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Unlike Western European countries, in Poland, there are two groups of native Muslim citizens: the Tatars and converts to Islam. They differ from mainstream society by their religion – Islam, and the Tatars, additionally, by their ethnicity. However, one of these groups – Islam converts – is racialised by the other. We argue that the Polish Tatars can use the repertoire of both sides – non-Muslim mainstream society and born Muslims – in order to otherise and racialise Polish converts to Islam. As autochthonous Poles, whose membership in mainstream society has never been questioned, they can employ strategies used by non-Muslims. As born Muslims they can build on the wide range of strategies against Islam newcomers. Moreover, the racialisation of Polish converts seems to be a strategy that aims to maintain the boundaries between these two groups and the positive self-assessment of the Tatars. This article contributes to the scholarship on racialisation of white converts to Islam by bringing out the local context with unique dynamics and power relations between different groups of Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spate of terrorist attacks in the Muslim-majority world and the non-Muslim-majority West has sparked debates about an alleged double standard in Western news coverage of terrorism victims, with critics alleging Western news outlets are less concerned with Muslim victims than non-Muslim victims. This content analysis comparatively examined American newspaper framing of two terror attacks occurring in the non-Muslim West with three attacks occurring in the Muslim-majority world. Findings show American papers covered attacks in non-Muslim-majority societies prominently and framed them as acts of terrorism, and covered attacks in Muslim-majority societies scantily and framed them as internal conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism is presented for the book "What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic" by Shahab Ahmed. It outlines the sharply divergent practices and beliefs of Muslims across different cultures and of non-Muslims who engage with Islam are entirely consistent with what Islam is; and mentions from the Balkans to Bengal, Muslims became Muslims, and non-Muslims experienced Islam, not primarily by conversion but by translation.

Modern historians routinely cast the Fatimid era in Egypt and Syria as a time when flourishing non-Muslim communities enjoyed an unusual degree of influence in the state. To complement the theme of this special issue – the real and perceived influence of minority out-groups in medieval societies – this essay examines representations of non-Muslim influence in the Fatimid period by post-Fatimid Sunni authors. Such representations do not reflect pervasive hostility among Sunni historians to Shiʿis or non-Muslims. Instead, they are quite diverse and not pervaded by sectarian antagonism. They are best understood within the contemporary 'social logic' of the works that contain them. At times their authors simply transmitted earlier sources intact; at others they had narrative goals that superseded their implicit views of either the Fatimids or their Jewish, Christian and Samaritan subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which discusses several articles in the issue on topics including acculturation and accommodation in the Balkans to Bengal; conflicting traditions even in non-Muslim societies; and contemporary ideas of Islam.

The Gizistag Abāliš is a ninth- or tenth-century Pahlavi text, recording a debate which took place at the court of al-Maʾmūn between a Zoroastrian priest and a heretical dualist. This article, the first in-depth study of this important work, examines the text in its broader Islamicate environment. It argues that the narrative itself is probably fictional, but reflects a real historical phenomenon, namely the interreligious debates which took place among Zoroastrians, Muslims, Christians, and Jews during the ʿAbbasid period. It argues that the text is a unique Zoroastrian example of a literary genre that was common among Christians at the time, namely, "the monk in the emir's majlis." By comparing the Gizistag Abāliš to these Christian texts, it explores why Zoroastrians generally did not launch explicit polemics against Islam, comparable to those of other non-Muslim communities. It seems that Zoroastrian authors were more concerned with explaining their own doctrines than critiquing the beliefs of others. This is curious considering the large numbers of Zoroastrians who were converting to Islam at the time. Finally, the article proposes new ways of refining the way we read Pahlavi texts, by analyzing them alongside the literatures of other religious communities in the early Islamic empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halal food is that which is permissible or lawful for Muslims to consume. Meat products must abide by a number of requirements in relation to their preparation, condition and content to be considered halal. We conducted a survey in order to assess the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, halal meat products in two contrasting countries, one with a majority non-Muslim population (Australia, respondent n = 565), where the most commonly followed religion is Christianity, and one with a majority Muslim population (Malaysia, n = 740). The most common reasons for avoiding halal food were animal welfare, religion and meat quality. Malaysians generally believed