Muslim Neighbors Research Articles

An Exploratory Study on Bonding and Bridging Social Capital Among the Non-Displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir, India

In this exploratory study, we investigate two forms of social capital, bonding and bridging social capital among the non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir, India. In addition, we attempt to understand how displacement impinged the bonding and bridging social capital of non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The study uses a qualitative and ethnographic research design to elicit information from the participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir, comprising 19 men and 11 women. The study concludes that the bonding social capital of non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits is plagued by a lack of interconnectedness caused by physical distance. In addition, the bridging social capital is restricted to a few Muslim neighbors and friends whom non-displaced Kashmiri Pandits have known for generations. The research findings suggest that if the bridging social capital of the non-displaced Kashmiri Pandit community is extended to the majority of the Kashmiri Muslim community, it will integrate both communities at large.

Effigies, religion and reversals in the celebration of Purim by Cochin Jews

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the role of the effigy in the celebration of the festival of Purim as enacted by the Cochin Jews of south India in three major periods: under Portuguese conquest in the sixteenth century, in Cochin in the twentieth century, and in a different topography in Israel. Cochin Jews at their peak only numbered 2400 prior to Indian Independence; they never suffered antisemitism except under the Portuguese and lived in harmony with their Hindu, Christian and Muslim neighbours. On the festival of Purim, role reversals took place to protest hierarchical social structures inherent in caste and religion, thereby enabling peaceful relations between members of different religions, communities and quasi-castes (jati) during the year. The inversions were expressed in the construction of effigies of the adversary, as well as in special songs, which represented symbolic protests against hegemonic domination, which addressed other daily injustices, based on gender. Today, the majority of Cochin Jewry live in Israel, where they celebrate Purim, embracing globalization and identification with world Jewry. The physical presence of the Cochin Jewish community, its very embodiment, like the effigy, has been almost totally eroded in India, while the body politic lives on in another world, Israel.

An Overlooked Jewish Community: The Jews of Rodoscuk in the 17th Century

This article addresses the intercommunal relations between the 17th century Jewish community of Rodoscuk and other social groups. It examines the community’s social structure, housing distribution and economic activities, placing particular emphasis on its interactions with Muslims in areas like trade, religious practices and social dynamics. By drawing on local court records, particularly the Qadi Registers, this article reveals how these interactions were shaped by the legal and social frameworks of their day, highlighting the complexities of coexistence in those contexts. In doing so, it evidences not only that Rodoscuk’s Jewish community took part in vibrant economic exchanges with its Muslim neighbors but also that it engaged with common social and religious contexts. Via a detailed analysis of these records, this study offers new insights into the nature of intercommunal relations in Rodoscuk. It challenges the often-assumed narrative of segregation and conflict in Ottoman society by testing existing claims in the literature through the case of the Jews of Rodoscuk. It concludes that Jews in this region in fact lived in relative harmony with Muslims and other groups in their vicinity.

Exemplifying the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) in Fostering Peaceful Co-Existence among Christians and Muslims in Nigeria

In the last three decades, most of the major conflicts in Nigeria are centered on ethnicity and religion. Fundamental Muslims and Christians or moderate (liberal) Muslims and adherents of African Indigenous Religions have wrecked a lot of havoc in Nigeria. In many cases, religious leaders and politicians have manipulated these conflicts for political and economic gains. These conflicts have resulted in the death of several thousands of people and loss of unquantifiable amount of money and property. Various attempts by government, individuals, religious and other interest groups on resolving the lingering and hydra-headed crisis have not yielded holistic and desirable result. Some scholarly articles have been written to proffer solutions to Nigeria's ethno-religious crisis; these include research on interfaith dialogue, social integration, sustainable communal developments, the impact of ethno- religious crisis on the security, economy and sociopolitical stability of the country. However, the exemplary nature of loving, empathizing, accepting, accommodating and living with one’s known or perceived enemies have not been adequately explored with religious hindsight. This paper therefore considers the exemplary character of the “Good Samaritan” in the parable of Jesus Christ (Luke 10:25-37) as a spring board for peaceful co-existence between Christians and people of other faiths in Nigerian multicultural contexts, particularly the Muslims. Exegetical and historical methods are used; the Theoretical Framework is premised on Eisenberg Pro-social Behaviour theory, which is defined as voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another (Eisenberg, 1986). Findings reveal that Nigeria has been wracked by periodic violent clashes between political, ethnic and religious groups since the second half of the 20th century. Reasons for these clashes vary from one locality to another but they are mostly motivated by religious, social, economic and political disputes. Conclusively, exemplifying the teaching of Jesus Christ on love for one's neighbour in the parable of the "Good Samaritan" here proposed first to the Christian community gives a new hope on the quest for peace in Nigeria and re-orientation for Christians and their Muslim neighbours. It is recommended therefore that both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria should leverage on the “Good Samaritan’s” peace accord to one’s neghbour proposed by Jesus Christ without prejudice or stereotyping one another.

