Pakistani Muslim Research Articles

Impacts of the ‘War on Terror’ on the (De-)Humanization of Christians in Pakistan: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Reporting

ABSTRACTReligious minorities have been persecuted in Pakistan since the country’s creation in 1947. However, the rise of Islamization in the 1970s and 1980s added to the intensity of discrimination, prejudice and violence against religious minorities. Widespread structural violence meant that religious minorities experience marginalization and violation of their civil rights. As witnessed around the world, the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed global dynamics, with negative effects on Muslim–Christian relations. Since the onset of the US-led war in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, there has been a rise in anti-American/anti-Western sentiment among Pakistani Muslims. Consequently, some extremist groups view local Christians with suspicion, labelling them Western agents. While the backlash against the US-led war in Afghanistan is seen as a major factor behind violence against Christians, deep-rooted socio-economic dynamics also contribute to the vulnerability of Christians and other religious minorities. Drawing on statements from two prominent Pakistani newspapers, this research employed critical discourse analysis and the framework of (de-)humanization to examine changes in newspaper reporting about Christians before and after 9/11, finding that there was a decrease rather than an increase in the level of dehumanization of Christians after 9/11, and an increase in humanization compared to pre-9/11 reporting.

Raising Canadian-stanis: Parenting in Muslim Pakistani Communities in Canada

In this paper, the intersectionality approach is used to understand how being a Muslim Pakistani immigrant affects being a parent. I look into how parents want to pass down their religious and cultural beliefs, such as family honour, and how those beliefs shape their children who are conflicted between two cultures. Beliefs on marriage and dating are also vastly different for Pakistani immigrant parents from those who are part of the dominant culture in Canada. I look into how marriage practices from back home are attempted to be brought over to Canada and how finding a partner can cause conflict between immigrant parents and their children. I also look into how sex and sexuality can cause conflict between parents and their children due to traditional beliefs and religious views. Finally, I look at how issues such as racism and discrimination can affect how Pakistani immigrants parent their children.

Factors Influencing the Purchase Intention to consume Halal Certified food in Korea: Evidence from international Pakistani Muslims in South Korea

Halal market has been expanding enormously. It has received special attention globally as one of the most advanced business to be explored and develop. Muslim minority countries like South Korea have taken initiative to see the opportunity and penetrate the halal food industry to boost the local economy. However, there is still a knowledge gap behind the importance of studying the halal industry and the limited availability of academic resources. This research will participate to being a reference of halal study in the future for considering the consumers purchase behavior of halal food and being an eye-opener for the government to keep pursuing the halal direction because the halal market size is always getting expand. Due to that, this research aims to examine the factors that can influence purchase intention of halal food among the Muslim consumers in South Korea. The data were collected from 477 respondents. The purposive sampling method is used to gather respondents from the administrative districts from the South Korea. The hypothesis results of this study revealed that three variables which are halal certification, religious beliefs and halal brand satisfaction that were significantly related to Halal purchase intention among Muslim consumers. The findings of this research may be useful and helpful for manufacturers to understand Halal purchase intention among Muslim consumers as well as beneficial for the consumers to be aware of Halal implication in their daily live.

Роль Пакистану у міжнародних відносинах на початку ХХІ століття

У статті проаналізовано роль і місце Пакистану у сучасних міжнародних відносинах. Зазначається, що після оволодіння ядерною зброєю Пакистан позиціонує себе як держава, яка спромоглася встановити відносний воєнно-політичний паритет з Індією. Статус ядерної держави перетворив Пакистан на одного із лідерів ісламського світу. Водночас після терактів 11 вересня 2001 р. Пакистан, виходячи з політичних міркувань, підтримав антитерористичну операцію США у сусідньому Афганістані. Це дало можливість нейтралізувати негативні наслідки міжнародного режиму санкцій, який було запроваджено після ядерних випробувань 1998 року. Показано, що лише фактору ядерної зброї недостатньо для входження Пакистану у коло розвинутих держав сучасної системи міжнародних відносин.

