Muslim Opinion Research Articles

PENGARUH POLA MENONTON CERAMAH USTAD FELIX SIAUW MELALUI INSTAGRAM TERHADAP TOLERANSI PERBEDAAN PENDAPAT UMAT ISLAM (STUDI PADA FOLLOWERS AKUN @FELIXSIAUW)

There are many people, especially Muslim people who carry out da'wah activities using the Instagram application. This is evidenced by the emergence of many da'wah accounts in the Instagram application that contain video content and writings for preaching. These contents contain discussion of monotheism, fiqh, Islamic politics, and others. Researchers used quantitative research techniques pre experimental design (Non Design). The population in this study are all @Felixsiauw Account Followers. research sample of 100 respondents. The method used to collect information in this research is using a questionnaire or questionnaire and documentation. In accordance with the results of this study, it can be concluded that there is an impact from the pattern of watching Ustad Felix Siauw's lectures through Instagram on tolerance for differences in Muslim opinion (Stussi on Account Followers @Felixsiauw. This can be seen in the hypothesis test with the t-test, this finding is proven through the magnitude of the beta coefficient is 0.729 and the significant coefficient is 0.000 which is smaller than 0.05.

Kontroversi Al-‘Umran: Ibn Khaldun dan Perdebatan Klaim Kebaruan

Ibn Khaldun is one of the monumental Muslim Arab scholars. He inherited scholarly blueprint recognized not only in the Muslim world but also in the world in general. However several of his ideas and thoughts have not been fully explored. One of them is his concept of al-'Umran which he claimed as a new concept he found. The concept of al-'Umran is a science of social organization, which described the idea of society and its essential characteristics. Some of the scholars comprehended al-'Umran as a cultural science, not as a sociological science. This article is to examine Ibnu Khaldun’s concept of al-'Umran and its claim of a new contribution and to understand Ibn Khaldun’s theory of al-'Umran and its originality. This research employs analytical study to the contemporary Arab Muslim's through on this matter. The research reports that the modern Arab Muslim's opinion in regards to the concept al-'Umran is divided into three categories: 1) Those who support the originality of his concept. 2). Those who reject the originality of his idea. 3). Those who develop and reinterpret the concept of al-'Umran.

Impact of Muslim opinion leaders’ training of healthcare providers on the uptake of MNCH services in Northern Nigeria

ABSTRACTExpanding access to maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in traditional societies is a public health challenge, often complicated by cultural and religious beliefs about what is permitted or not permitted within a faith group. This is particularly true in the Muslim majority North of Nigeria, where deep suspicions of Western public health programmes, coupled with failing and underfunded health system, have led to the emergence of a new generation of Muslim Opinion Leaders (MOLs) with counter-narratives against family planning, immunisation and nutrition programmes. This paper reports on an innovative project implemented under the Saving Lives at Birth global partnership programme, where conservative MOLs transformed as champions were engaged as health communicators to train health providers on correct religious precepts related to MNCH. A matched subject type of study design was used to compare healthcare providers’ performance in control and intervention health facilities. The result indicates a significant difference both in perception and in practices between healthcare providers in intervention and control facilities, with respect to MNCH uptake. This paper highlights the need for renewed focus on engaging faith leaders and organisations in health communication and service delivery and presents a model of sustainable engagement of champions in MNCH.

Islamic Norms, Common Law, and Legal Reasoning: Muslim Personal Law and the Economic Consequences of Divorce in India

Two major judgments of the Indian Supreme Court that awarded Muslim women alimony had very different consequences: Shah Bano (1985) evoked extensive conservative Muslim protest that led to legislation meant to limit alimony among Muslims, while Danial Latifi (2001) faced no overt opposition and was not overturned. These consequences were related to the sources and modes of reasoning used. Shah Bano independently interpreted Qurʾanic verses, suggested that commonly applicable laws may override religious law provisions, and called for uniform family laws. Danial Latifi relied solely on statutes of Indian Muslim law and Islamic norms. It thus followed the Indian state’s usual approach to personal law, which is sensitive to public preference that family life should be regulated according to religious and other cultural norms. However, public opinion provided support to change Muslim law earlier than the 1970s. More extensive changes could be introduced over the next decade in Muslim law based on Islamic norms and Muslim opinion.