Deficit of Trust in Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Relations: An Evaluation from a Security and Economic Perspective from 2001 to 2021

At the crossroads of Central and Southern Asia lie two Muslim neighbors i.e., Pakistan and Afghanistan. Similarities in religion, culture, ethnicity, race, and history were predicted to cement the harmonious bilateral connection between the two countries. There have been a lot of obstacles to the development of positive relations between the two republics ever since they were established. Afghanistan's alone neighbor and a key commercial partner, Pakistan and the two countries have a difficult history despite Afghanistan's reliance on Pakistan's seaports and international trade. Tense relations began with the conflicts over the Durand line and Pakhtunistan stunt supported by Afghan government and were exacerbated by subsequent events like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the American involvement in the country after September 11, 2001. A large number of refugees fled to Pakistan as a result of these invasions, shaking up the country's politics and economy. India's involvement in Afghan politics has had a major effect on Pakistan's interests in the country and the surrounding region, especially after September 11th, when the United States attempted to offset Chinese influence in the area. India's engagement in Afghanistan and Pakistan's support in the US invasion of Afghanistan are at the root of the current state of bilateral ties. Normalizing bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan may require the involvement of a third party or agreement on confidence-building measures to enhance the welfare of persons living on the other side of the Durand line and encourage amicable interactions between the two countries. Using a qualitative approach, this article investigates the causes and consequences of the current mistrust in bilateral ties, with a particular emphasis on economic and security problems in the wake of 9/11.

Embodying Ethiopia’s Global Golden Age on the Muslim-Christian Frontier: The Allure of Glass Beads

The period between AD 700 and 1500 has been recently labeled as “Africa’s global Golden Age.” This is particularly true for the Shay communities living on the Muslim-Christian frontier in the ninth to fourteenth century AD. Located in the center of the Ethiopian highlands, the Shay faced the expansion of the Christian kingdoms and the advance of the Muslim polities. In an increasingly violent context of religious conversion and war between the two religious powers, the Shay stressed their independence by burying their deceased in collective structures, contrary to the mortuary practices of both Christians and Muslims, and by including precious local and global grave goods in their tombs. The laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of 34 glass beads shows how the Shay communities benefited from the Islamic global trade routes at the time, particularly the Middle East, Egypt, and the Indo-Pacific networks. This article examines the crucial role of global glass beads in the construction of a trans-corporeal landscape among the Shay that served the emergence and consolidation of the social self as a collective identity against their Christian and Muslim neighbors.

