Refashioning Islam: elite women and piety in Bangladesh

This paper attempts to explore the development of Islamic identity of a group of elite women in Dhaka, Bangladesh. These women constitute a significant group in the country where 10% of the rich control 40% of the national wealth, and the 10% of the poorest control 1.84% of the national wealth.* Socially, politically and economically, elite women and their families are powerful and have access to resources and political influence. Many of these women who did not grow up with a very strict religious orientation came to Islam and consolidated religious thoughts and practices through a weekly Quran reading class. This particular Quran class began in 2002. The classes were initiated by a foreign diplomat’s wife who was Muslim, and have continued even after her departure from the country in 2004. While Dhaka houses many meetings of Muslim men and women to discuss Islamic ideas and practices, this particular class was quite unique in its ability to attract and convert elite women whose lives were seemingly perfect. This urban elite phenomenon of Islamic revivalism has not been the subject of any in-depth research in Bangladesh, and this work therefore, is the first of its kind and largely introductory.     

Muslim veil as politics: political autonomy, women and Syariah Islam in Aceh

This article examines the interlinking of political autonomy, Syariah law and women in contemporary Aceh. Looking at Aceh’s historical precedents, current sociocultural and political developments cannot be seen as manifestations of Islamic revival. It would be misleading to look at the implementation of Syariah Islam in general and the enforcement of veiling in particular as signs of the radicalization of Islam. Islam in Aceh has always had political meanings. It shapes an identity characterized by a long collective history of rebellion against foreign oppression and repression. The revival however is seen in notions of gender dominance and order, which have profound consequences for women’s lives. Using articles from 2005 to 2006 in Serambi, a locally published newspaper in Aceh, an assessment is made of how Syariah Islam has affected women’s lives.

Massignon,Vatican II and Islam as an Abrahamic religion

The qur'anic material about Abraham corresponds in broad outline to the biblical story although it contains some novel features, including the claim that Islam is the religion of Abraham and that together with Ishmael he rebuilt the Kaaba. The article surveys the largely negative responses of Byzantine polemicists, medieval Western authors, and later orientalists, to Islam's avowedly Abrahamic pedigree. It then examines the work of Louis Massignon and his circle, and discusses the extent to which his conviction that Islam was an Abrahamic religion, like Judaism and Christianity, influenced Vatican II. Some precursors of Massignon are mentioned, his attitude to the qur'anic representation of Abraham is criticized in the light of recent research, and his interest’ in Abraham is shown to have been intimately bound up with the peculiar circumstances of his own life.     

The right of women to no-fault divorce in Islam and its application by British Muslims

One of the forms of divorce mentioned in the original sources of Islam, the Qur'an and the Sunna, is no-fault divorce initiated by women, called in Arabic khul^c . This article discusses its validity in Islamic law, the degree of entitlement women have to it and its effects in dissolving the marriage. The discussion will include the attitudes towards khul^c in the modern reforms in the family laws of Muslim countries. Most of this modern legislation has been associated with furious debates and objections from both traditionalists and liberals. The article will attempt to assess the social impact of these new regulations of khul^c . It then turns to discuss the application of no-fault divorce among Muslim minorities in the West with special reference to British Muslims. It seems to be widely used unofficially to ease the problem of ‘limping marriage’ experienced by Muslim women as a result of subjection to two jurisdictions, i.e. English and Islamic laws.     

The Ok-Religious Attitude Scale (Islam): introducing an instrument originated in Turkish for international use

This study reports the content and psychometric properties of the Ok Religious Attitude Scale (in an Islamic tradition). Among two samples of university students (N = 934 and 388), high alpha coefficients were recorded (ranges between .81 and .91). Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirm that the scale with its four subscales (cognitive, emotional, behavioural and relational) form an ideal (first-order) or acceptable (higher-order) model. The scale revealed powerful criterion validity through its comparison with adapted versions of Francis Scale of Attitude Towards Christianity [FSAC] and Intrinsic Religiosity scale. In its final form the scale can be commended as a reliable, valid and viable instrument to be used in social science research.     

Everyday lived Islam: religiosities and identities of Muslim women in the Republic of Macedonia

In the Republic of Macedonia, most Muslim women belong to the Albanian minority. Particularly due to the current fractured nature of the Macedonian societal body and the diverse historical developments that have led to this, the importance of ethnic identities is emphasised and religious identities, especially Orthodox Christian and Muslim identities, fortify them. Everyday lived religion, its active enacting, and the values Islam represents can be important to Muslim women in the Republic of Macedonia and manifest themselves, for instance, in the human relationships within Muslim communities. Everyday lived Islam may also be an important factor when women’s roles in the larger societal context are examined. The 19 Albanian women whom I interviewed during the period 2008–2009 described in a relatively detailed manner their everyday lived Islam and religiosities, how these affected their lives and how these were localised in everyday situations. This also gave an insight into the way the Muslim women negotiated their identities in different contexts. In this article I examine, drawing on the concepts of everyday lived religion, religiosity, and identity, how Islamic values and traditions could be localised through women’s narratives in relationships within the Muslim communities, between men and women, between different Muslim communities, and in the wider societal context.     

Religion,Culture and the Shaping of Religious Attitudes: The Case of Islam

That we live in a world of racial, cultural, ideological and religious differences is a fact of existence. Our awareness of this is not new. What is new, however, is the growing appreciation of these differences and the realization that in a significant sense difference is creative and so must be celebrated. Nevertheless, difference is also challenging. At the present time, no student of religion can avoid asking the pressing question of what attitude to take towards people of ‘other’ religious traditions. This article will investigate how this question has been approached within the culture(s) of Islam. It will argue that the attitude of Muslims towards the people of other religious traditions is not fixed, even within the same time and place. The current context of society and the state of affairs (social, political, demographic, etc.) affects this doctrine.