1,899,544 research outputs found
De-mystifying the Muslimah: Exploring Different Perceptions of Selected Young Muslim Women in Britain
No full textIn this research I argue that although Islam as a faith is inherently emancipatory, Muslim
women are doubly marginalised: by patriarchal interpretations of their faith within Muslim
communities and by pluralist society that often does not understand the faith-based values
and practices of Muslim women. The empowerment of Muslim women is crucial not just for
the women themselves but also for socio-political dynamics within the Muslim community
and its relationships in pluralist society. It is from this context, and acknowledging the paucity
of academic literature written by Muslim women, that I set out to give voice to them, so that
their opinions may be heard in discourses that they think are relevant to their lives. By
encouraging Muslim women to take voice and by facilitating mechanisms for these voices to
be heard, this research presents alternate narratives of Muslim women that challenge
dominant media imagery of the oppressed and subjugated Muslim woman. These narratives,
which are by and for Muslim women, portray instead the inherent diversity in the category
'Muslim woman' and thus add more facets to the category 'woman'.
I used an ethnographic methodology that involved participants as contributors in the creation
of new knowledge. Semi-structured interviews with 45 young university-educated Muslim
women and 7 group discussions were used as initial data-gathering tools. The penultimate
ethnographic stage involved Muslim women creating 3-minute long self-representational
digital stories (DSTs), which consist of an autobiographical narrative accompanied by still
pictures. This was a process of self-reflection for the women and an opportunity to take voice
and to be heard. The subsequent screening of these DSTs to audiences who were not
Muslim resulted in discussion and active debate about the reasons for prevalent
(mis)understandings of Muslim women and stereotypes were challenged. In its initiation of
more balanced representations of Muslim women this research empowers Muslim women,
and by contributing to dialogue and cohesion it also empowers pluralist society as a whole.
This research clarifies the overlapping priorities and identities of young British Muslim
women and initiates new discourses, as narrated by the women, on subjects including
religious interpretation and practice, feminism, media representation and social cohesion. In
the research findings I propose an evolving British-Muslim identity among Muslim youth (in
this case young women) which is distinct from that of their parents; a theological articulation
of a 'feminist' struggle for women's rights; and the need to engage with the media and others
to create positive representations of Muslim women. Experiences with DSTs indicate the
potential of personal narratives and interaction for the purposes of inter-community dialogue
Muslim schools and the teaching of citizenship
No full textThe links between Islam and the teaching of citizenship in Muslim schools, and in state
schools containing Muslim pupils have been explored using the perceptions of students and
teachers in a sample of such schools. The delivery of citizenship instruction in Muslim
schools, attitudes towards its teaching, and its connection with Islam has been the areas of
primary focus. A combination of interviews and questionnaires was used to gain information
from 332 pupils (199 in Muslim schools and 137 in state schools), 28 teachers (15 in Muslim
schools and 13 in state schools), 8 head teachers (5 in Muslim schools and 3 in state schools),
and 6 community and religious leaders. The teaching of citizenship in both Muslim and state
schools faces a number of challenges such as time provision, resources, staffing, training,
administration, and assessment. In Muslim schools the religious perspective is taught
alongside the National Curriculum for citizenship instruction. However, teaching the Muslim
perspective on citizenship involves certain difficulties in terms of curriculum development
and resources.
There is at present, therefore, a great need to revise and develop the citizenship curriculum in
both Muslim and state schools. It is apparent that a large part of the sample in both Muslim
and state schools, including pupils, teachers, as well as religious and community leaders
believe that teaching citizenship in schools is important to pupils’ education. Most of the
pupils in the sample believe that studying citizenship helps pupils become aware of their role
in society, and to become good citizens. Citizenship lessons seem to be enjoyable for the
majority of pupils, although these views may be based on sample selection and bias. Muslim
pupils appear to have a preference for instruction on citizenship to be given by a Muslim
teacher who reflects Islamic values. In Muslim schools pupils are subject to religious
influence in terms of prosocial behaviours and positive attitudes towards others, whatever
their ethnicity or faith. These schools appear to be rather successful in building their pupils’
value systems. Islamic Studies and lessons in the Quran are often used to support the teaching
of citizenship, and this too appears to be quite successful. Muslim schools are therefore
judged to have the potential for the development and evolution of a new form of Muslim
national identity within Britain through citizenship education, in useful and meaningful ways,
given the difficulties encountered in the delivery of citizenship education in schools of all
types according to the Ofsted (2006) review
AMP enjoying good and prohibiting evil : African Muslim Party, small but very effective!