Mobilizing Pakistani heritage, approaching marriage

ABSTRACT This paper examines the ongoing significance of Pakistani heritage in the lives of young British Pakistani Muslims. Drawing upon interviews with 56 women and men, it explores the link between Pakistani heritage and young peoples’ lives, focusing upon marriage. Pakistani heritage is widely regarded as a constraint and an anachronism, which young people are jettisoning in favour of religious or secular identities: as Muslims, British, or both. This is a half-truth, at most. Some young people are turning away from Pakistaniness, but others are embracing and exploring versions and elements of this heritage as they make decisions about whether, when and whom to marry. Whether they are rejecting or embracing Pakistani heritage, young people are actively mobilizing the terms “Pakistan” and “Pakistani” as springboards from which to identify and make life choices. They are exploring possibilities rather than acknowledging inevitabilities, and approaching heritage as a resource rather than a constraint.

MUSLIM DIASPORIC IDENTITIES IN KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE (2017)

Beside accepted with surprise across the world, the winning of Brexit referendum also brings up the tangled web into the United Kingdom’s political and cultural realms. Recent studies mention there is correlation between the voting behavior and issues of identity, immigration, and Islamophobia. Kamila Shamsie alludes these issues in her latest novel, Home Fire (2017). By focusing on three main protagonists, this close-textual analysis examines how Pakistani diasporic community construct their identities within the novel. To support the analysis, this article draws upon Hall’s identity theory (1990) and Bhabha’s Unhomely (1992). Research findings show how Shamsie’s novel represents heterogeneity within Pakistani Muslims diasporic identities, rather than frame them within single collective identity. Therefore, the novel criticizes Eurocentric biases point of view by portraying Muslim female protagonists’ fluid identities while defending their Muslimness by using veil and praying to God. On the other hand, the novel maintains established stereotype by drawing Muslim male protagonist’s affiliation with Daesh as representation of radical group to problematize the notion of radicalism.

Those Glass Chains that Bind You: How British Muslim Women Professionals Experience Career, Faith and Family

AbstractThis paper contributes to gender and diversity research through proposing a new theoretical construct: glass chains. We develop ‘glass chains’ as a metaphor to illuminate how highly educated British Pakistani Muslim women professionals in the UK negotiate a fine balance between faith, family and personal ambition. Using a qualitative approach, we highlight tensions between religious and familial guidance within Islam, and workplace practices. Drawing upon the construct of ‘glass chains’, we articulate how 37 British Pakistani Muslim career women felt bound, by invisible glass chains, to the tenets of their faith. We show how the pull of glass chains obliged these women to resist certain career‐advancing opportunities. In so doing, we borrow from French philosopher Michel Foucault ideas about self‐oriented moral codes, engaging with his arguments that individuals may prioritize, over other obligations, the ties (or glass chains) which bind them to personal value sets in order that they may become ‘ethical selves’. While previous glass metaphors highlight barriers to female progression from external and structural angles, ‘glass chains’ are, by contrast, concerned with the potential for internal and personal constraints on women's ambitions. The metaphor ‘glass chains’ may be extended to enhance understanding of career constraints among other workers.

A Study on Pakistani Muslims and Their Mosque in South Korea with a Focus on Faizan-e Madina

This paper examines the life of Muslims who came from Pakistan to Korea. It discusses the demographics of Pakistani Muslims in Korea, their sectarian preferences, and the expansion of Faizan-e Madina (Dawaat Islami). By revealing Faizan-e Madina’s wide array of missionary works and influence, this paper demonstrates how important Faizan-e Madina is to Islam in Korea.

Being an insider and outsider: whiteness as a key dimension of difference

This article demonstrates the significance of engaging with whiteness as a key dimension of difference shaping research in multi-faceted ways. I critically reflect on a research project that included interviews with Muslim men in Rotherham, a northern English town that had experienced a child sexual exploitation crisis involving Pakistani Muslim men. It raised significant methodological and epistemological issues regarding my position in the research, as a white female researcher, and my relationships with local Pakistani Muslim men and women. I highlight the fluidity of my insider–outsider position through exploring political and ethical dilemmas involved in carrying out the research and structural and experiential aspects of researcher subjectivity. I show how being white both facilitated and obstructed the research as I steered my way through a highly sensitive set of circumstances and how engaging with whiteness is key in democratising research and shedding light on unequal power relations in knowledge production.