Memory, Trauma and Partition: Reading Sunanda Sikdar’s Dayamoyeer Katha

In recent years the scholastic emphasis on the refugee narratives, which conventionally focused on the loss of lives, homes and resources, is now reimagined as stories of survival and resurrection of people deprived of their homes. Nostalgia for a lost homeland often takes centre stage in refugee narratives. To be physically severed from a space internalised as the safest eternal abode and start afresh is a daunting task. Anchita Ghatak’s translation of Sunanda Sikdar’s Dayamoyeer Katha, A Life Long Ago narrates the life events of Dayamoyee, who chooses to revisit her past, deciding to write about the first ten years of her life in the East Pakistan village of Dighpait following the death of Majamda, a Muslim brotherly figure who sells his cows to come and meet her in India. The return to her childhood’s blissful land unearthed several hidden memories that brought the politics of religion, caste, class, and gender to the forefront. Without paying attention to her aunt’s continuous warnings not to mingle with the Muslim neighbours, Daya found it possible to eat, touch, and have fun with them in her childlike innocence. As the refugees arrive at Dighpait, her aunt remains unwilling to equate them with the native Muslim folk, the ‘bhoomiputra, the “sons of the soil”. Besides the narrator, we also have Snehalata, Daya’s aunt, her foster mother and a child widow. As she narrates how she grieved over the withdrawal of fish and other materialistic pleasures from her daily life rather than her young husband’s demise, we are reminded of the unfair austerity imposed on them in contrast to the elderly widowers who had no restrictions and even remarried occasionally. Characters like Modi bhabi, the woman who lost her mind as her childhood companion Suresh Lahiri left for Hindustan; Mejobhabi, wife of Khalek, who had to be ‘modernised’ to join her husband, now a senior army officer in Pakistan; Sudhirdada, the effeminate male whose murder portrays a show of power in the village, and Gouri, an instance of widow-remarriage needs scholarly attention. The novel further mentions Daya’s mother, the headmistress of a school in Hindustan, and Anita, a leading actress opposite Kishore Kumar, thus representing the educated, empowered women. The very moment of Daya deciding to write about her past is auspicious; it is the moment of finding one’s voice, of illuminating the horrors of the past, and the moment of triumph and healing. Dipesh Chakraborty mentions two aspects of memory: “the sentiment of nostalgia” and the “sense of trauma”, which pervades Dayamoyee’s narrative, but for her, it is equally therapeutic. The proposed paper looks forward to understanding Daya’s notion of her lost motherland and childhood and how the marginalised gender conceptualises home and rootedness. It proposes to analyse the politics of remembering, forgetting and retelling the stories from the point of the female subaltern who consciously buried her past and later chose to speak up, and in the process, portrayed a realistic picture of women during partition.

History of Yazidi Genocides, Mass Atrocities, Forced Conversions and Persecutions in the Middle East

persecutions suffered by the Yazidis with the help of the following questions: How many Yazidi genocides have been documented? What were the reasons behind these genocides and persecutions? Whether or not all the mass atrocities suffered by the Yazidis should be termed genocide? This study is a part of my postdoctoral research, which is an effort to document the mass violence and genocides suffered by the Yazidis in the Mesopotamian region. Before the 2014 genocide, Yazidis were forgotten and left to the mercy of their Muslim neighbors. Their painful history was ignored, and it lacked proper documentation. Keeping in mind the forgotten history of the genocides suffered by the Yazidi community, peacefully living in Mount Sinjar and the Hakkari Mountains, this research focuses on documenting the instances of mass atrocities and genocides, the reasons behind such mass atrocities and the way forward. There is a common perception among the Yazidis and some scholars that the Yazidis suffered up to 74 genocides over their history; this research project offers a qualitative case study of the history of the genocides and mass atrocities suffered by the Yazidis. It is important to adopt a research methodology that provides enough data to reach sound conclusions. To collect data, literature review and interviews were employed and the theory of epistemic violence as well as hermeneutics was used to analyze this data. This analysis provides a deeper understanding and knowledge of Yazidi genocides, mass atrocities and persecutions as well as their causes. It is an extremely important research for the Yazidi community and genocide studies because no research has ever been conducted to document the total number of genocides, persecutions and mass murders suffered by the Yazidis.

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community, by Deanna Ferree Womack.

