Perception Of Muslims Research Articles

Drew Binsky’s Journey Through The Muslim World: Transforming Global Perceptions of Islam Through People-To-People Diplomacy

This study explores Drew Binsky's journey in the Muslim world and how it has the potential to influence global perceptions of Islam positively. Drew Binsky is a renowned travel vlogger who has explored various countries, delving into their cultures, traditions, and daily lives. Drew Binsky has engaged with Muslim communities in different countries throughout his journeys, sharing these experiences through vlogs and social media platforms. Despite being Jewish and born in the United States, his perception of Islam and Muslims has transformed after visiting and interacting with Muslim communities. Uploaded and shared on social media platforms, particularly YouTube, these experiences contribute to offering an alternative perspective on Islam to the global audience, challenging long-standing misconceptions perpetuated by mainstream global media, scholars, and Islamophobic politicians. The study employed the People-to-People Diplomacy approach to discuss Binsky's efforts through the videos uploaded on his YouTube channel. Research findings indicate that despite being an American Jew, Binsky holds a positive view of Islam and has shared his perspective through videos watched by millions, appreciated not only by Muslim viewers but also by non-Muslim audiences.

SHAPING AMERICA'S PERCEPTION OF MUSLIMS: The Transnational Approach to Globalization’s Role in Popular Culture

SHAPING AMERICA'S PERCEPTION OF MUSLIMS: The Transnational Approach to Globalization’s Role in Popular Culture

Religious Secularism: Muslim Perception and the Effects of France and Belgium's Niqab and Burqa Prohibition

This article examines how the Muslim community perceives religious secularism in France and Belgium. Second, to explore the negative and positive impacts of the niqab and burqa ban policy on the perception of the Muslim community in France and Belgium. This article uses a descriptive qualitative research method (Field Research) with a participatory approach. Namely, the researcher conducted direct observations in France (Cannes, Marseille, and Dunkerque) and Belgium (Saint-Nicolas and Bouge) on 19-26 February 2022. The data collection techniques in this article are primary data and secondary data. Preliminary data includes field observations, interviews, and documentation. Meanwhile, secondary data includes books, scientific articles, and popular articles still relevant to this research. Then, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with informants or sources, namely Muslim women in Belgium and France. Furthermore, the documentation technique uses a theoretical reference source referring to Stephen P. Robbins' version of perception theory. The findings in this article are the perceptions of the Muslim community, which has been known above. The views of the Muslim community in France and Belgium towards religious secularism in terms of the prohibition of wearing the Niqab and Burqa vary greatly. These very varied views or perceptions are influenced by the principles, experiences, knowledge, attitudes, social conditions, surrounding environment, and personalities of those (Muslim communities) who live in France and Belgium. The negative impacts are more dominant, and this may worsen the social and economic conditions of Muslim communities.

Defining the Calling to Islam in Europe

This paper provides a point of view on Islamic daʿwa (inviting to Islam) as interpreted in the European context by the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), the centre established in 1997 to deliver religious and legal guidance to Muslims in Europe. By using the approach of global Islam studies (Green 2020), the paper’s goal is to look at the modern development of daʿwa as a multipurpose tool that shapes the role of Muslims in Europe, as well as the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims and the way the Islamic message is conveyed. As the paper’s conclusion illustrates, daʿwa is a complex concept, especially in countries where Islam is a minority religion. If it is taken as a matter of proselytizing, then the ECFR does not prioritize conversion of non-Muslims over other goals. Instead, the act of spreading Islam among Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe is the way to keep the community together, to read the Islamic tradition in a novel way, to change the perception of European Muslims, to fight Islamophobia, and to find a place as a minority religious community. The study is based on the analysis of European Council for Fatwa and Research publications between 1997 and 2020. The first section of the paper provides the theoretical framework used to frame the topic in scholarship. Therefore, it presents a short introduction to the concept of daʿwa as shaped by classical sources to the present day. The article then provides an analysis of the ECFR’s interpretation of the concept by drawing from the texts and context. Before the conclusion, the last part discusses how the Council’s interpretation of daʿwa is shaping contemporary Islam in Europe. Key words: Islamic daʿwa, Calling to Islam in Europe, Global Islam in Europe, Islamic law, Muslim minorities

