Muslim Community Organizations Research Articles

THE COMPATIBILITY OF ISLAM AND PANCASILA IN INDONESIA’S DECLINING DEMOCRACY

The article addresses ambiguous politics-religion relations within resilient democratization. It specifically examines the relations between Islam and Pancasila as the nation’s civil religion in the transitioning Indonesian democratic reform from both philosophical and actor-centered viewpoints of the changing governmentsociety relations. The foci are twofold: first, the extent to which the national civil religion Pancasila retakes place in Indonesian political transition; and second, in what sense and in which ways religious movements might correspond to the national civil religion Pancasila in contemporary Indonesia’s democracy. It suggests that establishing Pancasila as a formal ideology imposed by anyone currently holding power may provoke risks of Indonesia’s democratization back to autocratization. While maintaining Pancasila as an open ideology is necessary to prevent that risk, openness in a political transition may also attract various interests. The recent decline of Indonesia’s democracy also prompts the necessity of constructive roles of civil society organizations in supporting resilient democratization in the country. Political turbulence that threatens democratization in Indonesia requires the independence of the established Muslim community organizations to build constructive power relations against but not be captured by the political regime.

Al-Auradul Maraqiyah Maraqitta'Limat Application Based On Android

The Maraqitta'limat Foundation is a Muslim foundation engaged in the field of da'wah, education and social society which was founded by TGH. Muhammad Zainuddin Arsyad. Like most other Muslim community organizations, the Maraqitta'limat Foundation has special zikir and prayers that are practiced for its members. The collection of zikir and prayers owned by the maraqitta'limat foundation is named Aurad, whose contents are taken from the Al-Quran and Hadits which are arranged in book form. The everyday Aurad learning process is applied by reading repeatedly through print media and then memorizing it. Given that currently the development of technology and information has influenced a person's learning behavior and style, an attractive and effective learning media is needed according to the needs of the times. In line with that, an android-based mobile zikir and prayer application that can be accessed on a smartphone is needed to support the needs of technological development. this time. This zikir and daily prayer application aims to make it easier for members of the Maraqitta'limat Foundation to learn and memorize the daily zikir and prayer recitations that are usually practiced at the maraqitta'limat foundation specifically and for Muslims in general.

Muslim Community Organizations’ Perceptions of Islamophobia: Towards an Informed Countering Response

During the past two decades, Muslim Community Organizations (MCOs) in the West have increasingly become stakeholders in the public debates and the national consultations regarding the Muslim communities. MCO’s perception of Islamophobia is critical for understanding their collective response to the problem. Much of the Australian literature, nonetheless, tends to subsume Islamophobia within the dynamics of exclusion/inclusion within a social cohesion paradigm, and primarily through a focus on individuals. This article aims to contribute to the existing literature through a deeper contextual understanding of Australian MCOs’ framing of and engagement with Islamophobia in its various manifestations, in order to better cognize its impact on their agentic capacity. Deploying an expanded theoretical framework of agency structure, this article analyzes 25 interviews with representatives of Victorian MCOs, to explore their perceptions of Islamophobia across multiple domains of power—the social, discursive and the political. MCOs’ perceptions of the problem impact their responding anti-Islamophobia civic–political engagements towards soft grassroots connections and Muslims’ empowerment. In light of the findings, the article points for the need to enhance building inter-community solidarity, utilize supportive institutional multicultural schemes and establish a separate Muslim advocacy organization.

Problems Faced by Muslim Converts in Sri Lanka: A Study Based on Anuradhapura District

Muslim converts are living with several problems after the conversion, and they are disowned and separated by their original relatives. Muslims by birth call Muslim converts as 'Moula-Islam' which is keeping off them as a different segment. The aim of this research is, therefore, to identify the problems faced by Muslim converts in Anuradhapura district, Sri Lanka. This is an empirical study with the applications of qualitative and quantitative data. The study adopted the questionnaire survey and in-depth interview techniques to collect primary data and randomly selected sixty-five samples out of three hundred sixty-five Muslim coverts living in Anuradhapura district. The significant finding of the study reveals that Muslim converts are facing several socioeconomic problems including the separation from family and relatives, the language problem, financial issues, the disparity in the aspect of marriage and the occurrence of divorces among married couples. The study further highlights difficulties faced by Muslim converts in terms of Islamic knowledge, learning Al-Quran, adopting Muslim cultural identity. Muslim converts are the most vulnerable people in the Muslim community, and they do not receive financial help, including Zakat from traditional Muslims. Hence, this study argues that current problems faced by Muslim converts should be addressed meaningfully and the Muslim community and voluntary organizations should take corrective measures to improve the life of Muslim converts in the Sri Lankan context.

Developing religiously-tailored health messages for behavioral change: Introducing the reframe, reprioritize, and reform (“3R”) model

