Number Of Muslims Research Articles

Kritika islámu na českém internetu – možnosti interpretace

This paper is a case study of the criticism of Islam and Muslims in the Czech lands, as shown on the example of the Facebook page Islám v České republice nechceme (“We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic”). Even though the number of Muslims in the Czech Republic is relatively small (probably not exceeding 11,000 individuals), the topic of Islam and Muslims is widely discussed in the public sphere of the Czech society. This paper aims at answering the following questions connected to Islam entering public sphere: what is the context of criticism of Islam in the Czech society? What theoretical tools of social sciences can be applied in analysing, explaining and understanding this criticism of Islam in the Czech environment? The paper provides a brief analysis of posts on the Facebook page Islám v České republice nechceme. It describes and analyses the content and visual aspects of the posts. The administrators of the page are identified as “opinion leaders”. The role of opinion leaders is based on their involvement in a social categorical relationship shared with their followers, connected to the process of defining Czech national identity. This identity is formulated in contrast with “Islam” and “Muslims”. Their characteristics and values are generally presented as contradictory to “Czech cultural values”. The criticism of Islam is interpreted as a case of “moral panics”, and, for its connection to the process of defining Czech national identity, it is also endowed with considerable political potential. The criticism of Islam in the process of defining Czech national identity is connected to the imagery of Muslims in the collective memory of the Czech society.

Between Fitna and the Idyll

The article aims to explore and analyze online activity of Polish female converts to Islam, especially, on forums. Since the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal, Internet forums provide the converts with a sense of a virtual Polishummaas well as information about Islam. At the same time, most of these forums are closed or hidden from the outside world and often only accessible through a network of contacts from the real world. In other words, forum members know each other in person. That is why ideological divisions (mostly between Salafīs and more liberal Muslimas) are visible also in the virtual world. This makes many converts unambiguous when it comes to their sense of belonging to the virtualumma: on one side, the virtualummais their link to other Muslims but, on the other side, they feel misunderstood or even excluded due to the ideological differences within it.

The Advent and Schisms of Sufi Orders in Mozambique, 1896–1964

Sufi identity and rituals became widespread among local Muslims during the colonial era due to the expansion of the Shadhuliyya and the Qadiriyya orders. But the history of Sufism in Mozambique has been little explored. Portuguese colonial officials began paying closer attention to Islam in general and Sufism in particular only toward the end of the colonial period, especially in the late 1960s. This sudden interest was prompted by the independence war that took place mostly in northern Mozambique, where significant numbers of Muslims lived. The colonial Secret Service was mandated to find out how and why Muslims were involved in the independence struggle and in which ways they could be subverted. Otherwise there has been very limited research on Sufism, especially since Mozambique achieved independence. This article examines the historical context into which the orders arrived, and what prompted their significant expansion, as well as the reasons why they subsequently split up into eight autonomous branches. It is based on archival research in Mozambique and Portugal and fieldwork conducted at Mozambique Island, and in Angoche, Nampula, Pemba and Maputo cities.

Islam And South Korea’s Middle East Diplomacy

Islam was reintroduced into South Korea during the Korean War due to the participation of the Turkish army. In its more than 50 years’ development process, the achievements of Korean Islam include the establishment of legal Islamic organizations, the construction of mosques all over the country, pilgrimage to Mecca, translation of the Koran into Korean, and the establishment of an Islamic Institute. The number of Muslims in South Korea has grown considerably. South Korea’s Middle East diplomacy began in 1957; its spheres include economic diplomacy, international contribution diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy. South Korea has gained a certain level of influence in the Middle East. South Korea’s Islamic communities take part in the government’s Middle East diplomacy at various levels, and this is a powerful supplement to official Middle East diplomacy.

Towards a curriculum and pedagogy in Islamic marketing

The number of Muslims is increasing around the world and so is the commercial interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims. Notwithstanding this development until recently, little effort has devoted to studying Islamic marketing which can undoubted facilitate these interactions. This paper argues not only for an increased intellectual activity in the field of Islamic marketing but specifically calls for the development of academic curricula in Islamic marketing. It also discusses possible course contents and the pedagogic issues that will arise.

