Drawing upon original case studies spanning North America, Europe and Australia, Muslim Citizens in the West explores how Muslims have been both the excluded and the excluders within the wider societies in which they live. The book extends debates on the inclusion and exclusion of Muslim minorities beyond ideas of marginalisation to show that, while there have undoubtedly been increased incidences of Islamophobia since September 2001, some Muslim groups have played their own part in separating themselves from the wider society. The cases examined show how these tendencies span geographical, ethnic and gender divides and can be encouraged by a combination of international and national developments prompting some groups to identify wider society as the 'other'. Muslim and non-Muslim scholars and practitioners in political science, social work, history and law also highlight positive outcomes in terms of Muslim activism with relationship to their respective countries and suggest ways in which increasing tensions felt, perceived or assumed can be eased and greater emphasis given to the role Muslims can play in shaping their place in the wider communities where they live.

For centuries, wars have occurred and impacted human civilization deeply. As a result, many fight due to cultural differences, vested interests and even over religious beliefs. In the modern world, the rift between the West and the Middle East continues to widen due to endless acts of terrorism. How can the two regions settle their differences and cooperate fully? Take an in-depth look into the history of Islam, Jewish, and Christianity as author Ahmad Nosrati, Iranian scholar, presents this critical review of the roots of religious and political problems in the Middle East in Man and God.

Man and God is a comprehensive review of the troubled relationship between the Middle East and the West. It provides unbiased information that's useful and enlightening especially for those who want freedom, human rights, and results in today's current dilemma. It raises striking questions among them, foremost, have the deceptive foreign policies of the West led to a humiliation of people of the Middle East? Or has the conviction of certain radical Islamist like Al Qaeda that they must kill their adversaries, driven this struggle? Aside from these, the book also explores the character of God and its role in motivating religious extremism or fundamentalism that led to many wars. The text also takes into account the West's everlasting dependence on Middle Eastern oil as one factor that explains why the region is essential to them. The striking analysis of Man and God has the potential to spark a new wave of debates over foreign policy, politics and religion.

Turkey could be considered the most important and leading Islamic country that has implemented the Western economic model successfully mostly because of the modernization efforts since late Ottoman period. As a result of the secularization efforts in the field of economy in early republican era, Muslim people in the country had to deal with non-Islamic practices that contradict with their religious beliefs. Islamic Finance Alternatives for Emerging Economies analyzes the emergence of the Islamic financial institutions in Turkey, by taking into account their history, their operational model, and their legal regulations in the financial field, to discuss the future of Islamic finance. The contributors also consider the ability of Islamic financial institutions and tools to respond to the financial needs of Muslims.

The war in the Middle East is marked by a lack of cultural knowledge on the part of the western forces, and this book deals with another, widely ignored element of Islam-the role of dreams in everyday life. The practice of using night dreams to make important life decisions can be traced to Middle Eastern dream traditions and practices that preceded the emergence of Islam. In this study, the author explores some key aspects of Islamic dream theory and interpretation as well as the role and significance of night dreams for contemporary Muslims. In his analysis of the Islamic debates surrounding the role of "true" dreams in historical and contemporary Islamic prophecy, the author specifically addresses the significance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban dream practices and ideology. Dreams of "heaven," for example, are often instrumental in determining Jihadist suicidal action, and "heavenly" dreams are also evidenced within other contemporary human conflicts such as Israel-Palestine and Kosovo-Serbia. By exploring patterns of dreams within this context, a cross-cultural, psychological, and experiential understanding of the role and significance of such contemporary critical political and personal imagery can be achieved.