No full text462.B.1.2(5).pdf created from the media publications in the SA Election material Collection MS 462, held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.AMP enjoying good and prohibiting evil : African Muslim Party, small but very effective! 1994. Weekend Argus, 23-24 April:7.Newspaper advertisement by the African Muslim Party (AMP) communicating their efficacy even as a small party in promoting an alternative system based on Islam. At the bottom of the poster is a text box expressing the party's disapproval of gay rights
Muslim discourses on integration and schooling
No full textSince 2001 Muslim communities in Britain have largely been governed through the educational policy framing of integration and segregation. This Manichean bio-construct sees mono-cultural ethnic schools as problematic spaces, whilst integrated schools as the liberal ideal. By drawing upon the subaltern studies approach, this study provides a space for Muslim pupils and parents to articulate their own discourses on integrated and segregated schools in Britain. In doing so, it allows Muslim communities a position of power, by giving them agency to construct their own narratives on the policy debate on integration and schooling.
This thesis attempts to make sense of Muslim discourses through a theoretic interpretation drawn from Muslim intellectual history. By using Ibn Khaldun’s (d. 1406) sociological theory of ‘asabiyya this study provides a broader theoretical context to the Muslim voice. The empirical and the theoretical perspectives contained in this study attempts to make significant contributions to the study of race, religion and Muslim studies in Britain.
Public policy discourses has often seen the concept of integration as a linear cultural process, with minority groups gradually adopting the social mores of the host society. Evidence presented in this study sees integration as an analytical process and not as a fixed cultural template. It shows how the concept of integration can often be used, by political actors, as a tool for anti-Muslim racism.
The discourses of Muslim parents and pupils have much in common with each other, especially when rejecting the idea of self-segregation, or highlighting the importance of ‘asabiyya based on religion, but they have little in common with the public policy framing of Muslim communities.
Sociological studies have often demonstrated the disjuncture between public policy and lived experience. This study confirms this observation by elucidating the disconnect between political discourse of integration and lived cultural experience of Muslim communities. The discourses of Muslim communities in this study suggest a complex, paradoxical, intersectional reading of integration, which is fundamentally rooted within social constructionism. Most importantly it dismisses the integration and segregation binary, as seen within the educational framing of Muslims, whilst recognising the importance of Muslim group solidarity, or ‘asabiyya in Muslim discourse
Muslim Girl magazine article Girl Scout Glory
No full textTen color images of Muslim Girl magazine article Girl Scout Glory by A.Z. Khan; March/April 2007, p. 19 - 27. Shazia Faizi was the troop leader for Muslim Girl Scout Troop 496 and connected to the magazine. Shazia is the Director for Al Mustafa. Girls Scout troop L to R: Asama Hassan, Zenab Nawaz, Aisha Hassan, Laela Omar, Safia Hassan, and Hanna Omar.
AMP enjoying good and prohibiting evil : African Muslim Party, small but very effective!
