Modern Muslim Thought in the Balkans: The Writings of Mehmed ef. Handžić in the El-Hidaje Periodical in the Context of Discrimination and Genocide

Abstract

The withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire from the Balkans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries left a significant impact on the population of the region, especially on the Muslims. Muslim intellectual life was strongly influenced by the arrival of a new political and social order and cultural and religious value system. During this period, Balkan Muslims painfully and irreversibly became an administrative part of Europe. The aim of this paper is to examine the main themes which characterized the writings of Bosnian Muslim intellectuals in the post-Ottoman period, particularly on the eve of and during the Second World War. This work examines the writings of Mehmed Hand?i?, a prominent Bosnian scholar that were published in the El-Hidaje Periodical from 1939 to 1945. The paper brings the scholar's views and commentaries on a variety of topics such as the impoverished Muslim state, the history of Islam and Muslims, and patriotism and nationalism from the Muslim point of view. In most ofHand?i?’swritings the focus is on Muslim intellectual responses to the new political and social changes as well as challenges of the ongoing Second World War. However, hiswritings and reflections continue to have far-reaching effects on Bosnian Muslims and remain relevant to the Bosnian Muslim situation at the beginning of the twenty-first century as the world observes the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in 2015.     

Islam in Argentina: Deconstructing the Biases

Islam in Argentina: a title that may startle or evoke wonder, as it is a subject we know very little about. This paper attempts to undertake a critical analysis of the concept and the process of identity construction within the Muslim community in Argentina. It will take into account factors, such as migration and politics, in order to help identify the possible boundaries created by the community in terms of sameness and otherness within the Argentine society. Argentina has been chosen for this study because, when it comes to the exploration of image, discrimination, stereotyping, and ethno-religious identity of a minority group in a Western migratory setting, Argentina—and Latin America as a continent—has been forgotten in the post-9/11 hysteria surrounding Muslims and Islam. The Muslim community in Argentina, along with the Diaspora across Latin America and worldwide, has been subject to the Western media’s biased and faulty inferences about Muslims. This article will help to deconstruct such biases by taking us on a journey through the history of Muslims’ arrival in Argentina.     

Critical Race Theory,policy rhetoric and outcomes: the case of Muslim schools in Britain

The expansion of state-funded Muslim schools in Britain since 1998 has developed against a backdrop of sustained public political rhetoric around the wider position of British Muslims in both political and educational contexts. This article explores the public policy rhetoric around Muslim schools under New Labour and the subsequent Coalition and Conservative governments and compares how these narratives align with outcomes in terms of numbers of, and types of, denominational Muslim faith schools in Britain. The article applies a Critical Race Theory approach based on the construction of counter-narrative through a critical analysis of policy and its outcomes. This analysis is contextualised through exploring the implications of counter-terror strategies such as Prevent for the political and educational equity of British Muslims as stakeholders in the state. Against this context the article explores the extent to which successive policy frameworks and political narratives around faith schooling have played out in terms of denominational state-funded Muslim schools. Whilst gains have been made under New Labour and the successive Coalition and Conservative governments, critical analysis reveals that public policy narratives allow for a misleading account of the extent to which Muslim communities have been enfranchised through state funding for Islamic schools.     

Muslim Faith and Work Ethic in the United States Virgin Islands

The objective of the following article is to examine why a small number of Muslims from the Middle East chose to settle in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Further, the article is interested in how this Muslim community has retained its work ethic and religious identity in a predominantly Christianized USVI. The article also explores the relationship between this Muslim community and the USVI particularly since the events of 11 September 2001 (9/11). The findings are startling. Unlike some Muslim minority communities that have been unable to make significant strides forward, Muslims in the USVI have achieved impressive levels of economic achievement. Muslims have effectively dominated the retail business in the USVI while largely retaining the religious ways of their homeland, despite some assimilation. Local structural issues such as the inefficient entrepreneurial skills and unstable family ties among Virgin Islanders, as well as an upsurge in investment in tourism and industry, have paved the way for Muslims’ success in the USVI. Other Muslim minority societies trying to achieve growth and development in a foreign land might look at the manner in which Muslims in the USVI have achieved success and financial security.     

Muslims in Europe: the lost tribe of Islam?

The Muslim presence in Europe has caused the Christian churches to focus their attention on a number of issues arising out of this presence and the following article is a review of three papers put out by church organizations. Starting chronologically from the earliest paper to the most recent, I have first summarized the contents of each paper before analysing and commenting on them collectively. The three Church Research Papers on Muslims in Europe are Witness to God in a Secular Europe, Conference of European Churches, Geneva 1985, The Image of Islam in German School Textbooks by Udo Tworuschka, Muslims in Europe. No. 32, 1986, and Islamic Law and its Significance for the Situation of Muslim Minorities in Europe, Report of a study project, Muslims in Europe, No. 35,1987.     

