Search results

Purpose – This chapter highlights how counter-radicalization, as a manifestation of diffuse securitizing, impacts the work of Muslim civil society organizations (CSOs) in Canada.

Methodology – The author presents how Muslim communities and their civil society representatives experience and adapt to the pressures from counter-radicalization policies. Data for the analysis are drawn from 16 semi-structured, anonymized interviews with managers and board members of prominent Muslim CSOs that are based in urban centers in Canada with high density of Muslim populations.

Findings – Though counter-radicalization policies are advanced under the rubric of community-orientedness and risk governance, security discourse and practice constructs radicalization as a problem within Muslim communities treating them as suspects who are “potentially radical.” Despite this framing, Muslim CSOs are cooperating with state security agencies in counter-radicalization efforts but are doing so cognizant of the immense power the state exerts over them in such “partnerships.” CSOs are raising questions about the selective nature of security practice which views Muslims as dangerous and violent but fails to fully acknowledge their reality as victims of Islamophobic violence. CSOs are using anti-racism, anti-oppression, and rights-based frames to call out the discriminatory treatment of Muslims under national security.

Originality/Value – The author’s study contributes to a community perspective in counterterrorism and counter-radicalization research that is dominated by analyses from “above.” By sharing the experiences of Canadian Muslim CSOs under counter-radicalization, the author illustrates the practice of “diffuse securitizing” and how it limits the work of civil society in liberal democracies.

Social structural and cultural theories suggest that social stress induced from socio‐cultural status patterns varies across the world's cultures. The purpose of the study is to compare subjective social stress in connection with objective socio‐cultural status patterns among Muslim, Hindu, Santal and Oraon communities in Rasulpur of Bangladesh.

This study was conducted in Rasulpur, Bangladesh. Preliminarily, 760 male arrack drinkers who were stressful in their socio‐cultural status patterns were selected by snowball process from the study area. Of the respondents, 391 arrack drinkers (109 Muslim, 103 Hindu, 89 Santal and 90 Oraon) were intensively interviewed by semi‐structural questionnaire to examine and compare the research purpose.

The results of Pearson's χ² test suggested that there were significant differences (p<0.01) in subjective social stress in connection with socio‐cultural status patterns, except income among the communities, among the ethnic communities. The results of Spearman bivariate correlation coefficients revealed that there were significant relationships (p<0.01 and p<0.05) between socio‐cultural status patterns and its social stress, except occupation and income among the communities studied.

Although the findings of the study have been successful in understanding differences in social stress in the context of socio‐cultural status patterns among the Muslim, Hindu, Santal and Oraon communities in Rasulpur, Bangladesh, further empirical research is needed on how personality factor, familial and community coping and social support from social service system influence the differences in subjective social stress associated with socio‐cultural status patterns among the communities. In spite of the limitations, the findings may provide valuable information for cross‐cultural social health policy and programs to manage the problem.

This paper is original in linking its theory, policy and practice to reduce subjective social stress in the context of socio‐cultural variations among the Muslim, Hindu, Santal and Oraon communities in Bangladesh.

This paper aims to investigate how do Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents conduct interreligious relations among them in their everyday lives in Central Kalimantan; why do these religious communities observe interreligious relations as such; and what makes this model of interreligious relations.

The corpus for analysis comes from in-depth interviews with 20 persons, which took place between August and October in 2016 in Palangka Raya city and Kotawaringin Timur Regency in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The informants were selected from groups believed to be lay members and elites of Muslim, Christian and Kaharingan communities using snowball sampling technique facilitated by local research assistants. These informants are mainly mainstream Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents.

The way to peaceful and co-existence life lived by religious communities in Indonesia is closely related to its rich treasures and precious tradition of cultural heritage: Indonesian communalism, Indonesian community spirit as seen in terms such as “tradisi hidup bersama,” “semangat kebersamaan” and “satu keluarga.” Instead of emphasizing the divisive differences among communities with various religious backgrounds, Muslims, Christians and Kaharingan adherents in Central Kalimantan create “third spaces,” common grounds shared by these religious communities at individual, institutional and societal levels.

