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Medieval Muslim scholars wrote substantial apologetic and polemical treatises to present and defend the truth of their religion and to invite people of different faiths to Islam. These texts belong to the so-called radd ('refutation') literature. It is still interesting today in so far as many radd authors avoided rhetorical polemics and sought serious rational arguments that provide deep insights in the dogmatic differences and peculiarities of various religions. An outstanding, because strongly argumentational, example is Kitāb al-radd ʿalā al-Naṣārā ('Book of refutation of the Christians') by Ṣāliḥ ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Jaʿfarī (d. 668/1270). This article introduces al-Jaʿfarī's life and work, outlines methodological premises for a critical analysis of radd arguments, gives an overview of al-Jaʿfarī's most important arguments and an example of the analysis of such arguments, and indicates what the examination of these old texts can contribute to today's interreligious discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines interreligious marriage from a legal perspective and analyses the historical and empirical evidence for it from the eastern Indonesian island of Lombok. It situates interfaith marriage at the centre of a discursive battle between religion, law, and custom (adat) and as a locus of contestation and negotiation between state, community, and religious leaders, as well as the couples involved and their extended families and communities. Building on Charles Collier's theory of 'institutional authority' and Saba Mahmood's 'personal autonomy', the article argues that issues related to interfaith marriage can be resolved through institutional authority and personal autonomy. Institutional authority constitutes an established structure of power and representation created by the state to manage its people and to serve their interests. Such authority works for, and is contested in, resolving tensions over interreligious interactions, including traditional interfaith marital elopement practised by Muslim and Hindu communities. Although Muslim–Christian relations have occasionally been unstable, interfaith unions rarely become an issue since those marriages reflect more interpersonal than intercommunal relationships, whose settlement is contingent upon personal autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article consists of a critical Arabic edition and English translation of the Third Treatise of Shaykh Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṭayyib. The introduction provides a brief, general orientation to the treatise, discussing its relation to two other treatises by the same author and suggesting a chronology. The translation accompanies an article analysing the treatise titled: ‘Ibn al-Ṭayyib’'s Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu’ (Kuhn, M. 2018. “Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 29 (2): 123-143). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the motivations for female conversion to Islam in Australia. To capture the diverse motivations and individual spiritual transitions of female converts, a descriptive phenomenological methodology was employed. Empirical data are based on two in-depth, semi-structured hour-long interviews with each of six female converts living in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales. Five key motivations and experiences were common to all participants during their pathways to conversion. All of the converts expressed a prior belief in God; were drawn to Islam after meeting Muslims; engaged in a process of individual interpretation, reasoning or investigation of Islam (ijtihād) to arrive at their own understanding of Islamic belief and practice; felt the values, principles and beliefs resonated with their own prior convictions; and experienced challenges that provided resistance to their desire to become a Muslim, mostly connected with family, friends, lifestyle and the public sphere of everyday social interaction. This is the first phenomenological study to investigate female conversion to Islam in Australia and provides unique insight and further depth of understanding regarding female conversion to Islam in the West as well as the dynamics of Islam in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study addresses the reasons for the anti-Muslim sentiments held by some South Koreans. The research was motivated by the fact that, although previous studies have paid much attention to this issue in Western regions, such as Europe and the USA, little research has examined the perceptions of Muslims held by people in Asian countries. This empirical study of the nature of anti-Muslim sentiment in South Korea was aided by two theoretical frameworks that relate prejudice to (i) deprivation and (ii) religion. This study analysed data taken from the ‘International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Topical Module: Religion (2008)’ [ISSP Research Group 2012. ‘International Social Survey Programme: Religion III – ISSP 2008.’ GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4950 Data file Version 2.2.0, doi:10.4232/1.11334Study No. ZA4950]. The results showed that deprivation did not significantly influence South Korean attitudes toward Muslims, whereas prejudice toward Muslims among South Koreans included a distinctly religious component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysts have traditionally ignored women's narratives on jihad and have focused on the views of male jihadists. Research onJamat'ud'DawahandLashker-e-Toibafits this pattern, despite the growing involvement of women in the activities of those organizations. This article analyses the narratives and stories, and their implications for the jihadi project with reference to the publications of one female leader in the group, Umm Abd Muneeb. Drawing upon her publications in Urdu, the article explores her discussion ofḥayā(modesty),purdah(seclusion) and male superiority, and how these ideas are designed to guide women into accepting the need for jihad by male members of their families. The article establishes that ideas of piety are often linked to the political project in narratives of Muslim women affiliated with jihadi groups and that it is necessary to understand the language used by these women in their particular socio-political environment. Such understanding provides a holistic view of how women support and sustain jihad within the family environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative attitudes about Americans pervade the Muslim world. And many Americans hold negative views of Muslims. Although prior literatures provide many explanations for the sources of antagonism in each population, scholars have yet to provide a direct comparison between the two. Thus, instead ofexplainingthe attitudes themselves, this researchcomparesthem. When the same questions are asked of Americans and Muslims, are the same variables significant predictors of antagonism? We use 2008 and 2011 survey data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project and ordered probit models to answer this question at two distinct points in time. The results illustrate the importance of domestic politics for both populations, providing insight into the potential utility of foreign policies designed to improve attitudes. Additionally, we find that the story of religion's influence on anti-American attitudes is a complex one, which changes depending on how religiosity is operationalized. This research represents a first step in bringing the literatures on anti-Muslim and anti-American attitudes together, while also revealing important similarities and differences in the sources of antagonism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sets out to explore how Muslims in Sweden identify with and create social life in the place where they live, that is, in their neighbourhood, in their town/city and in Swedish society at large. In a paradoxical religious landscape that includes a strong Lutheran state church heritage and a Christian free-church tradition, in what is, nevertheless, a very secular society, Muslims may choose different strategies to express their faith, here roughly described as “retreatist,” “engaged” or “essentialist/antagonistic.” Focusing on a non-antagonistic, engaged stance, and drawing upon a combination of authors' interviews, and materials published in newspapers and on the Internet, we first bring to the fore arguments by Muslim leaders in favour of creating a Muslim identity with a Swedish brand, and second give some examples of local Muslim individuals, acting as everyday makers in their neighbourhood, town or city. Third, we also give attention to an aggressively negative Islamophobic stance expressed both in words and in physical violence in parts of Swedish society. In conclusion, we reflect upon the challenges and potentialities of an emotionally engaged, dialogue-orientated Muslim position facing antagonistic interpretations of Islam, and an ignorant, sometimes Islamophobic, environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the sense of Jewish vulnerability and exclusion in Europe that has resulted from manifestations, and Jewish perceptions, of the “new anti-Semitism,” and the role of Islamic communities in Europe in propagating this form of hatred of Jews. First emerging in 2000 with the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada, and tied in with the Middle East conflict, anger at Israel is directed at Diaspora Jewish communities. This “new anti-Semitism” targets the Jewish collective with the characteristics of anti-Semitism previously aimed at individual Jews. The article focuses on the wave of anti-Semitism that erupted as a result of the 2014 Israeli–Hamas War. Based on an analysis of European Jewish communities, it considers the active part played by European Muslim communities in perpetrating the new anti-Semitism. Using an analysis of survey data, emigration statistics and newspaper opinion articles by leading European Jewish intellectuals, the article considers how the new anti-Semitism is adversely affecting Jewish–Muslim relations and the concomitant sense of “belonging” of European Jewry. The article considers what is required to overcome the new anti-Semitism propagated by Muslim communities to restore a greater sense of Jewish belonging to, and identification with, Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the dialectical relationship between liberating trust in reality and religious faith in God, interpreted from a Christian–Muslim perspective. An underlying conviction is that liberation constitutes a necessary mutual correlate of a “true” religiosity, i.e. liberation is to be conceived as both prerequisite for and realization of a genuine religiosity, and vice versa. As opposed to a “true” religiosity, born from liberating trust and finding its fulfilment in prophetic action aimed at liberation of human realities, religious belief and practice that stem from fundamental mistrust are likely to deteriorate into either religious fundamentalism or indifferentism. The article focuses on fundamental trust in reality as capable of evoking the liberating and uniting force of religious theory and praxis. It aims to render explicit the religious and ecumenical potential (hitherto not fully realized) of the theological–ethical considerations of Hans Küng, in particular within a Christian–Muslim framework. The first part of the article, more conceptual in character, examines Küng's views on fundamental (mis)trust and its religious implications. The second part seeks to identify theological insights that shed light on the specifically Christian and specifically Muslim interpretations of liberating trust. My hope is that