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.     

Fear,Terror and the New Global Economy of Salvation–Global Excess and ‘Suicide’ Bombing in London

The article looks at the London bombing of July 2005 as a double volunteered witnessing. The four male British ‘suicide’ bombers purported to witness the plight of the victims of global excesses in places like Iraq and Palestine as Muslims and their own privileged membership of the Muslim Community (umma). The witnessing was as much a trans-national self-identification by the bombers with their Islamic faith as a counter-identification against their British citizenship. On their trails of death and destruction, the bombers advocated the supremacy of the privilege of faith over the rights of citizen by destroying the mortal bodies of individuals to which is anchored citizen rights in order to provide room for the immortal body of the Muslim Community which cherishes the privilege of the faithful. In their surrogacy for the will of fellow Muslims, the bombers drew on a new economy of salvation that promised them the magnanimity of the witnessing (martyrdom) for the Muslim Community and offered the Other the ignominy of an apocalyptic retribution. By substituting the body for the mind as the immediate object of power the Muslim volunteers inspired fear among the potential victims of their violence without giving them the opportunity to reciprocate fear thus turning the fear into a sense of despair—terror—that makes power incontestable and abolishes politics. Faced with the threat of terror, the British public erected invisible, internal borders within which they constructed an invincible Britishness from which no one was excluded. The insurrectionary, multicultural assertion of British identity through recourse to the notion of individual rights is followed by a moment of constitution of Britishness by the institutions of government. An institutional construction of the general will to protect public safety within the spatially fixed borders is mediated by the Anglo-American model of multiculturalism. The article explores the incompatibility between cultural construction of boundaries sanctioned by the model and the state's educating role to dis-identify the faithful in order to identify them as citizens.     

US Neoconservative Support and Policy Activism for Bosnia, 1992–1995: Correcting the Record

Abstract

The aim of this article is to trace neoconservative thought in the US and policy activism on the role of the US in Bosnia during the 1992–1995 genocide. This paper argues that, on the issue of intervention in Bosnia, neoconservatives in the US comprised two camps. Neoconservative former government officials were early and consistent advocates of an assertive US intervention in Bosnia. However, the neoconservative academics were a heterogeneous group divided over the question of US intervention. Yet, both the former government officials and several academics came together in supporting President Bill Clinton's decision to deploy US troops to enforce the Dayton Peace Accords. While sharply criticized in the Muslim world for their Middle East policies, neoconservative advocacy for Bosnia and Bosnian Muslims during 1992–1995 has been largely overlooked. Analysing neoconservatives’ activism on Bosnia provides for a more nuanced understanding of the US neoconservative foreign policy legacy.     

Do Muslims See Australia as Their Homeland? The Notion of watan al-asli and watan al-sukna in Islam

Abstract

The concept of “country” or homeland in Islam was defined by Muslim jurists in the eighth century in the light of the sacred text. They set three categories: watan al-asli, the country of birth, the country of one's spouse or the place of permanent residence; watan al-sukna, the country of temporary residence and employment; and watan al-safari, the country that is traveled to. Accordingly, for Muslims immigrating to Australia, their new country falls into one of these categories. Muslim contact with Australia stretches back centuries. However, although early Muslims arrived on Australian shores before Europeans, they did not settle. It was not until the late 1960s, when Muslims came in mass immigration, that permanent communities were established. Since then, particularly over the last two decades, Muslims have become gradually more visible. This increase in prominence has raised anxiety from some segments of the Australian community. There are groups who view Islam as an obstacle for integration. The loyalty of Muslims to Australia is being debated, discussed and questioned by some intellectuals, politicians, media and other Australians with little or no knowledge of the Islamic theological perspective of the “notion of country”. In this article, I will argue that the “notion of country”, a concept of which even the majority of Muslims are not aware, supports integration. This article will also explore the concept of “homeland” in Islamic theology and jurisprudence and discuss the findings of a survey on Muslims’ views about Australia as home.     

The Role of Labeling and Bias in the Portrayals of Acts of “Terrorism”: Media Representations of Muslims vs. Non-Muslims

Several high-profile negative events involving Muslim perpetrators have recently been covered by the media. We investigated whether the same negative actions are more likely to be labeled “terrorism” when they are committed by Muslims than when they are committed by White non-Muslims. In Experiment I (n?=?60), using a real article about a Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a non-Muslim perpetrator, we found that participants were more likely to identify a crime as terrorism when it was perpetrated by a Muslim. The label “terrorism” also mediated the effect of Muslim identity on negative judgments of the behavior. In Experiment II (n?=?60), we replicated the results of Experiment I and clarified that the effects persisted when we used a real article about a non-Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a Muslim perpetrator. We discuss implications for cross-group communication and representations of Muslims in the media.     