Examining the Securitization of Muslim Immigrants in France Under the Anti-Separatist Act of President Emmanuel Macron

The entrance of Muslim immigrants in France in search of employment gave rise to the problem of Muslim immigration in France. The French government initially welcomed the entrance of Muslim immigrants because it required laborers to complete post-war reconstruction. Due to the growing immigrant Muslim population, these individuals have gathered, constructed mosques, established Islamic organizations, and formed groupings. increasing the visibility of Muslim identity. This is viewed as an outsized challenge to Islamic ideology in terms of French secularist philosophy. The attack on the WTO building, which worsened the already negative perception of Muslims, made this situation worse. In addition, President Macron manipulates the debate over Muslim immigration to further his political agenda. Macron enacted anti-separatist laws and anti-immigrant policies, which further marginalized Muslim immigrants. Macron became a securitization actor and actively declared that Islam was a radical, terrorist, and separatist religion to further his interests. The overwhelmingly Islamophobic French society endorses Macron's remarks. Thus, by embracing Macron's proposal, the problem of Muslim immigration has reached the securitized point, at which point the government must address the problem by enacting anti-separatist legislation.

Analyzing the linkage between Islamic financial literacy and Islamic banking services adoption: evidence from Turkey

PurposeThe purpose of this study is twofold. First, this research explores the level of Islamic financial literacy of customers in the context of Islamic banking. Second, this study examines the determinants of customer adoption of Islamic banking in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachThis study gathered sample data from 409 participants determined using the purposive sampling method. In the study, first, the reflective measurement model is used to examine the reliability, validity and multicollinearity problems of the variables. Then, AMOS structural equation model (SEM) is used to reveal the relationship between Islamic financial literacy and Islamic banking services. Additionally, this study performed both descriptive and inferential analysis to understand customer literacy about Islamic banking and their adoption behavior of Islamic banking.FindingsThe results obtained from descriptive assessment indicate that Turkish customers of Islamic banking possess sufficient literacy about Islamic banking. Moreover, the results from SEM indicate that the adoption of Islamic banking by customers is significantly predicted by the role of Sharia Board management, Islamic banking and purpose of financial institution, religious factor and legitimacy of Islamic financial system.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses only on the level of knowledge and perceptions of customers who have accounts in Islamic banks or financial institutions in Turkey. It does not focus on the level of knowledge and perception of Muslims who do not have accounts in Islamic banks and financial institutions.Originality/valuePrevious studies on Islamic banking are mostly studies that investigate customers’ perceptions of the Islamic banking system and why individuals prefer Islamic banks. In particular, studies examining the relationship between individuals’ Islamic financial literacy level and Islamic banking preferences are limited. This study is considered to be an original study as it investigates the relationship between the Islamic financial literacy level of individuals and their adoption of Islamic banking services in Turkey.

The “Other” in Court: Islam and Muslims in Polish Judicial Opinions Published Online

Muslims are a marginal minority in Poland, but research shows that they are often subject to negative perceptions and hostility from the majority. Orientalist stereotypes about Islam and the people associated with it are widespread and often reproduced in the media. Research from North America and the European Court of Human Rights suggests that such prejudices can affect the adjudication of cases involving Muslims. It may be presumed that Poland is no exception to that, and this assumption was the starting point for our empirical study. To date, there have been no studies on the perception of Muslims and Islam in the Polish legal system. This article presents the results of a qualitative thematic analysis of 57 judicial opinions issued by the common courts in Poland and published online, in which Islam or being Muslim was mentioned. The cases were categorised and texts of the judicial opinions closely analysed (with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software) to identify recurring themes. The findings of this first exploratory study show that stereotypical representations and the “‘Othering” of Muslims do indeed occur in Polish courts, with some judges repeating Orientalist tropes that have become normalised in Polish society.

Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem and their perception of Muslims in the Later Middle Ages

Jerusalem was the Holy Land where Jesus Christ preached the gospel and was crucified, and for this reason, Christians made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in search of the footsteps of Christ. However, from the 7th century, when Islam entered the Mediterranean, until the end of the Middle Ages, Jerusalem was always under Islamic rule, except for a brief period when the Crusaders took it back. Therefore, Christians who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem were forced into contact with Muslims in the area.
 Christian pilgrims who would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Later Middle Ages often had previous prejudices and distorted information about Islam. In general, pilgrims to Jerusalem in the Later Middle Ages were able to see and experience the Holy Land with their own eyes, but they reproduced well-established stereotypes by referring to previous literature and travel reports that had prejudices and negative perceptions about Islam.
 Contact with local Muslims was generally prone to instilling a negative perception of them, especially because the pilgrims experienced discomfort during disembarkation at the port of Jaffa and an overnight stay in a cave, contact with Muslim donkey drivers asking for too much money, unexpected incidents on the way to Jerusalem, etc.
 Pilgrims’ oral storytelling and the pilgrimage accounts they shared with those around them influenced the perception of Muslims. Although some laymen also wrote pilgrimage accounts, it was mostly priests who wrote them. In this sense, most of the pilgrimage accounts show a strong awareness of the church and the clergy’s attitude toward Islam. Negative perceptions such as hatred and antipathy towards Muhammad and Islam dominate most of the pilgrimage accounts.
 Even people who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the same year often spoke differently about their own experiences, and their perceptions of Muslims with whom they came in contact were not always consistent. In this regard, it should be said that the perceptions of Muslims appearing in the pilgrimage accounts in the Later Middle Ages did not have one perspective but varied. However, the Christian clergy’s stance on or perceptions of the Muslims were hostile.

Acculturation preferences and perceived (dis)loyalty of Muslims in the U.K.: Two vignette-based experimental studies

Muslims in the U.K. who maintain their religious culture are often viewed as a suspect community. This pre-registered experimental research examined the mediating role of perceived (dis)loyalty as underlying process and the moderating role of acculturation expectations. A total of 334 non-Muslim White British participants in Study 1 and 810 in Study 2 were asked to indicate their acculturation expectations towards Muslims. They were then randomly assigned to read a text that described Muslims in a fictional town as either (a) maintaining their religious culture or (b) adopting the mainstream British culture, or they read (c) a neutral control text. As expected, in Study 1, when Muslims were presented as maintaining their religious culture, trust decreased compared to the control group. Conversely, when described as adopting the mainstream culture, trust increased while support for surveillance of Muslims decreased. Both effects were mediated by the perception of Muslims being disloyal or loyal to the U.K in both studies, respectively. Perceived loyalty to their religious group did not significantly mediate any effect. We replicated these findings in Study 2. Moreover, we showed that describing Muslims as maintaining their religious culture decreased trust and increased support for surveillance especially among participants who expected Muslims to give up their religious culture. Moderated mediation analysis showed that these effects were partly mediated by perceived loyalty to the U.K. We discuss the societal implications of the findings for policymakers and Muslim leaders along with recommendations for future research.

REPRESENTATIONS OF IRAQ IN AMERICAN SNIPER

This study investigates representations of Iraq in the film American Sniper(2014). The film encapsulates Hollywoods anti-Muslim discourse post 9/11, which wasparticularly designed to shape public opinion and lay the groundwork for policies that encroach upon civil liberties.To legitimize the draconian, unprecedented measures the Bush Administration introduced in the tumultuous aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the filmdoes not only reinforce the perception of Muslims as primitive savages deserving of every cruelty inflicted on them, but also creates a narrative that conflates patriotism with unequivocalsupport for the governments heavy-handed response. As a point of departure, this thesis draws on a litany of assertions Edward Said made regarding Orientalism, especially his contention that when the United States emerged as a dominant superpower in the aftermath of World War II, supplanting the once mighty and far-flung French and British empires, it inherited a vast repertory of derogatory stereotypes and essentialist tropes about the Islamic Orient. The film, American Sniper,abounds with familiar Orientalist imagery about Muslims, which aim to lock the public in a perpetual state of patriotic hysteria and lend credence to an imperialist discursive tradition that has for long presented the Orient as an inferior, benighted savage that needs to be kept at bay at all costs.