Neighbors: Christians and Muslims Building Community comes at a pivotal moment as the year 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001. Since those devastating attacks, anti-Muslim hate crime has continued to burgeon, and tensions between Christians and Muslims have escalated to new heights. This has led Islamophobia to dictate and distort American Christians’ views in misunderstanding and mistreating their Muslim neighbors. As author Deanna Ferree Womack puts it, “lives are at stake” (2). She calls to Christians in the United States that now is the time “to be the neighbors Christ called us to be, to start building Christian–Muslim community” (xi).As such, Womack presents a guidebook for American Christians of diverse backgrounds who desire to learn more about their Muslim neighbors in the local, national, and global community. Neighbors is an intricate combination of historical, theological, and practical approaches that reflect on the story of how Christians and Muslims have related to one another in the past, confront the ongoing struggles in the present, and envision a better future for Christian–Muslim relations. Not only does her work aim to provide book knowledge on Islam, but also her pedagogy encourages readers to be proactive by approaching religions as living faiths, to be self-reflective, and to take steps in supporting Muslim neighbors. Womack undertakes this task in three sections: “When Our Neighbors Have a Different Religion,” “Christian–Muslim Encounters,” and “From Neighborly Commitment to Working Together.”The first section begins by providing a reality check about the growing multifaith society of the United States, which is projected to grow dramatically by 2050. “American Christians,” Womack writes, “should expect more opportunities to meet people of other faiths” (13). In addressing this pluralistic reality, Womack proposes that Christians should reflect on the notion of being Christ’s “witness” in pursuing meaningful interfaith engagements, as doing so indicates someone who “points to what they understand to be the truth” (24). Womack also highlights three models of interreligious engagements and argues that in today’s context interreligious dialogue prioritizes differences and pursues deeper intellectual engagement than just simply emphasizing commonalities.The second section explores the history of Christian–Muslim relations in the Middle East and takes a deep dive into understanding Islam in America. Womack problematizes the common stereotype that Christians and Muslims have always been in conflict by highlighting Christian–Muslim collaborations throughout history, for example, how Christian, Muslim, and Jewish intellectuals “worked interreligiously to spur social development within the wider Syrian community” (62) during the Arab Renaissance. In retracing the history of Islam in America, Womack argues that Islam is not a recent phenomenon, but rather it is an American religion that has been present since before the Civil War and has also evolved as a platform in voicing the racist injustices of African Americans. Consequently, the growing diversity among Muslims has also led to different ways of being Muslim in the United States, from the “social activists” who envision Islam as a source of addressing social inequalities to the “homeland homesick” who form small ethnic Muslim communities.Section 3 emphasizes the participatory praxis of interreligious dialogue through cultivating interfaith awareness. Womack utilizes an ethnographic approach in examining the lived experiences of Muslims today and the challenges that negative media representations of Islam and misconceptions about Muslim women have had on Christian–Muslim relations. In this section, Womack’s model of interreligious awareness is noteworthy, as it can be used as a framework for reflexivity to identify how one responds to religious differences and to “move toward higher stages of interreligious awareness and away from confrontational responses” (120). The closing chapter offers resources, such as the “Dos and Don’ts” in Christian–Muslim dialogue, and steps for fostering positive interfaith relations.Neighbors offers a compelling vision for dialogue and promising partnership between Christian and Muslim communities. The afterword by Roshan Iqbal, a female Muslim scholar, speaks volumes as she writes that this book is not only relevant for Christians, but “important to me personally and to my whole community as well” (146). Womack, with her extensive knowledge and expertise in Christian–Muslim initiatives, has created a guide jampacked with a wealth of information and the right tools for interfaith communication. Along with the reflection questions at the beginning of each chapter, readers should utilize the resourceful group discussion guide at the end. With this book as their guide, readers—whether they are a church layperson, pastor, and other Christian—will be better equipped to engage in deeper interfaith reflections and meaningful interreligious dialogue with their Muslim neighbors.

The stickiness of Muslim Neighbors: Evaluating an interfaith arts-based community initiative

ABSTRACT This paper explores the development of an evaluative framework for Muslim Neighbors, a grass-roots interfaith arts-based initiative in a small midwestern city. A review of literature discusses the unique contributions of the arts and religion (specifically interfaith initiatives) in peacebuilding and community development (two related processes). Then, methods of evaluation for interfaith peacebuilding and socially engaged art (SEA) are synthesized to create an evaluative framework for Muslim Neighbors. This framework is put to work evaluating how Muslim Neighbors addressed Islamophobia and built relationships between different faith groups in its local community. This study concludes that the intersection of interfaith peacebuilding and socially engaged artmaking provides a fruitful structure for building relationships, fostering diversity, and increased civic participation.

