantitative approaches may not capture dynamic and context-specific aspects of...

Exploring the experience of natural green space among South Asian Muslim people in the UK

ABSTRACT Visiting Natural Green Spaces (NGS) is an important lifestyle factor that contributes to quality of life. Whilst NGS can be used to combat health issues, many of which are experienced by South Asian Muslim communities in the UK, it is concerning that such communities face the largest disparities in access to NGS compared to other ethnic minority groups. This paper responds to the paucity in research of South Asian people’s experiences of NGS. Data were generated through individual semi-structured interviews with 20 South Asian Muslim men and women. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital, data underwent thematic analysis. This paper reports on the key findings of the study: defining the field of NGS; enhancing wellbeing in NGS; and challenges of accessing NGS. The study concludes that we understand NGS as fields in which capital is shaped by race, religion and gender, and provides suggestions for how policy and practice can consider NGS in health enhancing interventions.

ОСМАН ИМПЕРИЯСЫ МЕН ОРТА АЗИЯ ХАЛЫҚТАРЫ АРАСЫНДА МӘДЕНИ ЖӘНЕ РУХАНИ БАЙЛАНЫСТАРДАҒЫ ҚАЖЫЛЫҚТЫҢ РӨЛІ (ХІХ-ХХ ғғ.)

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, a new stage of political, social and cultural relations began between the Ottoman Empire and the peoples of Central Asia. The Ottoman Sultan, as the caliph of the Islamic world and a supporter of Islam, always supported the Turkic-Muslim peoples of Central Asia. One of the closest ties between peoples was cultural and spiritual relations, and an important role in this area was played by the Muslim pilgrimage - the Hajj. The Central Asian Muslims who made the pilgrimage stayed in the territories of the Ottoman Empire for a long time in order to deeply study the Muslim culture and Islamic teachings. Back in the country, they used their materials to develop Muslim culture and spiritual knowledge and provide religious education. The article discusses the role of the Muslim pilgrimage in the development of cultural and spiritual ties between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkic-Muslim peoples of Central Asia. The topic of the scientific article reflects a certain aspect of the problem - this means the role and contribution of the Muslim pilgrimage in cultural and spiritual ties among Muslim peoples. The purpose of the research work is to study the activities of pilgrims in the development of cultural and spiritual ties between the Ottoman Empire and Central Asia. It also studies the place and contribution of pilgrimage in the development of the idea of pan-Turkism and pan-Islamic ideology among the Turkic peoples of the Ottoman Empires and Turkestan. A new scientific analysis is being carried out on the history of cultural and humanitarian relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkic-Muslim peoples of Central Asia.

Teasing apart the role of identity and help-seeking intentions among Arab/MENA and South Asian Muslim Americans

Culture's impact on health outcomes is understudied. While prior research explored how acculturation impacts the help-seeking intentions of Muslim immigrant populations, no research has teased apart the roles of ethnic, religious, and American identity centrality and their impact on help-seeking intent for Arab/MENA and South Asian Muslims. Utilizing a sample of 132 emerging adult Arab/MENA and South Asian Muslim Americans (n = 77 and n = 55, respectively), a hierarchical linear regression was conducted, testing for significant predictors and moderating effects of ethnic affiliation. Results indicated ethnic identity centrality and American identity centrality were significant predictors for both groups; the influence of religious identity centrality on help-seeking intention was moderated by ethnic affiliation. These results suggest the nuances of identity vary between groups within the American Muslim immigrant community. Researchers and clinicians should be cognizant of these identities when implementing interventions or conducting research among these populations.

Peran Asia Muslim Charity Foundation Dalam Pengembangan Manajemen Pendikan Islam di Ma’had Al-Birr Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar

Asia Muslim Charity Foundation (AMCF) as an Islamic philanthropic institution has been a very important role in the sustainability and improvement of the quality of Islamic education in Indonesia. This research aims to formulate and describe the role of AMCF as an Islamic philanthropic in developing education at the Ma'had Al-Birr Muhammadiyah University of Makassar. This research used a descriptive-qualitative approach. Data collection techniques used open interviews, direct observation, and documentation studies. The results of the research show that first, the successful implementation of education at Ma'had Al-Birr is due to the high commitment of Ma'had leaders and Unismuh Makassar in carrying out the vision, mission, and goals of Ma'had education. Second, the form of educational management development implemented at Ma'had Al-Birr is the development of physical infrastructure, human resource development, and the transformation of Ma'had into the Undergraduate (S1) program. The transformation of Ma'had to the bachelor program includes teacher management, leadership management, curriculum management, facilities and infrastructure management, student management, and financial management which are integrated with the academic system of the University of Muhammadiyah Makassar.

Peran Asia Muslim Charity Foundation Dalam Pengembangan Manajemen Pendikan Islam di Ma’had Al-Birr Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar

Asia Muslim Charity Foundation (AMCF) as an Islamic philanthropic institution has been a very important role in the sustainability and improvement of the quality of Islamic education in Indonesia. This research aims to formulate and describe the role of AMCF as an Islamic philanthropic in developing education at the Ma'had Al-Birr Muhammadiyah University of Makassar. This research used a descriptive-qualitative approach. Data collection techniques used open interviews, direct observation, and documentation studies. The results of the research show that first, the successful implementation of education at Ma'had Al-Birr is due to the high commitment of Ma'had leaders and Unismuh Makassar in carrying out the vision, mission, and goals of Ma'had education. Second, the form of educational management development implemented at Ma'had Al-Birr is the development of physical infrastructure, human resource development, and the transformation of Ma'had into the Undergraduate (S1) program. The transformation of Ma'had to the bachelor program includes teacher management, leadership management, curriculum management, facilities and infrastructure management, student management, and financial management which are integrated with the academic system of the University of Muhammadiyah Makassar.

