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Indonesia is renowned as a multicultural state. But for the last ten years, it has been facing social, ethnic, religious, and cultural problems. These tensions can be seen throughout Indonesian society, and there are various attempts to address them. One such area is Bali. The Balinese people live in harmony even as their culture is very diverse. This study attempts to elucidate religious life of a multicultural society, especially Hindus-Moslem relationships in Bali after Denpasar Suicide Bombing in 2002. Using qualitative and phenomenological approach, this research aims at understanding, analyzing, and exploring patterns of Hindus-Moslem relationship, in the hope of understanding how to cultivate harmony within a multicultural society. The Hindus-Moslem relationship in Denpasar (Indonesia) is very distinctive. It has emphasized cooperation in building a social-religious life inseparable from Bali Aga (Balinese life). This study shows that Balinese people are performing this ideal of cooperation through the employment of political, social and cultural initiatives. In this way, the government and the people have attempted to conserve Balinese culture, using its unique tradition of menyama braya, to foster harmonious religious life among the Balinese people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the repatriation from 1989 to1994 of Turco-Muslim Crimean Tatars to the Crimean Penninsula from Soviet Central Asia, predominantly Uzbekistan, where they had been exiled by Josef Stalin during the second world war, only to find their former homeland Slavicized and unwelcoming, providing an opportunity for anthropologists and sociologists to study how an ancient people rebuilt their culture. The author focuses on the victimization of this Muslim community, tracing its history through KGB archives which were opened after the collapse of the Soviet Union and interviews with survivors of ethnocide.

The situation of Muslims is one of the most pressing issues facing British society today. The purpose of this article is to explore the Muslim experience in this climate and to treat some of these problems, such as: the war against terrorism and its effects against all Muslims, the development of Islamophobia, but also the rules that Muslims gradually try to impose in Britain. All of these problems are closely linked, as Islamophobia is the result of the war against terrorism, which affected to a lesser or greater extent all Muslims, and Muslims, as a defensive measure, try to impose some of their own rules. The latter is a defensive measure, a measure of protection against assimilation and loss of religious and ethnic identity, claiming that in this way, they are acting in accordance with their religion. It is also important to see how these issues are represented in the media, because it has the power to influence the public opinion and the perception of certain ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In research on the forced assimilation in communist Bulgaria, the attention is most frequently paid to the effects of this process in the context of violating fundamental human and civil rights. However, researchers often overlook the socio-economic consequences of the actions taken at that time. The forced assimilation of Bulgarian Muslims, who chose to leave Bulgaria, resulted in a huge economic loss. The unexpected staff shortage has caused problems for the Bulgarian economy on a massive scale. The change in the organization of work has created tensions in the inter-ethnic relations. The aim of this article is to answer the question - did the economic and social consequences of the so-called Revival Process in Bulgaria led to the collapse of Todor Zhivkov's regime in the late 1980s? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses attitudes towards Muslims in Bosnia-Hercegovina within the Catholic Church in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author focuses on conflicts concerning religious conversion and on the interplay between religion, nationalism, and ethnicity in the process of social and economic modernization under way at the time. Significant emphasis is placed on the role played by the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, at the time, Josip Stadler.

The article describes the situation of the Muslim community in Poland. It argues that Muslims in Poland are not discriminated against because of their faith, and links the fact with the long and harmonious presence of the small Tatar community on Polish lands. Nevertheless, the publicized problems with accommodation of the religiously motivated demands posed by the Muslim immigrants in the West, as well as security concerns connected with the "war on terror" contribute to the development of "Islamophobia without Muslims" in Polish society. This, in turn, may stimulate the process of creating Islam-based identity among recent migrants to Poland. The article assumes, however~ that the Catholic Church in Poland may act as an opportunity structure in the process of integration, similarly to the role played by the Established Church in Great Britain, including Muslims in the British institutional makeup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We comment on methodological issues in the use of correspondence testing for discrimination in access to employment—that of submitting identical CVs to employers, but differing by the name (implying their ethnicity) of the candidate. After contrasting changing social structures in Britain and The Netherlands regarding ethnicity and Muslim integration, we report two case studies using correspondence testing for discrimination in employment involving a Muslim woman (in Manchester, England) and a Muslim man (in Rotterdam, Netherlands), outlining the recent socio-political situation concerning ethnic relations in The Netherlands. The methods used indicated apparent discrimination in employment involving both applicants. However, the novel methods we have employed require further verification using both traditional and novel methodologies. Findings from the two case studies are discussed and compared, with further research proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that lethal violence by religious practices and allegiances are more common in northern Nigeria more than in southern Nigeria, that the deadly attacks in the South are reprisal to the killing of Christians in the North, which polarises the society. Hence, a way of eradicating this violence is by initiating strategies to sanction adherents that incite religious violence, and therefore, it is suggested leaders should consider promoting interreligious marriages, seminars, peace education, and religious tolerance, coupled with state sanctions for those who obstruct the peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As ethnic diversity increases across Europe, the Left faces a trade-off between incorporating new minorities and retaining support from settled, working-class voters. An examination of the Labour Party's selection of Muslims, employing a dataset containing over 42,000 local election candidates in England, indicates that inclusion is less likely where core voters are most concerned about the representation of Muslims' material and religious interests, in economically deprived areas with sizable Muslim populations. In these areas Muslim candidates underperform at the polls, and labor parties are less likely to choose Muslim candidates as a result. Selection thus varies based on the economic and cultural threats that Muslim representation poses to the Left's core constituency. These findings contribute to understanding the forces that shape ethnic minority political incorporation across contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the political liberalism demands of Muslim minorities by way of a doctrinal affirmation of citizenship. Several Muslims citizens are considered minorities in liberal states. It presents the concerns with the threats to the possibility that a just society where both Muslims and non-Muslims co-exist. It studies the comprehensive doctrines that give a wider understanding of political values for a just and democratic co-existence.