Pain by Miroslav Maksimović

Reviewed by: Pain by Miroslav Maksimović Biljana D. Obradović Miroslav Maksimović Pain Bloomington, IN, USA: Three String Books, 2021. Translated from Serbian by John Jeffries and Bogdan Rakić. Illustrations by Svetlana Rakić. 104 Pp. Introduction, Appendix. ISBN 978-0893575083 Miroslav Maksimović's, Pain, was translated from Serbian by John Jeffries and Bogdan Rakić and illustrated by Svetlana Rakić. This facing page translation of sonnets (Serbian original on the left and English on the right) has a forward by Bogdan Rakić, and an appendix, "Sweet Fear: Down the Ancestors' Path," presumably by the author, Maksimović. although this is not clearly stated. The appendix is both in English and Serbian, not facing page; it should have been reversed, with the original language first and the target second or just made facing page as the rest of the book. Interspersed throughout the book, are twelve moving response drawings to the sonnets by Svetlana Rakić. There are no biographical notes of the author (although B. Rakić gives us information on him in his introduction), translators nor the artist. The sonnets are divided into three parts: part one containing only one, part two twelve, and part three also one, so altogether fourteen sonnets. The sonnets have a rhyme scheme, in Serbian and in English divided into four stanzas: two quatrains and two tercets. Translating rhyme is not easy at all, so kudos go to the great translators' efforts. Miroslav Maksimović (b. 1946) is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, four collections of essays, a volume of polemics, according to B. Rakić in his introduction who says that Maksimović wrote, "about seemingly trivial details of everyday life" (p. 1), in his pre-nineties books. Then "prompted by the Yugoslav[ian] wars and their devastating consequences—[he] turn[ed] to … much larger issues: the never-ending cycle of violence in the Balkans" (p. 1). [End Page 184] It's unfortunate that he turned to the past, if I may add, instead of looking at the future. Those seemingly trivial issues he wrote about before are what writers strive to look out for and what makes great poetry. Instead, and for an important reason, his most recent book, Pain, is "a perfect example of his change in focus" (1), about "real events that took place in August 1941, when the entire population of the ethnically mixed village of Miostrah near Cazin in Western Bosnia were massacred by their Muslim neighbors, the supporters of the Croatian Ustashe" (p. 1), which was part of a "genocidal campaign and the complete extermination of the Serbs from the so-called Independent State of Croatia" (p. 1). One hundred-eighty women and children and all the remaining members of Maksimović's family: his mother Stoja Uzelac, her mother and six siblings (which included a two-year-old brother). She was wounded, mistaken for dead, yet she survived by crawling out of the pit she was thrown in. She then joined the partisan forces fighting fascism and that's how she met Maksimović's father. Her own father had been killed before the rest of teh fmaily members. Maksimović was only vaguely aware of his mother's tragedy, but once his mother died in 2017, he finally pieced the story of his mother's trauma together and it became his own. The introductory sonnet, "I Remember This," was written thirty years before the middle, second part, while the final sonnet predates them by ten years. He wrote the middle, cathartic outburst in twelve days, one a day. All fourteen sonnets (like the fourteen lines of each sonnet) are thematically connected, but the last line of each sonnet is not the beginning line of the next, and there is no master sonnet containing all first lines, as is the case in sonnet wreaths. He has created his own hybrid genre here, as Bogdan Rakić says, which still does adhere to some of the strict formal requirements. So these twelve sonnets were written in February 2016. They deal with the story of Stoja Uzelac's first life. The second sonnet discusses the deadly weapons used in the massacre (axes and knives), the third describes the parts of mutilated human bodies, the fourth introduces the victims...

Religion, Contact, and LGBT Acceptance: Survey Evidence from South Korea

What factors explain South Korean public opinion on LGBT issues? Via an original survey, we tackle the influence of religion and of knowing a Korean LGBT person on two issues: same-sex marriage and comfort with an LGBT neighbor. We find that of religious identifications studied, only Protestants corresponded with lower support, while knowing a Korean LGBT person strongly correlated with support of both. Moreover, we find that comfort with an LGBT neighbor falls in between acceptance of North Korean and Muslim neighbors.

Syrian Refugees between Turkish Nationalism and Citizenship

ABSTRACT This article explores local people’s attitudes toward the naturalization of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. Based upon fieldwork data, I explored the way the people of Bolu construct Syrian refugees as the “Other” on the grounds of citizenship and the way these narratives reproduce a nationalistic discourse in Turkey. The results indicated that the people reject granting citizenship for ideological reasons and on the grounds of a subjective nationalistic understanding of nation-state membership. Simultaneously, extending such citizenship rights as state welfare (healthcare and education) was seen as a social right or courtesy toward their Muslim neighbors.