that halal processes led to improved meat quality, whereas Australians did not. The general consensus was in favour of legally controlling animal welfare during slaughter, supported by both Muslims and Christians. Malaysians were more aware of the main tenets of halal slaughter than Australians. However, some non-compulsory, incorrect practices were thought to be required practices by respondents in both countries, but especially in Australia. Muslims were more concerned about humane treatment of animals during halal slaughter. They generally believed that stunning is never allowed and that this view was acceptable, whereas people from other belief systems generally held the view that this was unacceptable. Religion and education were the most common factors associated with attitudes, beliefs and consumer habits concerning halal. Information from this study can help to improve understanding of attitudes to halal and provide insights to policy makers seeking to address animal welfare concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some implications of the "Asia" setting of Chaucer's Prioress's Tale. Its method is literal and historicist. Its argument is that the tale is meant to present real, not figurative, Jews; that Chaucer had opportunity to meet and know about Jews outside of England (which had expelled its Jews in 1290); that "Asia" in Chaucer's day was under Islamic control and Europe was threatened by Islamic invasion; that Jews were often viewed as allied with, or even interchangeable with, Muslims. The paper considers some recent scholarship on the tale and ends with interpretive options that follow from a literal historicist reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians and anthropologists are confronted with a persistent problem for which there is no clear solution: the conceptual tools which we use to attempt to understand cultures are themselves products of (often) the very cultures we are attempting to understand. Take “religion”. Boyarin ([2004]. “The Christian Invention of Judaism: The Theodosian Empire and the Rabbinic Refusal of Religion.”Representations85: 21–57) has argued that the very concept of “religion” as we know it was a product of the fourth and fifth centuries, as bishops and emperors constructed Christianity as a religion (the true one, of course), and in counterdistinction constructed “Judaism” and “Hellenism” (or paganism) as “false” religions. For Boyarin, Judaism only becomes a “religion” when Christian authorities define it as one. The same could be said for the jumble of texts, beliefs and rituals that the English, upon arriving in India, lump together under the name “Hinduism”, which they turn into a religion. Building, defining and policing borders between confessional groups has been an important part of constructing identities—or visions of community—in various societies, in particular those ruled by Christians or Muslims, from the time of the fourth-century Christian Roman emperors. In this article, I examine how Christian and Muslim jurists of the fourth to eleventh centuries use law to define and police confessional boundaries, in particular how they attempt to limit interactions that could transgress or blur those boundaries: shared meals, sexual contact, syncretic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Islamic concept of accountability includes full disclosure of information to wider stakeholders, be it information on companies' financial or non-financial matters. The objective of this study was to examine the differences in perception between Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers regarding the usefulness of information on the environment in investment decision making. A questionnaire survey was used and 59 responses were received. No differences were found in perception between Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers related to several companies' environmental attributes and environmental information types. This implies that the Islamic worldview is not reflected in the perception of Muslim fund managers. This study makes a significant contribution to research in environmental reporting, particularly for companies and practitioners in Malaysia in the context of accountability in Islam. The study suggests some preliminary insights into the use of environmental information by Muslim and non-Muslim fund managers in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is usually accepted among modern scholars that the Mamluk period marked a drastic decline in the position of non-Muslims. Jews and Christians were exposed to increasing persecutions and, inter alia, could not serve as great physicians unless they converted to Islam. Against these assumptions, the article discusses new data regarding three Jewish court physicians from the first half of the 8th/i4th century. Despite being under a strong pressure to convert, these doctors gained honorable positions and a high social status in the Mamluk sultanate. As erudite physicians and skillful practitioners, they were integrated with the highest circles of the political, military and especially intellectual Muslim elite of their time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 11 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that every individual has the right to profess, practice and preach his religion or belief. However, Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution also states that the propagation of non-Islamic religions among Muslims is forbidden. This article aims to discuss both the