The Case for Muslim Aged Care in the West

The number of Muslims in the West is growing, and with a corresponding increase in the average life expectancy of Muslims across the globe, there are legitimate concerns for Muslim aged care in the West. For practicing Muslims for whom Islam is not just a religion but also a way of life, aged care in general is a complex issue. One aspect of care not always incorporated into the overall aged care regime in the West makes it difficult for Muslims to access care that is deemed appropriate. This critical aspect is faith or religion without which Muslims are deprived of a viable choice amidst an array of services catering to mainstream care recipients. This article seeks to make a case for enhancing the choice of Muslims living in Western countries when it comes to choosing the right care for their twilight years. Therefore, the main argument of this article is that faith considerations must be recognised in care planning and delivery so that appropriate care can be offered to practicing Muslims.

Surveying an urban 'umma islamiyya' in Germany: numbers and issues relating to the religious self-identification

This article looks at self-identified Muslims in Germany, taking the city of Frankfurt am Main as an example. The article makes extensive use of recent qualitative and quantitative research data on Islam in Germany. It aims to help those religious studies scholars who do not have command of the German language or lack access to the referred research to get a quick introduction into the topic. A closer look at the existing data suggests that the imagined 'umma islamiyya', posited both through the scholarly research and internal Islamic view as 'the Muslim community' is a fictitious entity. It is composed of heterogeneous individuals who are viewed as members of abstract sets according to their origins, ethnicity, mother language, denomination, religiosity, migrant history, gender, age, education, social openness and other criteria. Slightly more than a half of the estimated 80,000 Muslims in Frankfurt have a migrant background with origins in Turkey. Significant numbers of Muslims come from Morocco, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Three out of four Muslims in Frankfurt are Sunnis. Other big denominations are Shiites, Alevis and Ahmadis. Research shows that the majority of individuals who self-identify as Muslims are not involved in the existing Muslim associations and do not feel represented by them. Brief observations are made on the growing Salafi identity among younger Muslims. The number of individuals belonging mostly to the second and third generations of Muslim migrants, whose imagined Salafi Muslim identity dominates over their cultural, ethnic and class divisions, while still small, is growing.

Cosmopolitan theology: Fethullah Gülen and the making of a ‘Golden Generation’

Global conditions, under which an increasing number of Muslims in the world currently live, do not just generate idioms of purity often adduced to global Islam, but also new and diverse forms of sociability and notions of global citizenship. This article addresses, as an example in case, Hizmet, one of the fastest growing contemporary Islamic movements. Hizmet and its founder Fethullah Gülen propagate a global Islamic doctrine with explicitly cosmopolitan underpinnings. However, there seems to be a contradiction between the cosmopolitan inclusiveness and universality of Gülen's global message, and strong internal hierarchical structures and the disciplining modes of teaching and training that are applied by the movement to teach the doctrine. I will argue that there is no contradiction between these two aspects when we focus on the central position of ‘hermeneutics of the self’ and civic responsibility in Gülen's theology.

“Far Beyond the Western Sea of the Arabs...”: Reinterpreting Claims about Pre-Columbian Muslims in the Americas

This article employs a historiographical approach to examine the controversial premise that Muslim explorers reached the Americas well before Columbus. Interestingly, those who originally conceived this premise in the early-to-mid twentieth century were not Muslims, and they emphasized the cultural or geographical (African and/or Arabian) rather than religious origins of alleged explorers to the New World. By the mid-to-late twentieth century, other proponents of the premise had created a popular literature that presented additional “evidence,” including language similarities, narratives, maps of exploration, and material culture artifacts. This evidence, which is described and evaluated herein, involves a number of fields or disciplines such as archaeology, history, and linguistics. Given the fragmentary and sometimes contradictory nature of this evidence, most professionals in varied fields are unconvinced that Islam predates Spanish exploration in the New World. That, however, has not deterred proponents, which now includes a growing number of Muslims who actively use religious magazines and websites to promote it. One can debate the premise, but perhaps a more productive way of addressing it may not be to determine whether it is “true” or “false,” but rather to examine it as socio-political narrative that serves several purposes. First, the premise is clearly revisionist in that it directly challenges the timeline of the European Age of Exploration. Second, it builds upon the commonly-held belief that a “Golden Age of Islam” (ca. 750 to 1275 ce) represented a superior culture that had accomplished great things before it was overwhelmed by western colonialism. By asserting the presence of Islam in the Americas before the arrival of Christians (and Jews), its supporters transform Islam into an indigenous American faith, thereby re-defining the ummah (worldwide community of Muslims) as predecessors, rather than recent arrivals, in the non-Muslim world.