Muslim Family Law in Southern Thailand: A Historical Overview

Muslims have long a history of practicing Islamic law where Muslim communities are the minority. In Thailand, past governments have positively included Islamic law as a legitimate source of personal law for Muslims in the southern regions. Consequently, Muslims are governed by two different sets of laws in Thailand, one is Islamic law and the other is the secular law. However, only Islamic law is applicable for Muslims especially in settling their matrimonial disputes and inheritance. Islamic family law has a long history and has been preserved for the betterment and benefits of Muslim citizens especially in the four Muslim provinces of Thailand. This study aims to describe the development of Islamic law through the different periods of governments in southern Thailand. The development of Islamic family law and the application of Islamic law along with its judicial aspects under the administration of Thailand will also be discusssed.     

也谈"消经"《开以达尼》

本文就近些年来国内一些研究伊斯兰教和“消经”的学者对广泛流传于西北穆斯林社区的伊斯兰教法经“消经”《开以达尼》的研究中出现的一些问题,本着历史研究必须实事求是,言之有据,持之有理的原则,根据“消经”《开以达尼》塔什干原版本和调查资料,对它的作者、著述时间、印书地点、内容、翻译和版本等相关性的问题,以及它与回族穆斯林创造的拼音文字———“消经”的关系和意义进行考证和阐释,以期澄清此经典所涉及的一些问题。     

Muslim Minority of New Zealand in Global Context: Demographic Perspective

This article focuses specifically on the population of Muslims in New Zealand, and highlights their demographic and socio-economic characteristics in a worldwide comparison. Globally, Islam is the fastest-growing religion and Muslims are the second largest religious group. In particular, the population of Muslim migrants in the multicultural and westerns societies is also remarkably growing fast. This also applies to the multicultural setting of New Zealand where have witnessed a substantially increasing growth of Muslim population during the recent decades. Holding a wide range of ethnic and religious groups from throughout the world as well as a variety of Muslims from different parts of the Islamic world, the multicultural field of this study serve as a unique human and cultural laboratory to approach properly the key research objectives of this analysis. The discussion is mainly based on the customized data of population census. This article specifically addresses the main demographic and socio-economic patterns and differentials associated with the population of Muslims in this multicultural context in a global comparison.     

Sino-Muslim Relations: The Han,the Hui,and the Uyghurs

Sino-Muslim relations rest upon an informal socio-spatial hierarchy according to which some Muslim groups are more of an asset and others more of a liability. In this informal hierarchy, Hui Muslims are closer to the center than any other Muslim group because they are Sinicized, seen as religiously moderate, and mostly live in proximity to non-Muslim Chinese neighbors. Central Asian Muslims, most notably Xinjiang’s Uyghurs, are more distant from China’s notional center and seen as culturally more alien and prone to religious extremism. This article discusses the historical roots of this socio-spatial hierarchy and systematically examines Sino-Muslim relations in political, economic, and societal terms. It concludes that, despite problematic features from a western-liberal perspective, the hierarchy continues to enable the Chinese majority to manage a set of otherwise challenging relationships.     

Economic status of Muslims in Korea: a preliminary report

Summary

This study hardly meets the minimum requirements for identifying the economic status of the Muslim minority in Korea. As more data becomes available it would be possible to present a more sustained effort. However some interesting findings can be highlighted even at this early stage:

First, so far as the Korean Muslim population is concerned, it is heavily concentrated in the Seoul area. Further, 34% of the total Korean Muslim population is presently residing in Islamic countries. Secondly, 50% of Korean Muslims have an education above high school which is comparatively higher that the average for non‐Muslim Koreans. Also, the opening of the Korea Islamic University will play a critical role in the future growth of the Islamic faith. Thirdly, according to occupational patterns, more than one‐third (35%) of all Muslims are engaged in academic pursuits. In comparison, 20% of Korean Muslims fall in the category of employee. Lastly, the 20–30 and 30–40 age groups, representing primarily students and employees respectively, make up over 65% of the total Korean Muslim population in Korea.     

‘I grew a beard and my dad flipped out!’ Co-option of British Muslim parents in countering ‘extremism’ within their families in Bradford and Leeds

Research on the effects of counter-terrorism has argued that Muslims are constructed as a ‘suspect community’. However, there remains a paucity of research exploring divisive effects membership to a ‘suspect community’ has on relations within Muslim families. Drawing from interviews conducted in 2010–2011 with British Muslims living in Bradford or Leeds, I address this gap by examining how co-option of Muslim parents to counter extremism fractures relations within Muslim families. I show that internalising fears of their children being radicalised or indeed radicalising others, means parents judge young Muslims’ religious practices through a restrictive moderate/extremist binary. I advance the category of ‘internal suspect body’ which is materialised through two intersecting conditions: the suspected Muslim extremist to lookout for and young Muslims at risk of radicalisation. I delineate the reproductive effects of terrors of counter-terrorism on Muslims’ experiences as they traverse state, intra-group and individual levels.     

