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The aim of this paper is to investigate the development elasticities of religious assets namely, the relationship between the stock of religious assets (religious buildings like mosques, mescits, turbehs, etc.) and economic development.

Development elasticities of religious assets with respect to development is empirically investigated for a cross-section of all Turkish cities with municipal authorities. Two different regression analyses use religious building in total number of building and percentage share of religiously conservatives parties vote as the dependent variable. Independent variables include various development measures.

It is found that the stock of religious assets is negatively related to the development. Also, it is found that economic development and the stock of religious assets have a non-linear relationship. Religious assets increase with industrialization first, however, as the industrialization increases more, they decrease. Coastal towns have smaller religious assets. Mosques/masjits and schools are complements rather than substitutes as they statistically significantly affect each other positively. For robustness check, a different measure of religiosity is used in empirical research. Vote shares of religiously conservative parties are smaller in developed regions of the country. In other words, religiously conservative parties attracted the poor or less developed parts of the country.

Economic development and religious assets are related to each other in a developing country case study. Increased economic development can cause religious assets to decline in this particular case study.

This paper uses a novel data set to study the relationship between development and religion in a developing country.

The paper aims at identifying the underlying factors that differentiate the local people's demographic and socio-economic characteristics, which influence their sense of place (SoP) toward different types of cultural heritage sites in different urban regions.

The paper draws on the sequential explanatory design, using quantitative and qualitative methods, respectively, to investigate the research themes in-depth. A total of 201, 207 and 228 questionnaires were collected on religious, non-religious/memorial and historic commercial buildings, respectively, at two different quarters in Historic Cairo, followed by 20 semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of local people in each quarter.

The authors found an apparent similarity in the significant characteristics that influence the local people's SoP levels toward the different historic buildings at the same quarter and a notable variation between both quarters. Also, many factors determine the local people's influential characteristics on their SoP toward the different cultural heritage sites (e.g. the sites’ distance from the person's residence/workplace, economic value, people's awareness about its history, type of activities and targeted gender, feeling of stability and regions' characteristics)

Identifying these underlying factors and priority local groups can assist policymakers in ensuring a sustainable management/conservation of the different cultural heritage sites.

The paper demonstrates the causality of a significant correlation between local people's characteristics and their SoP levels toward the different types of historic buildings, apart from their religious symbolism or historical value, using the sequential explanatory design.

The purpose of this study is to assess the level of energy efficiency (EE) practices and worshippers’ comfort experience towards energy consumption of a selected energy retrofitted mosque. This study identifies whether the work was done on ad hoc or planned basis and to gauge the success level of the retrofit work.

Mixed method was used in this study. A selected mosques with a capacity of more than 1,000 worshippers under the Class A of classification places of assembly with operating hour ranging from 45 to 65 h and the penarafan hijau jabatan kerja raya (pHJKR) rating tool as a benchmarking for EE assessment is used. A total of 45 respondents were involved in this study to obtain their perception on comfort experience in mosque. Meanwhile, energy audit and walk-through surveys were conducted to obtain data on energy consumption. To identify whether the work was done on ad hoc or planned basis and to gauge the success level of the retrofit work, pHJKR rating tool and efficiency standard MS1525:2019 are used for benchmarking in keeping with sustainability guidelines.

The results of this study indicated that the EE score achieved by the mosque is good while there are still rooms for improvement to increase the higher score to the pHJKR’s EE benchmarking tool.

EE is one of the most important agenda under sustainable development initiatives. Part of the initial government strategy is to encourage the use public buildings in demonstrating initiatives for sustainable development to justify high capital resources investment. Mosque buildings have huge potential for this purpose because as religious public buildings for the majority Muslim community, their operations are fully funded from public funds. Selection of mosques is also driven by its unique intermittent energy consumption pattern, while early mosques adopted natural ventilation, modern mosques are often designed with mechanical ventilation (air conditioning).

An encouragement on government initiative towards sustainable development can be escalating by producing exemplary building for intermittent use pattern categories by mosque as a model.

Sustainable development especially in EE becomes normal practices and energy and impact towards environment possibly be saved.

Sustainable development especially in EE becomes normal practices and energy and impact towards environment possibly be saved. This research is based on supportive national agenda by assessing EE measure for development of energy management in intermittent use buildings (mosque).