Особливості історичного розвитку державності Пакистану

У статті проаналізовано основні особливості історичного розвитку державності Пакистану. Відокремлення Пакистану від Британської Індії 1947 р. було обумовлено передусім ідеєю створення «чистої» ісламської держави. Відтоді ісламський фактор став визначальним для еволюції пакистанської державності. Доведено, що формування пакистанської політичної нації ускладнено міжетнічними, міжконфесійними, соціально-економічними та регіональними протиріччями.

The Representation of Two Different World- Views Through the Use of Dramatic Monologue: An Analysis of Mohsin Hamid's Reluctant Fundamentalist

This paper examines the relationship between two cultures,two world views and two civilizations, and how they feel towards one a nother through discussing the Pakstani writer, Mohsin Hamid's Reluctunt Fundamentalist which was nominated in 2007.This novel goes into the heart of what may be the most important issue of the time, the clash of civilizations. Hamid's use of dramatic monologue is a unique achievement, and it makes the novel one of the most prolific and successful novels written after sep 11. I will examine through this technique the transformation of a Muslim Pakistani man from an initial infatuation, identification with America to a gradual estrangement and disenchantment with it . .
 The Reluctant Fundamentalist demonstrates Hamid's own aggressive view of the West in a smart cover of fiction..It's aim is to present the reader with a well-oriented explanation and details of an Eastern immigrant in the West with all the difficulties he goes through. It poses many questions some of which are not answered . They are left for the readers to interpret them according to the way he /she reads the novel .

Critical evaluation of Pakistan’s counter-narrative efforts

ABSTRACTCounter-narrative is considered an integral component of soft counter-terrorism approaches. This paper examines the case study of Egypt and Pakistan, while keeping the former as a reference point to critically evaluate the counter-narrative campaign of the latter in light of Aristotle’s classic work ‘Rhetoric’. Credibility and character of messenger, according to Aristotle, is the most potent weapon in one’s rhetorical arsenal. The paper argues that the public narrative produced and disseminated by the state of Pakistan contains all necessary elements of effective persuasion sans credible messengers, who should ideally come from the peer group of target audience. Besides highlighting the need for a credible messenger, we propose some policy interventions aimed at projecting the state as a responsible and motherly entity. The paper concludes that the state narrative can successfully recapture its political and moral legitimacy through portraying her role not only as the custodian of Islam and defender of Pakistani Muslims but also the provider of equal economic opportunities, good governance and swift justice.

Is religiosity an important consideration in Muslim consumer behavior

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether religiosity influences consumer purchase behavior among Muslim consumers in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth, semi-structured interview protocol was developed and administered to a sample of 90 participants, both male and female, across eight metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Professionals, university students and housewives were part of the sample. NVivo Version 11 was used for data analysis to answer the research questions raised in this study. Moreover, the purposive sampling method has been used in this research.FindingsThe behavior of consumers was found to vary with the degree of involvement and the degree of religiosity. Study findings are divided into three themes. Firstly, a high level of religiosity makes Muslim consumers follow the Islamic principles of food consumption, by evaluating the product ingredients, spending moderately and verifying a halal logo at the time of purchase. Secondly, a major theme is the view that religiosity has no influence on food consumption; it is more about individuals’ needs and priorities. Finally, the consumers’ overall perception of quality, product value, purity and health consciousness over-powers the concept of religiosity.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of its qualitative and exploratory nature, the generalizability of this paper is limited. In addition to that, this research is just focused on one Muslim country.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that western food exporters may use religiosity and other factors as probable segmentation variables to effectively position their brands. Religious images and other factors may be highlighted in product packaging and communication campaigns by marketers to gain recognition and usage of western food and consumption among religious, Pakistani Muslim consumers. The output of this research may support prospective entrants into the food business; those interested in exploring the Asian consumer market. Findings from this study may also be helpful for those in the west interested in exploring Pakistan as an emerging consumer market.Social implicationsThe presence of western imported food may improve the quality of life by having more opportunities and healthier options for the nation. Western food products can also bring cultural convergence whereby the underdeveloped nation feels upgraded and modern. Moreover, if the western food products are certified halal, the product has a fair chance of adoption and penetration in the society. Also, the food products coming from the western world induces mindfulness, people are more aware about innovative and useful ingredients that can satisfy their taste buds, improve their health, increase their life expectancy and contented approach toward life.Originality/valueThus far, limited research has analyzed religiosity of an overwhelmingly Muslim population and its impact on consumer behavior. This study is a preliminary effort to provide a basic understanding of the behavior of Pakistani Muslims, who have been insufficiently investigated by marketing and consumer researchers. The intriguing results are to remind marketers that there are several factors that govern religiosity and lead to a purchase decision.

