Muslim Relations Research Articles

‘We Aren't Killing Each Other, but We Bear Grudges that Could Be Sparked’: How Interreligious ‘Peace’ and Non-peace Coexist in a West African City

ABSTRACT An impact of the continual occurrence of Christian–Muslim conflicts in northern Nigeria is the direction of both academic and peace-building attention to the zones of conflict in the region, partly because it is assumed that it is the conflict or post-conflict areas that are deeply divided and should be dealt with. But the reality is that even the religiously mixed parts of the region where there has been no case of interreligious violence for years have only a fragile peace. In this article, I highlight an idea that has been around in Peace Studies: that the absence of intergroup violence does not necessarily mean the presence of peace between groups, and that, even in religiously mixed settings where interreligious violence has been absent for years, there could be serious interreligious and intrareligious divisions, hatred, suspicion and other threats to the existing partial peace. This was the case in Abuja, where I conducted fieldwork from January to August 2019. I contend that this has important implications for our visualization and mapping of (non)peaceful settings, our theory and practice of peace-building in northern Nigeria and other religiously mixed societies, and our study of Christian–Muslim or interreligious relations.

U-12 Muslim-Non-Muslim Relations in the Abbasid Era of the Subcontinent: A Research Review

The era of the Abbasid Caliphate (750 -1258AD) is a period of cultural rise of Muslims. Although the Abbasid Caliphate was less extensive than the Umayyad Caliphate, the Abbasid Caliphate was still the largest political entity in the world. In this era the five independent governments of Subcontinent, are particularly noteworthy: 1. Daulat Mahaniya Sanjan (Subcontinent) 2. Habariya, Mansura (Sindh) 3. Daulat Samia Multan (Punjab) 4. Makran 5. Turan.In addition to these five permanent governments, some of them were permanent rulers who belonged directly to the Caliph of Baghdad. But their status was no more than that of big landowners and feudal lords. The article aims to analyze Muslim and non-Muslim relations, during the Abbasid’s rule in Subcontinent in historical context. During this era the government did not intervene in the people’s affairs. Any disputes or problems relating to the law were referred to the judge but this Islamic rule was only restricted to the Muslims. The non-Muslims were not bound to follow it. Every place had its own local meeting which would deal with any case according to its own rules and customs. Hence, they could design and implement their own law. In short the Muslim ruling period of Sub-continent provides a practical base in the way of Muslim, non- Muslim relation in present age.

The Quranic concept of al-samad, history of its Greek translations, and correlation with the “Eternal God" in Slavic liturgical texts

The author examines the history of emergence of the controversial translation of “Eternal God” in the Slavic liturgical ceremony of the acceptance of Muslims into Orthodoxy; as well as reviews canonical texts and refers to the relevant scientific data to describe the known facts on the sources of the origin of this concept. Special attention is given to the problem of interpretation of the Islamic doctrine by John of Damascus, Theodore Abū Qurrah, Niketas Choniates, Bartholomew of Edessa, who had a remarkable impact upon the Byzantine perception of Islam. Leaning on the history of interpretation of the fundamental Quranic concept al-samad, the author provides a cross-section of the Orthodox – Muslim relations that have evolved over several centuries. The article demonstrates that the interpretation of the corresponding Quranic passage in the Christian polemical texts took the path of distortion and loose interpretation of the Islamic doctrine. The authentic Islamic description of al-samad along with the research dedicated to etymology of this word and its ancient pre-Islamic meaning are presented. The question is raised on the existence of various Slavic revisions of liturgical ceremony of acceptance of Muslims into Orthodoxy, since the initial centuries of the Christian mission on the Slavic lands until the amended versions of text emerged in the Russian Empire in the late XIX – early XX centuries, which expelled this term from circulation as improper.

Peacemaking and holy war: Christian–Muslim diplomacy, c. 1095–1291, in crusades historiography

AbstractThe Christian holy wars known as the crusades are amongst the most well‐known events of the Middle Ages and continue to influence perceptions of Christian–Muslim relations to the present day. Less often acknowledged is the fact that treaties and negotiations across religious boundaries were a continuous feature throughout the crusading era. This article provides an outline of Christian–Muslim peacemaking during the crusades to the East, as well as an introduction to how inter‐religious diplomacy has been interpreted in crusades historiography. It then considers the broader implications of peacemaking for the study of the crusades and recommends potential areas for further research.