RationaleAs community health interventions advance from being faith-placed to authentically faith-based, greater discussion is needed about the theory, practice, and ethics of delivering health messages embedded within a religious worldview. While there is much potential to leverage religion to promote health behaviors and improve health outcomes, there is also a risk of co-opting religious teachings for strictly biomedical ends. ObjectiveTo describe the development, implementation, and ethical dimensions of a conceptual model for religiously-tailoring health messages. MethodWe used data from 6 focus groups and 19 interviews with women aged 40 and older sampled from diverse Muslim community organizations to map out how religious beliefs and values impact mammography-related behavioral, normative and control beliefs. These beliefs were further grouped into those that enhance mammography intention (facilitators) and those that impede intention (barriers). In concert with a multi-disciplinary advisory board, and by drawing upon leading theories of health behavior change, we developed the “3R” model for crafting religiously-tailored health messages. ResultsThe 3R model addresses barrier beliefs, which are beliefs that negatively impact adopting a health behavior, by (i) reframing the belief within a relevant religious worldview, (ii) reprioritizing the belief by introducing another religious belief that has greater resonance with participants, and (iii) reforming the belief by uncovering logical flaws and/or theological misinterpretations. These approaches were used to create messages for a peer-led, mosque-based, educational intervention designed to improve mammography intention among Muslim women. ConclusionsThere are benefits and potential ethical challenges to using religiously tailored messages to promote health behaviors. Our theoretically driven 3R model aids interventionists in crafting messages that address beliefs that hinder healthy behaviors. It is particularly useful in the context of faith-based interventions for it highlights the ethical choices that must be made when incorporating religious values and beliefs in tailored messages.

Muslim community organizations – sites of active citizenship or self-segregation?

ABSTRACTEthno-religious community organizations in Western countries have often been described as being disconnected from mainstream society, and Muslim community groups have been a special focus of such critique. This article offers a counter-narrative to these widespread allegations. It draws on a synthesis of emerging research on the citizenship-enhancing effects of mosque involvement and on an explorative study involving thirty in-depth interviews with civically active Muslims in Australia and Germany. The article examines the potential of Muslim community organizations to mobilize their member into performing their citizenship through civic and political participation. It offers empirical evidence that many Muslim community organizations, rather than promoting social segregation, act as accessible entry point for Muslims’ civic participation, facilitate cross-community engagement and provide gateways to political involvement. These civic potentials of Muslim community organization have remained underestimated in the public and political discourse on cohesive societies and healthy democracies.

BUNGA BANK DALAM PERSPEKTIF ISLAM (STUDI PENDAPAT NAHDLATUL ULAMA DAN MUHAMMADIYAH)

Abstract One of the problems is crowded and is still being debated in the Islamic economy is a matter of usury which is forbidden in the Koran . This debate mainly focused on what is really meant by riba in the Qur'an and how the economy of the Muslims who are held in the middle of the current capitalist economy and modern banking practices that require interest in economic activity .In existential presence of banking institutions can not be separated from economic problems of Muslims as a whole . Muslims who live in the modern system of value-free economy can not escape the " dependency " with banking institutions . consciously or unconsciously banking institutions have been brought up to the Muslims to accept the reality of banking today . It is then disturb the attention of many Muslim community organizations in Indonesia to revisit karaktreristik prohibited usury , presumably withdraw in this case the researchers raised two Islamic society organizations that have a large period of the Nahdhotul Ulama ( NU ) and Muhammadiyah . Where the existence of this organization opposing the giving fatwa against religious issues in society . The subject of this paper is to examine how the public views the two organizations on bank interest .From in-depth discussion can be concluded that : For NU that bank interest law it is forbidden either privately owned banks and state-owned banks . Furthermore , NU revealed that the interest taken by depositors in the bank is forbidden usury . As for Muhammadiyah presumably still skeptical about the presence or absence of ' usury illat on state-owned banks , as seen with the determination , that the law is a state -owned bank interest musytabihat . Reason said musytabihat , is because there are two tendencies are lawful or unlawful , as well as in a bank that does not distinguish between people who borrow money to borrow for consumption and produced . Then this should be avoided , except in an emergency ( forced ) . Muhammadiyah 's decision seems consistent with the notion that interest rates may have an emergency , such as Mustafa az - Zarqani opinion , saying that the bank is a reality that can not be avoided . Therefore Muslims should bermu'amalah with the bank for emergency consideration. Furthermore , Muhammadiyah states , that usury is forbidden by religion is flowering trait that is always accompanied by substance abuse and oppression chance . Being in force today did not cause a sense of oppression or disappointment by anyone interested Keywords: Bank, Interest, Riba, Nahdhotul Ulama, Muhammadiyah

Islam

The city of Chicago hosted lSNA's Fortieth Annual Convention, August 29 - September I, 2003, at the huge McCormick Center. In attendance were the ISNA leadership, convention organizers, representatives from major Muslim community and professional organizations, and leaders of other faith groups."We need to be living Islam, but living Islam in the midst of people who may be hostile," said Ingrid Mattson (vice president, ISNA), address­ing the session entitled "Morality, Decency and Benevolence: Values that Endure." This panel initiated the convention's theme of "Islam: Enduring Values for Daily Life," based on Qur'an 16:90. Muzammil Siddiqi (former ISNA president) added: "People will know the truth oflslam from the prac­tices of the Muslims." Another theme, closer unity among the monotheistic faiths, was addressed by Talat Sultan (president, ICNA) and Bob Edgar (general secretary, National Council of Churches). 
 Abd Al-Hakim Jackson (professor of Islamic studies, University of Michigan), in the session "Muslims at the Crossroads," stated that Muslims need to become indigenous, without sacrificing Islam, and relate to America as a political arrangement and not a culture. He advised the audi­ence to learn from the African-Americans' experiences. Merve Kavakci, a former Turkish Parliament member who was denied her position because of her hijab, reminded the attendees to practice what they preach, espe­cially when "commanding good and forbidding evil." Azizah Ismail, founder of the Justice Party and wife of Anwar fbrahim, the still-incarcerated former deputy prime minister of Malaysia, related her party's experience, called for the need to eliminate injustice, and said that genuine patriotism is criticizing the country and helping to make it better, but in peaceful and legal ways ...