Muslim Perception on Zakat as A Tax Deduction in Indonesia

This study aims to examine the Muslim community's perception of tax-deductible zakat in Indonesia. We employ exogenous variables including religiosity, halal and haram aspects, legal aspects, trust, motivation, and satisfaction. We also use variables of perception as mediating variables. The research data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires to 543 Muslims from various parts of Indonesia. This study employs Structural Equation Modeling with PLS version 3.0 to analyze the data. The results indicate that religiosity, the legal aspect, trust, and satisfaction have a positive and statistically significant effect on performance, whereas the halal-haram aspect and motivation have a negative and statistically significant effect on the tax deduction of zakat.========================================================================================================ABSTRAK – Persepsi Masyarakat Muslim Indonesia terhadap Zakat sebagai Pengurang Pajak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis persepsi masyarakat muslim terhadap zakat pengurang pajak di Indonesia dengan mengunakan religiusitas, aspek halal haram, aspek legal, kepercayaan, motivasi dan kepuasan sebagai variabel eksogen, sedangkan persepsi digunakan sebagai variabel mediasi. Data penelitian diperoleh dari penyebaran kuesioner kepada 543 Muslim dari berbagai wilayah di Indonesia. Analisis dilakukan dengan Structural Equation Modeling dengan PLS versi 3.0. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa religiusitas, aspek legal, kepercayaan, dan kepuasan berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap kinerja, sedangkan aspek halal haram and motivasi berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap sistem zakat pengurang pajak.

Implementation of the Nahdlatul Ulama’s Brotherhood Trilogy Concept in Pandemic Covid-19 Mitigation

During the Covid-19 pandemic, religious doctrine often clashed with mitigation efforts. This paper aims to interpret the brotherhood trilogy concept initiated by KH. Achmad Siddiq as a guide in mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic. The author relates these guidelines to the mitigation efforts that have been carried out by PCNU Metro Lampung Indonesia. In conducting the research, the authors use qualitative research with data analysis and interpretation according to Miles and Huberman which includes data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. The results of this paper are: First, pandemic mitigation efforts with the brotherhood trilogy are the application of fair ‘wasatiyah’, balance ‘tawazun’, tolerance ‘tasamuh’, and dynamic ‘tatawuriyah’ values. Second, from the perspective of Islamic Brotherhood, the mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic, carried out by PCNU Metro Lampung Indonesia, includes equalizing the perception of Muslims regarding the nature of the Covid pandemic, education, and distribution of medical or non-medical assistance at the Islamic brotherhood among Nahdlatul Ulama people level ‘Islamic Brotherhood of Nahdliyah’. Third, in the perspective of Nationality Brotherhood, the efforts made are by distributing masks to the general public and spraying disinfectants in public places. Fourth, in the perspective of Humanity Brotherhood, the effort made is in educating to the public so as not to spread hoax news related to the pandemic on social media as a global communication tool

Investigating the Perception of Muslims With Hearing Impairment Towards Islamic Understanding and Practice

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the relationship between; i) the perception of Islamic obligation and Islamic practice, ii) the perception of difficulty in understanding and practicing Islam and the perception of Islamic practice, iii) hearing loss threshold and the perception of difficulty in understanding and practicing Islam; and iv) to compare the perception of difficulty in understanding and practicing Islam between hearing aid users and non-hearing-aid users. Method: Seventy- seven (77) subjects with hearing impairment underwent audiological assessments and completed the ‘Inventori Persepsi bagi Muslim yang Memiliki Masalah Pendengaran’ (IPM3P) questionnaire (consists of three domains- ‘obligation’, ‘practice’, and ‘difficulty’). Results: Pearson correlation revealed a significant positive correlation (p<0.05) between obligation and practice domain, and between difficulty and practice domain. A significant negative correlation was observed (p<0.05) between hearing threshold and total difficulty domain score. The Independent T-test revealed a significantly greater difficulty in understanding and practicing Islam among non-hearing aid users compared to hearing aid users (p<0.05). Conclusion: The study findings emphasized on; i) the importance to instill good perception of Islamic obligation via appropriate Islamic education, ii) the benefit of hearing aid in elevating the difficulty level in understanding and in practicing Islam, thus calls for prompt action to help in funding amplification for Muslims with hearing impairment.

