Search Results (195)

Practical theology is the application of theological reflection to concrete human experience—how faith is interpreted and embodied within shifting social realities. In the article, I examine how Islamic practical theology was interpreted amid the extensive crisis in light of the Gaza war in post-October 7 America, connecting it to the Islamic concept of da’wa (call to Islam). As a case study, I explore the doctrine of Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, one of the most prominent clerics in the US, who emerged as part of a new generation of young American imams who burst into the Western public sphere during the post-9/11 era. The rise of social media gained him prestige and solidified his global influence, amplifying his impact on shaping contemporary Islamic discourse to millions in America and the West. Similar to Qadhi’s post-9/11 use of da’wa as a practical theology that transformed Islamophobia into a means of strengthening faith and American Muslim identity, his post-October 7 da’wa discourse is a clear case of Islamic practical theology in response to crisis. Following the October 7 events, Qadhi framed the chaotic situation in Gaza as both a spiritual and activist catalyst. His emphasis on da’wa promoted personal piety, repentance, and communal solidarity, while also urging political activism, interfaith dialogue, and advocacy for global Muslim causes. This dual strategy—spiritual renewal intertwined with socio-political mobilization—illustrates how da’wa functions as a flexible instrument of Islamic practical theology addressing individual, communal, and national concerns. By comparing Qadhi’s post-9/11 and post-October 7 discourses, the article highlights a shift from defensive apologetics shaped by Islamophobia to a more assertive public theology intertwined with political engagement. This evolution illustrates how American Muslim leadership employs a living, crisis-responsive theology to redefine faith, identity, and responsibility in moments of profound upheaval. Full article

Especially over the last two and a half decades, Indonesian society has witnessed a deepening Islamisation, the impact of which is being felt in domains such as politics, education, morality, and private life. Linked to this development, a rise in religious intolerance and extremism has been noted. This process is often attributed to influences from transnational movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi-Wahhabism, which in turn is framed as an Arabisation of Islam and society in Indonesia. A pivotal reaction has been the launch and successful reinforcement of the concept of Islam Nusantara, a local Islam that is described as peaceful, moderate, and tolerant. Its unique Indonesian history, in which local culture and Islam have become intertwined, is said to have led to these characteristics. Despite its success, the concept has also met with scepticism. How valid is the binary Arabian Islam versus Islam Nusantara? Is it an authentic form of Islam? This article engages with these issues from a new angle by combining an assessment of Islam Nusantara’s claims to tolerance, its status as an authentic form of Islam, and how these issues relate to it being a local Islam. Full article

This paper investigates the factors of sustainability of the financial performance of Islamic insurance (Takaful) windows in Pakistan. A large body of literature has examined Takaful providers across many countries; however, there is little research on the dynamics of Takaful windows. This study uses an analytical approach to investigate the effects of various operational and financial measures on Takaful window performance. It is one of the earliest works to examine the profitability of Takaful windows with a dynamic PVAR model, providing new evidence on the peculiar financial forces in hybrid Islamic–conventional insurance frameworks. It explores the effects of the retention ratio, Wakalah fees, commission ratio, gross written contributions, and underwriting surplus on profitability, measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). It uses annual data from 18 Pakistani Takaful window insurers, employs a panel vector autoregressive framework to capture dynamic interdependencies and endogeneity, and conducts a variance decomposition with impulse response analysis. The findings indicate that the retention ratio and underwriting surplus have significant positive effects on ROA, whereas Wakalah fees have a negative impact. In the case of ROE, the underwriting surplus and commission ratio are associated with positive effects; meanwhile, the retention ratio and gross written contributions are related to negative effects. Variance decomposition emphasizes the commission and retention ratios as the main sources of profitability, with Wakalah fees and underwriting surplus being insignificant. The regulators need to ensure proper fund separation and establish the most optimal rules regarding Wakalah fees. The operation of Takaful windows should focus on commission management and business retention strategies to enhance profitability and financial sustainability. The increase in the financial performance of Takaful windows contributes to the expansion of Shariah-compliant insurance, facilitating the financial inclusion of Muslim communities in mixed markets. Full article