Imaginary spaces of devotion in Andalusi mystical poetry: Christian monks and monasteries in a qaṣīda by al-Shushtarī

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 45, 4, 2020 © The Maghreb Review 2020 This publication is printed on FSC Mix paper from responsible sources IMAGINARY SPACES OF DEVOTION IN ANDALUSI MYSTICAL POETRY: CHRISTIAN MONKS AND MONASTERIES IN A QAṢĪDA BY ALSHUSHTAR Ī ANNA AYSE AKASOY* It is my pleasure to contribute this article in honour of Ronald Nettler and in appreciation of our conversations about religious dialogue, Jewish–Muslim relations and Sufism. In the 1960s, the Spanish tourism industry sought to attract visitors by declaring that ‘España es diferente’, ‘Spain is different’ – a phrase which can be traced back at least to the Spanish War of Independence in the early nineteenth century. Different, one assumes, from other destinations of northern European tourists, different, one assumes as well, on account of its history of religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. Different here amounts to exotic.1 Inside Spain as well, the declaration has been used for regional purposes.2 Inspired by this slogan, historians too have been considering this difference of Spain. Social, political and cultural patterns which have been identified for other regions of the European continent are sometimes seen as not applying to Spain. The question about Spain’s difference, however, predates the time when Spain became Spain. For related, or for entirely different reasons, al-Andalus, the area of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule, was already different. Within the Islamic world, the most obvious difference of al-Andalus is that it did not remain part of this political and indeed religious sphere but was the only major landmass conquered during the first century or so of Islamic history that did not stay under Islamic rule. Other differences too come easily to mind. It was in al-Andalus, for example, that the Umayyad dynasty survived after its fall to the Abbasids in the mid-eighth century. As the Abbasids moved their capital eastward from Damascus to Baghdad, it was arguably geographical distance which allowed a second bloom of Umayyad rule in the West. The continuity of Umayyad rule in Iberia had further consequences, such as the almost uniform dominance of the Maliki legal school of Sunni Islam; this in turn had further consequences,3 * The Graduate Center, City University of New York An earlier version of this essay was presented at the Mediterranean Seminar in April 2017. I would like to thank Sharon Kinoshita and Brian Catlos as well as the participants for their comments. 1 For the commodification of Spain’s difference see Simon R. Doubleday and David Coleman (eds), In the Light of Medieval Spain. Islam, the East, and the Relevance of the Past (New York, 2008). 2 Eric Calderwood, ‘“In Andalucía, there are no Foreigners”: Andalucismo from Transperipheral Critique to Colonial Apology’, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 15/4 (2014), 399–417. 3 For an account of some of these developments in Islamic law see Maribel Fierro, ‘Proto- 722 ANNA AYSE AKASOY extending perhaps even to the absence of hospitals, which may have been a consequence of Maliki regulations for pious endowments (awqāf). Although the presence of hospitals in North Africa – likewise subject to Maliki law – suggests that an explanation might be better sought elsewhere, the very fact that hospitals or other institutions (such as madrasas) did not develop in al-Andalus until much later than elsewhere in the Islamic world remains noteworthy.4 Opportunities for identifying difference as it was recognised by contemporaries emerge from encounters between Andalusis and Mashriqis (‘Easterners’). Easterners found their way into the West comparatively rarely, but Westerners more or less frequently travelled to the East. Their motivations ranged from the pilgrimage and education to trade and diplomacy. Occasionally the sources produced in relation to such journeys provide us with glimpses into mutual perceptions of Easterners and Westerners within the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.5 They reveal different religious doctrines and practices, different political views, different Arabic vocabularies as well as different customs in clothing or eating. While some of these differences were noticed with curiosity, others resulted in judgement. Although the extent of social segregation and cultural identity remains unclear, Andalusis or Westerners in the Eastern Mediterranean appear to have constituted in some ways a recognisable community, especially...