British Cryptanalysis and China, 1937–1945: An Underused Source for Recent Chinese History?

This article discusses British cryptanalysis of Chinese diplomatic traffic, and of the diplomatic traffic of other states such as Japan and Afghanistan regarding China, between 1937 and 1945. The records are in the British National Archives HW12 series, which has not been thoroughly exploited by historians due to inadequate cataloging. The article shows how British and American views on the failings of Chinese communications security, which led to much-resented restrictions on Chinese diplomatic reportage and a general reluctance to share high-level information with China, were informed partly by the extent of Japanese mastery of Chinese traffic, which was in turn disclosed through British and American successes against Japanese communications. Finally, Chinese and Japanese efforts to court Muslim opinion internationally are discussed to illustrate how material in HW12 can make a useful contribution to the study of diplomacy and intrigue during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Propaganda Broadcasts and Cold War Politics: The Carter Administration's Outreach to Islam

After the Islamic revolution in Iran in early 1979 and the hostage crisis that began at the U.S. embassy in Tehran later that year, the Carter administration launched a public diplomacy campaign specifically directed at Muslims, the first of its kind. The idea was to counter the narrative of a Western crusade against Islam while highlighting the differences between the United States and militant Islam. In time, the damage control effort was transformed into an attempt to rally Muslims—both outside and inside the Soviet Union—against Soviet Communism. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan created an opportunity for the United States to bolster its standing in the Islamic world. Influencing Muslim opinion was no longer just a matter of delegitimizing the discourse of radical Islam, but also one of using the growth of religious sentiment among Muslims against the Soviet Union. The initiative's spearhead was the increased multilingual radio broadcasts directed at Muslim audiences across the globe.

Fatwa and Propaganda: Contemporary Muslim Responses to the Sudanese Mahdiyya

The powerful call (daʿwa) of Muḥammad Aḥmad, the self-styled Mahdī, and his ensuing jihad against Ottoman-Egyptian rule in Sudan provoked a variety of responses within the larger Muslim community. The ʿulamāʾ, al-Azhar-trained orthodox legal and religious scholars in Khartoum and Cairo, responded with outrage and detailed legal arguments, challenging the credentials of an individual they insisted was an impostor, and rehearsing instead the legitimacy of the Ottoman Sultan as the bona fide leader of the faithful. Beyond the establishment hierarchy, politically- and religiously-motivated activists and propagandists, in Sudan, Egypt and beyond, joined the debate over Muḥammad Aḥmad’s credibility: at stake was a substantial body of susceptible Muslim opinion, in the Ottoman provinces of the Hejaz and Syria and as far away as British-ruled India. This article describes in detail the spiritual and legal arguments over a personality whose claimed mandate had implications for two of the world’s largest empires.

The rise of jihādic sentiments and the writing of history in sixteenth-century Kerala

This article discusses the variation in response to the advent of the Portuguese on the Malabar Coast by different Muslim literary and intellectual figures. It is argued that certain Arabic sources dealing with the history of Islam in Malabar and with jihād against the encroaching Portuguese in fact reveal cleavages and antagonisms within learned Muslim opinion. Both the content of these Arabic texts and the choice of genre by their authors are indicative of this internal conflict within the Malabar Muslim community. Thus, any view positing a monolithic or essentialist view of Malabar Muslims as such becomes untenable. One well-known and previously translated work, Tuḥfat al-Mujāhidīn, by the well-known Malabari scholar Zain al-Din al-Ma‘bari has been misunderstood as entirely representative of the totality of opinion within the Malabari Muslim community. However, it will be argued that a second and hitherto understudied set of texts reveal another, and, startlingly different viewpoint. All these works are clearly products of the conceptual world of jihādi discourse but present sharply opposed prescriptions for collective Muslim actions within Kerala. These divergent prescriptions are rooted in differing historical narratives and imaginaries capable of addressing a perceived profound crisis confronting Malabar Muslims.