The Secular and the Religious in the Management of Islam in Singapore

This article examines the Singaporean model of “secularism” and its impact on the relations between the Singaporean government and the minority Muslim community in Singapore. While the Singaporean state defines itself as secular, its policies do not depict a strict dichotomy between religion and state. This paper argues that the obscure nature of secularism in Singapore has led to tensions on several issues between the government and Muslim community due to differing perceptions of what Singaporean secularism means. The first section of the paper deals with the concept of secularism as defined by the Singaporean state and examine the historical factors that led to the provision of special rights to Muslims in Singapore. The paper will then analyse the legal positions of institutions such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, MUIS) and the Syariah court which are tasked with managing Islamic affairs in Singapore. Lastly, the paper will analyse how the unique definition of secularism in Singapore led to tensions between the government and the Muslim community. These cases included the headscarf controversy that erupted in 2002 and 2013, the madrasah controversy in 1999, foreign policy issues and terrorism. The paper concludes by drawing a trajectory of the future relations between the Singaporean government and the Muslim community.     

To be or not to be an Australian: Focus on Muslim youth

In 2001, 67% of Australians identified themselves as Christians and only 1.5% as Muslims, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Other Australians are Jews, Buddhists and Hindus – to name just a few of the religious minorities. Since 1975 until recently when the Anti-Discrimination Act was legislated, multiculturalism has been the official policy of the Federal Government. Yet in these terror-ridden times, the policy – however interpreted – has well and truly fallen into disfavour. This article discusses both the historical and contemporary dimensions of Muslim Australians’ national identity, focusing particularly on Muslim youth. It examines how one group of Australian-born Muslims exhibited their national identity during the Second World War and how the newly arrived Muslims feel about their identity during the ‘War on Terror’. The article is based on both primary and secondary sources – particularly on oral testimonies.     

青藏铁路沿线生态环保经济效益分析

青藏铁路作为全国乃至世界上首条高原生态环保铁路,通过其环保理念和环保实践及在全方位、多领域、各环节实施的环保措施,对青藏高原生态环境起到积极的保护作用,是人与自然生态、建设项目与高原环境和谐相处的典范,它将为我国今后经济建设项目的环境保护提供可以借鉴的成功经验,同时能发挥良好示范和典型引导作用,正如曾培炎副总理关于"青藏铁路建设中认真做好环境保护工作的经验,值得全面总结推广"的重要批示。可以预言,建成并投入使用的青藏铁路建设生态环保体系,必将在今后铁路运营中发挥良好的经济、生态和社会效益。     

‘Settling’ the multicultural nation-state: Little Mosque on the Prairie,and the figure of the ‘moderate Muslim’

This paper analyzes Little Mosque on the Prairie, its characters and themes within the context of post-9/11 discourses of nationalism and citizenship. Against the backdrop of the Canadian national narrative, I argue that the sitcom foregrounds a ‘moderate Muslim’ that demarcates the boundaries of the multicultural nation-state, especially when juxtaposed against the racially and sexually coded Muslim ‘other’ on the global landscape. The moderate Muslim is represented as ‘liberal’ and ‘modern’, one who seeks to integrate her faith into the multicultural fabric of society. Such a figure, represented both as a ‘good’ Muslim/immigrant and a ‘good’ Canadian citizen-subject, illuminates the boundaries of ‘acceptability’ within the Canadian national imaginary. The figure of the moderate Muslim reinforces the racial coding embedded in this imaginary, while enabling the state to proclaim its ‘multicultural tolerance’ and benevolence. Building on previous scholarship on race, citizenship, and nation-building, I argue that the moderate Muslim – as exemplified in Little Mosque on the Prairie – serves important ideological functions in (re)defining the internal (and racially coded) borders of the nation. While Little Mosque on the Prairie makes an important contribution to the representation of Muslims, challenging some stereotypes, I argue that it does not deliver on its considerable potential to articulate nuanced representations of Muslims. Through its foregrounding of the figure of the moderate Muslim, the sitcom reaffirms key norms, engages in a politics of authenticity, and reinforces hegemonic messages, both within Muslim communities and in Canadian society. Thus, the moderate Muslim becomes a key player in enabling the state to render invisible its exclusion of the ‘Muslim Other,' while maintaining its non-racist credentials.