This article seeks to present and discuss some issues concerning the relationship between ethnic and religious identity in the case of the Muslim community of Buenaventura. It seeks to show that religious identity has not only been constructed in relation to ethnicity, but that both have served to generate mobilization strategies. To that purpose, based on narratives and typical acts of the Twelver Shia Islam, elements from the Nation of Islam have been kept, at the same time as myths and traditions have been reelaborated in order to adapt them to the bonaverense local vision. Such actions do not only refer to spiritual and collective identity pursuits, but they also allow the development of action agendas within the community. The data used in this paper comes from two fieldworks conducted in February and April 2011, as well as from the sermons (khutbahs) drawn up by the leader of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the problems posed by the use of the term 'Islamophobia' to describe a large set of interrelated practices pertaining to Muslim populations in Europe after the Cold War. Post-Cold War understanding of Europeanness in cultural and religious terms that have transformed exclusionary and oppressive practices towards Muslims in Europe; Analysis of pertinent topics and relevant issues; Implications for race and ethnic relations in Europe.

The article discusses the sociopolitical developments of Islam and the relationship of different ethnic groups in the Muslim community in China. Accordingly, the country's Muslim population is composed of 10 minority groups, including Hui, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tadzhik, Baoan, Uygur, Dongxiang, Salar, Uzbek and Tartar who inhabited all regions. It also discusses the political reforms introduced and its effect on the accommodation of Islam and the reconciliation of Muslim community. In addition, it also offers information on the future of Muslims regarding economic, social and political status.

In the academic literature, as well as in recent political discourse, muslim minorities in Europe are often described as diasporas or transnational communities. Although these concepts do not originate in the teological traditions of Islamic law, and are not used therein, they do reflect the new societal experience of those they describe. This discursive analysis shows that it is (mostly non muslim) researchers and the educated muslim middle-classes who have played key roles in introducing identitarian forms such as "diasporas" and "the transnational". A new generation of muslim European intellectuals have discussed and developed these concepts to encapsulate and analyze the new practices, situations and experiences of different classes, groups and communities, in language which is not teological but secular, and which marks the transition from traditional to modern religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Presents information on persecution of Muslims in central Bosnia by Croats, recounting the experiences of persons who were forced into prisoners camps. Significance of the term appeasement to these conditions; Account of the experiences by Rezak Hukanovic, a survivor; Details on the persecution between August 1992 and May 1995; Description of the physical conditions of the prisoners camps; Characterization of the terms appeasement to the act of persecution.

Abstract: Europe now faces three related but different challenges: how to respond, in a time when “native” European populations are shrinking, to the growing presence of Muslim minorities; how to avoid having its relationships with its Muslim communities controlled by Islamists who seek to replace Western civilization with Islamic government based on sharia law; and what to do generally about this Islamist threat. Thus far, the European responses to these challenges have been shaped by four factors: accumulated civilizational exhaustion; the inability to grasp the challenge posed to European national identities by the allure of the global Caliphate; weakness arising from degraded security capabilities, including the impact of the continued drive to “build Europe” by adopting the Treaty of Lisbon; and the preference for appeasement of Islamist demands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Assesses the Muslim-Hindu conflict in India. Tenet of Hindutva, a Hindu far-right ideology; Analysis of the state-sponsored terror in Gujarat, India; Argument supporting the notion that a Hindu extremist takeover of India at the national level is highly unlikely; Support provided by U.S. right-wing Hindu groups to far-right groups in India.