This book deals with the causes, nature, and impact of the divisions within the jihadi movement, and the splits between jihadis and other Islamic groups. Fault Lines in Global Jihad offers a systematic and comprehensive examination of the broad range of divisions that contribute to the weakening of the jihadi movement. It separates these divisions into two broad categories, namely fissures dividing jihadis themselves, and divisions separating jihadis from other Muslim and Islamist groups. The first part of the book covers intra-jihadi divisions, highlighting tensions and divisions over strategic, tactical, and organizational issues. The second part of the book addresses several important case studies of jihadi altercations with other Muslim and Islamist groups of non-jihadi persuasion, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Shii community. More than simply an enumeration of problems and cracks within al-Qa'ida and its cohorts, this book addresses critical policy issues of relevance to the broader struggle against the global jihadi movement. The editors conclude that these divisions have and continue to weaken al-Qa'ida, but neither in an automatic nor in an exclusive fashion-for these divisions render the global jihadi movement simultaneously vulnerable and more resilient. This book will be of much interest to students of jihadism, terrorism and political violence, Islamism, security studies and IR in general.

This book provides insights into some of the social topics related to the homogenization and stereotyping of Muslims. It explores the experiences of Muslims in Western societies, with a particular focus not only on gender, home and belonging, multiculturalism, and ethnicity.

This comprehensive introduction explores the landscape of contemporary Islam. Written by a distinguished team of scholars, it: provides broad overviews of the developments, events, people and movements that have defined Islam in the three majority-Muslim regions traces the connections between traditional Islamic institutions and concerns, and their modern manifestations and transformations. How are medieval ideas, policies and practices refashioned to address modern circumstances investigates new themes and trends that are shaping the modern Muslim experience such as gender, fundamentalism, the media and secularisation offers case studies of Muslims and Islam in dynamic interaction with different societies. Islam in the Modern World includes illustrations, summaries, discussion points and suggestions for further reading that will aid understanding and revision. Additional resources are provided via a companion website.

Islam is not only a religion, but also a culture, tradition, and civilization. There are currently 1.5 billion people in the world who identify themselves as Muslim. Two thirds of the worldwide Muslim population, i.e. approximately a billion people, live in forty-eight Muslim majority countries (MMC) in the world- all of which except one are in Africa and Asia. Of these MMCs in Africa and Asia, only twelve (inhabited by about 165 million people) have ever achieved a high score on the Human Development Index (HDI), the index that measures life expectancy at birth, education and standard of living and ranks how "developed" a country is. This means that the majority of the world's Muslim population lives in poverty with low or medium level of human development.

The contributions to this innovative volume attempt to determine why this is. They explore the influence of environment, space, and power on human development. The result is a complex, interdisciplinary study of all MMCs in Africa and Asia. It offers new insights into the current state of the Muslim World, and provides a theoretical framework for studying human development from an interdisciplinary social, cultural, economic, environmental, political, and religious perspective, which will be applicable to regional and cultural studies of space and power in other regions of the world.

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This book carries out a comparative study of the US response to popular uprisings in the Middle East as an evaluation of President Barack Obama's foreign policy commitments. In 2009, Obama publicly pledged "a new beginning in US-Muslim relations," causing eager expectation of a clear shift in US foreign policy after the election of the 44th president of the United States. However, the achievement of such a shift was made particularly difficult by the existence of multiple, and sometimes conflicting, US interests in the region which influenced the Obama administration's response to the popular uprisings in five Muslim-majority countries: Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. After providing a detailed analysis of the traditional features of both US foreign policy rhetoric and practice, this book turns its focus to the Obama administration's response to the 2011 Arab Awakening to determine whether Obama's foreign policy has indeed brought about a new beginning in US-Muslim relations.

Understanding Political Islam retraces the human and intellectual development that led Francois Burgat to a very firm conviction: that the roots of the tensions that afflict the Western world's relationship with the Muslim world are political rather than ideological. In his compelling account of the interactions between personal life-history and professional research trajectories, Burgat examines how the rise of political Islam has been expressed: first in the Arab world, then in its interactions with European and Western societies. An essential continuation of his work on Islamism, Burgat's unique field research and 'political trespassing' marks an overdue challenge to the academic mainstream. -- .

