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This essay surveys the long history of Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt. Interfaith relations in this context have ranged from cordial to tense, depending on a variety of internal and external factors. [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.

This study examines Muslim-non-Muslim disparities in locational attainment. We pool data from the 2004, 2006, and 2008 waves of the Public Health Management Corporation's Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Survey. These data contain respondents' religious identities and are geocoded at the census-tract level, allowing us to merge American Community Survey data and examine neighborhood-level outcomes to gauge respondents' locational attainment. Net of controls, our multivariate analyses reveal that among blacks and nonblacks, Muslims live in neighborhoods that have significantly lower shares of whites and greater representations of blacks. Among blacks, Muslims are significantly less likely than non-Muslims to reside in suburbs. The Muslim disadvantages for blacks and nonblacks in neighborhood poverty and neighborhood median income, however, become insignificant. Our results provide support for the tenets of the spatial assimilation and place stratification models and suggest that Muslim-non-Muslim disparities in locational attainment define a new fault line in residential stratification. [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 article studies the political and symbolic importance of elephants for medieval Muslim kingship in South Asia. Specifically, the incorporation of the elephant by the Ghaznavid dynasty led to a crisis of sovereignty for early Muslim kings of South Asia. This was because while the elephant stood for divinity and sovereignty among Hindus, it represented satanic pride among Muslims. The famous Koranic chapter of "the elephant", tells the story of a king Abraha who had tried to destroy the House of God in Arabia (the Ka'ba) with elephants, but it was said that God pelted his army to death by small pebbles thrown by birds. This meant that any Indo-Muslim ruler that posed as an elephant-master could appear as the destroyer of the house of God in the eyes of his Muslim subjects. In order to compensate for this crisis, early Indo-Muslim rulers employed a number of tactics, which included trying to present themselves as the opposite, i.e. destroyer of pagan temples for which they are infamous today. But perhaps more significantly, the continued symbolic (and not just practical) use of the elephant, in spite of its problematic association, shows that what is often today understood as an alien institution imposed upon a majority non-Muslim population, was actually the opposite: that is, it was mainly a project equally pitched to non-Muslim South Asians with a compensatory nudge toward Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this research was to examine the role of print media with regard to the representation of two communities. It determines whether Pakistani press treats differently, and to find out whether or not Pakistani media makes Non-Muslims responsible for not creating an environment of co-existence. How Muslim and Non- Muslims are linguistically represented in newspapers? Are there any linguistic traces in the text that highlight the policy of exclusion? Discourse Analysis is the method of study. Word of the newspaper is the unit of analysis. Two leading English country wide circulated national dailies, The Dawn, The News were selected from October 1, 2014 to March 30, 2015 as a sample of the proposed study. There was a random sampling. The researcher focused and analyzed only those news items that were regarding the Co-existence and relations of Muslims and Non-Muslims. Rationale behind the selection of this duration is the suicide attack on the Army School Public School Peshawar. The research findings indicated that daily Dawn portrayed the Non-Muslims as the real and son of soil people. It attached the relatively positive meanings to Non-Muslims. In case of deterioration of situation, it put all the responsibility on the shoulder of Muslim and Non-Muslim equally. During the research it was founded that The News has the Right Wing behavior. It declares Pakistan as the only place for the Muslims and at various stages; it condemns the Non-Muslim and made responsible the Non-Muslims for deteriorated wrong situations. It is concluded that Government should review its press policy. Non-seriousness of press leads dire consequences and current policy drag the country to the Sudan Modal of Darfur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This essay seeks to make a contribution to the study of persecution (which has often been dominated by the European experience) by examining the case of Coptic Christians in Fatimid Egypt: How did they perceive and imagine persecution? This case is of special interest because of the vaunted "tolerance" of the Fatimids towards non- Muslims (with the exception of the caliph al-Ḥākim). The Copts' sense of persecution throughout this period, and their resistance to Islamization, are perceived through an examination of two texts that each represent the topos of the prominent Muslim who converts to Coptic Christianity: first, the Faṣl min Maqāla Masīḥiyya preserved in Paris BNF Ms Arabe 131, where it is understood to be the caliph al-Mu˓izz's confession of Christian faith; and next, a recension of the well-known Muqaṭṭam miracle-account that places it during the reign of the caliph al-Ḥākim, as preserved in Monastery of St. Anthony, Ms Hist. 86. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended as an epilogue and concludes the papers of this collection by analyzing their content from the specific vantage point of a comparison with parallel developments and phenomena in the Maghrib and particularly in Islamic Spain (al-Andalus). The issues studied in the collection are thus reviewed in a wider geographical and chronological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many classical Islamic sources argue that it is not permissible for non-Muslims to reside in the Ḥijāz, especially Mecca and Medina. Such arguments are usually based on a famous Prophetic saying, “Two religions should not join/remain in the peninsula/land of the Arabs”, and on the reported action taken by the second caliph 'Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb to remove non-Muslims from settlements in western Arabia. In this article, it is argued that the contradictory nature of the evidence for this expulsion casts serious doubt on whether such a widespread action actually took place, certainly not in the decades immediately following Muḥammad's death. It concludes that the widely attested classical prohibition on non-Muslims residing in the Ḥijāz rather had much more to do with the gradually evolving need to draw up firmer communal boundaries, which could help distinguish Muslims from others, and the role played by sacred spaces in doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two areas of therapeutic provision in eastern East Africa are contrasted: a coastal stretch inhabited mainly by Muslims, and a largely non-Muslim hinterland, each with its own healers, medicines, and customary ethic. Spread over both areas are providers of biomedicine associated originally, and to some extent today, with Christianity. Whether or not they also attend biomedical sites, Muslims seek healers in the coastal stretch and non-Muslims usually in the hinterland, each following ethico-religious preferences. However, because people move through the two areas and compare treatments, individuals’ journeys can change direction, with non-Muslims sometimes seeking Muslim healers and either of these groups choosing the more dispersed biomedical outlets. The notion of ‘pathways’ to health thus combines set journeys to areas known for particular healers and a distinctive ethic, with possible detours to alternative sources of therapy, including biomedicine not regarded as governed by the same ethic. [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]

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]

Edward Said's Orientalism did more than any other book to banish the study of honour-shame culture from most of the discussion of the Middle East, and particularly from any 'acceptable' postcolonial analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He did so by making it 'shameful' for anyone to be so racist as to argue that Arab culture is fundamentally different from Western culture. This feat has profoundly obfuscated the causes and dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Indeed, Western analysts have not considered how questions of honour play out in zerosum cultures where one can only win when the other loses, one's religion can only be right/honourable if the others' are wrong/humiliated, where defeat at the hands of subject people (the Jewish dhimmis of the first thirteen Muslim centuries) means unbearable humiliation, and bloody revenge is the only way to regain honour. As a result, many analysts have no explanation for the murderous conflict other than to assume that Israel must have done terrible things to the Arabs to deserve such hatred. And yet, when one examines his own writings, one finds that Said is steeped in a world of 'honour-shame', that in his position on the Arab-Israeli conflict he incarnates the very 'Orientalist' traits he so vociferously denounced as a racist caricature of the Arab mind. [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.