this study may contribute to a truly global ecumenism whose objective is to render religion an instrument of liberation, not oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial premise of this article is that the lasting influence of nineteenth-century Protestant liberalism on the modern conceptualization of religion has confined our understanding of a variety of traditions to a narrow evolutionary scope in which purer religious forms in line with scientific rationalism are seen as arising out of earlier impure systems akin to magic. The article presents the instrumentality of the Qur'an as an alternative lens through which to acknowledge what has often been labelled as “magic” in Islam. Recognizing that this modern conceptualization of religion has been appropriated as an ideal by Muslim modernist reformists, the article particularly intends to show that, through the use of this alternative analytical instrument, the modernist project of emancipatory “disenchantment” can be viewed as an instance of the modernization of magic just as easily as it can be seen as religious purification, the intention of this exercise being to further problematize our current distinction between religion and magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion is surely not the most important factor in explaining the conflict in the Southern Philippines. Economic, political and criminal issues also contribute to explaining the violence in the country. Yet the religious narrative influences the narration of the conflict, impacting on its frame of understanding both within the country and from the perspective of global audiences. This study presents the results of field research on three Facebook pages in English (and therefore addressed to global audiences) related to resistance movements in Southern Philippines, notably BIFF and MNLF, which openly include neojihadist symbols and contents in their narratives. How do these narratives depict and affect Christian–Muslim relations within the local movement and the local society in Mindanao? And how does the local version of the global neojihadist narrative contribute to shaping Christian–Muslim relations in the global Muslim public sphere? This article shows the potential impact of the neojihadist ideology on the narration of the resistance movement, highlighting the consequences for the negotiation of Christian and Muslim identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an alternative to the analysis of Thai merit-making rhetoric (tham bun) that associates it with Theravada Buddhism and syncretic anomalies. A review of the processes through which Islam became an authentically Southeast Asian religion suggests that this merit-making conundrum is a recent example of the adoption and adaptation of Indic terms by Southeast Asian Muslims. These were central to the creation of Islamicate cultures. The concepts Indic and Islamicate are capable of pushing through conceptual cul-de-sacs such as syncretism and shared cosmologies. In addition to the specific generation of merit erroneously assumed as its only meaning, the article reveals thattham bunalso denotes undifferentiated religious actions, and is code for a range of feasts unrelated to merit-making. It argues that the co-option oftham bunby Thai-speaking Muslims is an example of a search for equivalents. It also suggests the presence of an authentically Islamic economy of merit in Southern Thailand, confirming Islam's ability to speak the language of Indic Southeast Asians and to scratch where they itch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay of religion and politics has been a consistent theme within the literature of political radicalism and religious violence in the contemporary Muslim world. Indonesia, which has long paraded its multi-layered history of religions, recently emerged as one of the main sites of Muslim–Christian violence. The religious volatility that has characterized Indonesia over the past decade has, however, left variations in vitality between faith-based organizations under-researched. In order to examine how the Christian churches undergird their institutions in the world's largest Muslim country, this article takes as its case study Salib Putih (White Cross) in the Javanese city of Salatiga and traces how a legal issue comes to transcend the boundary between religion and politics at local and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years a heightened awareness of global risks has produced an unprecedented interest in global peace and security initiatives. This article discusses the impact of international crisis events on religiously diverse communities in Australia, in particular rising Islamophobia, migrantophobia and attacks on multiculturalism. Religious communities have been far from passive in their responses to the impact of these events, initiating dialogue and educational activities to dispel negative stereotypes and attitudes. In addition, state actors, including police, have prioritized engagement with religious leaders, and this has resulted in a rise of state supported multifaith peacebuilding activities. The article argues that, in response to global risks of terror and exclusion, multifaith movements and multi-actor networks, including religious leaders, state actors, educators and the media, have the potential to advance common security. In response to conflicts both local and global, these examples of cooperation between religious and non-religious actors in Australia can be instructive to other increasingly multifaith societies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of the critical factors shaping any understanding of the reception of Islam and Muslims in the West is an overarching anti-Islam and anti-Muslim discourse. This article takes Islamophobia to refer to a discourse that reifies and essentializes negative images of Islam, Muslims and their cultures, resulting in