Persepsi Waqif dalam Berwakaf Tunai

One of the provision contained in the Act 41 Year 2004 on Waqf is the permissibility of giving waqf in cash. This article describes various perceptions, taking into account of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of cash waqf. Opportunity factors include the management and empowerment opportunities cash waqf as a form of new investment. The concept of fiqh is flexible and dynamic, therefore the waqf as a great potential to be developed according to the needs of the time. Aside of that is disadvantage factors such as absence of the of Muslim's opinion on the issue.DOI: 10.15408/aiq.v5i1.2558

Patriarchy, Community Rights and Institutions for Education: Counter-discourse and Negotiation for Rights

The normality of covert forms of discrimination, and the manner in which intimate, familial and everyday forms of oppression determine political practices and institutional spaces, present a great challenge to women negotiating spaces and rights in public life. Specifically, the paper looks at women’s education in one of the historic centres of education and ‘reforms’ for Muslims of north India, which continues to be representative of educated Muslim opinion and remains centre stage of Muslim politics. The paper also looks at the attempts by women on the campus to negotiate spaces and challenge the constraints put on them. It seeks to bring out innovative ways and use also of the cultural resources to counter the discriminatory discourses and practices. The paper notes the moments of breaking silence and overt resistances as well as non-confrontational strategy of shifting issues that girls employ in order to avoid disciplinary actions.

Islam and the Challenge of Civilization

Abdelwahab Meddeb’s Islam and the Challenge of Civilization offers newperspectives on and fresh associations among historical events in a way thatdraws the curtain and adjusts the view among Muslim public intellectuals.Situated within the broad scholarship of Islamic thought, it engages criticallyand creatively with various doctrinal issues that are being manipulated bysome Muslim opinion leaders to support their own bellicose positions. Theauthor reveals the linkages between Islam and other revealed faiths, especiallyduring the former’s “golden age,” which witnessed productive encounters betweentheologians and philosophers of diverse religious orientations.The book comprises six chapters in addition to a prologue, an epilogue,notes, and two appendices. In his prologue, the author argues that “violenceproduced by belief is not unique to Islam but finds virulent expression evenamong beliefs issuing from the Indian subcontinent” (p. viii) and emphasizesthe need for a “check on violence via the return to context” (p. ix). He seeksto awaken Muslims “to the fact that times have changed” (p. x) and that “theworld is a different place” (p. x), which is why “when it comes to religiousidentity” (p. x), Islam cannot continue to “perceive Christianity as if it werestill its medieval antagonist, despite modern notions of nations and peoplesthat have circumscribed the religion” (p. x). The following statement sums upthe author’s thesis: “In short, if Islam is to be cured of its current affliction, itmust get to that post-Islamic, post-religious place where Christianity and Judaismhave managed to arrive” (p. x). This sounds interesting and prompts ameticulous reader to watch out for an elaboration thereof. Unfortunately, suchan elaboration never appears ...

Negation of Paternity in Islamic Law between Liʿān and DNA Fingerprinting

This essay explores the impact of DNA fingerprinting on the Islamic law of paternity, with a particular focus on paternity negation and the continued validity of liʿān (mutual oaths of condemnation). After surveying the scriptural and legal foundations of liʿān in the Islamic legal tradition, the essay traces the introduction of DNA fingerprinting for the resolution of identity and paternity disputes in the modern period, especially in the American legal context. The essay explores the modern Muslim legal opinion on the issue by examining the statements and discussions of three scholarly councils: the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, and the Islamic Fiqh Council. The essay argues that the modern Muslim opinion on the issue is a function of both the legal characterization of DNA fingerprinting vis-a-vis sharīʿah methods for the establishment and negation of paternity, and the reconstructed role and objective of liʿān as a legal method.