This book brings together eleven essays on Islamic political thought by Bernard Lewis, the acknowledged doyen of middle eastern studies. Few historians have garnered such a broad audience as Lewis, whose works are widely read by scholars, politicians, journalists, and the general public. This latest collection of essays is replete with the incisive historical insight for which Lewis, the world's foremost scholar of the Middle East, is known. With erudition, eloquence and wit, Lewis provides a focused treatment of fundamental Islamic political terms that is at once thoughtful and provocative. The essays provide the background that is essential to understanding Islamic civilization, and consequently, the troubled history of its relations with the West.

Muslim Ethiopia: The Christian Legacy, Identity Politics and Islamic Reformism is a pioneering collection of studies on Islam in contemporary Ethiopia. This volume challenges the popular notion of a 'Christian Ethiopia' imagined as the centuries-old, never-colonized Abyssinia, isolated in the highlands and dominated by Orthodox Christianity. In addition to marginalizing Muslim cultures and societies within Ethiopia, this notion has also excluded Muslims from public discourse and led to the neglect of Islam in Ethiopian studies. This is strikingly at odds with the country's cultural and historical reality, as Muslims constitute a significant part of the population and have contributed significantly to its development. Muslim Ethiopia develops this overlooked nexus of Ethiopian and Islamic Studies, while broadening our understandings of Muslims in Africa as a whole.

The war in the Middle East is marked by a lack of cultural knowledge on the part of the western forces, and this book deals with another, widely ignored element of Islam-the role of dreams in everyday life. The practice of using night dreams to make important life decisions can be traced to Middle Eastern dream traditions and practices that preceded the emergence of Islam. In this study, the author explores some key aspects of Islamic dream theory and interpretation as well as the role and significance of night dreams for contemporary Muslims. In his analysis of the Islamic debates surrounding the role of "true" dreams in historical and contemporary Islamic prophecy, the author specifically addresses the significance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban dream practices and ideology. Dreams of "heaven," for example, are often instrumental in determining Jihadist suicidal action, and "heavenly" dreams are also evidenced within other contemporary human conflicts such as Israel-Palestine and Kosovo-Serbia. By exploring patterns of dreams within this context, a cross-cultural, psychological, and experiential understanding of the role and significance of such contemporary critical political and personal imagery can be achieved.

This cutting edge book considers the question of Islam and commercialisation in Indonesia, a majority Muslim, non-Arab country. Revealing the cultural heterogeneity behind rising Islamism in a democratizing society, it highlights the case of television production and the identity of its viewers. Drawing from detailed case studies from across islands in the diverse archipelagic country, it contends that commercial television has democratised the relationship between Islamic authority and the Muslim congregation, and investigates the responses of the heterogeneous middle class towards commercial da'wah. By taking the case of commercial television, the book argues that what is occurring in Indonesia is less related to Islamic ideologisation than it is a symbiosis between Muslim middle class anxieties and the workings of market forces. It examines the web of relationships that links Islamic expression, commercial television, and national imagination, arguing that the commercialisation of Islam through national television discloses unrequited expectations of equality between ethnic and religious groups as well as between regions.

Muslims for hundreds of years have been involved in philanthropic activities targeting poor and needy people through varied types of 'third sector' organizations (TSOs). Nonetheless, many people in Muslim majority countries (MMCs), not having freedom from hunger, face human security crises. Not much is known about the TSOs or their human security provisions in MMCs. To fill this knowledge gap, this Volume documents and analyses philanthropy and all types of third sector organizations including the awqaf (Muslim endowments) vis-a-vis human security in MMCs. The study is comprehensive in treating the subject matter (analyzing the legal environment, characteristics, extent and functioning of all forms of the third sector and their human security performances) and in geographic coverage (incorporating all forty-seven Muslim majority countries in Africa and Asia). It is also innovative expounding TSO density analysis, state support score (SSS) and a third-sector capability measure (TCM) to study their interrelationships. It is an essential unique reference book for students and scholars of the third sector and human security, international organizations, development agencies, donor governments, security experts and in particular anybody with interests in Islam and MMCs.

