Will 'what works' in one country work in another? This unique collection examines the cross-cultural transfer of skills and expertise, drawing out the opportunities and challenges involved in taking penal practices from one country to another.

The events of 9/11 prompted questions as to the origins, nature and purpose of international jihadist organisations. In particular, why had they chosen to target the US and the West in general? Turner's book provides a unique, holistic insight into these debates, taking into account historical perceptions and ideology as key factors.

This work explores contemporary debates on migration and integration, focussing on Euro-Muslims. It critically engages with republicanist and multiculaturalist policies of integration and claims that integration means more than cultural and linguistic assimilation of migrant communities.

Islam has permeated Chinese civilization as a religion and lifestyle for centuries. This volume offers a summary of key developments concerning scholarship on Islam in China and presents a record of research on this topic. The first part of the book is a narrative introduction to the history of Islam in China, the coexistence of Chinese and Muslim cultures, and contemporary issues. The second part of the work is a listing of more than four hundred sources of information on the topic. Entries are grouped in ten categories, and each entry includes a descriptive annotation. An appendix lists journals devoted to research in this field, and the volume concludes with author, title, and subject indexes.

This book is a sociological study of Muslim youth culture in two global cities in the Asia Pacific: Singapore and Sydney. Comparing young Muslims' participation in and reflections on various elements of popular culture, this study illuminates the range of attitudes and strategies they adopt to reconcile popular youth culture with piety.

During the last two decades, the (re-)discovery of thousands of manuscripts in different regions of sub-Saharan Africa has questioned the long-standing approach of Africa as a continent only characterized by orality and legitimately assigned to the continent the status of a civilization of written literacy. However, most of the existing studies mainly aim at serving literary and historical purposes, and focus only on the textual dimension of the manuscripts. This book advances on the contrary a holistic approach to the study of these manuscripts and gather contributions on the different dimensions of the manuscript, i.e. the materials, the technologies, the practices and the communities involved in the production, commercialization, circulation, preservation and consumption. The originality of this book is found in its methodological approach as well as its comparative geographic focus, presenting studies on a continental scale, including regions formerly neglected by existing scholarship, provides a unique opportunity to expand our still scanty knowledge of the different manuscript cultures that the African continent has developed and that often can still be considered as living traditions.

This volume explores the dominant types of relationships between Muslim minorities and states in different parts of the world, the challenges each side faces, and the cases and reasons for exemplary integration, religious tolerance, and freedom of expression. By bringing together diverse case studies from Europe, Africa, and Asia, this book offers insight into the nature of state engagement with Muslim communities and Muslim community responses towards the state, in turn. This collection offers readers the opportunity to learn more about what drives government policy on Muslim minority communities, Muslim community policies and responses in turn, and where common ground lies in building religious tolerance, greater community cohesion and enhancing Muslim community-state relations.

This book presents an innovative analysis of the solidarity/social economy among low-income religious women in Iran. For years, the role of low-income women in community care and poverty reduction has been underestimated and under-researched in the broader academic community, due to the "invisible" nature of these informal and predominantly religious networks. As economic hardship in Iran increases, women in the community have mobilized to bring assistance to those struggling to make ends meet. The culmination of years of fieldwork in different parts of the country, this book sheds light on how religious women form the backbone of Iran's social safety net as the welfare state fails and social protection policies dwindle.

Financial institutions are increasingly providing Islamic financial contracts in global markets. As a result of this market growth there is a high demand to understand how to assess and manage the risks arising from applying Islamic financial products and services. Credit, operational, market and liquidity risks together with the risk of non compliance with the Shariah law are becoming very hot issues for financial institutions. This book presents a common framework on how to efficiently manage the risks faced.

The study of slavery and coerced labour is increasingly conducted from a global perspective, and yet a dual Eurocentric bias remains: slavery primarily brings to mind the images of Atlantic chattel slavery, and most studies continue to be based - either outright or implicitly - on a model of northern European wage labour. This book constitutes an attempt to re-centre that story to Asia. With studies spanning the western Indian Ocean and the steppes of Central Asia to the islands of South East Asia and Japan, and ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, this book tracks coercion in diverse forms, tracing both similarities and differences - as well as connections - between systems of coercion, from early sales regulations to post-abolition labour contracts. Deep empirical case studies, as well as comparisons between the chapters, all show that while coercion was entrenched in a number of societies, it was so in different and shifting ways. This book thus not only shows the history of slavery and coercion in Asia as a connected story, but also lays the groundwork for global studies of a phenomenon as varying, manifold and contested as coercion.