unfounded fear of actual Muslims. This article briefly discusses this discourse and demonstrates its effects in the West and in particular in Australia. It then describes the Australian context, and the emergence of Muslim communities and of policies and practices of inclusion rather than exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Relations between the Polish state and Muslims living in its territory have a long history dating back to the fourteenth century, when a Muslim presence was first established in the area. The first Muslims to arrive in Poland were Tatars from the Golden Horde. Their influx continued for a few centuries and they were granted land in exchange for military service. The nature of mutual relations changed with time, along with changes in the structure of the state. Initially, there was a Polish-Lithuanian monarchy, but after 1795 the area inhabited by the Tatars fell under the rule of the Russian Empire. In 1918-1939, the reborn Polish state granted its inhabitants religious freedom and, even though Catholicism was privileged, Islam was officially recognized in 1936. The socialist state, in existence between 1944 and 1989, took an ideological stance against all religions. Since 1989, Poland has been a democratic state under the rule of law characterized by separation of state and religion. Thanks to the centuries-long presence of Tatars in Poland, Islam is an officially recognized denomination and the position of Muslims is much better than that of other religious minorities. This article details the historical development of relations between the Polish state and Muslims. The section on the twentieth century provides an analysis of relations between the state and religion and a description of Islam-related legislation in the Constitution and religious law, focusing on regulations concerning religious practices including marriage, dress code, ritual slaughter and religious instruction in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, the eponymous progenitor of the contemporary Nurculuk movement, was arguably the most influential, if woefully under-researched, Turkish Muslim thinker of the twentieth century. Nurculuk, a faith-based movement consisting of an estimated seven million followers worldwide, stands out from other contemporary Muslim religious and ideological groupings not only for its uncompromising focus on the renewal of individual rather than collective faith, but also for its eschewal of any kind of religiously legitimized violence or militancy for the sake of politico-ideological ends. This article is an attempt at an overview of Nursi's idiosyncratically irenic approach to the highly contentious issue of jihad, itself key to our understanding of the staunch apoliticism he espoused in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That we live in a world of racial, cultural, ideological and religious differences is a fact of existence. Our awareness of this is not new. What is new, however, is the growing appreciation of these differences and the realization that in a significant sense difference is creative and so must be celebrated. Nevertheless, difference is also challenging. At the present time, no student of religion can avoid asking the pressing question of what attitude to take towards people of 'other' religious traditions. This article will investigate how this question has been approached within the culture(s) of Islam. It will argue that the attitude of Muslims towards the people of other religious traditions is not fixed, even within the same time and place. The current context of society and the state of affairs (social, political, demographic, etc.) affects this doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christian-Muslim relations, even at the best of times, have always been disturbingly marred by suspicion, accusations and counter-accusations over interpretations of history and experiences. This has been further confounded by the very complex nature of the colonial histories on the African continent, where the destruction of existing civilizations, empires and emperors provided the foundation stones for the establishment of the colonial states that later emerged. The article provides insights into some of the major issues that serve as constraints in Christian-Muslim relations in some of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It reviews issues of Christian-Muslim relations against the backdrop of the return of democracy in most of sub-Saharan Africa in the last ten or fifteen years and points out some policy issues that African states will need to address to lay a foundation for dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking into consideration that Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa live intermingled in family, clan or ethnic groups, this article takes cognizance of the effect of the teachings of each tradition about their own identity and their perception of the other. It also seeks to take into account the Roman Catholic principles of inter-religious dialogue as enunciated by the Second Vatican Council in the documents Nostra Aetate and the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christians, as well as Unitatis Reintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism, and Dominus Iesus. In view of the fact that these are seen as a source of tension, the question arises as to whether they are being interpreted correctly or applied in the spirit intended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Christians who lived under Muslim rule in al-Andalus are known as Mozarabs. As immigrants from al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms in the north, Mozarabs are depicted in current historiography as transmitters of Arabic and Muslim culture. Nevertheless, when the Mozarabs were observed by the Christian expansion southward, surprisingly, they are presented as isolated amidst the