This article presents a historiographical survey of scholarship on Islamic law and legal authority in Central/Inner Asia under Russian Imperial rule. It analyzes the debates, paradigms and assumptions that have dominated the field up to the present. The binaries that have dominated the field—between cooperation and insulation, rupture and continuity—disguise the complex legal history of the region. The historiography has shifted to emphasize a more pluralistic legal landscape, shaped by imperial intervention, local custom, practical considerations, and agency of ordinary Muslims. I suggest that by integrating a variety of sources, both archival and Islamic, scholars can take a bolder anthropological turn to develop new directions in historiography that will involve studying the lived experiences of legal actors and ordinary Muslims, gendered dimensions of legal practice, the meanings of socio-legal institutions, and the daily interaction between religious scholars and their communities. Full article

This article examines the configuration of carceral Islam in Algeria as an instrument of moral governance and civic re-education. Drawing on a multi-year qualitative investigation conducted within several research projects and framed by a comparative Maghrebi perspective, the study analyses how imam and Murshidat contribute to the construction of an “administered religion,” in which spiritual authority is translated into institutional competence and a tool of moral regulation. Through the examination of institutional sources, interviews, and field observations, the research shows how faith becomes a language of discipline, how Tawba (moral and spiritual repentance) is converted into a form of moral capital, and how spirituality functions as a technology of civic conformity. The Algerian prison thus emerges as a laboratory of religious governmentality, where the spiritual dimension is incorporated into logics of security and social control. The comparison with Tunisia—and, to a lesser extent, Morocco—highlights both convergences and divergences among Maghrebi models of religious management, opening new avenues for research on the public function of religion and on the contemporary forms through which states moralize the sacred in Muslim societies. Full article

This article examines the complex interplay between plurality and neutrality in Slovenian education in the context of increasing religious and cultural diversity associated with global migration. Drawing on a pilot study conducted with five primary school counsellors working in high-diversity school environments, it explores the tensions between the normative principles of plurality and neutrality and their practical implementation in everyday school life. The aim is to highlight the concrete challenges that schools and school staff encounter when addressing religious and cultural diversity. The pilot study shows that schools react differently to religious and cultural diversity, depending on the challenges faced by pupils, staff, school management and family-school co-operation. While the study included pupils from various religious backgrounds, only certain minority groups, particularly Muslim pupils, emerged as the minority group most clearly observed in the interviews. This visibility reflects the combination of cultural and religious differences from the majority and the more explicit demands these pupils and their families raised within the school context. In contrast, Orthodox Christian pupils were generally perceived as culturally and institutionally aligned with the majority population, and their practices (such as observing their New Year or other holidays) were accommodated by the existing school system without specific challenges. It also suggests that there are different understandings of how schools should teach neutrality and plurality beyond the official curriculum. The study identifies common challenges that schools face in relation to religious and cultural diversity, some of which are closely linked to the multicultural approach to education. The challenges identified are illustrated using Muslim pupils as an example of the minority group most prominently observed in the data, while acknowledging that other minority groups may experience different or less visible challenges. The findings are therefore limited to the context observed in this pilot study and cannot be generalised to all minority pupils in Slovenia. Full article

Recent global conflicts have amplified long-standing patterns of religion-related bias and discrimination in the U.S. The continuing war on Gaza has led to bias, hostility, and violence against both Muslims and Jews in the U.S. We present an overview of results from a new 1308-person national survey data collection gathered through NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel with oversamples of Jews and Muslims. Our findings reveal important reversals, asymmetries, polarities, and solidarities in perceptions and experiences of bias among Jews and Muslims and experiences of and responses to the war among religious groups. Jews were the most likely group to report experiences of religious bias and hostility in the U.S. and the most likely to register fear about future bias, followed by Muslims, a reversal of patterns from earlier research. Jews were the most likely religious group to report experiencing an increase in religious bias or hostility after October 7, 2023. Americans reported warm feelings towards Jews, Muslims, Israelis, and Palestinians but cool feelings towards the Israeli government and Hamas, suggesting that across most religious groups, Americans demonstrate more sympathy towards religious identities when compared to national identities and political entities. Full article

This paper provides an overview of the religious and social space generated by the Islamic Cultural Association Al Huda in the Roman neighbourhood of Centocelle, focusing on the issue of urban religion and cultural heritage. In recent decades this geographical area has been experiencing many changes, and, in this regard, the main aim of this article is to investigate the relevance of the Muslim centre as a driving force of the urban reconfiguration of Centocelle, due to the intersection of emerging religious needs and socio-economic demands. Based on interviews with people living and working in Centocelle and the fieldwork within the area, this paper tackles questions related to the ongoing transformation of the geographical context and suggests an interpretation of the socio-cultural dynamics that underlie the relationships between Muslims and non-Muslim believers. Relying on the perspective of geography of religions, the common thread of the article is an approach that privileges the paradigm of the spatial turn as a vector of understanding the interrelated plural and social dynamics, in order to highlight the new perceptions of urban space and to contextualise them. Full article