Sharī‘a and State Law

The growing numbers of Muslims in the West have ignited a debate about the compatibility of Sharī‘a with state law. The present article explores the issue from a historical perspective by providing a brief survey of Islamic legal history. It specifically focuses on the interaction of Sharī‘a with the English legal system in colonial India. The main argument of the article is that during its long history, Sharī‘a co-existed with the ruler’s law (siyāsa) and customary law (‘urf). It was formally incorporated into the structure of the state with the active participation of Muslim legal commentators, judges, lawyers, politicians, and the ‘ulamā’ in colonial India. The incorporation of Sharī‘a into the state law was facilitated through the transplantation of legislative and hierarchical judicial institutions, which provided venues for a legal discourse among various stakeholders. Historical evidence suggests the feasibility of incorporating Sharī‘a into state law in Western democratic countries.

Head-wagging and the sounds of obscenity: Conflicts over sound on the Qing-Muslim frontiers

Abstract On both the southwestern and the northwestern frontiers of their expanding empire, the eighteenth-century Qing dynasty (1636–1912) ruled over considerable numbers of Muslims. This article examines two legal cases in which Muslims sued other Muslims in a secular Qing court to resolve issues of Islamic practice that involved sound. The southwestern (Yunnan) Qalandar case (c.1710) pitted conventional imams and Sino-Muslim elites against ‘wild Sufis’ from India and northwest China. The northwestern (Gansu) litigation (1760s–1780s) was brought by two Sufi orders that claimed to practice different rituals: one silent and one vocal. In both cases, the Qing officials found themselves adjudicating accusations of Islamic heterodoxy, which they decided by analogy to Qing legal definitions of Confucian heterodoxy. Using new materials for the Gansu case, the article concludes that one of the Sufi orders manipulated the Qing officials’ ignorance of Islam, the Arabic language and Islamic sound to win a conflict that thereafter divided the region for more than a century.

Diet-Related Behaviors and Food Preference of Indonesian

As Korea is moving toward multicultural society, the number of Muslim, whose religion has a great influence on diet-related behaviors, is increasing in Korea. Since the number of immigrants from Indonesia ranks within top ten in Korea and Indonesia is one of the most representative Islamic countries in Asia, understanding the diet-related behaviors and food preferences of Indonesians is needed. This study was conducted to investigate diet-related behaviors, factors affecting the diet-related perceptions, and food preferences of the Indonesians. The subjects included 500 Indonesians dwelling in Jakarta, Indonesia. About ninety % of the subjects in this study were Muslims. They did not eat pork and dog meat for religious reason and they practiced fasting during Ramadan period. Indonesians avoided pineapple, durian, and hot foods during pregnancy and usually ate vegetables and fruits after birth, which seemed to be due to sociocultural influence. Among the subjects, 21.5% were obese and major health problems reported were hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Their preference for fried food items might have contributed to health problems. Subjects had meals mostly at home (2.3 times/day) and dined out occasionally (1.2 times/ week) at Indonesian restaurants (56.6%) or family restaurants (21.0%). In conclusion, Indonesians had homebased and native food-oriented dietary life with strong religious and sociocultural influence on food choices. Further research on specific nutrient intake analysis is needed to better understand and to improve dietary life of Indonesians in Korea. (Korean J Community Nutr 19(1) : 41~50, 2014)

BEHIND THE SCENES: A REVIEW OF WESTERN FIGURES’ SUPPORTIVE COMMENTS REGARDING THE QUR’AN

Numerous supportive affirmations from non-Muslim scholars appeal to a great number of Muslims who endeavor to validate the Qur’ān’s sanctity as well as inimitability. This essay investigates the motives behind why various westerners or Europeans discuss the Qur’ān and Islam in such supportive manner, and how Muslims have interpreted those comments.

Myths and Facts on the Future Number of Muslims—a Danish Case Study

Abstract The article discusses various estimates of Muslim populations in Europe, showing that the public debate on numbers reflects academia’s difficulties in quantifying the Muslim populations. Projections of growth in the number of Muslims in Europe are exaggerated both in academia and in the public in general, leading to the construction of myths on the future number of Muslims in Europe. In this article various methods in the field of demography of religion are discussed on the basis of the Danish case. A more precise estimation of Muslims based on national statistics is proposed for countries where direct data on religious affiliation is not available.

