Religion and Incorporation: Islam in France and Germany

This article attempts to examine religion, particularly Islam, as an emergent type of corporate ethnicity in France and Germany and how Islam is represented and recognized in relation to the established principles governing the interaction of church and state both in the histories of each country and in comparison to the United States. Although religion constitutes one element of pluralism and diversity in which Islam would be the “religion of a minority” among other ethnic groups in the United States, in Europe Islam emerges as a “minority religion” in European nation‐states. Such a conceptual difference is reflected in the understandings and applications of multiculturalism and recognition in European countries and the United States. The question then is how to insure a historical continuity between principles and ideals of states on the one hand and how to integrate the religious diversity raised by Islam into the secularism of liberal European societies on the other.     

The Islamic Crescent: Islam,Culture and Globalization

This paper is an interdisciplinary consideration of Islam in general, and of Islam within the Islamic crescent in particular. Scholarly approaches to the study of Islam are explored, as well as the unity and commonality of attitudes and sentiments that exists right across the Islamic world. This last point is contrasted with differences within Islamic countries in the crescent, particularly in the context of culture. Indeed, this paper stresses the need to understand the relationship between culture and Islam. The paper concludes with an analysis of Islam and globalization, paying particular attention to modernization and Islamic identity.     

伊斯兰原教旨主义极端势力的全球化

伊斯兰原教旨主义的特征之一为全球化。无论是温和派还是极端派,伊斯兰原教旨主义势力都主张不分边界与民族,最终建立大一统的伊斯兰神权统治。因此,伊斯兰原教旨主义的追随者,都热衷于伊斯兰运动的全球化。作为伊斯兰原教旨主义极端派别的发源地,埃及伊斯兰极端组织的全球化是伊斯兰原教旨主义极端势力全球化的一个生动的缩影,这一过程催生了类似基地组织这样的全球性伊斯兰恐怖组织。     

伊斯兰原教旨主义极端势力的全球化

伊斯兰原教旨主义的特征之一为全球化.无论是温和派还是极端派,伊斯兰原教旨主义势力都主张不分边界与民族,最终建立大一统的伊斯兰神权统治.因此,伊斯兰原教旨主义的追随者,都热衷于伊斯兰运动的全球化.作为伊斯兰原教旨主义极端派别的发源地,埃及伊斯兰极端组织的全球化是伊斯兰原教旨主义极端势力全球化的一个生动的缩影,这一过程催生了类似基地组织这样的全球性伊斯兰恐怖组织.     

State Building as a Source of Islamic Political Organization1

Previous research on political Islam in the Middle East and North Africa has been limited in providing a generalizable theory of its origins and systematically account for the cross‐national variation in the prevalence of Islamic movements. Following a state‐centered approach, this study argues that state‐building activities are a primary origin of Islamic movements. Regimes adopt religious symbolism and functions that legitimate the role of Islam in the public sphere. State incorporation of religion thus creates Islam as a frame for political action, with increased access to mobilizing resources and better able to withstand repression and political exclusion. To provide an explicit and systematic test of cross‐national variation, data on 170 political and militant organizations across the region are analyzed. Results indicate that state incorporation of religion is a crucial factor in the religiosity of movement organizations. Mixed effects of political exclusion and repression are found. No support is found for theories of economic grievances or foreign influence as causes of Islamic mobilization. In sum, analysis suggests that a state‐centered perspective is the most fitting account of political Islam.     

PERFORMING SOMALI IDENTITY IN THE DIASPORA

Somali refugees who fled the collapse of their homeland and resettled in the US narrate ‘who they are’ within a bewildering entanglement of cultural differences layered with diasporic tensions. This analysis examines the storytelling of a young woman refugee to Lewiston, Maine, who embodies the performative tensions that animate Somali identity at this intense historical moment and in this dense cultural space. I follow her unfolding counter/narrative dance within the confluence of gazes – feminist, colonialist, multiculturalist, and academic – which dialogically inform the possibilities of her identity as she contests definitions of Somali ethnicity, feminism, blackness, and Islam. Her storytelling circulates and reworks two dominant narratives used to explain Somali identity: identity-as-culture and identity-as-religion. Performance analysis of her storytelling makes evident that Somali culture and Islamic religion are co-articulated as well as inescapably liminal and localized by the bodily differences of gender and race in the diaspora. I problematize the narrative event as a dialogic, co-constructed, and transnational encounter in which the narrator reads and talks back to regulating discourses at the same time that I question my own complicity in dominant designs. The narrative performance and analysis display a Somali ethnicity fleshed out, critically inflected, and creatively nuanced by the diaspora which inserts an emerging Somali story in US immigration narratives.     