The adherents of various religions have during times of prayer and worship oriented themselves toward a fixed, sacred direction or location. Since ancient times, followers of Judaism have turned in prayer to Jerusalem. Traditionally, Zoroastrians have prayed facing a source of light—typically the sun or a fire—representing divine truth and presence. By the second and third centuries of the common era, many Christian communities prayed facing the east when offering the Lord’s prayer and other supplications. Initially, Muḥammad and his followers prayed toward Jerusalem, called the “Qiblih” (a technical word first used in the Qur’án for the direction of ṣalát, the Islamic obligatory prayer), but near the midpoint of Muḥammad’s ministry, the Qiblih was changed to the Kaabah in Mecca. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Báb, founder of the Bábí religion, redefined the Qiblih as “Him Whom God shall make manifest,” a figure whose imminent appearance the Báb anticipated. Years later, Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, confirmed the Báb’s designation of the Qiblih and claimed to be the figure promised by the Báb—and, thus, the Qiblih. Since Bahá’u’lláh’s passing in 1892, Bahá’ís have regarded the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh near ‘Akká as their Qiblih. This paper considers three issues related to the concept of the Qiblih. First, it briefly surveys the concept in Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Second, it examines the significance and implications of the Qiblih in Bahá’í texts and their antecedents in Bábí texts. In this regard, it argues that in Bahá’í theology, the Qiblih symbolizes the role, station, and authority of the Manifestation of God, the figure who, in Bahá’í thought, serves as the intermediary between God and humanity from age to age. Moreover, Bahá’u’lláh’s designation of a new Qiblih signaled the independence of the Bahá’í religion. Third, this study explores how from a Bahá’í perspective, Quranic verses concerning the Qiblih may be viewed. These include how Muḥammad’s alteration of the Qiblih to the Kaabah reflected his authority as the Manifestation of God to change a prior law. Further, attention is given to Qur’án 2:143 (“And thus We have made you a middle community…”), which occurs in the midst of the only verses in the Qur’án that decree a change in the Qiblih. Whereas Quranic commentators and scholars of Islam, influenced by the doctrine of Islam’s finality, interpreted the word “middle” (vasaṭ) in this verse as meaning just, moderate, or exemplary, Bahá’u’lláh affirmed the word’s more basic meaning and regarded the Muslim community as a religious community between other communities that preceded it and that will come after it, thus anticipating the emergence of a new religious community, which could potentially have its own Qiblih. Full article

This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Bologna between 2022 and 2023, including anonymized interviews and participant observation, and examines the role of Islamic religious spaces in fostering civic participation and identity among second-generation Muslims in Italy. Focusing on the experience of the Islamic Community of Bologna—and particularly on the engagement of young Muslims born or raised in the city—the study addresses how mosques, often perceived as marginal or insular, can become spaces of urban integration. The analysis shows that the religiosity expressed by the youth diverges from that of the first generation and serves as a resource for building social capital and legitimising new forms of public citizenship. Particular attention is devoted to the collective experience of the Iftar street, which constitutes a moment of institutional recognition and symbolic co-construction of belonging: no longer “immigrant Muslims,” but “Muslims of Bologna.” In the absence of a national integration model, the article concludes that local dynamics can generate implicit forms of inclusion, enabling new generations to emerge as civic actors capable of redefining the boundaries of urban belonging and articulating a post-ethnic, citizen-oriented Islam. Full article

This paper offers a critical analysis of traditional Muslim sexual morality and questions its validity in the present. It focuses on two elements: (1) nikāḥ as a legal marriage contract characterized by asymmetrical gender roles and (2) historically permitted sexual relations with enslaved women, as well as Muslim positions on sexual intercourse with minors. After a conceptual clarification of sexual autonomy, I examine the positions of different legal schools and contextualize their norms within broader social and intellectual histories. Building on the approach of “overcoming the text,” I argue that foundational religious texts can no longer serve as the normative basis for a contemporary sexual ethic. Instead, I redefine the notion of “illegitimate sexuality” (zinā) based on the principle of sexual autonomy and show how modern legal and social frameworks (rule of law, welfare state, medical evidence) render earlier functions of sexual regulation obsolete. The Qurʾanic concept of maʿrūf serves as a dynamic ethical reference point. The goal is a paradigm shift toward a Muslim sexual ethic that centers autonomy, equality, and human dignity while critically dismantling inherited structures. Full article