The Presence and the Memory of Islam during the “Spiritual Conquest” of the New World (Sixteenth Century): A Brazilian Case Study

The Presence and the Memory of Islam during the “Spiritual Conquest” of the New World (Sixteenth Century):A Brazilian Case Study Alessandro Vanoli (bio) Today we begin to perceive how complex and diverse the relationship between military and institutional conquest and “spiritual conquest” was, according to Robert Ricard’s famous definition (even if it, perhaps, has not been sufficiently investigated from an epistemological point of view).1 In the past, this problem has usually been investigated from the point of view of the entrance of European Christianity into the Atlantic World through the migrations of Europeans to Africa and America. However, more often, particularly in recent decades, scholars have begun to focus their interest on other religious groups, investigating their influence and their concrete presence in the Atlantic space during the Early Modern period. This has led, for example, to an increasing scholarly attention being given to traditional African religions,2 or the predicaments of Judeoconversos and Afroiberians.3 [End Page 219] The case of Islam, in this sense, is not an exception. Obviously, it is sufficiently known and accepted that in the first century of the conquest, most changes in religious diversity in the New World pertained to Christianity. The first mass migration of Muslims would arrive later as a result of the slave trade.4 But new studies in recent decades have shown that a scrutiny of the Atlantic dimension of the Islamic presence could offer important insight. First of all (and this is maybe the best-studied element), Islam played an important role in the cultural memory of the conquistadores and in their literary reminiscence. Secondly, the long period of relationships and fights with Islam was crucial in the conquerors’ adaptation to the New World and in their definition of new institutions, above all from a religious point of view (for example, concerning the well-known complex relationship between the catechisms produced in Spain for the moriscos and the ones produced in America for the natives).5 Third, the concrete presence of men and women of Muslim faith is a worthy object of discussion in and of itself. The few scholars who have dealt with the problem of a true [End Page 220] presence of Muslims in the New World (before the arrival of Muslims among the black slaves in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) agree that the small number of people involved should be emphasized, but they diverge considerably with regard to the interpretation of the collected data. Yet even if the number of Muslims was relatively modest, it does not make the cases in question less interesting. Fourth (but it may be considered a corollary of the previous three points), Islam was also present in the fears and in the perspectives of the religious men who investigated the spirituality of the new Christians that started to populate the Americas. The Moriscos and the New World After a riot in March of 1500, the Muslims of Granada had to choose between conversion or expulsion. Hence, by 1502 all people of Granada were officially “Christians”: from that moment the mudejares, the Muslims in Christian territory had disappeared from Spain (openly at least), and a population of new Christians was created from the descendants of the Muslim population. In a short time, these people, would be known as moriscos.6 The moriscos were new Christians, but retained ties to both their cultural and religious traditions. For this reason, as also happened with regard to the conversos of Jewish descent, moriscos became an object of attention for the Inquisition. However, this was not immediately rigorously pursued. During the first forty years of the sixteenth century the Iberian inquisitors devoted much of their attention to the crypto-judaism of conversos and to the traces of Protestant contagion that was spreading throughout Europe. Such dangers, however, were not always so easily [End Page 221] recognizable. Doctrinal positions that resembled generic Muslim ideas could be found among heretical groups, such as the Waldensians and Anabaptists. Moreover, at the same time, it was possible to find sympathies and interest in the positions held by Protestant reformers among the moriscos. Beginning with these concerns, the Inquisition worked on the moriscos, using the same tools...

Cretan Muslim Immigrants, Imperial Governance and the ‘Production of Locality’ in the Late Ottoman Empire

This study is an attempt to shed light on the issue of Cretan Muslim emigration from Crete to the Ottoman Empire in order to analyse the multiple connections among the Ottoman state, immigrants and different localities in the Eastern Mediterranean in the late nineteenth century. Following the Cretan revolts of 1896 and 1897, the establishment of autonomous government on the island of Crete and the withdrawal of Ottoman armies from the island, Cretan Muslims began to emigrate from Crete to various places in the Ottoman Empire. Specifically, this article aims to deal with the migration of Cretan Muslims and to focus mainly on the year 1899, during which large numbers of Muslims were forced to leave their homes. The article suggests that Cretan Muslim emigration provides a good case for understanding the attitudes and policies of the Ottoman state towards migration, and the relationship between the state and immigrants, as well as for analysing the broader connections between Crete and the other localities of the Eastern Mediterranean. The working hypothesis is that in order to understand certain socio-political and demographic changes and transformations experienced within the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century, it is important to study the issue of Cretan Muslim immigration to Ottoman Anatolia. This presents an opportunity to investigate certain questions with regard to the dynamics of migration and also to discuss certain facts associated with migration within the late imperial context.

