The Approach of the Fiqh Council of North America towards Identity Problems of Contemporary Muslim Minorities

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Sümeyra Yakar ◽  
Emine Enise Yakar
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Muslim Country ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Identity Crises

Abstract The status of being a Muslim minority in a non-Muslim country has obtained public and international attention with the consequence of globalization and immigration in the contemporary world. The increasing rate of immigration to the United States after the 1980s resulted in a new identity that mainly includes two main ingredients: Muslim identity and American identity. Especially, the following generation of the first immigrants has unexpectedly confronted the issue of an identity crisis ensuing from the simultaneous belonging to American and Muslim identities. With permanent settlement and acquiring American citizenship, Muslim Americans have shouldered dual responsibilities and duties. Occasionally, the dual identity of Muslim Americans has resulted in clashes between the religious and citizenship responsibilities. The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), a voluntarily established fatwā institution, tries to find Islamic legal solutions to that of American Muslims’ paradoxical predicaments. In the light of particular fatwās (legal opinion) issued by the FCNA, this paper will analyse how the identity crises of Muslim Americans are resolved; which Islamic legal methodologies are predominantly deployed to obliterate the mundane and religious paradoxes of those Muslim Americans; and whether the preponderance is given to American identity or Muslim identity by the FCNA.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela E. Pennock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
First Century ◽  
Arab Americans ◽  
Arab American ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

As we approach the third decade of the twenty-first century, the United States continues to wrestle with defining its role in Middle East conflicts and fully accepting and fairly treating Arab and Muslim Americans. In this contentious and often ill-informed climate, it is crucial to appreciate the struggles, priorities, and accomplishments of Arab Americans over the past several decades, both what has set them apart and what has integrated them into the politics and culture of the United States. Arab American organizing in the environment of minority rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s fostered a heightened consciousness of and pride in Arab American identity....

Taxonomic studies on the genus Atrichum in North America

1969 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert R. Ireland
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
The United States ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Taxonomic Study ◽  
Chromosome Counts ◽  
The Status ◽  
Taxonomic Studies

A taxonomic study was made of several North American taxa in the genus Atrichum. The primary emphasis was on the Canadian taxa and a key to the six species (A. altecristatum, A. angustatum, A. crispum, A. oerstedianum, A. selwynii, A. undulatum) and one variety (A. undulatum var. gracilisetum) of the country is presented. Atrichum oerstedianum, which has been confused with A. undulatum, is added to the moss flora of the United States and Canada. The distribution of A. crispum is clarified and a detailed study of the species revealed new morphological characters that are useful to distinguish it. A variety of A. undulatum, the var. altecristatum, is raised to the rank of a species and morphological and distributional data are given to support the status of A. selwynii as a distinct species. The first chromosome counts are reported for A. selwynii (n = 7) and A. altecristatum (n = 14). Detailed descriptions are provided for A. altecristatum, A. crispum, A. oerstedianum, and A. selwynii.

2. American exceptionalism

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Deudney ◽  
Jeffrey Meiser
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
American Identity ◽  
American Military ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Identity Formations

This chapter examines how America can be described as different and exceptional. The belief in American exceptionalism is based upon a number of core realities, including American military primacy, economic dynamism, and political diversity. Understanding understanding American exceptionalism is essential for understanding not only U.S. foreign policy but also major aspects of contemporary world politics. The chapter first considers the meaning of exceptionalism, the critics of American exceptionalism, and the roots of American success. It then discusses the liberalism that makes the United States exceptional, along with peculiar American identity formations of ethnicity, religion, and ‘race’. It also explores the role of American exceptionality across the five major epochs of American foreign policy, from the nation’s founding to the present. It concludes by reflecting on the significance of the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008 to the story of American exceptionalism, difference, and peculiar Americanism.