This paper critically interrogates the French model of secularism (laïcité) and its implications for Muslim women’s rights in contemporary France, particularly within post-colonial and post-secular contexts. It explores how historical legacies of colonial governance continue to inform current regulatory frameworks around religious expression, especially regarding the wearing of Islamic veils in public institutions. While laïcité is officially presented as a principle of neutrality and universalism, its practical enforcement often targets Muslim women, functioning as a mechanism of exclusion that conflates religiosity with political threat. Drawing on intersectional feminist theory and recent debates on post-secularism, the paper examines how dominant feminist movements in France have struggled to incorporate the lived experiences and agency of pious Muslim women, frequently aligning with state-led narratives that instrumentalises gender equality in service of national identity and securitisation. Drawing upon the concept of intersectional post-secularity as discussed in recent scholarship, this article offers a new contextualised framework from within the French system of laïcité for analysing how secular governance, feminist discourse, and colonial legacies converge to regulate Muslim women’s visibility and subjectivity. This approach moves beyond binaries of secularism versus religion and emancipation versus subjugation, offering new insights into the entangled politics of faith, gender, and national identity. Ultimately, the paper calls for feminist and civic discourse that upholds democratic inclusivity, accommodates religious diversity, and resists the racialised governance of Muslim women’s bodies in the name of laïcité. Full article

This article aims to understand Muslim voting trends in the United Kingdom through a study of the movement that called itself The Muslim Vote. Drawing on interviews and other publicly available primary material, it uses Social Movement Theory to analyse the movement that emerged in the post-7 October 2023 landscape. It argues that voter fatigue with both the Labour and Conservative Parties, due to their failure to address acute economic issues in the UK, as well as both parties’ support for Israel, created opportunities for TMV to emerge. Consequently, TMV mobilised resources, including decades of political experience and a new emerging group of politically educated youth, to help power its campaign. It also demonstrates how TMV used common frames of reference for Muslims, such as the Ummah, aided by social media apps, shining light on Israel’s actions in Palestine to engage Muslims across the UK. In highlighting some of the nascent successes of TMV’s efforts in co-ordination with local Muslim groups, whereby independent candidates came to power, it demonstrates that TMV has the latent ability to reshape Muslim political identity if it were to continue its momentum. Through this enquiry, it finally lends itself to the literature that examines Muslim voting trends in the UK and Europe. Full article

The integration of ethnoreligious minorities into labor markets, particularly among women, is a key contemporary issue. The present study examines the associations among labor market outcomes (employment status, job type—full-time/part-time, wages, and rank), level of religiosity and residential area (in or outside ethnic enclaves) among Arab Muslim and Christian women in Israel. Both groups reside in predominantly Jewish and Arab localities but differ in terms of religiosity, with Muslims being substantially more religious. Utilizing official data from the Social Survey of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, covering a decade between 2013 and 2022, with a sample of 4112 participants, the study finds that both residential area and religiosity are associated with labor market outcomes, particularly among Muslim women. Religiosity is negatively associated with employment quality measures (job type, wages, and rank), while residing in predominantly Jewish localities is positively associated with labor market participation. An interaction effect is observed regarding wages and type of position (full/part time). This study contributes to theory by introducing residential area as a new factor explaining the negative association between religiosity and labor market outcomes, as well as advancing agent-based approaches to study ethnic enclaves. Full article

This article examines the process of institutionalisation of Islam in Bosnia and Austria, with a particular focus on the Islamic Community of Bosniaks in the Republic of Austria (IZBA, Islamska zajednica Bošnjaka u Austriji) as an umbrella organisation for Bosnian Muslims in the country. The objective is to ascertain the extent to which this institution succeeded in establishing stable religious organisational structures and how immigration affects the religious–institutional landscape in Austrian society by establishing new networks. In addition, this article examines the challenges in establishing an integrated religious network and hierarchical structure faced by the IZBA, its position within the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ, Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich), and its relations with the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ICBH). A key issue in this context is the appointment of imams, as they have a significant impact on the understanding of Islam among the believers. The activities of mosque congregations, as well as the challenges they face, are also brought into focus. The empirical basis of this article consists of five expert interviews with stakeholders involved in the work of the IZBA. Full article