Who speaks for Muslims? The role of the press in the creation and reporting of Muslim public opinion polls in the aftermath of London bombings in July 2005

Muslim public opinion polls are mostly taken at face value as the direct and unbiased voice of British Muslims, but, as this article argues, most of the public opinion polls are commissioned by the media and suffer from similar framing effects to those seen in the general media coverage of Muslims. At a time of national crisis, following the London terrorist attacks in 2005, it has become especially clear that the media have been following their pre-existing narrative on Muslims rather than responding to public interest. We analyse all public opinion polls conducted in the 18 months following the 7 July attacks and all their broadsheet newspaper coverage to show that the media-framing effects influence both the creation of Muslim opinion polls and their reporting.

Introduction

Scholars of the Middle East and North Africa in all disciplines can learn much about their favored topics of interest through the study of music and related cultural practices. However, professional and often personal limitations have precluded awareness of the rich potential that music offers for analyses of Middle Eastern and North African societies. Typically music and the performing arts have been the purview of specialists in ethnomusicology, anthropology of music, and performance studies. Music and other sonic phenomena have been routinely marginalized if not ignored by scholars in Middle East studies, who, to a surprising extent, have reproduced conservative Muslim opinion regarding music by leaving it out of their analyses. Even the majority of ethnographic texts on the region depict Middle Easterners as living in near silence. When scholars have explored the ways in which music and expressive culture might shed light on their areas of expertise, they have tended to apply the conceptual tools of their home disciplines to the study of music: hence we have the sociology and anthropology of music, the history and politics of music and performance, and so on. Music in these studies remains a (usually passive) expression of more fundamental forces, reproducing the marginal position that music, and the arts in general, typically enjoy in Western societies—at best serving as an analytic tool but too seldom understood as an agent itself.

Organ Donation and Islam—Challenges and Opportunities

The issue of organ donation in Islam has been debated for decades, with most religious authorities sanctioning both living-organ and deceased-organ donation. However, disquiet among the Islamic community on the compatibility of organ donation with their faith remains, especially in relation to deceased-organ donation. This remains a topical, controversial, and challenging component of organ procurement at both local and international levels. In this article, I will explore Islamic arguments both for and against organ donation, in the context of both living-donor and deceased-donor models. By discussing both practical and philosophical perspectives, the aim is to facilitate discussion on how best to achieve consensus on this issue by driving the debate forward in an open and all-encompassing manner. Although every attempt should be made to achieve consensus among key Muslim opinion makers (individuals, authorities, and institutions), encouraging personalized decision making by intellectual effort should be the goal to achieve genuine informed consent.

Young British Muslims since 9/11: a Composite Attitudinal Profile

The perceived ‘radicalisation’ of Muslim young people permeates representations of contemporary British Islam, notably in the media, but also in government and political thinking and in some academic discourse. This essay reviews the quantitative evidence base for this widely-held belief, utilising 27 national opinion polls conducted among British Muslims since 2001, the results of which have been disaggregated by age. The views of young Muslims, mostly categorised as under 35 years old, are compared and contrasted with those of the older generation in their faith community, from two broad perspectives. I assess, first, the relative strengths of Muslim and British identities in shaping socio-cultural behaviours and values; second, the impact of government foreign policy and counter-terrorism strategy on Muslim opinion, demonstrating linkages to political ‘alienation’ and Islamophobia. The picture which emerges is by no means monochrome andintergenerational differences are not universally pronounced. The data enable three subcommunities of young British Muslims to be identified, and their attributes are described. One of these, a small minority, is undoubtedly quite ‘radicalised’, but Muslim ‘apartism’ from mainstream British society is far from being the exclusive preserve of this group, and there is a danger that the public policy agenda may become too exclusively focused on them.