The Making of Entrepreneurial Islam and the Islamic Spirit of Capitalism 1

This essay examines the relationship between Islam and economy through a case study of Islamic entrepreneurs in Turkey. It analyzes the cultural politics of Islamic entrepreneurs and examines the Islamization of capitalism and the construction of entrepreneurial Islam by probing the interpretative activities of Islamic actors who deconstruct and reconstruct the relationship between Islam, economy and entrepreneurship. The construction of Islam as incompatible with and antagonistic to capitalism has a long history. Vestiges of such thinking still continue to be reflected in contemporary accounts that depict the encounter between Islamic societies and forces of global capital as a hostile battle, each trying to outdo the other. It can be argued that this confrontational scenario is not limited to Islamic world, but also displayed in other accounts that study the meeting of forces of capital with those of local cultures at a global scale. This essay attempts to challenge such dualist accounts that oppose “global capital” and “local culture”, and shows how such dualisms fail to see how capitalism and culture interpenetrate and transform each other. The essay attempts to show that a new synthesis between religion and capitalism is unfolding where culture has not been outdone but is creatively transformed and integrated to capitalism, while capitalism is made a part of “one’s culture”.     

Teaching Islam to educate multiethnic and multicultural literacy: seeking alternative discourse and global pedagogies in the Chinese context

In the post-9/11 era, growing scholarly literature and social concern have focused on Islamic education in Muslim-majority countries and for Muslim minorities in the West. However, public attention and academic research concerning the teaching of Islam as a world religion and a commonly shared human civilization, are barely understood in secular contexts and in public education. This issue requires more attention, especially in Asia. For the sake of future dialogue and further discussion, this paper is a tentative attempt at initiating this understudied issue of teaching Islam as multicultural literacy. It inquires about the pedagogy of teaching Islam in an East Asian context by first briefly reflecting on the dilemmas of introducing Islam to the West and its implications for the university curriculum. Departing from the experience in North America and European societies, this article then attempts to explore alternative pedagogical discourse in teaching Islam to Chinese students in the East Asian context by considering its specific geographical position in global politics and the recent development of Hong Kong. This article finally foresees the developing pedagogy of Islamic teaching that challenges students to break away from the media cliché and apathy towards human suffering, leading them to understand that they themselves are the potential peacemakers of a future global multiethnic and multicultural society.     

The Polls-Trends: Arab and Muslim Americans and Islam in the aftermath of 9/11

The terrorist attacks against the United States on September11, 2001, fueled widespread concern and speculation about mountingIslamophobic sentiment among Americans in response to the events.To monitor developments in opinions about Muslims and Arabs(both living in the United States and abroad) and attitudestoward the Islamic faith, survey organizations began to assessmore regularly Americans’ attitudes on these topics. Ianalyze developments in public sentiment about Arab and MuslimAmericans and Islam in the age of the war on terror using availablepublic opinion data. The data analyses in this study suggestthat Americans possess lingering resentment and reservationsabout Arab and Muslim Americans. The evidence also reveals lowlevels of awareness about basic elements of Islam but growinganxiety about Islam’s (especially Islamic fundamentalism’s)compatibility with Western values of tolerance, acceptance,and civility. Some of the sharpest movement in opinion dynamicswe observe is in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks,but opinion levels stabilize shortly thereafter. Monitoringthese developments as the war on terror continues is crucial.     