PAKISTAN AFGHAN RELATION: HISTORY CONFLICTS AND CHALLENGES


 
 Pakistan and Afghanistan, two immediate Muslim neighbors, that not only share a common border but also have many other commonalities such as; linguistic, strong historical, ethnic, cultural, and religious ties. Despite of its geo-strategic location and various common factors, nature of Pak- Afghan ties the nature of PakAfghan relations is characterized by mistrust and suspicions and painful experience for both of them. Since its inception, Pakistan faces a hostile attitude from its western neighbor Afghanistan. Except during the Taliban’s four-year era, all the rulers of Afghanistan showed fluctuating degrees of dissatisfaction towards Pakistan. Conflict over Duran line, Soviet-Afghan war Pakistan support to Taliban, Pakistan role in War on Terror, and growing cross border militancy has stained relation between both countries. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the Pakistan Afghanistan relation in a historical context and highlight those factors which were the main hurdles in the way of a smooth and positive relation.
 
 
 
 

Roger II of Sicily: Family, Faith, and Empire in the Medieval Mediterranean World by Dawn Marie Hayes

Reviewed by: Roger II of Sicily: Family, Faith, and Empire in the Medieval Mediterranean World by Dawn Marie Hayes Lindsay Diggelmann Hayes, Dawn Marie, Roger II of Sicily: Family, Faith, and Empire in the Medieval Mediterranean World (Medieval Identities: Socio-Cultural Spaces, 7), Turnhout, Brepols, 2020; hardback; pp. 221; 18 b/w illustrations, 4 b/w tables; R.R.P. €75.00; ISBN 9782503581408. One of the enduring fascinations of the twelfth century is the way in which Roger II of Sicily managed to carve out for himself a kingdom of enormous wealth and influence despite the fact that his father and uncles had been part of the first generation of Norman warriors to arrive in Italy as penniless mercenaries. Roger's achievements and the key narrative and administrative sources have been thoroughly studied, notably in the works of Graham Loud, and yet the glittering brilliance of Roger's court continues to draw new acolytes. Dawn Marie Hayes is among their number, as attested by the admiring yet thoughtful and perceptive tone of this recent addition to the Brepols series 'Medieval Identities: Socio-Cultural Spaces'. The themes listed in the book's subtitle indicate the division of the work into three parts (of two chapters each). While there are plentiful cross-references between sections, the study does have the feel of a collection of separate essays on a broadly similar theme and perhaps lacks a strong sense of overall coherence or coordinated argument from one section to the next. The introduction and conclusion are both brief for a work of this nature and neither offers more than a fairly superficial attempt to connect the major themes and arguments of the book's individual chapters. This impression is reinforced when it becomes apparent that three of the six substantive chapters are essentially reprints of the author's recent journal articles. A cross-check of Chapter 5 with the original version—which appeared in Viator in 2013—reveals that any 'revisions' are minor and cosmetic to help the article fit more comfortably into the current work. While this is disappointing, it is not to say that the book lacks scholarly value. Part I, 'Family', is where the bulk of the author's new work is found. Two chapters examine the marriages of Roger II and the possible motivations behind them. Roger was first married to the Spanish princess Elvira, daughter of Alfonso VI of León-Castile. Hayes argues persuasively for the political benefits of this marriage, considering that Roger, like Alfonso before him, ruled a peripheral region of the Christian world that involved dealing with Muslim neighbours. The king's brief [End Page 226] second and third marriages late in his life, necessitated in part by the death of male children and the desperate need to ensure dynastic continuity, were both to French noblewomen, one a descendant of Charlemagne. Here Hayes makes the case, also pursued in Chapter 5, of closer connections between Roger and the French monarchy and nobility than some scholars have previously allowed for. Roger's tantalizing connections with the Arabic and Byzantine worlds may have blinded previous critics to the more prosaic connections with the culture of Roger's own ancestors. Through an in-depth consideration of what we know about the careers and family backgrounds of each of Roger's wives, Hayes builds a careful argument about the potential diplomatic and dynastic benefits that may have led Roger to choose the brides he did. Part II, 'Faith', considers Norman connections to the cult of St Nicholas in Bari. Roger is a very distant figure in Chapter 3, one of the reprinted articles, which assesses the importance of Nicholas for earlier Normans active in Italy in the eleventh century. While the chapter is valuable in its own right, its inclusion in this collection must be questionable. Furthermore, the connection to Chapter 4 feels forced. The latter includes new work that makes a case for Roger's devotion to Nicholas but focuses more on the difficulties of creating a maritime state, over which Nicholas, the 'Christian Poseidon' (p. 126), might be considered a protector. Finally, Section 3, 'Empire', contains two essays examining the famous mosaic portrait of Roger...

Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi

Reviewed by: Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi Elizabeth Bush Faruqi, Saadia Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero. Quill Tree/HarperCollins, 2021 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062943255 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062943248 $8.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 4-7 Over the two decades since the September 11th attacks, the Muslim and non-Muslim residents of the small town of Frey, Texas have coexisted in apparent cordiality. On this twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, though, rabid bigot Trevor Grant is organizing a group of Patriot Sons to use the town’s “Never Forget” commemoration theme to kindle enough hatred to run the Muslim population out of town. It’s a lot for middle-schooler Yusuf Azeem to process; all he wants is to lay low when parents enlist their kids to help with construction of their new mosque, to avoid being bullied at school by Grant’s son, and to organize a team that will win an award at the Texas Robotics Competition. As the Frey atmosphere grows steadily more toxic, though, it’s clear that an event that merely registers as ancient history to Yusuf is very much a raw wound for adults. His uncle helps him understand what his family and Muslim neighbors endured in 2001, why they are now divided on how to handle a resurgence of bigotry, and why he may actually need to stand up alongside fellow Muslims and their community allies to neutralize the Patriot Sons’ vitriol. Although conversations are sometimes stilted, Faruqi effectively probes complexities of radical activism vs. peaceful accommodation as Muslim response to prejudice, as well as the non-Muslim community’s deep discomfort in stepping beyond a bystander role in defense of their neighbors. An author note discusses a 2015 incident that served as inspiration for Yusuf’s story. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

A Church of Islam: The Syrian Calling of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio by Shaun O'Neill

Reviewed by: A Church of Islam: The Syrian Calling of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio by Shaun O'Neill Christian Krokus Shaun O'Neill, A Church of Islam: The Syrian Calling of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2019. Pp. 137. $21.00, paper. When, in 1982, the Italian Jesuit Paolo Dall'Oglio made a retreat outside Damascus among the ruins of an ancient monastery, Deir Mar Musa, one of the most daring, innovative, and hope-filled projects in the history of Christian-Muslim relations was born. Overseeing the reconstruction of the monastery and the restoration of its eleventh-to-twelfth-century church frescoes from 1984 through 1991, and having transferred to the Syriac Catholic rite, Dall'Oglio along with Jacques Mourad founded the al-Khalil monastic community (Friend of God, the title of Abraham in Islam). The community stands upon three pillars: contemplative prayer, manual labor, and Abrahamic hospitality, especially toward its surrounding Muslim neighbors. When unrest came to Syria in 2011, Dall'Oglio was outspoken in his criticism of the regime. He became a symbol of the burgeoning revolution and a "vociferous advocate for the opposition" (101). Having put his own life and those of his fellow monks and nuns in danger, he was exiled from the country. Over the following year he attempted to organize an international intervention, and in 2013, he surreptitiously returned to Syria but not to the monastery. In July of that year he entered Raqqa to negotiate for the release of hostages with leaders of what would later be known as ISIS. He has not been seen since. That the larger-than-life Dall'Oglio and DMM remain obscure in the Anglophone world is "lamentable," so O'Neill begins to redress the "paucity of writing … in English" about them (xxiv). His scope is broad, briefly covering the history of DMM's founding and examining the community's efforts at Christian-Muslim dialogue with an emphasis on the dialogue of life among monastery guests. O'Neill touches on the often-difficult relationships between Dall'Oglio and the local Christian hierarchy, the Vatican, the Jesuits, and the [End Page 319] Syrian state, describing him as sometimes "blunt" and "caustic" (62), "inflexible" (82), vain and "grandiose" (111). Dall'Oglio, who so longed to be an insider among Muslims, ironically, remained an outsider to a number of Syrian Christians. Critics accuse him of being too Asaad-friendly before the uprising and too Asaad-critical after. The book is based partly on texts and interviews by Dall'Oglio but mainly upon O'Neill's interviews with a few people close to Fr. Paolo, some anonymous. O'Neill's book opens several lines of inquiry that demand further study. First, although the book's titular phrase "Church of Islam" does not appear until page 72, O'Neill offers several understandings of Dall'Oglio's enigmatic formulation, ranging from inculturation and Incarnation, to exchange, synthesis, or even the unfortunate "non-denominational spiritualism" (84). Key for understanding Dall'Oglio's ecclesiology, O'Neill observes, is the Gospel image of the yeast in the dough. Future efforts, however, must further mine Dall'Oglio's conviction that Christianity is principally an animating spirit rather than an institution. In his provocatively titled article "In Praise of Syncretism," Dall'Oglio insists, for example, that there is no specifically Christian way of fasting. Such particularities are appropriated from whatever religio-cultural-symbolic space the Church inhabits. One implication for Christian-Muslim relations is to build a Church not only of Islam but for Islam, promoting Islamic values and aiding the development of the Ummah. Second, O'Neill refers to Dall'Oglio's being a "firm believer in the power of nonviolent resistance and dialogue" (101). Dall'Oglio once insisted that, in the event of conflict, he and DMM would remain in neighborly solidarity with all Syrian parties no matter their political affiliations. When the moment arrived, although he personally may never have carried a weapon, he lent vocal support to those who did on one side of a civil war. Such a position may be explainable, even justifiable, but the tension between his decision to accompany the opposition and Dall'Oglio's commitment to nonviolence...