Economic freedom in Muslim countries: an explanation using the theory of institutional path dependency

This article explains the level of economic freedom in Muslim countries through the theory of institutional path dependency. Islamic countries are generally not free and they have a poor record regarding property rights. To explain these realities we use the institutional history of Muslim countries. We define three steps: the Arab and Ottoman Empires when Islamic law was of great importance, European colonisation, and the contemporary era with its movement towards a revival of Islam. Islamic law is not liberal. This explain why in general Muslim countries are not free. Colonisation radically changed institutional life in the twentieth century. British colonisation proved to be better than did French or Soviet colonisation. This explains why the Persian Gulf countries are freer. The collapse of the Soviet model explains the speed of liberalisation in former socialist countries (such as Albania, Kyrgyz Republic, and Kazakhstan). Nevertheless, the twentieth century was not just the century of Westernisation. It was also the century of the revival of Islam. The article concludes that the history of the twentieth century does not explain the way in which Muslim countries are attracted by the ideal of the Muslim city. The revival of Islamic intellectual innovations and the evolution of Muslim opinion sustain this thesis. Therefore, there is a dependency on the past and on an imagined future. Islam acts, like yesterday, on the world of institutional possibilities.

Radical Atmosphere: Explaining Jihadist Radicalization in the UK

In the months following the July 7, 2005, attack that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more, the British government was at pains to deny allegations that Britain was targeted by homegrown, al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists because of its Middle East foreign policy. Yet the government was privately aware by May 2004 that a “particularly strong cause of disillusionment amongst Muslims … is a perceived ‘double standard’ in the foreign policy of western governments (and often those of Muslim governments), in particular Britain and the U.S” (FCO/HO 2005). Specific causes cited were bias towards Israel vis-à-vis Palestinians; non-action on Kashmir and Chechnya; and “active oppression” in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the wider “war on terror.” Other alleged causes included social and economic deprivation, Islamophobia (particularly following 9/11), and intergenerational clashes between first, second, and third generation Muslims. But little attempt was made either before or after July 7, 2005, to examine the interaction between these domestic and foreign sources of radicalization. This paper attempts to do so by examining the rhetoric and actions of a range of young British Muslims including: examples of 48 persons convicted of, charged for, or killed by violent jihad—evidence of young Muslim opinion on extremism and causes of violent jihadi terror in Britain. The evidence from this preliminary study, though not large enough to draw reliable statistical inferences, does suggest that not only is British foreign policy a significant source of alienation among young British Muslims, but that attitudes towards British foreign policy interact with and often reinforce domestic social, cultural, and economic sources of discontent. As explained in the literature review below, examining the links between perceptions of foreign policy towards the wider Muslim Ummah and sources of domestic discontent offers a more satisfying account of British Muslim radicalization than those offered by the dominant structural (social network theories) and “aggrieved actor” interpretations. I would like to thank Jonathan Githens-Mazer for organizing the PSA panel at the 2007 APSA Annual Meeting where I presented this paper. I would also like to thank Shah Miah for allowing me to cite evidence from his BA research project (Queen Mary, University of London); Emily Mclean Inglis and Anthony de Silva for research assistance; and Zamila Bunglawala for advice and data on British Muslims and the labor market.