This book tackles unanswered questions on British Muslims and political participation: What makes religion a salient 'political' identity for young Muslims (over any other identity)? How do young British Muslims identify themselves and how does it relate to their political engagement? A fascinating insight into the lives of young British Muslims.

This volume explores the extraordinary variety of Islamic organizations in Europe and the United States. It focuses on the question of how local, national and transnational environments and changing public discourses on Muslims and Islam affect Islamic organizations and their members. The contributions all employ a bottom-up research approach and uncover diverse reactions of Islamic organizations in their forms of organization, strategies and practices. Compiling twelve studies from researchers of a variety of disciplines, this volume provides theoretical and empirical findings on Islamic organizations from the Baltic States, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

This book brings together research into key aspects of the interconnections between Islam, crime and the criminal justice system in Britain, a particularly timely collection in the light of both the recent disturbances in several northern English cities as well as the impact of the events of 11 September 2001 and their aftermath.

Chapters in the book focus on young Muslim men and criminal activity, Muslim women and their experiences of victimisation, the experiences of Muslim police officers, of Muslims in prison, issues of human rights in relation to Muslims in Britain, and the criminal justice policy implications of religious diversity. Main aims pursued through the book include issues of victimisation as perceived by Muslim communities, Muslim perspectives on crime and criminal justice, and ways of addressing issues of marginalisation and exclusion within Muslim communities.

Overall the book provides an important contribution to debates over the role of Muslims in British society generally, as well as their experiences of and involvement in the criminal justice system and the policy implications that arise from this.

The terrorist attacks of September 11 have turned the world's attention to areas of the globe about which we know very little. Ahmed Rashid, who masterfully explained Afghanistan's Taliban regime in his previous book, here turns his skills as an investigative journalist to the five Central Asian republics adjacent to Afghanistan. Central Asia is coming to play a vital strategic role in the war on terrorism, but the region also poses new threats to global security.

The five Central Asian republics -- Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan -- were part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. Under Soviet rule, Islam was brutally suppressed, and that intolerance has continued under the post-Soviet regimes. Religious repression, political corruption, and the region's extreme poverty (unemployment rates exceed 80 percent in some areas) have created a fertile climate for militant Islamic fundamentalism. Often funded and trained by such organizations as Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and the Taliban, guerrilla movements like the IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) have recruited a staggering number of members across the region and threaten to topple the governments of all five nations. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Jihad explains the roots of militant rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of these militant organizations, and suggests ways in which this threat could be neutralized by diplomatic and economic intervention.

Rich in both cultural heritage and natural resources -- including massive oil reservoirs -- Central Asia remains desperately poor and frighteningly volatile. In tracing the history of Central Asiaand explaining the current political climate, Rashid demonstrates that it is a region we ignore at our peril.

This book is a social critique of the cultural taboo of the female virginity in the Middle East. It highlights the unobtainability of this cultural myth and its multilevel destructive influences on various aspects of social life.

The early years of the twenty-first century have been characterized by a sense of widespread anxiety and fear because of the violent activities of groups of terrorists who claim they act in the name of Islam. Their acts of terrorism, viewed by a majority in the Muslim world as crimes which must be subject to the law, are in tragic contrast to the efforts of many Muslim intellectuals who have been working for the past several decades to find common ground between people of all faiths based on the universality of humankind. This book aims to bring to the attention of non-Muslims, in particular, the range of views which Muslims in the Middle East and in South and Southeast Asia hold on six topics of importance to life in the twenty-first century. The topics have been addressed from the internal Muslim point of view to provide readers with a sense of the main debates within Islam on each of the issues. The topics addressed are: the new world order; globalization and modernity; banking and finance; the nation-state; the position of women; and law and knowledge. The chapters have been written by Muslims and non-Muslims, each of whom is an expert on the area about which they write. The chapters are presented in pairs which offer Middle Eastern (and in one case South Asian) points of view which are matched by Southeast Asian perspectives on each of the six topics. While the media is quick to report on the more violent expressions of Islam, including terrorism, the vigorous debates, which now characterize the intellectual discourse in Muslim communities, are rarely if ever reported. This book not only describes and analyses those debates but also reflects the views of many Muslims across the world, emphasizing the connections and contrasts between the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

This book explores contemporary empirical issues in Islamic economics. It begins by outlining current trends in Islamic economics and before identifying gaps in the empirical research. It then goes on to discuss the role of institutions in economic growth for Islamic countries, and the fiscal aspects of Islamic economics. It explores issues in debt and growth, as well as the instruments of monetary management in Islamic economics. It analyses the trade-off between growth and stability and concludes with discussion of Zakat and Waqf in driving growth.