"Muslim Voices and Lives in the Contemporary World "tells the stories of eleven remarkable people in the Islamic world, with each account written by an American scholar who came to know that person well. From a religious musician in Pakistan who sings the sufferings of the saints and hopes to bring reconciliation to his country, to a visual artist from a traditional family in Egypt who wants her work to speak to the whole world, to the son of one of the greatest Shi'ite scholars of Iraq who was murdered trying to restore peace in his city, to an Afghan aid agency manager who works to help her people in unstable times, these stories counter some of the misconceptions of Muslim women and men that exist in the Western world. These lively and memorable accounts are distinguished by their immediacy, depth, variety, and breadth and are sure to resonate.

This Reader offers a comprehensive overview of the variety of methodological and theoretical approaches involved in, and relevant to, the emerging field of Anthropology of Islam. It pays particular attention to the study of ethnographic cases, featuring various forms of Islam as practiced in different social and cultural contexts. The Anthropology of Islam Reader also explores topics of great current interest such as the body and cultural politics, the veil and the public sphere and key practices and festivals such as the Hajj and Eid. In his selections, Jens Kreinath highlights the diversity of practices and themes that were formative for this field of study, making this essential reading for students of Islam at undergraduate and graduate level.

The first object created by God, according to early Muslim commentators, was the pen, which he used to chronicle events to come. The word, in its various manifestations, is central to the Islamic faith. Surely a reflection of this centrality, profuse inscriptions mark countless Islamic objects, from the humblest oil lamps and unglazed ceramics to the finest and most expensive rock crystals and jades. The inscriptions serve numerous functions: decorating, proclaiming ownership and patronage, proffering good wishes and proverbs, and spreading religious texts throughout the world. Aside from their aesthetic worth, these inscriptions provide a fascinating window onto a distant culture.

In Islamic Inscriptions, Sheila S. Blair a wealth of stunning images and incisive commentary, while also providing the newcomer to Islamic civilization with a key to unlocking the mysteries of Islamic epigraphy. In addition to chapters devoted to the main types of inscription, detailing the development of their content and style, inscriptive techniques, and the motivations behind them, the book provides practical knowledge on finding, identifying, interpreting, researching, and recording inscriptions. The variety and clarity of information presented makes Islamic Inscriptions an ideal reference for historians, curators, archaeologists, and collectors.

This book studies the relationship between Islam, family processes, and gender inequality among Uyghur Muslims in r mchi, China. Empirically, it shows in quantitative terms the extent of gender inequalities among Uyghur Muslims in r mchi and tests whether the gender inequalities are a difference in kind or in degree. It examines five aspects of gender inequality: employment, income, household task accomplishment, home management, and spousal power. Theoretically, it investigates how Islamic affiliation and family life affect Uyghur women 's status.

Zang 's research involved rare and privileged access to a setting which is difficult for foreign scholars to study due to political restrictions. The data are drawn from fieldwork in r mchi between 2005 and 2008, which include a survey of 577 families, field observations, and 200 in-depth interviews with local Uyghurs. The book combines qualitative and quantitative data and methods to study gendered behavior and outcomes. The author 's study reinterprets family power and offers a more nuanced analysis of gender and domestic power in China and makes a pioneering effort to study spousal power, gender inequality in labor market outcomes, and gender inequality in household chores among members of ethnic minorities in China.

The book will be of interest to students and scholars of ethnic studies, Chinese studies, Asian anthropology and cultural sociology.

This book examines the Islamist radicalisation process in Europe, developing a new theoretical model based on an empirical study of the evolution of Islamist radicals in their social environment.

The approach of this book is to examine how, and under what conditions, people choose to radicalise. It focuses on the experience of radicalisation from the perspective of those who have undergone it. The study is based on trial and court material, along with an extensive number of interviews collected from many different European countries, and this biographical approach is used to address individuals and the details of their social environment.