Based on empirical findings, this research argues that the practices of peaceful and co-existence life lived by diverse religious communities in Indonesia relate to their particular social-cultural contexts of rich treasures and precious tradition of cultural heritage in the forms of Indonesian communalism and community spirit. Instead of emphasizing the divisive differences among themselves, various religious communities in Central Kalimantan create third spaces, common grounds between them and are shared by them at individual, institutional and societal levels.

Social stress and alcohol/arrack drinking are interrelated and vary across the sub cultures or cultures around the world. This study aims to examine relationships between social stress and arrack drinking patterns among Muslim, Hindu, Santaland Oraon communities in Rasulpur of Bangladesh.

This study was conducted in Rasulpur of Bangladesh. In this region arrack produced from palm and date juice and arrack drinker of four ethnic communities is available round the year. Out of 760 male arrack drinkers, 391 samples (109 Muslim, 103 Hindu, 89 Santal and 90 Oraon) were randomly selected and were interviewed with semi‐structural questionnaire.

The results of multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that there were significant differences in and relationships between social stress and arrack drinking pattern among the communities studied. Results suggested that the 2‐35 times higher risks of Hindu and Muslim's social stressors than the Santal and Oraon were significantly related to their arrack drinking pattern.

Although the findings of this study have been successful in understanding cross‐cultural variations in and relationships between social stress and arrack drinking patterns among the ethnic communities, further empirical study is needed into how coping or social support influence the relationships between the variables studied. In spite of this the findings may apply in formulating social policy and programs to reduce arrack drinking in the context of social stress in rural Bangladesh.

This paper is original in linking of theory, policy and practice in the context of social stress at reducing arrack drinking pattern in rural Bangladesh.

This paper aims to assess the sense-of-community role in affecting young Muslim loyalty towards Muslim-majority tourism destinations. Specifically, this research assesses the sense of community dimension in the halal tourism context and evaluates its effects on destination satisfaction, image and loyalty.

This research used a quantitative approach by using data from 376 young Indonesian Muslim tourists with past travel experiences to destinations where Muslims are the majority. The dimension of the sense of community was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis. The association between variables was tested using partial least square-structural equation modelling.

The finding exhibits three notable sense of community dimensions: membership, influence and need fulfilment and emotional connection. Emotional connection shapes, directly and indirectly, destination loyalty, while influence and need fulfilment affect destination loyalty by satisfaction and destination image mediating role. Lastly, membership has no impact on developing destination loyalty.

This study offers tourism destinations in Muslim-majority countries an opportunity to draw and create loyalty among young Muslim tourists. Besides offering superior halal services and products, Muslim-majority tourism destinations need to develop young Muslim tourists' emotional connection to the destinations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical examination of the sense of community's role in influencing tourist loyalty, specifically in halal tourism.

This paper aims to analyze and compare attitudes and perceptions of Muslim leadership toward society and politics based on their personal experiences in England and the Netherlands.

This study provides valuable insights into how Muslim leadership experiences socio-political realities from own perspectives. The comparative analysis of Muslim leadership in England and the Netherlands highlights the unique qualities of each community, while also demonstrating shared communal awareness regarding political participation and concerns regarding the rise of Islamophobia and populism.

The study reveals significant differences between Dutch and British Muslim leadership regarding attitudes toward politics. While the Dutch political system enables minorities to have political parties, British leaders prefer peaceful resistance, internal cooperation and voting power for influence. Muslim communities in both countries face similar challenges, such as access to politics, rising Islamophobia and populism. However, there are variations in leadership maturity and attitudes toward communal unification and political participation.

Especially Dutch Muslims were much more open toward cooperation once approached. The biggest challenge was to get into the Muslim communities in England. Even though British Muslims showed a much greater aptitude toward their civic duties, British Muslims were much more careful and wished that interviews were written down instead of being recorded. But once the author was part of the community, community leaders were more accepting and tolerant towards the author's presence. From that point on, to be recommended (snowballing) became easier.

This research shows clearly how different ethnic Muslim communities differ across two different countries. Even though both countries have their own advantages and disadvantages, understanding how civic responsibilities and the progressive development of minority attitudes can be best approached is important to policymakers.