No full text462.B.1.2(4).pdf created from the media publications in the SA Election material Collection MS 462, held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.AMP enjoying good and prohibiting evil : African Muslim Party, small but very effective! 1994. The Argus, 25 April:21.Newspaper advertisement by the African Muslim Party (AMP) communicating their efficacy even as a small party in promoting an alternative system based on Islam. At the bottom of the poster is a text box expressing the party's disapproval of gay rights
Australian Muslims: a demographic, social and economic profile of Muslims in Australia
Full text linkAUSTRALIAN MUSLIMS: A BRIEF OVERVIEW: Contact between Muslim Indonesian fishermen from Southern Sulawesi and Indigenous people in northern Australia from around the 1750s is the earliest evidence of a Muslim connection in Australia. However, it was not until the 1860s with the arrival of Afghan cameleers that Muslims settled in greater numbers in Australia. At the peak of exploration and settlement of central Australia, around 3000 Afghans worked as camel drivers carting water and goods in the difficult terrain. Initially they were seen as very dependable and cheap labourers and they were employed in the public sector as well as by pastoralists in remote sheep stations. This led to friction between the traditional European bullock teamsters, popularly known as ‘bullockies’, and the Afghans. There were fatal shooting incidents between the two groups and at least one anti-Afghan league was formed in the Coolgardie region.
With the end of the camel transport industry in the 1920s and the restrictive effects of the White Australia immigration policy, the number of Afghans dwindled. It was not until the policies that restricted the immigration of non-Europeans to Australia were dismantled in the late 1960s that Muslim migration resumed. In the postwar period, mainly due to migration from Turkey and Lebanon, the Muslim population increased markedly, rising to 200,885 in 1996. But it still comprised only 1.1% of the total population.
The Muslim experience demonstrates the impact that political attitudes and the national policies they create can have upon people’s lives. The policies arising from the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 were based on the false notion of a relationship between ethnicity and standard of living. They wiped out the Australian Muslim community for nearly 70 years. It has only been since the change in national policy in the late 1960s that a Muslim community has been able to develop once again.
In the past two decades the Muslim population has increased significantly due to immigration and natural increase. According to the 2011 Australian Census there were 476,290 Muslims in Australia, of whom about 40% were Australian born. The rest came from 183 countries, making Australian Muslims one of the most ethnically and nationally heterogeneous religious communities
Political Islam and European Foreign Policy: Perspectives from Muslim Democrats of the Mediterranean. CEPS Paperbacks. November 2007
Full text linkThe time is ripe for the European Union, its institutions and member states to undertake an explicit review of its current policy of ‘benign neglect’ towards the broad collection of ‘Muslim democrat’ parties in the Mediterranean Arab states. The group of experts assembled to produce this new book adduces mounting evidence that this policy may lead to unintended consequences, such as the reinforcement of anti-democratic regimes and radical Islamism. Their arguments favour a broad inclusion of Muslim democrats in EU initiatives aiming at the reform of governance and the development of civil society, without extending to them any singular, exclusive or unsolicited privileges
Negotiating marriage and divorce in Accra : Muslim women's experiences.
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis sets out to investigate Muslim women’s marital experiences in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. In particular, these experiences had to do with negotiating marriage and divorce. It included the broad marital relations like decision-making, roles and responsibilities, and the management and responses of marital disputes and abuse. I used a qualitative method in this research. I interviewed twelve Muslim women in Accra who provided me with their perspectives, experiences and responses of socio-religious norms concerning gender roles. In addition, they shared their experiences and perspectives on wife abuse and their consequent reactions and management of wife abuse
'They make us feel like we're a virus': the multiple impacts of Islamophobic hostility towards veiled Muslim women
Full text linkWithin the prevailing post-9/11 climate, veiled Muslim women are commonly portrayed as oppressed, ‘culturally dangerous’ and ‘threatening’ to the western way of life and to notions of public safety and security by virtue of being fully covered in the public sphere. It is in such a context that manifestations of Islamophobia often emerge as a means of responding to these ‘threats’. Drawing from qualitative data elicited through a UK-based study, this article reflects upon the lived experiences of veiled Muslim women as actual and potential victims of Islamophobia and examines the impacts of Islamophobic attacks upon victims, their families and wider Muslim communities. Among the central themes we explore are impacts upon their sense of vulnerability, the visibility of their Muslim identity, and the management of their safety in public. The individual and collective harms associated with this form of victimisation are considered through notions of a worldwide, transnational Muslim community, the ummah, which connects Muslims from all over world. We conclude by noting that the effects of this victimisation are not exclusively restricted to the global ummah; rather, the harm extends to society as a whole by exacerbating the polarisation which already exists between ‘us’ and ‘them’
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