Overall, the explanatory framework departs from the existing deterministic paradigm (with grievances as causes), also present in some psychological models, and argues that radicalisation is a process much like occupational choice a rational choice made with social and ideational significance. It addresses critically the assumption that, because the result of the radicalisation process could be seen as abnormal, the cause of it might be of a similar nature. Parallels are drawn with other forms of extremism and European counter-radicalisation policies are considered critically.

This book will be of great interest to students of terrorism studies and political violence, political Islam, social movements, European politics and IR/security studies in general.

This book is the first full-length analysis of the theory and practice of Persian singing, demonstrating the centrality of Persian elements in the music of the Islamic Middle Ages, their relevance to both contemporary and traditional Iranian music and their interaction with classical Persian poetry and metrics.

This volume combines rigorous empirical and theoretical analyses with political engagement to look beyond reductive short-hands that ignore the historical evolution and varieties of Islamic doctrine and that deny the complexities of Muslim societies' encounters with modernity itself. Are Islam and democracy compatible? Can we shed the language of 'Islam vs. the West' for new political imaginaries? The authors analyze struggles over political legitimacy since the Arab Spring and the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS in their historical and political complexity across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Distinguishing multiculturalism from interculturalism and understanding multiple modernities, philosophers in the volume tease out the complexities of civilizational encounters. The volume also shows how the Paris massacres or the Danish caricature controversy do not remain confined to Europe but influence struggles and confrontations within Muslim societies. Gender and Islam are addressed from a comparative perspective bringing into conversation not only the experience of different Muslim countries with Islamic law but also by analysing Jewish family law.

The history of the Islamic movement in Jordan displays glaring contrasts with its counterparts like Egypt, Iran, and Syria. In a marked departure from the frequent and bloody confrontations that have characterized Islamic opposition in these countries, the Jordanian Muslim Brothers have been nonviolent and often defended the state vis-à-vis the challenges of radical ideologies. This book explains the state-religion relationship in Jordan in terms of ideology, politics, class formation, and the relationship between the dominant classes and the Muslim Brothers.

Volume I of this new Routledge collection focuses on theories of education. The gathered materials explore and analyse the impact of the classical Islamic period in history and the developments in education which have emanated from it. Volume II focuses on education in Eastern Europe and Muslim Asia, capturing the essential issues in each of the countries studied, and how they vary across a vast region. The impact of culture and modernization on traditional societies, as well as the ways in which westernized modes of education are introduced, and the aspirations of youth are in turn determined. Volume III looks at education in the Middle East and Muslim Africa. Islam has its origins in the Middle East, and today many of the challenges Muslims face in relation to Islam and education are concentrated in this region. Volume IV explores the education of Muslims in North America and Europe, and of minorities in advanced liberal secular democracies. Islam and Education is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction newly written by the editor.

Islam has had a significant impact on world history, not only as a major religion that has directed the personal beliefs and actions of individuals, but also as the basis of a distinct system of government that has developed its own institutions, practices and philosophies. This new Routledge Major Work collection is concerned with the development of political thought in Islam. By political thought is meant, broadly, the study and interpretation of Islamic political culture, ideas, beliefs, and institutions; the contribution of key political theorists and authorities to the understanding or practice of governance; what people and groups believed about political authority and institutions and their political convictions; and how politics in the Islamic world has related to and interacted with other disciplines, such as religion, law, ethics, and philosophy. Although contemporary issues in Islamic political thought are very much in the public focus at the moment, this set also focuses on the history and development of Islamic political theories and thought, from their inception until the twentieth century. Political thought in the Muslim world is connected to its history and by understanding the past, those who study contemporary political thought will have a better grounding to understand current and future developments. Moreover, understanding how Islamic political thought developed also helps shed light on the political thought of other civilizations, such as Western political thought. Political thought in Islam did not develop in isolation -- it responded to and interacted with the political institutions and theories of other civilizations throughout history.