Book Review: American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Gender Within the Ummah by Jamillah Karim

Over the last forty years, there has been a dramatic growth in the number of Muslims in the United States. Estimates place the Muslim population at somewhere around 6 million, which makes Islam the second largest religion in the country. Islam today is not just in the international news, but it is an integral part of the landscape of America. Despite this, the Muslim community in America is not one, rather it is somewhat divided and that division is usually based upon race or ethnic origin. The two largest racial groups of Muslims in the United States are Black Americans and South Asians.

K. Riddell: Islam and the securitisation of population policies: Muslim states and sustainability

Muslims constitute around 23 % of the world population and this will increase over the coming decades. There has been a growing concern about the increasing size and trend of Muslim populations, both in North Africa and the Middle East, and in Europe and North America as hosts to Muslim immigrants. Furthermore, political events, particularly after the tragic ‘9/11’ event, have led to debates and discussions about the Islamic world. Comments and assertions about population issues of the Muslim world, and, particularly the implications of a growing number of Muslims in Europe and North America, are not always based on scientific evidence from experts in the field, and this has led to stereotypes about Islam and Islamic countries. The media has played both to the understanding and misunderstanding of Muslims, and thus, there is a great demand for presenting an evidence-based analysis of population dynamics, and its social and political implications in Muslim countries. Riddle in her book, ‘Islam and the securitisation of population policies: Muslim states and sustainability’ examines the securitization of population policies in Islamic countries, emphasizing the evolution of population policies and dynamics in Iran and Pakistan. It seeks to deconstruct the myth of the clash between the West and Islam by highlighting the areas in which they stand together, and co-operate as ‘effective partners in global sustainability efforts’. This book draws on various sources of information, possibly not otherwise available to wider international readership: for example, Fatwa on population and family planning issued by Islamic clergies, media statements, newspaper articles and other related information published in local newspapers. In addition to this information, the author has conducted in-depth interviews with such key informants as policy makers, population experts and health service providers during her fieldwork and observations in Iran and Pakistan. These qualitative data allow for a

The Fear of Small Numbers: Eurabia Literature and Censuses on Religious Belonging

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyse and compare the census statistics on Muslims in Europe provided by the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe with anti-Muslim estimates of the possible numbers of Muslims in Europe in order to give a comprehensive picture of how many individuals actually identify themselves as Muslims. Contrary to popular figures estimating that there are approximately forty to fifty million Muslims living in Europe (including Russia, but leaving out Turkey) the official census data provided by nineteen countries in the Yearbook gives a figure closer to five million. The findings in my article are based on the available censuses from 2000 until today (that is, summer 2012), and the results give a presentation of census statistics on individuals who identify themselves as Muslims in Europe. The results from the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe are critically discussed and related to estimates and popular assumptions about the number of Muslims in Europe that circulate in the media, especially among anti-Muslim writers who adhere to the so-called Eurabia theory. In conclusion it is clear that there is a large gap between popular anti-Muslim estimates of the number of Muslims and the figures presented in official census data. It is argued that this gap may have a negative impact on how Islam and Muslims are framed, discussed and debated in Europe today.

Islam and Muslims in the Republic of Ireland: An Introduction to the Special Issue

This article serves as an introduction to the special issue on Islam in the Republic of Ireland. The introduction gives a brief overview of previous studies on Islam and Muslims in Ireland and shows their links with the studies published in this issue. Second, it presents in a concise manner the historical development of Islam in Ireland with respect to the increasing numbers of Muslims. As Ireland became a new destination for immigrants during the years of the economic boom, nicknamed the “Celtic Tiger Years”, immigrants and refugees arrived in a manner that would not have been anticipated some decades ago. The article also examines the subsequent process of the institutionalization of Islam in the country. Third, issues concerning the accommodation of Muslims in the Irish educational system, which in similar fashion to other European countries are also debated in Ireland, are discussed in order to investigate questions around the integration and accommodation of Muslims and the place of Islam in “religious” Ireland in general. The article concludes with suggestions for areas of future research on Islam and Muslims in Ireland.