One major social implication is the way minorities perceive social and political equality and how these minority expectations can be met. Research shows that there is much fear and anxiety to growing sentiments of populism and right-wing appraisals. For a better integration and inclusion, a sound assessment of social and religious expectations is crucial.

As far as the author knows, there are no qualitative research studies that compare Muslim minority conditions in the Netherlands and England. This research makes this even more interesting for how to create policy that contributes to a European understanding of Muslim existence in Europe and a common European identity. This is crucial for a more stable and stronger European future.

Over more than thirty years of violent conflict, Northern Ireland had an intense sectarian violence due to the political-religious opposition between its Catholic and Protestant communities. The history of the Muslim community in Northern Ireland and the nature of the events in the region have had implications on the establishment of an Islamic environment. This paper aims to explore the problems encountered by the Muslim community in Northern Ireland in their attempt to build their first purpose built mosque. The paper is based on data collected during a study conducted between 2005 and 2007. However, a more recent literature review has been conducted. The study investigates the establishment of Islamic spaces, architecture and symbols. It explores the ways developed by the Muslim community in order to conceptualize and establish their first purpose-built mosque in Northern Ireland, but it also investigates how Muslim adapt and modify their domestic and communal spaces for their cultural, religious and identity needs and concerns. This paper offers an understanding of why the Muslim community needs to build its first formal-built-purpose mosque in Northern Ireland, and how the members of this community adapt to continuously changing liminal spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current UK Prevent Agenda 2011 and the possible threat to local communities from such policies which may actually fuel further resentment and make communities less safe and more susceptible to radicalisation and extremism.

The paper presents a short qualitative study that involved members of the Alum Rock community in Birmingham (UK) that had experience of Prevent strategies. The study involved semi‐structured interviews which were conducted with Muslim community members who were involved either directly or indirectly with Prevent programmes in the area of Alum Rock.

The study found that overall Muslim communities within Alum Rock were suspicious of the role of law enforcement agencies and counter‐terrorism policies such as Prevent.

In a short qualitative study and with a small sample size there is clearly a need to do further research and deal with a larger sample size that would demonstrate a more representative view of the community.

This study can help inform and improve the counter‐terrorism policy framework which includes Prevent. For example, more emphasis is needed on getting views from Muslim communities through focus groups and interviews which could in turn help build trust between Muslim communities and law enforcement agencies.

There is currently little research on the Prevent Agenda 2011 and the present paper provides an important contribution in understanding the views of Muslim communities in an area which has been the subject of a number of high profile counter‐terrorism operations (for example, Operation Gamble involved a number of police raids aimed at foiling a plot to behead a Muslim soldier), Project Champion (where West Midlands police used overt and covert surveillance (CCTV) cameras in predominantly Muslim areas). The data collected could be used as a template for gaining a better understanding of how Muslims feel about Prevent and as such can improve relations between Muslim communities and the police.

In this empirical study, I describe how Muslim women leading American Islamic schools demonstrate emotionality by managing their own emotions and the emotions of others as core components of leadership practices. Using the lens of critical feminist studies, this research makes private emotional expressions a site for critical analysis of social, cultural and political influences that reflect patriarchal power imbalances and rising anti-Muslim sentiment. Through a national analysis of 13 interviews of Muslim women school leaders, centering their everyday leadership experiences as qualitative data, I found that these women skillfully managed emotions as both a demonstration of their faith and a professional effort to advance their school communities. The following themes emerged from the data as evidence of emotionality within American Islamic schools: (a) emotions as nurturing; (b) emotions as burdens; (c) emotional fluency and (d) emotions as resistance. This study expands the scholarship of critical feminist studies that examine the intersections of emotionality and leadership, by adding the voices of Muslim women school leaders who expertly manage emotions across cultural boundaries, through a difficult political environment, and as an embodiment of prophetic principles.

This article examines the community safety issues facing British Muslims. The events of September 11th have had a particular impact upon Muslims' experiences of crime, criminal justice and their feelings of (un)safety. As such, agencies working in the criminal justice and community safety sectors must take into consideration British Muslim identities and the specific needs of Muslim communities.