Why Church Leaders Discourage Christians from Leaving Jordan: An Anti-Emigration Perspective

Abstract Migration and refugee displacement are some of the most pressing issues facing the contemporary Middle East. Regional church leaders have cautioned against Christian emigration from ancient Middle Eastern churches to countries outside the Middle East; even Christian refugees who have already been displaced internally within the region are often discouraged from leaving. This article surveys some of the public statements that discourage Middle Eastern Christians from leaving the region, as presented from various denominational perspectives. Building on fieldwork conducted in Amman, Jordan, in 2018 and 2019, the article then argues that the attempts by Arab Anglican leaders in Jordan to dissuade church members from emigrating are based on a particular self-understanding of Middle Eastern Christianity that emphasizes an active, continuing Christian presence within the Middle East, as well as practices of unity among different Christian communities and longstanding coexistence with Muslim neighbors.

Why the Hardship? Islam, Christianity, and Instrumental Affliction

AbstractViewing hardship through the Western tradition of theodicy, Western theologians and philosophers sometimes approach their Muslim neighbors with questions about the Islamic perspective on suffering. But merely by asking about “suffering,” these Western friends already project a theological category foreign to most Muslims, particularly those from a non-Western background. In order for Christian and post-Christian Westerners to understand the Islamic approach to hardship, they must first learn to distinguish between affliction and suffering. This requires a careful look at the creation narratives each tradition tells: for example, does God initiate human affliction? And what does the answer to this question say about the nature of affliction, if God is also good? Answering these queries helps one to distinguish Christian and Islamic responses to catastrophe, pain, and even violence. Furthermore, examining the koranic reply may redirect Western persons to teachings within the biblical tradition, which Christians often overlook or avoid. The instrumental role of affliction is relatively unpopular in the West, but dialogue with Islam uncovers the fact that it is a concept neither alien nor unimportant to biblical teaching. In fact, God’s repurposing of affliction is vital to Christian doctrine. Dialogue with Islam may help to recover this Christian lesson.

Iblis, Abraham, and Teleological Suspensions

Abstract In this essay, I shall scold a Jinn, recommend a position in Islamic theology to my Muslim neighbors, explore a famous dilemma recounted in Genesis, and participate in a debate occasioned by an interpretive puzzle in Kierkegaard studies. I investigate two opposed ways of understanding the phrase, ‘the teleological suspension of the ethical’, offer some critical remarks on the interpretation of that phrase in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, and defend a range of considerations that speak in favor of one of the options over the other. Finally, I show how one may invoke my preferred interpretation to confront the puzzle common to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theology presented by the story of Abraham and the binding of Isaac and also how a related strategy can be invoked to address the story of Iblis and the puzzle peculiar to Islamic theology to which it gives rise.