Gender boundaries and sexual categories in the Arab world

This essay considers the construction of gender and sexual images in the Arab world and how Western responses to Islam have affected the way Islam is perceived and interpreted. After a brief introduction, the essay discusses the problems of using Islam as a standard methodological yardstick in the face of the diversity of Muslim lifestyles and interpretations. The next section describes gender boundaries and social barriers in Islam that involve rigid segregation of the sexes. While Islam is shown not to favor full gender equality, the dynamic interaction between a Middle Eastern culture and the Islamic religion, each of which promote the ostensible inferiority of women, makes it difficult to determine whether culture or religion has had more influence on gender relations. The essay continues with a look at controversies about homosexuality, the condition that defined the difference between Christianity and Islam. Characteristics of present-day sexism and sexuality among the Arabs are highlighted in a look at the persistence of male dominance, the restriction of women from the public sphere, theories about the toleration of homosexuality, and the taboo extended towards lesbians and others practicing free sex. It is concluded that the study of gender and sexuality in the Middle East remains incomplete and preliminary, although gender studies have progressed in the past two decades. Social and sexual tensions have been exacerbated by the rise of fundamentalism, and homosexuality remains a forbidden topic for Muslim scholars.     

South Asian disabled women: negotiating identities

This paper is concerned with the identities of disabled South Asian women within Britain. It presents empirical evidence concerning how disability, gender and ethnicity are negotiated simultaneously for young disabled Muslim and Sikh women. How these identities are negotiated is analysed in the realms of family, religion and marriage drawing on qualitative interviews with the young women, their parents and siblings. The paper argues against ideas of singular identity or the hierarchisation of identities or oppressions. The paper contributes to contemporary debates about how young South Asian women are constructing new forms of identity in Britain.     

Young Muslim women of Bengali and Moroccan origin in Italy: multiple belongings,transnational trajectories and the emergence of European Islam

This paper investigates the multiple dimensions in the identity constructions of the daughters of the Muslim migrations to Italy. It focuses on the transformations in the way girls and young women relate to religion, in the transition from the generation of mothers, who emigrated from countries with a Muslim majority, to the generation of daughters, who grow up in a European context where Islam is a minority religion. It discusses ‘transmissions’, ‘translations’ and ‘betrayals’ in the migration experience, from a standpoint which highlights the specificities of gender and of generation. The article is based on an intersectional analysis of biographical accounts by Muslim girls and young women of Bengali and Moroccan origin who were born and/or grew up in Italy. Intersecting religious identity with other identity lines such as national belonging (to the parents’ country of origin and to the country where they were born or grew up), gender, class, color and age, multiple reactions and positions emerged. In this context, the religious dimension inherited/experienced/reinvented/called into question by the daughters of migrations appeared to be in constant evolution. Indeed, the stories contained herein of young Muslims tell of the emergence of European Islam.     

犹太民族与中东穆斯林世界关系演变及其前景展望

历史上，犹太人与穆斯林并非天敌。《古兰经》承认犹太民族是一个“有经典的”优秀民族，对犹太人背井离乡深表同情，但对犹太教持否定与批判态度。犹太人与穆斯林之间的关系以和谐相处为特征，双方关系的恶化始于西方国家对穆斯林世界的侵略，锡安主义成了外部世界染指中东地区的工具。目前，以色列与中东穆斯林世界的关系将受制于缓和原则、在锡安主义上的工具性与目的性分离的原则、先易后难的原则和亮点原则等因素。以色列要化解与穆斯林世界的矛盾需要审时度势，针对不同国家采取不同对策：又方只有建立互信，才能最终实现和平共处。     

伊斯兰信用经济思想探析

基于公正与平等理念的伊斯兰信用思想作为伊斯兰教经济思想的重要内涵,彰显了丰富的伦理内涵,但在全球化、金融一体化的浪潮中亦呈现出其阻滞伊斯兰社会金融发展、滞缓其全球化进程的因子,凸显了宗教伦理与经济发展的二元张力。伊斯兰教在留存其信用经济思想丰富伦理内涵的同时,也应依据创制精神对其加以阐释,以更好地应对全球化金融浪潮。     

Reading the Other Women,Feminism, and Islam

This essay focuses on the complex gendered particularities of the Arab region (including Iran). The debate between Islamic feminists and secular feminists is explored. Islamic feminists claim that liberation for men and women lies in following the Islamic faith and it is Islam that provides the best protection for women. Secular feminists argue for the separation of religion from civil society and the State. The essay explores the inextricable link between masculinity and the nation, and the impact of postcolonial relations on subjectivity.     