This book examines matters of religious freedom in Europe, considers the work of the European Court of Human Rights in this area, explores issues of multiculturalism and secularism in France, of women in Islam, and of Muslims in the West. The work presents legal analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on concepts such as laicite, submission, equality and the role of the state in public education, amongst others. Through this book, the reader can visit inside a French public school located in a low-income neighborhood just south of Paris and learn about the complex dynamics that led up to the passing of the 2004 law banning Muslim headscarves. The chapters bring to light the actors and cultures within the school that set the stage for the passing of the law and the political philosophy that supports it. School culture and philosophy are compared and contrasted to the thoughts and opinions of the teachers, administrators and students to gage how religious freedom and identity are understood. The book goes on to explore the issue of religious freedom at the European Court of Human Rights. The author argues that the right to religious freedom has been too narrowly understood and is being fenced in by static visions of Islam. This jeopardizes the idea of religious freedom more broadly. By becoming entangled with regional and domestic politics, the Court is neglecting important nuances and is jeopardizing secularism, pluralism and democracy. This is a highly readable and accessible book that will appeal to students and scholars of law, anthropology, religious studies and philosophy of religion. 2004

Based on the author's fieldwork and readings of media, government reports, and historical and contemporary records, this book explores how Muslim migrants in Europe contribute to a changing European landscape, focusing on Muslim Moroccan migrants.

How and to what extent have Islamic legal scholars and Middle Eastern lawmakers, as well as Middle Eastern Muslim physicians and patients, grappled with the complex bioethical, legal, and social issues that are raised in the process of attempting to conceive life in the face of infertility? This path-breaking volume explores the influence of Islamic attitudes on Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) and reveals the variations in both the Islamic jurisprudence and the cultural responses to ARTs.

"This book proposes a fresh perspective on the emergence of public Muslim identities, traversing issues of Muslim-state engagement across government initiatives and church-state relations, across equalities agendas and the education system, the courts and the media"--Provided by publisher.

The book uses an ethnographic approach to explore why the Tablighi Jamaat movement remains so successful in contemporary times. It shows that this success results from the positive image that it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers, and that the organisation's apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community all help to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. The book also argues that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers within a Tablighi-guided life, which is perceived as protection against the Western lifestyle. Many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle are considered non-Islamic, and so by clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic in modern society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims.

This book is a novel and ambitious attempt to map the Muslim American nonprofit sector: its origins, growth and impact on American society. Using theories from the fields of philanthropy, public administration and data gathered from surveys and interviews, the authors make a compelling case for the Muslim American nonprofit sector's key role in America. They argue that in a time when Islamic schools are grossly misunderstood, there is a need to examine them closely, for the landscape of these schools is far more complex than meets the eye. The authors, who are both scholars of philanthropy, examine how identity impacts philanthropy and also the various forces that have shaped the landscape of Muslim American giving in the US. Using a comparative method of analysis, they showcase how this sector has contributed not only to individual communities but also to the country as a whole. National surveys and historical analysis offer data that is rich in insights and offers a compelling narrative of the sector as a whole through its focus on Islamic schools. The authors also critically examine how nonprofit leaders in the community legitimize their own roles and that of their organizations, and offer a compelling and insightful examination of how Muslim American leaders perceive their own role in institution building. This is a must read for anyone seeking to understand this important and growing sector of American society, including nonprofit leaders in the Muslim community, leaders of Islamic schools, nonprofit leaders with interest in private schools, activists, and scholars who study philanthropy and Islamic education.

Numerous factors underlie the dynamic shaping of present-day Muslim-Christian Arab relations as well as the formulation of Arab national identity. In Muslim-Christian Relations in Late-Ottoman Palestine, Erik Freas argues that paramount among these were three developments that transpired in the late-Ottoman period, of which Palestine provides a microcosm. One is that non-Arabic speaking Christian communities began to define identity in nationalistic terms on the basis of faith. Also, with their transformation into politically equal Ottoman citizens, Christians were more intent on taking advantage of their new rights rather than fulfilling civil obligations. Finally, for most Muslim Arabs, the transition from identifying primarily as 'Muslim' to 'Arab' in terms of their broader communal affiliation often entailed little change in how they experienced communal identity in the day-to-day. Taken together, the analysis of these developments provides an in-depth examination of Muslim-Christian Arab relations in Palestine during the nineteenth century as well as the long-term implications of these changes on the manner of Arab national identity's formulation.