In this paper, we demonstrate the linkages between humor and political and cultural opportunities and present an analysis of the importance of humor for collective identity and framing in the New Atheist Movement, a social movement focused on reducing the social stigma of atheism and enforcing the separation of church and state. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of interview, ethnographic, and web-based data, we show why the New Atheist Movement is able to use humor effectively in the political and cultural environment. We further demonstrate that humor is central to the development and maintenance of collective identity and to the framing strategies used by the New Atheist Movement. Through a diverse range of forms, including jokes, mockery, and satire, humor is a form of resistance and also can be harnessed to support the goals of social movements. We use this case study as a basic for advocating for greater attention to humor within social movement studies, and greater attention to social movements in humor studies.

Compared with its status in Islamic history, the mosque today has become a distinctive phenomenon, perceived as an identity vessel of contemporary Islamic architecture that conveys sacred metaphysical meanings. Since the advent of modernity Muslim societies has become increasingly secularized; the relationships of the sacred–secular and the divine-based demythologized knowledge have been deformed. The mosque was glossed over as the sole contemporary sacred edifice that bears metaphysical/Islamic connotations with cultural continuity. Its architecture, meanings and function have gone through a process of metamorphosis, particularly the state mosques. The contemporary mosque as such is facing a “semiological deterioration.” State mosques today are symbolic statements and communicative messages of their rulers’ power and national sovereignty, with a subsidiary role for worship, i.e., the sacred has turned into a secular power metaphor. This led to a state semantic confusion accompanied by a loss in the deeply rooted collective cultural codes of the sacred. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the metamorphosis of the semiological connotation of the contemporary mosque, with a special focus on grand state mosques, and its effects on the architecture of the contemporary mosque.

This paper is theoretical research (no case studies included).

The metamorphosis that the contemporary mosque is experiencing today as a religious edifice with symbolic connotations and architectural iconism is but an effect of the changes that occurred in the concept of the scared and its relationship to the secular in contemporary Muslim communities, as a result of modernity. Such conceptual changes led to altering the deeply rooted cultural codes to be replaced by new intentional codes, used today as vehicles of communication in mosque architecture, especially in grand state mosques. Contemporary state mosques with its new symbolism and semantic meanings have contributed to redefining the concept of the contemporary mosque in general.

Mosque architecture today receives a significant importance. Many conferences and awards are dedicated to celebrating this phenomenon. Attempts to define the criteria and style of the contemporary mosque architecture are mounting. However, rarely there are studies that defy such attempts in a critical manner. This research seeks to criticize such approaches by highlighting the essence of the transformation in mosque architecture and its relationship to the concepts of the sacred and the secular, from a semiological perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges and justification of the reconstruction of built heritage in Bosnia. This paper also debates the effect of setting up a close relationship between reconstruction and reconciliation, suggesting that the reconstruction of the built environment in the period of post-war recovery provided a foundation for reconciliation.

Throughout history, in the face of various disasters, world encountered the challenge of reconstruction. In the past decade of the 20th century, just such a challenge was the war in Bosnia. After the war, reconstruction and reconciliation took place, with a focus on reestablishing a normal way of life, the return of displaced people, and the reconnection of broken bonds, as well as the rehabilitation of heritage assets.

This paper elaborates on how reconstructions were guided by the aims of reconciliation and its justifications. Regarding the technical aspects of these reconstruction projects, an overview comprising several case studies is presented to help elucidate two levels of physical intervention. The first of these levels concerns the reconstruction of single structures and the second concerns the reconstruction of historic centers. War memorials are considered to be a third level of intervention.

The selected cases presented here confirm the existence of the relationship between post-war reconstruction and reconciliation. This paper also assesses the efficiency of the reconstruction of Bosnia’s built heritage in terms of authenticity and overall post-war recovery.

This chapter reviews the factors determining the characteristics of the tourism sector of Turkmenistan. Particular attention is given to the adoption of Islam resulting from Arabic, Seljuk, and Sufic cultural influences. The resulting distinctive form of Islam, incorporating pre-Islamic traditions and beliefs together with the persistence of tribalism, Soviet and post-Soviet governance, and the sociopolitical and economic characteristics of contemporary Turkmen society are considered in order to underpin an analysis of its underdeveloped and little-known tourism industry. An outline of the results of a small-scale preliminary case study of tourists in one of Turkmenistan's World Heritage Sites is presented as an illustration of current tourism activity and the future opportunities in its development.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues and challenges in providing financing to the poor people based on the experience of Baitul Maal Wa Tamwil (BMT) in Indonesia.