Religious Pluralism and Interfaith Coexistence: Ecumenicalism in the Context of Traditional Modes of Tolerance

In many parts of the developing world, religion is singled out as the cause for violent clashes. At the 2007 TrustAfrica workshop in Dakar, the conference of religious leaders, scholars, and experts from 12 African countries and the Diaspora explored this concern under the theme "Meeting the Challenges of Religion and Pluralism in Africa." It was observed that religiously justified conflicts were often the repackaging of community concerns regarding issues of social, economic, and political injustices, inequities and exclusions. Consequently, a project on “religious pluralism and interfaith coexistence in Ghana” was funded in 2008 as part of the efforts to examine the role of local traditions as a foundation to interfaith dialogue. Earlier in 2005, a similar project on the theme of Islam and tolerance, with funding from Harvard and Michigan State University, was conducted in Ghana. Several issues emerging from the field conversations are pertinent to topics of how history shaped Muslim relations with their non-Muslim hosts in West Africa. It is often argued in the literature that Islam’s inherently adoptive attitude toward African religious culture made it possible for Muslims and their non-Muslim hosts to co-exist. However, this research contends that, in the case of Ghana, it was the traditional local culture as defined by indigenous religious values that shaped and moderated the environment that sustained peaceful interreligious relations. The authors express concern that as the country experiences rapid urbanization, Westernization, proliferation of charismatic churches and aggressive Christian evangelization, the traditional values that underpinned pluralism and peace in historic times might be threatened (George Bob-Milliar and Karen Lauterback, 2018).
 

Book Review: Jorg Friedrichs. 2019. Hindu–Muslim Relations: What Europe might learn from India

Book Review: Jorg Friedrichs. 2019. <i>Hindu–Muslim Relations: What Europe might learn from India</i>

The Cross versus the Crescent: Karl Kumm’s Missiology

ABSTRACTThis article surveys the missiology promoted in the writings of the Protestant missionary Karl Kumm during the first decades of the twentieth century. Kumm was famous as a missionary explorer. He was the first European to successfully cross the region known as the Sudan, from the Niger bend to the Nile. He was also notable because he founded two different missions in two different places in Africa, both aimed at evangelizing the peoples of the Sudan. Lastly, Kumm was significant for having constructed in his various writings a highly influential case against the evangelization of Muslims and for the evangelization of traditionalist people. Kumm, his ideas and actions helped shape government policy towards Christian missions and Christian–Muslim relations in colonial Northern Nigeria.

Resisting Fragmentation: An Exploration of South Asian Muslim Women’s Resistance as Resilience in the ‘War on Terror’ in Britain Under the Lens of Hegemony

In Britain, the ‘war on terror’ exposes fissures, breaks and dislocations in the inter-relationship/inter-connection of South Asian Muslim women with dominant political and social systems. This paper uses Antonio Gramsci’s conception ‘hegemony’ to elucidate South Asian Muslim women’s struggle to retain, and extend identity formations in conditions of harm and political and social environs of hostility. It departs from conventional studies by using hegemony as struggle for domination as the theoretical frame to explore the psychological effects of political harm to self and identity. Gramsci’s notion of ‘the war of position’ locates the ‘war on terror’ as historic/temporal, a prolonged struggle for domination/hegemony in British/South Asian Muslim relations. This paper employs findings from ethnographic research to make the case that, in this hostile environment, South Asian Muslim women in Britain are engaged in counter-hegemonic resistance in the generation of hybrid identities. Securing new identities requires considerable psychological and cultural flexibility; it involves repositioning fragments of self to reformulate, to create, identity in a climate of hatred and fear.