Revisiting the Meaning of the Divine Preservation of the Qur’an: With Special References to Verse 15:9

In this article, I discuss the topic of Divine preservation of the Qur’an in the context of exegesis verse 15:9: ‘Indeed, it is We who sent down the reminder (dhikr) [i.e., the Qur’an], and indeed, We will be its guardian’. First, I will briefly examine Muslim and non-Muslim perceptions regarding authentic transmission of the Qur’an. I question some Western researchers, who problematise Muslims’ approaches to the history of the Qur’an with various polemics, and the Muslim perception, which compresses the notion of Divine preservation of the Qur’an into the narrow meaning of verse 15:9 with dogmatic and apologetic reflexes. Then, I chronologically analyse interpretations of the verse from linguistic, historical, theological and sociological aspects of the exegeses from the classical period to the modern times. The main argument of this article is centred on verse 15:9, which, in my opinion, deals with the first route of Qur’anic revelation from God to the Prophet through Angel Gabriel, and the Prophet’s perfect memorisation of it together with his flawless transmission to the Companions. The next processes (post-Prophetic developments in transmission of the revelation) were left to the foresight of the Muslim community, ummah. I believe, while the vertical process (revelation from arsh to farsh (heaven to earth) is guaranteed by God, responsibility for the horizontal process (from the Companions to the following generation and so on) is left to the Muslim community. The use of the same Qur’anic text by Sunnis, Shi’ites, Ibadis, etc., from northern Kazakhstan to West Africa, from Asia Pacific to the Balkans, is the clearest proof that Muslims are preserving the book entrusted to them. They demonstrate the reflection of their understanding of tawhid (Oneness of God) in their faith on the Qur’an by their consensus on a single mushaf.

Muslim Society’s Perceptions on the Needs of Android Application for Learning the Meaning of Words in Surah Al-Fatihah

The rapid development in technology has brought conventional learning styles to a whole new level of e-Learning, in which learning is not necessarily carried out in the classroom, but through mobile learning or m-learning that transcends the boundaries of time and place. Al-Quran learning is not excluded from this fast-paced evolution that has observed the emergence of various Quran-related mobile learning applications today. In view of this emerging trend, this study identified Muslim society's perception on the need for an educational android application for learning the meaning of words in Surah Al-Fatihah. The descriptive method was adopted where a questionnaire was distributed through the social media platform, namely -WhatsApp. 233 responses were recorded from Muslims of various backgrounds and- 11 different nationalities. The results showed that the Muslim respondents have a high level of acceptance for the development of an android application for learning the meaning of words in Surah Al-Fatihah. They also preferred varied functions and a helpful presentation method in the application, and informative learning content that is suited to various levels of the learner. The results of this study can be further used as a base for designing an android application for learning the meaning of words in Surah Al-Fatihah.

Students’ perception, knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards halal food products in Malaysia

The perception, knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of Muslims are important in determining their purchasing behaviour of halal food products. This study exclusively focused on the purchasing behaviour of young Muslim university students who live independently and hold their purchasing power. The main objective of this study is to investigate the perception, knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of university students towards halal food products in Malaysia. This study has adopted the framework based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) that hypothesized three determinants of behavioural intention; attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control with the addition of two other variables; religiosity and ambience. This study has found that all the TPB determinants attitude (r = 0.187, p<0.05), subjective norms (r = 0.266, p<0.01), perceived behavioural control (r = 0.336, p<0.01) including the other two additional; religiosity (r = 0.245, p<0.245) and ambience (r = 0.254, p<0.01) were positively and significantly associated with purchasing intention of halal food products among the students. This study also revealed that families and media play an important role in introducing halal food products to these young consumers. Therefore, it was suggested that the authorities create a positive social norm on halal products among society

A Study of Muslims’ Perceptions of Zakat as a Tax Reduction in Malaysia and Indonesia

