Position Of Muslims Research Articles

Apostasy, Freedom and Da’wah: Full Disclosure in a Business-Like Manner

The traditional position of Muslims about apostasy is that it is punishable; rather punishable by death. Ijma (consensus) is also invoked to rationalize the traditional position. What is really the evidence in the Qur'an and the Prophetic legacy in support of the traditional position? This essay examines the pertinent evidence as well as offers a fresh perspective from the Qur'an's business-like perspective.

Muslims in the Netherlands: Social and Political Developments after 9/11

The position of Muslims in the Netherlands and government policies regarding Muslims have been influenced not only by the attacks of 9/11, but even more by the murder of the film-maker Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004. The brutal murder activated serious political problems and perceptions that were already present; it caused authorities to panic, it was the starting point of a series of arson attacks and threats, and many Muslims experienced a feeling of exclusion. The background to these developments can partly be traced back to the socio-economic, cultural and political positions of Muslims in the Netherlands and to the perceptions that Muslims cherish regarding religion and the West. The prevailing perceptions are subject to political struggle between Muslim democrats and Muslim radicals. The development of this struggle calls for a new understanding of the attraction exerted by radicalism and extremism on a small number of Muslim youngsters in Western Europe. This radicalism shows a complicated relation with the religious orthodoxy that is usually called ‘Salafism’. A closer study reveals that Salafism manifests itself in three movements, intensively competing for domination and the recruitment of Muslim youngsters. The two non-violent varieties of Salafism claim to build a threshold against radicalism, whereas others depict it as a stepping-stone towards radicalisation. These perceptions influence policies against terrorism and especially against the spread of radicalism.

The geographies of veiling: Muslim women in Britain

ABSTRACTIn this article I reflect on the debates initiated by Jack Straw's article about Muslim women and the wearing of face veils (October 2006). I place this issue in a wider context, drawing on recent geographical work on Muslim identities. I begin by exploring the position of Muslims in contemporary debates about multiculturalism in Britain. I then discuss the dynamics of contemporary veiling practices and contested meanings of the veil. Finally, I draw on my own work, and recent work in fashion theory, to consider the complexities of dress choices for young British Muslim women and to challenge dominant discourses.

Muslims in Western States: The British Experience and the Way Forward

Almost one third of the world's Muslims live as minorities in non-Muslim states. This article examines the position of Muslims in the West with special reference to Muslims in the United Kingdom. First, an overview of Muslims in Western states is presented, concentrating on Muslims in the United States, Canada, Australia and Western Europe. Second, the demographic and socio-economic position of Muslims in Britain is discussed, particularly highlighting various issues facing them. Third, the issues of religious discrimination and the feeling of insecurity among British Muslims, as well as state policies towards Muslims, are examined. Finally, it is argued that Western states, including Britain, have a long way to go in terms of their policies to accept Muslims as equal citizens and, in this context, several lines of action are proposed.

Culturalising the Abject: Islam, Law and Moral Panic in the West

This paper explores the construction of Islam as abject and the symbolic positioning of Muslims as being outside secular modernity in Australia through an analysis of the way the criminal legal process and perceptions of criminality are culturalised. The empirical focus is gang rape and the trials of Muslim youth on gang rape charges in Sydney between 2000–2003 which quickly became culturally inflected as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Lebanese’ by media reporting of the criminal trials and moral panic about them as source of social menace. Three dimensions of culturalisation of crime and the criminalisation of culture are identified in the criminal legal process and media reporting of it; firstly the cultural inflection of new laws against gang rape by their association with particular events and trials; secondly the introduction of ‘cultural defence’ by the accused as a mitigating factor in the criminal legal process; thirdly, media reporting and commentary on criminal cases which emphasize cultural explanations for individual criminal behaviour.

A demographic perspective on the Muslim world

A demographic perspective is relevant to understanding the position of Muslims in today’s world. This paper examines the size and growth of Muslim populations, and whether most Muslims live in overwhelmingly Muslim countries. It also examines indices of poverty and human development for Muslimmajority countries, and the growth of the youth population; finally, it examines the key components of population growth: mortality and fertility. Mortality has declined sharply over the past 15 years in many Muslim countries, though not in all, and Muslim countries are no longer prominent among the ‘outliers’ with higher mortality than expected on the basis of their income levels. Fertility rates are also declining sharply in a number of major Muslim-majority countries, raising interesting issues about attitudes of different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, village-level religious leaders and ordinary Muslims towards contraception and abortion, as well as the role of socio-economic development and family planning programs in fertility declines. Despite these declines, past high fertility in many Muslim-majority countries leaves as a legacy a rapidly growing adolescent population and a burgeoning, inadequately educated labour force.