Varying Understandings of Democracy in the Contemporary World

2021 ◽  
pp. 47-72
Author(s):  
Jie Lu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Critical Attitude ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Psychometric Models

This chapter presents systematic descriptive evidence on the status of popular conceptions of democracy in today’s world, using GBS II data from seventy-one societies. To make the descriptive analysis more informative, we have included comparable information from the United States and relied on different psychometric models to uncover people’s latent characteristics that shape their responses to the PUD instruments. We have consistently found that the PUD instruments are sufficiently sensitive to the socioeconomic and political environment, thus revealing significant and substantial variation in popular conceptions of democracies across regions, between societies, and among individuals. To ensure that the variation documented in the PUD instruments is not something transient or idiosyncratic, we further explore the longitudinal dynamics of this critical attitude using the ABS two-wave rolling-cross-sectional surveys from thirteen East Asian societies.

scholarly journals ASIAN INDIAN MUSLIM NEGOTIATING FOR IDENTITY IN THE POST ‘SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH’ AS DEPICTED IN THE FILM MY NAME IS KHAN

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Fajriani Fajriani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian Indian ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Races Of Mankind ◽  
The Impact

This article is an attempt to examine the problem of Muslim identity and how they negotiate their identity as Muslim whereas they have to face anti Muslim racism by Americans. The film has the theme of racism in the context of Muslim racial profiling. Therefore to accomplish the objectives, it applies Kant’s theory called as “races of mankind” that is, people are distinguishable according to their inherited physical attributes. This term illustrated the racialized of religion in the context of physical attributes related to labeling of Muslim racial profiling and stereotypes as terrorist. Since “September Eleventh”, Muslim is suspected as terrorist and has to be responsible for the tragedy. The interesting fact found in the analysisof the Asian Indian Muslim identity in the United States America post “September Eleventh” as depicted in the film is that, the Muslim Americans community was particularly impacted by the attacks and has had to face the growing Islamophobia including discrimination and prejudice, racial hatred, as well as violence. Rising Islamophobia and the negative reaction of American society to “September Eleventh” have led to changing definitions of the good multicultural society in the United States of America. Therefore, to decrease the impact of Islamophobia, Asian Indian Muslim Americans undergo the process of negotiation for their identity as Muslim through the way such as assertiveness in faith, showing the truth of Islam and participate in social activity. Accordingly, Americans Muslim can reduce the suspicionsof their identity until Americans do not assume them as threat even less as enemy but rather as human being that have right to be appreciated because of their humanity and not because of their identity as Muslim.Key words: Negotiation, Asian Indian Muslim identity, September Eleventh, Muslim racial profiling.

The Creation of a Norwegian-American Identity in the usa

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-511
Author(s):  
Terje Mikael Hasle Joranger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Ethnic Identity Formation ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Separate Identity

Ethnic identity formation is the result of a process wherein the migrant combines both pre-existing values and attitudes and present experiences of the same group and its relations with other groups. This article discusses identity formation among Norwegian immigrants in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In other words, how did Norwegian immigrants arriving from a homogeneous society develop a separate identity in the multicultural society of the United States, and to what factors can we attribute this development? In a cultural process of change called ‘ethnicisation’, immigrants were transformed from the status of ‘foreigners’ to become ‘ethnics’, that is ‘Norwegian-Americans’. Identity is thus connected to the term ‘ethnicity’, and I will first present different perspectives on the term ethnicity, followed by a short summary of Norwegian migration patterns to the United States up until the early twentieth century. I will end the article by discussing components that explain the existence of a Norwegian-American identity.

scholarly journals Tracking the decline of weasels in North America

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254387
Author(s):  
David Jachowski ◽  
Roland Kays ◽  
Andrew Butler ◽  
Anne M. Hoylman ◽  
Matthew E. Gompper
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Species Of Conservation Concern ◽  
Mustela Nivalis ◽  
Trail Camera ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conservation Concern ◽  
And Shifts

