Back to the future: religious mobility among Danish Pakistani Sufi Muslims

ABSTRACT

Pakistani migrant families in Denmark are embedded in a transnational social field, one that stretches between the rural villages in Punjab that they left behind in the 1960s and 1970s, and their new home in greater Copenhagen. However, the upcoming generation, born and raised in Denmark, often has an ambivalent relationship with the homeland of their parents. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Sufi tariqa(order, path) called Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Saifi, this article explores how the ritual of ‘zikr Allah’ (the commemoration of God) provides an opportunity for the Copenhagen Saifis to cultivate new connections with Pakistan, beyond the kinship networks and the family village of origin. The ritual is significant for their aspiration to become pious Muslims. In this process, Pakistan comes to be ascribed with new meanings. Whereas the parents’ generation associated Pakistan with family and kin, property, houses, and power connected to the village of origin, these pious Saifis begin to associate Pakistan with spirituality, purity, and love for their shaykh in particular and the Sufi tariqa in general.     

流动穆斯林与大城市回族社区——以南京、上海等城市为例

本文从群体互动的视角研究了流动穆斯林与大城市回族社区的相互关系。本文认为,流动穆斯林大量进入大城市给回族社区带来了重要影响:(1)增加宗教氛围;(2)为清真寺职能发挥提供物质支持;(3)协助实现有效的社会管理;(4)解决"清真饮食难"问题;(5)改善文化结构,促进城市的经济社会发展。同时大城市回族社区也在几个方面影响了流动穆斯林:(1)职业结构发生较大变化,经济收入明显增加;(2)为流动穆斯林提供生存空间;(3)提供宗教功课和文化交流的场所和平台;(4)促使流动穆斯林自身实现文化转型;(5)相对在家乡而言部分流动穆斯林宗教生活淡化。总之,流动穆斯林促进了大城市回族社区和整个城市的经济、文化发展,同时也适应了城市生活方式,促进了自身的现代化。     

Islam,Moderation, Radicalism,and Justly Balanced Communities

If media outlets and political rhetoric are to be believed, then the way to counter “radical” Islam is through “moderate” Islam. Seemingly, “moderate” Islam is that which “radical” Islam is not. In appointing “moderate” Islam as an antidote to “radical” Islam, the implication is that, conceptually at least, the two terms are contradistinctive. Yet, while much is, perceivably, known about “radical” Islam, with its associated ills of an unequivocal Islamic worldview, very little attention has been afforded to this signifier, “moderate”. Inasmuch as this term is bandied around, even scholars of Islam will acknowledge that, within Islamic education, understandings of and debates on conceptions of moderation, and moderate Muslim communities, have been somewhat overlooked. What, therefore, is a “moderate” Islam? What is a “moderate” Muslim community and how would it act? What are the implications for a “moderate” community in relation to pluralist societies? And, can such a “moderate” community offer a practical response not only to “radical” Islam, but, perhaps, more importantly, to increasingly antagonistic, liberal contexts?     

Latino Muslims and Radical Extremism: Why There Is No Daesh (ISIS) Threat in Latin America

Despite much talk about infiltration of ISIS into Latin America and participation from Latino Muslims, there is no concrete evidence yet. Latin America still represents the safest continent on the earth from ISIS threat. When we look at the recruitment strategy of ISIS, social media comes as a surprisingly first way of attracting young people to its ideology. Latin American Muslims are extremely well connected to social media, through which many of them do not only learn about Islam; but also feel close to Arabic or Middle Eastern culture. Yet, the strong presence of Latino Muslims in online spaces did not yield a success attracting Latinos to ISIS via these channels. Are Latino Muslims immune from ISIS’s attractiveness? What makes them keep away from ISIS’s social media messages and recruitment strategies? This article argues that this can only be explained with the nature of the socio-political context in which young and social media addicted Latino Muslims live.     

Women and Jihad: Combating Violent Extremism and Developing New Approaches to Conflict Resolution in the Greater Middle East

The subject of female participation in combative jihad has proved to be contentious in Islam. Whilst some extremist Islamist groups, such as the so-called Islamic State (IS), have advocated women’s direct engagement in fighting in defense of Islam, others, for example Al Qaeda, have endorsed only a supporting role for women, primarily for the purpose of producing the next generation of jihadis. Whatever the validity of this debate, most radical jihadi groups have deployed women for combative operations, including suicide bombings. This has been more in the Middle East, where a resolution of several conflicts requires a comprehensive political strategy as against a predominantly military approach. This article has three objectives. The first is to provide some clarification about combative jihad in conceptual terms. The second is to focus on IS and its underlying appeal to a range of foreign Muslim male and female enthusiasts and several other like-minded entities who have gone to Iraq and to Syria to serve IS for convictive or deceptive reasons. The third is to see what distinguishes IS from other extremist groups which are operational in various parts of the Muslim domain, and to harness some ideas about how to deal with violent Muslim extremism in the Greater Middle East.     