To Be Black, Female, And Muslim: A Candid Conversation about Race in the American Ummah

This article analyzes African American Muslims' experiences of discrimination as they share a common religious community, or ummah, with immigrant Muslims in the United States. Both African Americans and immigrants make up a substantial part of what I refer to as the American ummah. Ideally a symbol of religious unity and solidarity, the ummah in America is marked by ethnic and racial divides. While both African Americans and immigrants contribute to these divides, this article shows how immigrant Muslims enjoy a level of privilege and power over African American Muslims. I demonstrate this through a conversation between three Muslim women: one African American, another Pakistani American, and the third Eritrean American. In this heated discussion, the African American Muslim woman articulates her experiences of racism and discrimination in the American ummah. The way in which the two immigrant women respond only reinforces her sense of exclusion and isolation in contexts in which immigrant Muslims dominate. Her struggles to define and articulate her experiences as black, female, and Muslim position her voice within the broader tradition of black feminist thought and resistance.

Moral Reasoning and Student Perceptions of the Middle East: Observations on Student Learning from an Internet Dialog

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the religious based moral reasoning of Judaism and Islam and college student subjects' attitudes toward political entities involved in Middle East conflict, Israel and Arab states. Subjects learn about the moral positions by observing parts of an interactive, Internet dialog among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars who discuss issues of terrorism, resistance, the United States's role in the Middle East, and the prospects for peace. After surveying an extensive literature on student attitude change, the author presents the study's methodology as well its quantitative and qualitative findings. These suggest that students' views of political entities are influenced by faith based moral reasoning in explanation of political actions. One group of subjects reported changed attitudes and more favorable viewpoints toward Israel after observing Jewish moral reasoning; and another group made similar positive attitude change toward Arab countries when presented with Muslim positions. Confronted with both Jewish and Muslim arguments, however, the subjects in a third group were more divided in the number of students who changed their attitudes and in the direction of change. The study also presents anecdotal evidence involving students' own evaluation of the use of information technology and the Internet in their learning experience. More research in this area would help assess the role this technology plays in opening students' minds to unfamiliar values and changing their attitudes toward political entities.

The Predicament of Thailand’s Southern Muslims

Recent events in Southeast Asia have revived interest in the role of political Islam in the region. This article examines the position of Muslims in Thailand’s four southern border provinces. It addresses the historical background of the area’s relationship with forms of centralized government by Thai political centers, the relevant elements of ethnicity and their significance for cultural (religious) self-identification, and how this may be translated in the political use of Islam. In a wider context, the study can be considered as illustrative of the problematic relationship between centers and peripheries, particularly those on the frontiers of culture zones.

The Predicament of Thailand’s Southern Muslims

Recent events in Southeast Asia have revived interest in the role of political Islam in the region. This article examines the position of Muslims in Thailand’s four southern border provinces. It addresses the historical background of the area’s relationship with forms of centralized government by Thai political centers, the relevant elements of ethnicity and their significance for cultural (religious) self-identification, and how this may be translated in the political use of Islam. In a wider context, the study can be considered as illustrative of the problematic relationship between centers and peripheries, particularly those on the frontiers of culture zones.

Schooling, symbolism and social power: The hijab in republican France

To fully understand the implications of the global climate of heightened suspicion about Islam we must also be aware of its expression through distinctive national discourses. Media debate leading up to the adoption by the French parliament of a law banning the hijab at school fits into a global discourse, but also presents local strategies of incorporation and silencing. The targets of scrutiny are primarily first and second generation migrants, a large and increasingly visible portion of whom live in rundown public housing and attend ‘problem’ schools associated with violence and failure. It is important therefore to consider the position, and positioning, of Muslims in relation to media representation. This article analyses the forms the dispute over the hijab has taken in France in terms of the role of the school in Republican ideology; the social and economic position of Muslims; and dominant representations of migrants and Islam.

The Emergence of Bajau Identity in British North Borneo (Sabah)