ANALISIS WACANA KRITIS PADA KONTEN “MASJID UNTUK SEMUA” DI MEDIA YOUTUBE CISFORM UIN SUNAN KALIJAGA, YOGYAKARTA

CISForm (Center for the Study of Islam and Sosial Transformation) is an institution that takes a role in the production of content on Youtube. By seeing how much content has been uploaded, this research examines the value contained in the content of CISForm. In this case, this research focusses on one content; namely "Masjid untuk Semua." This study uses qualitative research methods and is dissected with critical discourse analysis by Norman Fairclough. Analysis is reviewed in three dimensions, namely text analysis, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice. The results of this study indicate the existence of discourse construction games in the video. Text analysis shows the number of a clause and phrase games in each conversation. Text discourse wants to eliminate Islam that is labeled as cruel, intolerant, ill-tempered, scornful, disrespectful and does not respect different beliefs. The level of discourse practice shows that CISForm tends to produce content related to sosial phenomena. Educational background and the organization and thoughts of the figures in the CISForm institution are part of the birth of the discourse construction factor in the video. Sociocultural practice, answers the problem of the noise that carries the name of religion. The concept of rahmatan lil ‘alamin is a concept that colours the content of the video "Masjid untuk Semua," this concept emphasizes mutual respect even though different in belief. Muslim relations with tolerant non-muslims is constructed in the "Masjid untuk Semua" content.Keywords: Discourse, Masjid untuk Semua, non-muslim, YouTube, CISForm UIN SUKA.

INDONESIAN GLOBAL IKHWAN’S RECEPTION AND EXPRESSION TOWARD SUNNAH POLYGAMY IN ONLINE MEDIA

Evidence of the strength of Indonesian Muslim relations with the text tradition can be found in various practices of daily life. The text referred to in this paper is religious texts, especially hadith. Each group in the community has an expression of diverse receptions to a text. Global Ikhwan, one of the urban Muslim communities in Indonesia which declares the call for polygamy, reveals interesting receptions and expressions to be explored. With a virtual ethnographic approach (netnography), the authors find that they perceive hadith exegesis. The group interpreted the command of polygamy with a more realistic interpretation. They perceive the command of polygamy in the hadith with the meaning of sunnah matrûkah (abandoned sunnah), which is not done by many Muslims. Their expressions are manifested in organizing a short course, coaching for prospective wives who are ready for polygamy, publications, and declarations to various media. If viewed from the aspect of the reception function of the text, the traditions that are receptions are categorized into informative functions, which function as sources of information for carrying out an action.

When the Advantaged Feel Victimised: The Case of Hindus in India

This article seeks to understand the collective victimhood of the Hindus, a majority group in India, relative to the feelings of collective victimhood of the Muslim minority. It studies the role that is played by feelings of collective victimhood (CV) along with ingroup identity, fraternalistic relative deprivation (FRD), intergroup emotions and relative power in responding to intergroup conflict situations. The results showed that Hindus reported collective victimhood in greater amount compared to Muslims. Muslims felt more FRD than Hindus. Hindus also carried more negative emotions as a consequence of experiencing collective victimhood. The preferred reaction of Hindus in conflict situations was of revenge and less of reconciliation. Collective victimhood of Hindus was explained by ingroup identity and negative emotions associated with the experiences of collective victimhood and fraternalistic relative deprivation. The action of revenge of Hindus and Muslims was explained by different sets of factors. Identity and CV-related negative emotions were more important in explaining the revengeful reactions of Hindus, while in the case of Muslims relative power, FRD and FRD-related negative emotions were found more efficacious. Results are explained in the context of current Hindu–Muslim relations in India.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Feudal Economy and Rural Settlement of Oultrejourdain and Their Impact on Muslim Farmers under the Rule of the Crusaders (1099–1189)

Statement of Retraction We, the Editors and Publishers of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, have retracted the following article: Maen Omoush, Feudal Economy and Rural Settlement of Oultrejourdain and Their Impact on Muslim Farmers under the Rule of the Crusaders 1099 1189, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 30.1 (2019) 43–67, 10.1080/09596410.2018.1530886 The article presents a significant amount of similarity with Micaela Sinibaldi, (2014). “Settlement in Crusader Transjordan (1100–1189): a Historical and Archaeological Study”, PhD Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy in Archaeology, Cardiff University. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

The Third Treatise of Shaykh Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṭayyib on Unity and Trinity

ABSTRACTThe article consists of a critical Arabic edition and English translation of the Third Treatise of Shaykh Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṭayyib. The introduction provides a brief, general orientation to the treatise, discussing its relation to two other treatises by the same author and suggesting a chronology. The translation accompanies an article analysing the treatise titled: ‘Ibn al-Ṭayyib’'s Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu’ (Kuhn, M. 2018. “Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu.” Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 29 (2): 123–143).