SUFI SHRINES AND POLITICS OF NEOPATRIMONIALISM: ANALYSIS SINCE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Since the inception of Sufi fraternities, the political elite sought patrimonial relations with them due to their socio-religious prestige, but the twentieth century witnessed the transformation of these relations from patrimonial to neopatrimonial, based on the exchange of services. This paper develops its argument further that sajjadah nashins or care takers of Sufi shrines gave their support in exchange to politico-economic benefits with taking the examples of African and Asian Muslim countries. This research is a qualitative analysis of this mutual exchange based relations of services and benefits, as an impact of growing consumerism in the countries under colonial rule, since the twentieth century. Based on historical empiricism this research finds that those states where political elite saw Sufi fraternities as a potential threat also went through a transformation after the incident of 9/11, for Sufism was categorized as a tolerant side of Islam in contrast to intolerant Islamic militant groups.

Being a good Muslim man in Asia's world city: Performing youthful South Asian Muslim masculinities in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has long been home to immigrants and citizens of South Asian background, popularly known as ‘ethnic minorities’. Young Muslim men are both ethnically and religiously stigmatized in the contemporary conjuncture as the bearers of patriarchal masculinities and radical Islamism in Asia, as elsewhere. This paper looks at the ways in which young Muslim men of South Asian background perform their masculinities in Hong Kong. My analysis focuses on differentiated capacities for mobility, embodied practices of Muslim manhood as well as complex entanglements of desire, fear and safety to understand the ways in which ethno-religious difference of minority populations are produced, experienced and accommodated through embodied ethno-religious encounters in Asian cities. Through my ethnographic fieldwork with young Muslim South Asian men in Hong Kong, I explore how these youth draw from different cultural traditions and engage various discourses of pious subjectivity to negotiate an unstable politics of belonging in Hong Kong. My findings point to the importance of transnational moral geographies operating at multiple scales in regulating embodied encounters with, as well as constant (mis)recognition and negotiation of, cultural difference in ‘Asia's world city’.

Gavin Jones’ scholarship on divorce in Asia: understanding trends, patterns, and implications

ABSTRACT This paper highlights Professor Gavin Jones' seminal work on Asian divorce patterns, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia's Muslim communities. Beginning in the 1980s, Jones addressed the challenges of fragmented and often unreliable demographic data on divorce. With careful compilation and analysis of aggregate data, paired with firsthand surveys and ethnographic studies, he set a foundation for examining shifting divorce trends in Southeast Asia. His findings challenged prevailing ethnocentric perspectives and questioned the notion that modernisation invariably leads to rising divorce rates. Jones stressed the importance of understanding divorce within the broader social, cultural, and historical contexts of the respective societies. Beyond his individual research, he was instrumental in cultivating a community of scholars studying marriage and divorce in Asia and fostering collaborations. Jones' insights into Asia's demographic shifts have been invaluable, and his legacy will continue to influence demographers for generations to come.

Sultana’s Sisters: Genre, Gender, and Genealogy in South Asian Muslim Women’s Fiction, Edited by Haris Qadeer and P.K. Yasser Arafath

Sultana’s Sisters: Genre, Gender, and Genealogy in South Asian Muslim Women’s Fiction, Edited by Haris Qadeer and P.K. Yasser Arafath

When does a book launch become a meeting?

This is an account of a discussion between Sita Balani, Amardeep Singh Dhillon, Gail Lewis and Adam Elliott-Cooper on Sita Balani's book, Deadly and Slick: Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race, offered as a means of sharing its insights and exchanges among a wider community of activists and organisers. The origin of the book was Sita's observation of two dynamics at play at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s. The first was the fracturing of British Asian identity in the early years of the 'War on Terror', as Muslim became a racialised category in and of itself. The second was the rapid rise in 'gay rights': until 2003, Section 28 had criminalised the teaching of homosexuality as a 'pretended family relationship'; in 2004, civil partnerships had been introduced. Sita recognised that the moving around of these categories of sexuality and race was not merely coincidental. To help understand this she has introduced the concept of 'sexual modernity', which also has two parts: the promise of self-realisation through the pursuit of romantic love, the nuclear family and sexual adventure, and then - what 'stalks' this possibility - all of the sexual conduct and sexual practice that is disavowed and excluded from this. The book charts the state's racial taxonomies alongside its mobilisation of categories of sexuality and gender, in both the historical colonial context and the contemporary imperial centre. Panellists discussed some of the contradictions of these developments. These included the inclusion of police officers in the Gay Pride parade; moral panics about - and violence against - asylum seekers and drag queens; the 'problem' of the Black boy being attributed to not-enough-patriarchy, while for South Asian Muslim women it is a question of too-much-patriarchy; in an historical context, sexual violence being the norm in Jamaica but a source of paranoia in the colony of India. Through showing us the field of battle and its character, Sita gives us a tool with which to help build aligned constituencies of opposition and vision