‘Did queer Muslims even exist?’ – racialised grids of intelligibility in Swedish LGBTQ contexts

ABSTRACT

This article explores racialised grids of intelligibility around gender identity and sexuality in white Swedish LGBTQ contexts. By analysing personal stories shared on a separatist Instagram account by and for LGBTQ people racialised as non-white and/or Muslim, the article identifies some of the predominant narratives through which they become intelligible, both to other people and to themselves. Four frameworks are particularly recurring: the notion of them being victims of a ‘hateful other’, strong expectations to come out, exotification and tokenism (both sexualised and otherwise), and a general lack of representation. I argue that all of these revolve around notions of LGBTQ people racialised as non-white and/or Muslim as never quite belonging and thus never quite recognisable. They are instead frequently situated between white, gender-equal and LGBTQ-friendly ‘Swedishness’ and threatening, LGBTQ-phobic racialised ‘others’, made intelligible only in relation to either of these.     

News Media Coverage of Islam and Muslims in Australia: An Opinion Survey among Australian Muslims

Existing research has explored the ways the mainstream news media covers Muslims and Islam, but few studies have examined Muslims’ reactions to this reporting. Studies that have investigated this issue have identified that the responses of Muslims to news media coverage tend to be largely negative because of the lack of Muslim news sources, the stereotypical representation of Muslims in news coverage, the portrayal of Muslims as the enemy within, and the conflation of Muslims with terrorism. This paper further explores the attitudes of Muslims to news media coverage of Islam and Muslims by drawing on data from 14 focus groups (N?=?104 participants) conducted with Australian Muslims. Similar to previous research, findings reveal that Australian Muslims are highly critical of news media coverage of Islam and Muslims and express concern about the divisiveness that such portrayal can have for Australian society. However, the study participants also had positive comments to make about the news media. Possible solutions to negative news media portrayals of Muslims are considered.     

Muslims in Europe: Citizenship,Multiculturalism and Integration

This article provides an analysis of the concerns in relation to citizenship and multicultural reforms in Europe. It examines the implications for the social integration of Muslims, who seemingly face insurmountable constitutional hurdles notwithstanding liberal institutional attempts, in accommodating a religion that, judged by its global politicisation, may pose more a challenge to multicultural societies than to others. While shedding light on recent developments concerning a wide-ranging panorama of the socio-legal dynamics of integrating Muslim communities in Europe, the article provides an overview of the multicultural idea, focusing on how some European countries address multicultural claims swiftly while others lag behind, busy with more basic issues of immigrant assimilation and integration. It is argued that while attempts are being made to improve Muslim integration, the rising tide of Islamophobia (political and media-manufactured), anti-terrorism legislations and security policies serve to provide a multi-pronged attack on civil liberties and freedoms of Muslim groups. In the concluding section, there will be general remarks concerning the future of Muslims in Europe and the commendable and realisable aim of Muslims to construct an inclusive national identity and find partners who will, like them, be determined to approve what Western culture produces in terms of its positive contributions and resist its deleterious effects on the human, societal and environmental levels.     

美国穆斯林:现状与挑战

美国是一个多元、开放的社会 ,汇聚了世界各种族的成员。在美国 ,各种种族、文化、思想的融合从未间断。但多元并不意味着各个单元在社会、政治、经济、文化等方面的完全平等 ,非主流群体要想在主流社会占有一席之地并非易事。在这方面 ,美国穆斯林群体在美国社会中的现状、发展轨迹和在发展中面临的困惑与挑战很有代表性 ,它在很大程度上反映了少数族群在美国的现状与发展特点 ,对其进行研究有助于深入了解美国社会。同时 ,它为各国少数民族的发展提供了值得借鉴的宝贵经验 ,具有积极的现实意义。一、一体多元的美国对普通人来讲 ,地理和政…     

伊斯兰教与穆斯林性文化

本文首次较深入地探讨了穆斯林性文化的主要内容及其特点 ,分析了伊斯兰教对穆斯林性文化的影响 ,最后指出了穆斯林性文化对现代人的借鉴意义。     

朝觐:穆斯林的一个"过渡礼仪"

朝觐是穆斯林的五功之一,具有了深层意蕴和文化内涵。在文化人类学的视角下,朝觐是每个穆斯林一生中一个典型的"过渡礼仪",是引起穆斯林社会身份和地位的变化的一个宗教礼仪活动。理解朝觐文化的深层内涵,我们认为朝觐可以视为穆斯林复命归真的一次实践。