justifications and the legal restrictions - that is, the legal provisions - that restrict and control the propagation of non-Islamic religions among Muslims in Malaysia. This discussion identifies three justifications for the prohibition of the propagation of non-Muslim religions among Muslims in Malaysia. The first justification relates to the background and history of the special status and position of Islam in Malaya; the second relates to the key role of Malay Rulers in preserving the sanctity of the Islamic religion from the pre-independence period to the present day; and the third justification relates to the nature of Islamic teachings and the maxim that apostasy is a crime. Legal provisions that control the propagation of non-Islamic religions among Muslims are found at both federal and state levels. However, the problem of legal enforcement and, in particular, the jurisdictional limitations of the Syariah Courts over non-Muslims in Malaysia result in a lack of implementation of these legal provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discusses the issue of Muslim imitation of non-Muslims, particularly in respect of the celebrations of the multicultural society in Malaysia. Recently, arguments have emerged pertaining to the issue of Muslim practices of imitation of non-Muslim celebrations, such as participating in celebration in the temples or churches and wearing the special symbol of a particular religion. In accordance with this, the imitation phenomenon has raised jurisprudential implications for Muslims. This article attempts to analyse this kind of social phenomenon by referring to the traditions of the Prophet PBUH that strictly prohibited this practice. Moreover, this study discusses the patterns of imitation that are permitted and prohibited according to Islamic jurisprudence. The results of this study show there are prohibited imitations being practiced by Muslims in Malaysia, especially in respect of festivals and celebrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the view of many non-Muslims, Islam is a religion that promotes hatred and violence and claims are repeatedly heard of how difficult it is for non-Muslim minorities to live in peace and harmony in Muslims countries. Moreover, recent clashes between Muslim and Christian groups in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution have exacerbated prejudices against Islam, namely that it is a religion that promotes violence and that Muslims are inherently militant and irrational people who cannot tolerate living and cooperating with the followers of other religions. This misconception has sounded alarm bells amongst many Arab Christian leaders, who warn Christians in the Arab world of the danger of allowing Muslim groups to rule. It therefore becomes imperative to counter such depictions. The aim of this article is to explain from a qur'anic point of view what should characterize Muslim relations and attitudes towards non-Muslims in day-to-day life and the rules that should be applied to non-Muslims. It concentrates on a selection of key qur'anic verses relating to the subject and attempts to demonstrate that Islam as prescribed in the Qur'ān and exemplified by the life of the Prophet Muḥammad and his Companions accepts, celebrates and even encourages diversity, harmony and peaceful co-existence with non-Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a qualitative study on Sufi spirituality and the code of Islam in the everyday practices of people who frequent to a Sufi group in Milan, Italy. It informs that the Sufism is a distinct form of Islamic mysticism that unites the code of Islam and the spiritual realm for the practitioners. It further informs that Sufi spirituality provides a chance for self-evaluation for their followers and practitioners as it is interrelated with the process of the subjectivization of religious experience through the involvement of the body. It is concluded that the social acceptance of Sufism among non-Muslim born Western adults seemed to lie in the unification of Koranic, liturgical and spiritual forms of mysticisms.

The Qur'an has presented the episode of da'wa (call/invitation) of Allah's messengers as an ideal da'wa model (mithali). This very ideal model of preacher is synonym with messengers known as ulu al-cazmi (Messengers of inflexible purpose) . They are The Prophets Nuh, Muhammad, Ibrahim, Musa and Isa. Da wa example shown by the prophets of ulu al-cazmi deinitely very important as a source of motivation or inspiration for the heirs of dacwah in their mission to make Islam known globally. This article try to explore and analyse various approaches of dacwah of the ulu cazmi's messengers. The method used in writing this article are based on the selected Qur'anic verses related to the subject of the study. This exploration and analyse found that patience and various approaches of da'wah applied by the messengers of ulul azmi are vital and should be implemented by current da'is (preachers) today despite their context and age are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a specific strategy to promote Islam to non-Muslims? The fact is, Da'wah approaches have been diverse and numerous. The stereotyping of one particular approach at the expense of other possible methods has resulted in lessening creativity in Da'wah work. The present writers feel that Da'wah approaches and methods need to be tailored to suit the needs of various localities taking full cognisance of the peculiar problems and prospects of each locality. This obviously