This article discusses the ideological background to the emergence of Bajau identity among the Muslim inhabitants of British North Borneo (currently the state of Sabah, Malaysia) in 1960, focusing on the two important foreign ideologies introduced into the region during the mid-1950s.Efforts to uplift the social position of Muslims in North Borneo had long been made by the Brunei Malays, who claimed to be more civilised than their fellow Muslims in the region, intending to civilise the latter by promoting both the Malay language and Islam among them so that they could “become Malays”. Under such circumstances, ethnic identities of Muslims other than the Malays, such as the Bajaus, were given only negative significance, since if a person was not Malay he was not considered civilised, thus indicating one limit to the Brunei Malays mobilising their fellow Muslims. However, this situation changed when two new types of thinking were introduced into North Borneo during the mid-1950s.K. Bali, a Siamese-Chinese born in Kelantan in 1927, devoted to the ideals of Indonesian nationalism pursuing a nation regardless of the ethnic differences, arrived in North Borneo in 1956 and decided to devote his life to the promotion of Sabah nationhood among the indegenous peoples. K. Bali advocated Sabah nationhood through the articles he wrote in the Malay corners of the North Borneo News and Sabah Times, which clearly denied the superiority of Malaya over North Borneo, though his ideas were not fully accepted by the Muslim community, since the idea of Sabah nationhood did not aim at securing the practice of Islam.Qalam was a monthly Malay journal published in Singapore by Ahmad Lutfi, an Arab Muslim born in Kalimantan. It mainly introduced the ideas of Islamic reformists in Cairo, including the Muslim Brotherhood established in Egypt in 1928, to readers not only in Malaya and Singapore, but also in North Borneo. One of the topics repeatedly appearing in Qalam was Muslims assuming the reins of government to secure the practice of Islam, despite the fact that Muslims did not form a majority in the region.By combining these two sets of ideas, Muslims in North Borneo developed an ideology by which to uplift their social position by first joining Malaya so that they could secure such a position in North Borneo through the influence of Malaya, a Muslim Malay dominant state and secondly by demarcating North Borneo as an autonomous unit and excercising majority rule internally to oppose the dominance of the Brunei Malays. This led to the emorgence of a Bajau identity as the majority ethnic group among the Muslims in North Borneo.

Muslims, Ethnicity and the Law

This paper examines the meaning of the term ‘ethnic origins’ to be found in Section 3(1) of the Race Relations Act (1976) and Section 17 of the Public Order Act (1986) with particular reference to the position of Muslims under the legislation. In recent years several cases have suggested that to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their being a Muslim or to incite hatred towards them on that ground does not contravene either the Race Relations Act (1976) or the Public Order Act (1986). This article argues that the criteria established by the House of Lords in Mandla (Sewa Singh) and another v Dowell Lee and Others [1983] 2 AC 548 are sufficiently broad to recognise British Muslims as a distinct ‘ethnic group’ if interpreted in a purposive manner and that such an interpretation is not only desirable but necessary to combat the growing problem of racial discrimination and hatred directed against Britain's Muslim population.

Hindu Nationalism and Muslim Minority Rights in India

AbstractAfter half a century of experiment with secular politics, India has finally gone fundamentalist, preferring to be ruled by religious nationalists. This mind set among Indian voters is induced intriguing. The mandate for the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the recent parliamentary elections is an indication that India's majority Hindus are uncomfortable with their minority Muslim counterparts. Simultaneously, the support of a section of Muslims for the BJP also questions the true nature of secularism in India. Is this behaviour an indication of erosion of faith in secular politics? In this article I explore the roots of majority-minority divide in India. I argue that the rise of Hindu nationalism is a direct response to the politically motivated pseudo-secular ideas of the Congress party that ruled 45 out of 50 years of independent India. Analysing three of the most controversial issues viz. Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ram temple, the article evaluates the minority loss and gain in case the BJP succeeds in implementing its policies over these. Finally, it looks into the position of Muslims in a Hindu nation.

Islam, Nationalism and Democracy: A Dialoguewith Dr. Anwar Haryono

This article contains an interview on Islam, Nationalism, and Democracy with Dr. Anwar Haryono.We would like to discuss the situation of Islam and Muslim in New Order Indonesia. To be more specific perhaps, we would like to begin with something rather controversial i.e the coming to power of the New Order goverment. This goverment has set up new policies on Islam, which are different from such policies employed by the previous goverment. REsponding to New Order policies, some Muslim prefer to adobt the so-called "Cultural Islamic Movement", such as that promoted by Nurcholis Madjid, rather than the "Political Islamic Movement" as in the Old Order period. Nontheless, the New Order goverment stil gives opportunities to Muslims to pursue their political aspiration through the PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan - the United Development Party). Before discussing the more recent situation, it would be best if you could sketch out the Muslim position in the early decades of independent Indonesia.DOI: 10.15408/sdi.v2i1.846

"They Shall not Draw Nigh": The Access of Unbelievers to Sacred Space in Islamic and Jewish Law

This essay compares the Sunnī Muslim position(s) concerning the ingress of non-Muslims to the Meccan Sanctuary with the Rabbinic outlook on the entry of non-Jews into the Temple precinct. In both cases, the issue is one of purity and pollution, and the algorithms of each religion’s ritual code are therefore probed in search of the underlying bases for their respective policies on the subject. The discussion will follow the legists through their intricate evaluation of what is perceived by many today to be ‘minutiae’ – it was certainly not seen thus by the jurists themselves. The attitudes of Sharīʿa and Halakha to immersion for the sake of conversion also harbor significant implications for this question, and space is devoted to elucidating the two systems’ variant rationales for requiring this ceremony. Our conclusions reveal a significant difference – indeed, a diametric antithesis – between Judaism’s and Islam’s conceptions of the cultic status of the other.