Richard Sudworth, Encountering Islam: Christian–Muslim Relations in the Public Square

Richard Sudworth, <i>Encountering Islam: Christian–Muslim Relations in the Public Square</i>

A History of Jewish–Muslim Relations from the Origins to the Present DayMeddebAbdelwahabStoraBenjamin A History of Jewish–Muslim Relations from the Origins to the Present Day Princeton University PressPrinceton NJ and Oxford, 2013, 1152, £62.95ISBN 978-0-69115-127-4

A History of Jewish–Muslim Relations from the Origins to the Present DayMeddebAbdelwahabStoraBenjamin <i>A History of Jewish–Muslim Relations from the Origins to the Present Day</i> Princeton University PressPrinceton NJ and Oxford, 2013, 1152, £62.95ISBN 978-0-69115-127-4

China, Japan and Christian Emissaries to Muslim Lands

ABSTRACTThis article explores Christian–Muslim relations in East Asia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through a description of the lives and journeys of three Roman Catholics – Petro Kasui Kibe (Jesuit), Nicholas the Iruman (Augustinian), and Bento de Góis (Jesuit) – to predominantly Muslim lands. Their journeys display the different ways in which Christian–Muslim relations and communication were viewed at that time, and the varying levels of impact that inter-religious dialogue had. Kibe appears to have placed little importance on Christian–Muslim relations and his journey to Jerusalem remains little more than an interesting historical footnote. Nicholas played a background role in the tale of his superiors and travel partners who helped to establish European–Persian relations. And de Góis, through his journey and interactions with Muslims, was able to contribute to a paradigmal shift in European geographical knowledge that changed contemporary understandings of East Asia. The article illustrates that, although Christian–Muslim relations at that time took an array of forms and had a variety of results, episodes from the East Asian mission field that have often been overlooked were highly influential in shaping the early modern world on a regional and global level.

Dinamika Kerukunan Antar Umat Beragama Eksistensi Masyarakat Islam di Bali Pasca Bom Bali Tahun 2002-2012

On Saturday 12 October 2002, at Banjar Lagian Kelod, Kuta, the Bali Bombing explosion occurred. This is an early event that becomes a long struggle between crisis and harmony. The crisis that occurred as a threat to economy and social harmony that has been built in the Balinese society. Series of bombing incidents is not only of course, but also the cracking of Muslim relations with Hindus in Bali. The several concepts used in this study are collective behavior, norms and corporate actors. The methodology used is the oral history method. Research methods and sources include heuristics, criticism, interpretation and historiography. The results reveal there are some disquiets experienced by Muslim community post bomb, including on the social, security, and economic aspects. Similarly, there are some recovery activities conducted by the Ulama in Bali post Bali Bombing, among others by conducting musyawarah, socialization, pengajian, and other social activities, in this case done to restore confidence and re-recognize the existence of Islamic society post Bali Bombing. Collective behavior, corporate norms and actors are the reasons behind the Balinese attitude towards the Islamic community in the face of Bali Bombing.

Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World

Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World

Triumph of the Rajput: Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the fascist aesthetics of Padmaavat

Abstract Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat (2018) re-tells the legendary tale of the Rajput queen Padmavati. In recounting this tale, Bhansali hews to the historic, Manichaean dichotomization of Hindu and Muslim, presenting Rajputs as entirely noble figures and Muslim invaders as essentially barbaric. Employing Susan Sontag’s and Frank Tomasulo’s theorizations of the cinema of Leni Riefenstahl, this article examines how Bhansali glorifies the Rajputs’ purported history via his fascist aesthetics. Such an approach rearticulates history as myth and presents it as a form of theatre. This article analyses Bhansali’s use of such aesthetics to reenact the Manichaean framing of Hindu–Muslim relations, which reaffirm contemporary chauvinistic formulations of the (Hindu) nation. In the process, Bhansali’s film can be seen as lending support to the ideology of contemporary fundamentalist Hindu forces.