The study of zakat and taxes is still a highly regarded topic, especially in relation to the public’s perception of zakat as a tax reduction. The aim of this study is to examine the influencing factors towards the perception of Muslims on the zakat policy as a form of tax reduction based on an adopted research model. To assess the quality of the models and hypothesis, the Partial Least Square (PLS) - Structure Equations Model (SEM) is used in this study. There is a total of 152 respondents involved in this study whereby the respondents are almost evenly divided between Malaysians and Indonesians. The Malaysian citizens are a total of 77 people (50.7%) and the remaining 75 people (49.3%) are Indonesian residents. Based on the SEM results of the formation factors in the test produced by the method of Exploratory Factor Analysis, it can be said that only the knowledge about tax, religiosity and satisfaction variables have a significant and positive influence or impact on the perception towards tax through zakat system. The results of this study can reduce the gap in perception and understanding among the Muslim community regarding the perception of Muslims towards tax breaks through the zakat system and will surely play an important role for countries, policy makers and zakat or tax institutions both in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as around the world in utilizing practices which can be considered highly and positively beneficial to the Muslim society.

Orthodox Christian Bulgarians Coping with Natural Disasters in the Pre-Modern Ottoman Balkans

Premodern Ottoman society consisted of four major religious communities—Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Armenian Christians, and Jews; the Muslim and Christian communities also included various ethnic groups, as did Muslim Arabs and Turks, Orthodox Christian Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbs who identified, in the first place, with their religious community and considered ethnic identity of secondary importance. Having lived together, albeit segregated within the borders of the Ottoman Empire, for centuries, Bulgarians and Turks to a large extent shared the same world view and moral value system and tended to react in a like manner to various events. The Bulgarian attitudes to natural disasters, on which this contribution focuses, apparently did not differ essentially from that of their Turkish neighbors. Both proceeded from the basic idea of God’s providence lying behind these disasters. In spite of the (overwhelmingly Western) perception of Muslims being passive and fatalistic, the problem whether it was permitted to attempt to escape “God’s wrath” was coped with in a similar way as well. However, in addition to a comparable religious mental make-up, social circumstances and administrative measures determining equally the life conditions of both religious communities seem to provide a more plausible explanation for these similarities than cross-cultural influences.

Knowledge, False Beliefs and Fact Driven Perceptions of Muslims in German Universities

This paper examines what may constitute both positive and negative attitudes towards Muslims that we may predict from the scale of our knowledge, fashionable or well worn. In other words, are negative attitudes towards Muslim strongly correlated with false beliefs. The research was part of a larger study examining the attitudes of 424 non-Muslim German students in Freiburg and five other universities in Germany. The results show that participants who spontaneously communicated false beliefs and had low level of knowledge expressed more negative attitudes towards Muslims than those who did not. It is thus conceivable that accepting incorrect information may be shaping negative attitudes toward Muslims. On the basis of the findings we are only able to conclude there is a bi-directional relationship between prejudice and the degree of knowledge, or cultural perception of Muslims amongst tertiary educated students, however there is no evidence of causation or level of significance.

Islamophobia, Othering and the Sense of Loss: Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies

Muslims’ image in the West had completely changed since 9/11, 2001. This paper uses the textual analysis method to explore Leila Aboulela as a writer with a sophisticated commitment to Islam who strives to counteract the biased perception of Islam and Muslims. Drawing on the views of Wail Hassan, the study focuses on Leila Aboulela’s novel The Kindness of Enemie to examine the author’s concern of Muslims’ image in the west after the 9/11 terrorist attack and its impact on Muslims, particularly the immigrants. It argues that Aboulela uses Imam Shamil as a metaphor to debunk the terrorist attacks that target innocent people under the pretext of Islam, and on the other hand, setting a good example of the concept of jihad. The findings show that Aboulela’s primary concern is to condemn terrorist operations against innocent people worldwide. To illustrate her views, the author uses two contrasted pictures, the historical story of Imam Shamil, who embodies the proper jihadist/resistance vis-à-vis with the current so-called jihadists. The study further shows that those terrorist acts have significantly impacted Muslims’ lives and are the first cause of contemporary racism, islamophobia, and the sense of loss among Muslim immigrants in the west.