Differences in Brain Waves and Blood Pressure by Listening to Quran-e-Kareem and Music

Background: Quranic recitation and music do not share any features in terms of content besides the use of melodies, but it is a common belief, that both have positive effect on reducing blood pressure and anxiety level of patients. This research investigates and compares the effects of listening to Quranic recitation and soft music on human brain waves especially Alpha and Beta waves by electroencephalogram (EEG) using Power-Lab.Material and Methods: A clinical trial was carried out in the Physiology Department of Islamabad Medical and Dental College. There were 22 participants, divided into two groups (A and B) with 11 participants in each group. Group A included students with ages 20-25 years and Group B comprised of teaching faculty between 40-60 years. All the study participants were Urdu-speaking, Pakistani Muslims having normal hearing. Sample selection was based on non-random convenient sampling. Paired T-test was used to compare means of Alpha and Beta waves amplitude, with p value < 0.05 considered as statistically significant.Results: Listening to Quranic recitation results in greater amplitude of Alpha waves in both younger and older age groups (p=0.01). The cross comparisons of systolic blood pressure at rest and after music for Group A showed significant results (p=0.04) indicating that soft music increases systolic blood pressure in younger people. Diastolic blood pressure comparison proves that it decreases by Tilawat in older age-groups (p<0.05).Conclusion: EEG showed that Quran generates comparatively higher amplitudes of Alpha than Beta waves, which reflects the calmness and relaxation of the participants while listening to Quranic recitation. Furthermore, there was a mild reduction in diastolic blood pressure in older subjects after listening to Quranic recitation.

The Relationship of Religiosity and Marital Satisfaction: The Role of Religious Commitment and Practices on Marital Satisfaction Among Pakistani Respondents.

The sociology of religion focuses on an individual’s social and married life. This research performed the first focalized examination of the influence of spirituality and religiosity on the marital satisfaction of Pakistani Muslim couples and how religious commitment and religious practice strengthens the relationship of married couples. This study incorporates the Kansas Marital Satisfaction scale (KMSS), the Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI-10) and the Religious Practice scale to measure marital satisfaction. Survey questionnaires, including a survey invitation letter and an informed consent form, were sent to married couples residing in five urban areas of Pakistan. The sample consisted of 508 valid responses, 254 males and 254 females, exploring the respondent’s perception of their marital satisfaction. The data received were screened and tested through SPSS version 25. The first step of the data analysis was to examine the impact of religiosity variables (religious commitment, religious practice) on marital satisfaction. Findings indicated that religious commitment and religious practice are vital for a happy married life. The findings help explain the social dynamics of marital satisfaction in Pakistani culture. The results also indicated that religious commitment and religious practice strengthened and promoted marital satisfaction. This study is novel in the context of Pakistani culture and conclusions cannot be generalized to the whole population. Other religious factors may provide further research directions. The results of this study may help practitioners and decision-makers focusing on marital satisfaction issues.