Examines the worldviews of Islamist groups on Jews and Jihad in Israel. Establishment of Hizb al-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun groups; Goals and strategies of the Islamic groups; Reference to the American 'occupation' of Saudi Arabia in the calls for Jihad in Israel; Concept of Jihad in the context of twentieth-century developments.

The post-Cold War resurgence in ethnic conflict and religious extremism has fed a vogue in theories of impending civilizational conflict, of modernity profoundly at odds with traditionalism. This paper addresses some salient features of soclo-political pluralism in the context of Islam's humanistic legacy, a nexus that merits and is gradually receiving closer study. Muslims once defined modernity by their accomplishments in the social and physical sciences; the challenge is not about returning to a halcyon past-as fundamentalist would have it-but about revitalizing norms and values that ought to undergird civil sotiety. It is argued that despite normative counter-currents, a modern pluralist ethos would resonate with critical aspects of Muslim legal, political and cultural traditions. There is certainly no "Islamic" consecration of authoritarianism. Contraty to popular wisdom, the heritage of Muslim societies lends itself to harnessing global human rights and pluralist norms to promote democratic ends, an objective espoused by modernists in assorted settings for some time.

The article focuses on the reason behind the educational problems faced by the Mindanao State University in Philippines (MSU). MSU failed to foster the integration of the Muslim minority into the society after its establishment. It also failed to defuse the ethno-religious tensions between Christians and Muslims. Instead, it exacerbate the tensions and perpetuate divisions between the two. Such failures could be attributed to the attempt to assimilate, not integrate as planned, Muslims through a Western-oriented, liberal university.

In the nineteenth century, the Middle East's Christian and Jewish minorities registered conspicuous economic advances relative to the Muslim majority. These advances were made possible by the choice of law available to non-Muslim subjects. Until the late eighteenth century, on matters critical to financial and commercial success, non-Muslims tended to exercise this privilege in favor of Islamic law, and this pattern prompted their own court systems to emulate Islamic legal practices. However, as Western Europe developed the legal infrastructure of modern capitalism, vast numbers of Christians and Jews made jurisdictional switches by obtaining the protection of European states. Along with tax concessions, they thus gained the ability to conduct business under Western laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various developments related to tribalism in Afghanistan. It is stated that as long as the Mujahedin, a term for Muslims fighting in a war, are fighting Soviet troops, the Afghan war is considered as jihad, a holy war against invaders and infidels. With the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, the domestic and regional factors are slowly prevailing upon the East-West ideological dimension. The ideological dimension, although it has diminished, has not disappeared and is believed to remain as long as President Mohammad Najibullah is in charge in Kabul.

ABSTRACT. Since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, when the Turkish nation was defined as ethnically Turkish and Muslim, the issue of ethnic minorities has been at the root of a deep insecurity concerning cultural identity and what it means to be Turkish. The movement to "recover" ethnic minority in history and in place is most visible in Istanbul, the city identified as the location of European culture in Turkey and Turkey's most culturally pluralistic city. The movement has gained pace since the formal acceptance of Turkey as a candidate for membership in the European Union and the push for reforms in human rights. It is promoted by a very small cultural and economic elite and works together with gentrification to produce elite spaces in the city, as exemplified by two neighborhoods: Kuzguncuk, a historic minority neighborhood on the Asian shore of the Bosporus; and "French Street," a new commercial development in Beyoǧlu, on the European side of the city west of the Bosporus. These landscapes articulate a European, cosmopolitan, and multicultural place identity for Istanbul and reflect a particular notion of Turkey as modern and European, providing insight into the contemporary debate in Turkey concerning the tensions embedded at the core of Turkish cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anti-Semitic rhetoric of many Islamist groups is qualitatively different from the reflective jurisprudence associated with the treatises of classical Islam. There is little evidence of any deep rooted anti-Semitism in the classical Islamic world. Jews have lived under Islamic rule for 14 centuries and in many lands, they were never free from discrimination but were rarely subjected to persecution as in Christian Europe. Most of the characteristic features of European-Christian anti-Semitism were absent from the Jewish-Muslim relations. This paper examines the growth of anti-Semitism in Arab-Muslim world and identifies some of the historical events which have contributed to this development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates how the Muslim community of the Androth Island in India transformed a disagreement regarding Sufi ritual practice into a moral divide that sanctioned a provocative fatwa, mosque expulsions and violence. Factors which contributed to the conflict in the community; Impact of the ethnic and sectarian violence in Delhi, India, Karachi, Pakistan and Colombo, Sri Lanka on the religious conflict among the islanders; Effect of the conflict in the island on the growth of the Indian state.