post-conquest order. Based on the case of Toledo, the first important city conquered by the kingdom of Castile in 1085, the present article shows how the Mozarabs had introduced Muslim notarial practices into the Christian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the initial paper of a longer project that aims to chart the progress of Christian–Muslim dialogue in western Sydney, Australia. The first part provides the context for aspects of Muslim settlement, organization and practice in Australia. Following a brief overview of interfaith dialogue, the second part offers an exposition and analysis of the objectives and motivation of the three organizers of Christian–Muslim dialogue in the west of Sydney, and assesses the initial outcomes of the dialogues. The style of the exposition is discursive, allowing the voices of the organizers to be heard. The analysis is offered under the rubrics of inter-cultural diversity and interfaith dialogue. No validation of the organizers' perceptions against those of the participants is attempted.It is shown that the organizers' instinct to promote dialogue interaction on the human and social level attracted a great deal of interest from a wide audience. The structure employed for the gatherings was recognized by politicians and community leaders as an effective model for wider community-building exercises. Difficulties identified include responding to resistance to the dialogues, and deepening the dialogue experience for participants. The selection of the appropriate audience, format and forum for future gatherings is crucial to the ongoing success of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropomorphism is a topic that has attracted much attention from both medieval Muslim theologians and modern Western scholars. By examining the development of the medieval Muslim Rationalist-Traditionalist discourse surrounding this issue, and Western academic discussions of that discourse, I shall attempt to explain why the issue of anthropomorphism has repeatedly dominated discussions on Islamic theology. I will also attempt to show how various associations made with Muslim Rationalism and Traditionalism have influenced Western perceptions of these movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For centuries the Spaniards have celebrated ‘Moors and Christians’, a popular enactment of the arrival of Islam in Spain and the subsequent Reconquista of the peninsula by Catholic forces. In this article we shall analyze how this celebration has evolved from being a religious commemoration and has become a secular holiday through which the population project their image of Muslims, drawing on historical perceptions. In addition, the changes introduced into ‘Moors and Christians’ during the past decades reflect developments in Spanish society in relation to gender issues, as well as adjustments to accommodate the increasing Muslim population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Wearing a headscarf is my personal choice.' With this statement, Jasmina, a 16-year-old Moroccan daughter of immigrants, characterizes her position in Dutch society. The headscarf indicates her religion and, indirectly, her origins. In wearing it, she indicates to others that she is a Muslim and a member of the umma , the Muslim community. Her comment that this is her personal choice is indicative of the process of individualization that is taking place in western Dutch society, where people are increasingly faced with having to make their own decisions. The process of individualization implies detachment from collective relationships such as religious communities, but the choice to wear a headscarf appears to indicate a choice made in the opposite direction. In this article the author discusses this paradox from an anthropological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will analyze Muhammad Asad's translation of the Qur'ān, which provides us with the means to explore the 'mythic' language of sacred text. Despite its modernist agenda, it is a coherent translation which brings into sharp focus a particular modernist discourse on the Qur'ān. The outcome of this approach is precisely in its style of picking and choosing meanings and interpretations which best suit the modernist project. The paper provides examples of this from the translation which has extensive footnote explanations. What distinguishes its approach from that of the classical commentators? Does the Qur'ān contain mythical or legendary accounts, and if so, what purpose do they serve? The paper focuses on these and other questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the changing identities between Muslims and Christians. Categories and classes of Muslims and Christians; Focus in the integration of social identities and self-unification; Developments in the Christian-Muslim relations.

This article explores possible areas for Muslim-Christian cooperation in response to threats and challenges posed by the changing global context in the light of recent calls for the creation of a new world ethic, and the recognition of an ongoing and multi-layered global crisis. A discussion of the prerequisites and nature of a strategic Muslim-Christian partnership for the current century prefaces a suggestion of concrete areas for solidarity and joint action. 'From Egypt to Indonesia, Nigeria to Lebanon, an upsurge in intercommunal violence has already marked the new millennium as one of the worst periods of global conflict between Christianity and Islam for generations' (The Times 4/1/2000). 'It is true that the changing global context poses serious threats which make co-operation imperative, but the same context offers opportunities to help co-operation flourish as never before' (Michael Edwards. Future Positive: international cooperation in the 21st century, Earthscan Publications, London, 1999, 5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]