A series of structured interviews were conducted with the chairman and staff of the Central BMT (Induk Koperasi Syariah) in Jakarta which is the head-quarter of 382 BMTs throughout Indonesia, with additional chairman and shari’ah supervisory in Central BMT (Pusat Koperasi Syariah) in Makasar. Subsequently, the results from the structured interviews were analyzed using qualitative analysis to arrive at the model of the peculiarities of financing the poor in Indonesia.

The findings show that the Central BMT has built specific products and empowerment mechanisms for the poor and has an ideal product to be applied in 382 BMT in Indonesia. There are two schemes of financing source in BMT, namely, social ministry (Kelompok Usaha Bersama) and private financing (national and international donor). Specifically, the peculiarities of financing given in BMT are not only in the term of capital but also in the term of providing infrastructure and training for the poor. Moreover, collateral must be provided as a screening process for the poor people to secure any form of financing. If there is no collateral, potential borrowers must opt for joint-liability financing. Furthermore, if the poor could not repay the financing, endowment coming from charity and compulsory Islamic tax (zakat, infaq and sadaqah) would play a vital role to cover for the financing default. Lastly, religious capacity building is also provided as a part of risk management aspect.

This study was only conducted in Indonesia which focussed on the peculiarities of financing for the poor people in Indonesia BMT. Despite this limitation, the findings of this study enable the construction of a model that highlights the issues and challenges that might arise in financing the poor in general.

The paper adds to the literature on Islamic microfinance by enabling researchers and practitioners to understand the model of Islamic microfinance in Indonesia. It also contributes toward enriching the knowledge in the Islamic microfinance area.

The purpose of this paper is to review, understand and document the contemporary waqf-S management, financial accounting and reporting practices and to understand relevant drivers behind the current accountability culture in waqf-S, aiming at exploring the intertwined nature of accounting, reporting and the religion of Islam. The accountability literature has been relatively scant on the role played by accounting and reporting in not-for-profit, religious-based organizations and its implications for accountability discourse. Three accountability drivers of regulatory, stakeholders and religious image are tested. It is interesting to research how management, accounting and reporting are being practiced in an Islamic organization setting in a non-Islamic country.

Consistent with the established research objectives, this study adopts the qualitative research approach of a single case study research involving semi-structured interviews and archival documentation review and analyses. Sample is chosen using purposive sampling to suit the research objectives.

The paper finds that waqf-S is a very successful awqaf manager. The administration and management are carried out in the most effective manner with comprehensive rules, guidelines and procedures. The awqaf financial reporting and management are impressive as annual financial reports are published on time and available for the public online. The paper proposes three lenses to examine the accountability drivers of waqf-S: Regulatory, Stakeholders and Religious image of Islamic organization and, it turns out that all three are equally important in driving the organization accountability practices.

The sample is an Islamic organization in a non-Islamic country; therefore, the results are unique and may not be generalised to organizations in Islamic nations, as it will be a different setting with different variables. Secondly, the paper only focuses on awqaf financial accounting, awqaf reporting and investigating the driving factors for the institution’s accountability culture.

This paper is important as it shows that the management and administration of awqaf, which has been plague by mismanagement, embezzlements and lack of talents, can be improved and managed systematically, although there is a clear evidence of the lack of capable or talented human resources. It is compensated by the significant use of technology.

Focusing on a single awqaf institution (waqf-S) operating in a non-Islamic Southeast Asian country, our analysis allows us to observe the influence of multiple factors influencing its organizational wide accountability policy. We consider this as a contribution to the literature, as it generates knowledge on how management, accounting and reporting are being devised as strategic tools in the institution’s accountability policy framework, beyond the normal office management, financial data recording and disclosure per se. Multiple factors drive the structured and transparent reporting by waqf-S, transcending beyond the traditional financial accounting and reporting boundary of meeting regulatory requirements; it reaches the concerned while ensuring that the necessary accountability towards stakeholders is observed and upheld.