calls for more accommodation with respect to adapting and adopting local customs and realities in promotion of Da'wah activity. The writers firmly believe that owing to dissimilarities of people(s) with respect to their commitment to and practice of Islamic teachings Da'wah work requires multilevel strategy using multiple fair means and thus feel that varying efforts made by various Da'wah organisations need to be given due recognition since together they fill the gaps necessary to be filled in to reform the society. Addressing such a wide spectrum of people with diverse socio-politico-religious orientations is a great responsibility, which demands prudence, diligence and experience; the essence of Da'wah bi 'l-Ḥikmah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the context in which church leaders in the regions of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, during the first few centuries after the Arab conquest, were objecting to the appeal of the their coreligionists to judicial authorities outside ecclesiastical control. Rather than assuming that from the outset of the Islamic conquest Muslim judges served as immediate judicial alternatives, the paper shows that, at least in the early Islamic period, church leaders were often aiming their exhortations towards Christians who sought the authority of other Christian figures from outside ecclesiastical jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mubarak's Egypt is a relatively liberal regime which nonetheless retains relatively tight controls on civil society activity so as to pre-empt political activism, particularly that arising from Islamist or secular rivals to the regime. In spite of the constraints of Egyptian politics and their subordinate status as dhimmis under Islam, Copts have managed to create a wide edifice of civil society in Mubarak's Egypt. The explanations for this reside the internal strength and vibrancy of Coptic institutions themselves and in the non-threatening and moderating influence displayed by Coptic civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need for a liberal framework of the Islam religion and the minority population. The article states that the Islamic religion classifies humanity into two distinct categories, Muslims and non-Muslims. It is indicated that the factors that have undermined religion-centric discriminations include modernization and social progress. It is also noted that the groups of nonbelievers are referred to as dhimmi, those endowed with revealed sacred texts called ahl al-kitab, and kafir, other non-Islamic people.

Set in the early 1990s, Hanif Kureishi's short story "My Son the Fanatic" (1997) dramatizes tensions between Parvez, a lapsed Pakistani Muslim migrant to postcolonial England, and his son Ali, who rejects the western secularity of his father and reverts to a strict form of fundamentalist Islam. If these tensions remain unresolved in the story, Kureishi's film adaptation elaborates them. In so doing, though, My Son the Fanatic (dir. Udayan Prasad 1997) presents a very different picture. Renamed Farid, the film's eponymous youth breaks off engagement to the daughter of the local chief of police and challenges his father: "Can you put keema [minced meat] with strawberries?" Metaphorically, this question articulates the deeper concern underlying the story: How might migrants in diaspora live an authentic Muslim life in the secular environment of the predominantly non-Muslim United Kingdom? A close reading of My Son the Fanatic reveals vying answers. Farid and Parvez both invoke the Qur'an, ultimate arbiter of value, meaning and truth in Islam, but thence their paths diverge widely. On the one hand, the film depicts the revivalist maslak of Deobandi Islam, though such missionary fervour may lead all too easily to the violent militancy of Farid and his cohort. On the other hand, My Son the Fanatic suggests conditions of possibility for a Muslim life of sacralised secularity by developing the love between Parvez and Sandra in terms of tropes and themes transposed from the Sufi imaginary to the postcolonial United Kingdom, most notably an ethos of iḥsān, that is, the cultivation of what is beautiful and good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ḥadīth, "whoever harms a dhimmī I shall be his foe on the Day of Judgment', can be found as an end clause to covenants which the Prophet Muḥammad issued to Christian, Jewish, and Magian communities. As it is highly unlikely for different non-Muslim communities to have forged this Prophetic statement at the end of their respective documents, this paper argues that this utterance is authentic and can be confidently traced back to the Prophet. This paper examines the occurrence of this statement as a ḥadīth in the Islamic literature and notes how it was dismissed by scholars of tradition who only accepted one of its variants. The paper then compares the rights granted to non-Muslims in the covenants to those conveyed in a number of ḥadīths and notes the discrepancies between early Islam's official documents and the legal injunctions found in Muslim tradition. It argues that the ḥadīths on the rights of non-Muslims oftentimes reflect legal maxims of scholars living in the 'Abbasīd era and that these were back-projected to the Prophet and his Companions using fictitious isnāds. Finally, this paper concludes by recommending the incorporation of the Prophet's official decrees, which includes the covenants, within the fabric of Islamic law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]