Legitimation strategies and theistic worldview in sociopolitical discourse: A systemic functional critical discourse analysis of Pakistani social media discussions

Abstract This study employs a systemic functional critical discourse analytical approach to the analysis of integrated theistic worldview of Pakistani social media users. To achieve its end, the study focuses on legitimation strategies, where these strategies serve to construct certain truth claims of the people. So, three thousand comments (comprising 8,401 words and 90,423 words) from online discussion forums of Dawn.com and Zemtv.com were studied and discourse samples were collected for in-depth analysis. The legitimation strategies, it is argued, are condensed and interpersonally charged through certain lexico-grammatical choices which embody people’s integrated theistic worldviews. The identity(ies) and identification claims of Pakistanis are found to be internally cohesive, based on theistic legitimation claims. To represent, legitimize and justify their worldviews, Pakistani social media users recontextualize discourses constructed from various combinations of discursive strategies, supported by references to Islamic scripture and popular narratives. The study is a prelude to a more detailed investigation of discursive strategies which represent (de)legitimized worldview and discourses internalized by Pakistani Muslims. Such studies provide deeper insights into (de)construction of (de)legitimation strategies of a society and facilitate further development of systemic functional critical discourse analytical approaches to text and context relations.

Ms Marvel, Qahera, and superheroism in the Muslim diaspora

ABSTRACTThis article examines how Marvel Comics’ Ms Marvel, in her newest iteration as a Pakistani Muslim young woman, challenges the conventions of race and American citizenship in the post-9/11 United States. I place Ms Marvel in conversation with the webcomic Qahera the Superhero, which was created by an Egyptian artist, in order to demonstrate the ways in which both texts have an ability to reach readers on a global scale and powerfully reimagine visual representations of Muslim women and female superheroes. My investigation includes an analysis of the comics and the epitexts that surround these works, such as author and editor interviews and various forms of public response in order to demonstrate how these media engage with a specific racial, ethnic, and (inter)national community in a meaningful way; one which complicates the definition of ‘fans,’ ‘comic book readers,’ and ‘heroes.’ When juxtaposed Ms Marvel and Qahera emerge as artifacts of visual, digital culture whose significance is particularly salient when read in our current political era, as a means of uncovering and combating racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia.

Consanguinity and the links to learning disabilities: the issues and pressures

Consanguinity is defined as the result of a sexual reproduction of two related individuals, but may also reference populations that share a common ancestor or communities that practise endogamy. There is a higher prevalence of genetic anomalies of the offspring of consanguineous relationships. However, the habit of blaming ethnic minorities for their own genetic conditions is unhelpful and has detrimental consequences for families and their children.This article discusses some of the issues related to consanguineous unions and their link to congenital abnormalities and the perceived increase in learning disabilities and considers how genetic services for people in consanguineous unions might be improved. The article focuses mainly on the Pakistani Muslim population in northern England with reference to local research.

Think non-ethnic, but act ethnic: Perspectives from South Asian entrepreneurs

Literature pertaining to ethnic entrepreneurship assumes that religious-cultural and generational factors espouse the intention and ability of the entrepreneur towards business development. And by way of business growth and development, such entrepreneurs should breakout from their local ethnic customer base to service a wider non-ethnic customer base. In reality, many ethnic entrepreneurs lack the resources, the motivation, the ability and/or intention to do this. Consequently, the development and success of the business become hampered. To this end, working within a context of ethnic entrepreneurship, the aim of this paper is to examine the notion that entrepreneurial intention, ability and opportunity inform business growth, development and how the entrepreneur defines the success thereof. Addressing this, 48 semi-structured interviews and 11 comparative case studies were conducted with first- and second generation South Asian Sikh, Hindu and Pakistani Muslim entrepreneurs within Greater London. A phenomenological paradigm was adopted, with key-words-in-context used to analyze data. Findings note there is no evidence of genuine breakout. Instead, what defines business development and growth is three approaches: (i) content to remain, (ii) forced to remain, and (iii) struggling to adjust. Hindered are attempts to increase the customer and market base beyond that of local clients. Additionally, differences and success between the two generations are reflective of sectorial location, intention, ability and skill-sets, rather than generational or cultural influences. Essentially, the paper presents an alternative view of how entrepreneurial intention, ability and opportunity facilitate or inhibit small business growth and success. However, given the sample-frame and, socio-economic environment within Greater London, findings may not be generalizable. In conclusion, debate pertaining to ethnic entrepreneurship needs to be re-examined; because placing emphasis on culture, religion, ethnicity and generation may be misleading researchers as to the true nature of business requirements, problems and support for ethnic entrepreneurs.