Ferhat Abbas, Vichy's National Revolution, and the Memory of the Royaume arabe

Ferhat Abbas, Vichy's National Revolution, and the Memory of the Royaume arabe Jeremy F. Lane In his memoir, la nuit coloniale (1962), Ferhat Abbas offered what might be termed the conventional account of the impact of the Second World War on the politicization of Algeria's Muslim population. In the inter-war years, Abbas had been an important voice of moderate Muslim opinion in Algeria. A leading member of the Jeune Algérien movement, which took its inspiration from Kemal Ataturk's modernization of Turkey, Abbas had looked to French republicanism to redress the injustices of colonial Algeria. He had, for example, played a key role in the campaign in support of the Blum-Violette reforms of 1936-37, a project to secure a significant increase in the number of naturalized Algerian Muslims that had been blocked largely on account of the actions of the powerful colonial lobby in the French parliament. As Abbas put it in La Nuit coloniale: "ma génération et celles qui l'ont précedée […] se sont obstinées à recourir à la France républicaine et libérale contre la France colonialiste et tyrannique. Elles pensaient qu'il suffisait d'éclairer la première sur les contradictions qui ont fait naître nos malheurs pour qu'elle y mette fin." The events of the Second World War, however, put an end to any such illusions, convincing Abbas that colonialism was "une entreprise raciale de domination et d'exploitation," in which even the most enlightened strands of French republican opinion were fully implicated.1 Hence, according to Abbas, it was the experience of the War that had finally convinced him that an independent Algeria was the necessary precursor to any genuine improvement in the political status and socio-economic condition of Algeria's Muslim population. A concrete manifestation of this significant shift in political position could be found in the "Manifeste du peuple algérien," which Abbas published in February 1943, following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November of the previous year. Here he explicitly rejected any policy of assimilation, whilst strongly suggesting that outright independence was now the only feasible option.2 In justifying his rejection of the politics of assimilation, Abbas alluded firstly to the failure of the Blum-Violette project, to what he termed "le refus systématique ou déguisé de donner accès dans la cité française aux Algériens musulmans." The failure of the Blum-Violette project had demonstrated the inability of enlightened French republicans to achieve even a modest improvement in the Muslims' political [End Page 19] status. Meanwhile the actions of the Vichy regime in Algeria, in the period between the fall of France in June 1940 and the Allied invasion of November 1942, had shown that even were any such improvement in status to be granted by the French, it could all too easily be rescinded with the next change of regime. Here Abbas focused on the abrogation of the Crémieux decree in October 1940, the infamous measure by which the Vichy authorities had stripped Algerian Jews of their French nationality and hence of their political rights. If nationality, once granted by the French, could simply be rescinded on a whim, then Algerian Muslims should no longer place their faith in the ability of French nationality and citizenship to secure their emancipation. What the Vichy regime and its abrogation of the Crémieux decree had proved was that true emancipation and equality could only come through the acquisition of Algerian nationality and citizenship. As the text of the "Manifeste" concluded: Cette politique [d'assimilation] apparaît aujourd'hui, aux yeux de tous, comme une réalité inaccessible, une machine dangereuse mise au service de la colonisation. L'heure est passée où un Musulman algérien demandera autre chose que d'être un Algérien musulman. Depuis l'abrogation du décret Crémieux surtout, la nationalité et la citoyenneté algériennes lui offrent plus de sécurité et apportent une plus claire et plus logique solution au problème de son évolution et de son émancipation ("Manifeste" 37). In his retrospective account of these events in La Nuit coloniale, Abbas...

Politik Pelembagaan Syariat: Strategi dan Argumentasi PPP, PBB, dan PKS di Sidang Tahunan MPR 1999-2002

Of the classical problems in the discourse of Islam and politics is controversy on interpretation of Islamic Syari‘ah, and there is no single or only one true definition of the term. The controversy is going worse when some groups of Muslim—with or without intervension and support of the ruling power—insist to have their opinion the true one and should be followed by others. This article is comparing the strategy and arguments used by the three Islam-based parties—PPP, PBB, and PKS—in the parliament of Indonesia when they respond the discourse of applying Islamic Syari‘ah in Indonesia. They share opinion that the application of Islamic Syari‘ah through state is a duty of every Muslim, but they differ one another in the way or strategy of realizing and making that come true. Different from PPP and PBB that struggle for adopting the Jakarta Carter into Indonesian 1945 Constitution, PKS (with PAN) suggest adopting Medina Carter. When the majority of parliament members refuses both suggestions, the three parties also take different ways responding the refusal. While PPP can understand the refusal and explicitly agree to no-amendment on the article 29 of Indonesian 1945 Constitution, PBB and PKS declare to be abstains. The controversy indicates the difficulty of unifying Muslim opinion and strategy relating to the how to position Islam in the context of state. The phenomena that occurs between the supporting and the refusing group is not only in terms of positivization of Islamic Syari‘ah , but also in applying Islam. It ranges from the issues of struggle strategy to the decision of aspects of Syari‘ah that can be adopted in or made positive law.