Sovereignty and Martyrdom: A Sociological Sketch

This paper has two goals: to develop a sociological conception of martyrdom and to use that concept to interpret the history of sovereignty in the West. While recent research on the topic has focused on martyrdom as a terrorist tactic associated with radical Islam, I redress these trends by analyzing martyrdom as a social process, focusing on cases of martyrdom in European history, and cultivating a new perspective on the relationship between religion and politics in the historical development of sovereignty in the West.     

Recalling the ‘Islam of the parents’ liberal and secular Muslims redefining the contours of religious authenticity

Scholarship on Islam in Europe has largely invested in examining the generational dynamics in the lived religious experiences of Muslims. Within this perspective, the idea of a generation gap, which revolves around a distinction between ‘tradition’ and ‘religion’, has figured as an important account in assessing some of these religious transformations. Drawing on fieldwork with Belgian Muslims of Moroccan origin, this paper seeks to nuance this perspective by exploring accounts wherein this ‘traditional’ Islam of the parents is actively reclaimed. This was especially the case for respondents who were quite critical of Islamic revivalist trends. In many of these stories, the parents’ Islam was understood as tolerant and open, in a way that was consonant with ‘tradition’. By focusing on these narratives, a first aim of the paper is to understand how genealogy and ancestry figure as distinct criteria in determining the ‘real Islam’. A second aim is to complicate the understanding of the liberal and modern self, and its relationship to the past.     

极端主义在俄罗斯的滋生、构成及影响

在后冷战时代,宗教极端主义成为各国在非传统安全领域的重大挑战,其中伊斯兰极端主义的影响较大。伊斯兰教作为俄罗斯的传统宗教,在促进社会稳定、巩固家庭和精神道德价值观方面发挥着积极意义,但伊斯兰教政治化也助长了激进的一面。在转型期的俄罗斯,伴随着伊斯兰复兴思潮与运动的兴起,伊斯兰极端主义也得以滋生并迅速蔓延开来。俄罗斯的伊斯兰极端主义趁转型之初联邦中央政权式微而企图推动北高加索地区独立,建立所谓的“伊斯兰国家”,从而给俄罗斯国家及社会造成了巨大的创伤。在全球伊斯兰极端主义泛起的背景下,伊斯兰极端主义问题在俄罗斯一直存在,成为影响国家安全和社会稳定的重大隐患。     

‘Society does treat me differently and that is a shame’: understandings and feelings of Britishness amongst visibly observant young Muslims

There has been increasing media and political questioning of the national loyalties and identities held by young British Muslims, with a particular focus on those seen to separate themselves through strict and religiously observant dress and lifestyles. This paper draws primarily on research focusing on the meanings of ‘Britishness’ held amongst a group of visibly observant young Muslim adults. Empirical evidence is provided to demonstrate that although these young adults demonstrated an explicit and visible sense of Muslim identity, this co-existed without any conscious conflict with their British identity. The young adults’ acknowledgement of their religious attachment developed from a positive and proactive identification with Islam rather than one in opposition or rebellion against a British identity. Therefore, in a wider context, their lives must not be analysed only through the lens of religion, dress and appearance as this has repercussions in relation to national policy formation and subsequent perceptions of wider society.     

Framing the Muslim subject,contesting the secular citizen: Tablighi Jamaat and the (trans)nationalization of Islam in Singapore

This paper explores how the (trans)nationalization of Islam can lead to differential understandings of the Muslim subject and secular citizen in Singapore. (Trans)nationalization problematizes the state-led regulation of religion by revealing the complexities that emerge when religious subject positions are indexed to citizenship status. Islamic expression is closely regulated in Singapore, meaning the Singaporean Muslim subject is framed by the state in secular-first terms. Complicating this framing is the presence of Bangladeshi migrant workers, who, by virtue of their visa and residency statuses, are viewed as transient members of society and denied access to citizenship. Non-citizenship causes a variety of Islamic expressions to become viable pathways to religious subject formation, including those associated with Islamic missionary movement, Tablighi Jamaat. By claiming these subject positions, Bangladeshi Tablighis become vectors through which Singapore's Muslim spaces are exposed to transnational Islamic influences, causing the mosque to be imbued with divergent, and sometimes contested, meanings and attributions of value.