G. Willow WilsonThe Bird King

communication: “Communication? What communication? I try to go deep, but I’m barely a few centimeters in.” However you put it, this sentiment is an effective measure of the reader: while “deep” and “shallow” are riddled with too much bias to communicate much, what a reader wants from poetry is questioned, and, equally, what reactions to poetry are considered legitimate enters into consideration as well. Matt Reeck Brooklyn, New York G. Willow Wilson The Bird King New York. Grove Press. 2019. 440 pages. Before 2014, American author G. Willow Wilson was a nominally successful author, having written a handful of comics —including the graphic novel Cairo and creator-owned series Air for Vertigo—and challenged American audiences with her memoir of conversion to Islam and her move to Egypt. Her 2012 fantasy-cyberpunk novel Alif the Unseen, also published by Grove, won her a World Fantasy Award and several smaller literary association awards, but it was her debut as the writer of a Ms. Marvel solo series in 2014 at Marvel Comics featuring a Muslim Pakistani American teenage superhero that won her lasting fame among readers of comics, science fiction, and fantasy. When Wilson’s run on Ms. Marvel ended in February 2019, fans wondered what her next step would be. While Wilson is busy at work on DC Comics’s Wonder Woman, she has also returned to the world of prose fantasy with The Bird King, which impresses beyond her previous literary accomplishments and rivals the consistent inventiveness and aesthetic complexity of her comics. Wilson’s The Bird King blends fantasy, historical romance, magical realism, adventure , and the court tale in a story about the favored concubine of the last sultan of Granada, a mapmaker with world-shaping artistic abilities, and a werewolf/vampire jinn in the final days of Moorish Spain and the rise of Catholic power in Iberia. Together the three flee the Alhambra, stronghold of Islam in fifteenth-century Spain, after a coalition of Spanish knights and one particularly terrifying female inquisitor, Luz, bring terms for the sultan’s surrender— including the handover of mapmaker Hassan to the Inquisition. Learning the threat to her childhood friend, the sultan’s most favored concubine, Fatima, escapes with Hassan and the jinn with the blessing of the sultan’s mother, Lady Aisha. Two thirds of The Bird King concerns the unlikely trio’s flight from the Inquisition . On the way, they take refuge in their search for the fabled land of the titular Bird King, whose story, penned centuries before by the Persian poet Attar as The Conference of the Birds and known to Fatima only through an incomplete copy in Lady Aisha’s modest library, becomes both a symbol of the decline of Moorish Spain and of the possibilities that thrive in the shadows of empire. Through Fatima and Hassan’s complementary world-making strategies— one narrative and mythical, the other cartographical —Wilson reveals the limits of orthodoxy and the violence of calcified belief, opening up spaces for an exciting critique of war, power, religion, and history. The Bird King is an important, magical story of a world in which Islam and Christianity contend for global dominance and offers a vibrant reconsideration of the individual’s place in the global circulations of power in the post-9/11 world. Sean Guynes Michigan State University Emily Skaja Brute: Poems Minneapolis. Graywolf Press. 2019. 72 pages. Much of the narrative arc—and indeed art—of Emily Skaja’s debut collection, Brute, is marked in the first poem of the book. There is skillful sound-play coupled with daring metaphors to revisit for days. And though we learn something of the beginning , middle, and end of this story of abuse and self-determination, the ominous last line of “My History As” is a reminder that escape is hardly ever a straight line: “I learned to counter like a torn edge / frayed from the damp. That’s how I left it. // Leaving the river, leaving / wet tracks arrowed in the brush.” Frayed, leading, necessarily incomplete; in form a number of the poems seem to WORLDLIT.ORG 83 ...