Small carnivores are of increasing conservation concern globally, including those formerly thought to be widespread and abundant. Three weasel species (Mustela nivalis, M. frenata, and M. erminea) are distributed across most of North America, yet several recent studies have reported difficulty detecting weasels within their historical range and several states have revised the status of weasels to that of species of conservation concern. To investigate the status and trends of weasels across the United States (US) and Canada, we analyzed four separate datasets: historical harvests, museum collections, citizen scientist observations (iNaturalist), and a recent US-wide trail camera survey. We observed 87–94% declines in weasel harvest across North America over the past 60 years. Declining trapper numbers and shifts in trapping practices likely partially explain the decline in harvest. Nonetheless, after accounting for trapper effort and pelt price, we still detected a significant decline in weasel harvest for 15 of 22 evaluated states and provinces. Comparisons of recent and historical museum and observational records suggest relatively consistent distributions for M. erminea, but a current range gap of >1000 km between two distinct populations of M. nivalis. We observed a dramatic drop-off in M. frenata records since 2000 in portions of its central, Great Lakes, and southern distribution, despite extensive sampling effort. In 2019, systematic trail camera surveys at 1509 sites in 50 US states detected weasels at 14 sites, all of which were above 40o latitude. While none of these datasets are individually conclusive, they collectively support the hypothesis that weasel populations have declined in North America and highlight the need for improved methods for detecting and monitoring weasels. By identifying population declines for small carnivores that were formerly abundant across North America, our findings echo recent calls to expand investigations into the conservation need of small carnivores globally.

Khoja Isma’ilis in Canada and the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karim H. Karim
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
East African ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Institutional Infrastructure ◽  
Development Network

Khojas constitute the predominant group in the Shi’a Nizari Isma’ili movement of Islam, globally and in North America. They are of South Asian ethnicities and belong to the 700-year old Satpanth tradition. Other groups attached to the movement are indigenous to Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and China. Khojas have led them in the formation of a diaspora spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Australasia. This transnational religious collectivity holds Aga Khan IV, who ascended to leadership in 1957, to be its Imam in lineal descent from ‘Ali ibn ‘Abi Talib and Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter. He has established a “Seat of the Imamat” (also designated a “Diwan”) in Lisbon, Portugal, and he resides in France, from where he provides religious and worldly guidance to followers around the world. The Imam appoints the leaders of the system of councils that govern the jamats (communities) in various countries. His non-denominational Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), which operates social, economic, and cultural programs, has become one of the world’s largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Elite Khoja families, particularly those of East African provenance, tend to dominate the leadership of the Imam’s institutions. They also have hegemony in the Canadian and American self-governance structures. As a group, Khojas are the wealthiest and most educated in the movement, offering substantial funding as well as professional and voluntary services to the Aga Khan’s institutional infrastructure. Their North American ranks provide a steady stream of monetary, physical, and intellectual resources for the Imam’s transnational programs. However, a paradox lies at the heart of the movement. The Satpanth tradition and Khoja cultural identity has been in the process of marginalization since the early 20th century. A steady effort has sought to eliminate what are perceived to be “Hindu” aspects of the Khojas’ religious and cultural heritage. The movement’s research, educational and cultural bodies give minimal attention to Satpanth. An essentialized Isma’ili Muslim identity is favored over what was, since the movement’s earliest days, a pluralist pursuit of universal truth.

Multicultural Assessment of Personality and Psychopathology in the United States: Still Art, Not Yet Science, and Controversial

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Dana
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Therapeutic Assessment ◽  
Culturally Competent ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
The Status ◽  
Training Research ◽  
Multicultural Assessment ◽  
Personality Description

This paper describes the status of multicultural assessment training, research, and practice in the United States. Racism, politicization of issues, and demands for equity in assessment of psychopathology and personality description have created a climate of controversy. Some sources of bias provide an introduction to major assessment issues including service delivery, moderator variables, modifications of standard tests, development of culture-specific tests, personality theory and cultural/racial identity description, cultural formulations for psychiatric diagnosis, and use of findings, particularly in therapeutic assessment. An assessment-intervention model summarizes this paper and suggests dimensions that compel practitioners to ask questions meriting research attention and providing avenues for developments of culturally competent practice.

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