A Politicized Minority

Author(s):  
Jonathan Laurence

This chapter addresses the growth of Political Islam and transnational religious NGOs in Western Europe. While the European receiving states were granting a de facto monopoly of religious representation to the diplomatic envoys of immigrants' sending states, competing networks of well-organized activists with a more conservative, politicized view of Islam also flourished on the margins of religious community life. Political-Islam federations also provided prayer spaces, imams, lecturers, and social activities and established what may best be described as an Islamist subculture. Although such organizations may represent a relatively small membership base in terms of the local Muslim population, they often control a sizable proportion of the registered Muslim religious associations and prayer spaces where mosque-going Muslims congregate to socialize and pray.

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
F.A. KRYZHANOVSKY ◽  

The article examines the main publications covering the centuries-old history of the Catholic Church in the lands of modern Bashkortostan, as well as partly affecting the interaction of local Catholic communities with coreligionists from other cities located in the South Urals, as well as in the Middle Volga region. Unfortunately, there are quite a few special studies on the history of this Christian denomination in our republic. Many works, in one way or another related to this issue, are of a general nature and contain a schematic listing of factual information, or are more devoted to the history of national communities, for which this religion is, to a certain extent, one of the most important elements of traditional ethnic culture. Here it is necessary to note, first of all, publications on the history of the Polish and German diaspora, which provide information about the participation of representatives of these communities in the creation of Catholic parishes and public associations associated with charity and education. At the same time, the significance of the confessional aspect is to a much lesser extent revealed in works on the history of Latvian immigrants from Latgale, Belarusians and Ukrainians from Volyn and Eastern Galicia, who, due to various circumstances, left their homes during the First World War, as well as other Catholic emigrants from Central and Western Europe, located in the Ufa province at the beginning of the XX century. In some articles on demography and striking features of social stratification, one can find indirect references to the presence of Catholics, but this information only It is noteworthy that most publications indicate the middle of the 17th century as the earliest dating of the appearance of believing Catholics in the South Urals, and evidence of missionary trips to the Eastern Hungarians during the 13th-15th centuries allows us to make hypothetical assumptions about their role in the life of the local religious community. It can be noted that the presence of a certain part of Catholics on the territory of Bashkiria during the 16th20th centuries. was associated with forced migration due to the fact that, as a result of military clashes, some of them were captured, as well as due to participation in activities that conflicted with the interests of the Russian leadership are considered, with a few exceptions, only in the context of the problem of the origin of the Bashkir people, most likely due to the modest results of the preaching.


Author(s):  
Delgir Yu. Topalova ◽  

The paper examines Mana Zänge (Kalm. Мана зäнгe, 1946–1947) journal and analyzes publishing activities of émigré Kalmyks. Goals. The work provides a general analysis of Kalmyk émigré publishing efforts in the late 1940s. Materials and Methods. The study focuses on journal articles and literary compositions published by Mana Zänge, describes the latter in detail, analyzes materials available, and draws conclusions. Special attention is paid to minor Kalmyk-language texts, which was due to that the periodical was primarily engaged in political journalism and related latest European news and events. In this context, news reviews of Russian arts and literary works by Russian Cossack writers would hold a special place in the journal’s narrative. Conclusions. Mana Zänge proved efficient enough in supporting social activities of émigré Kalmyks in Western Europe, developing democratic ideas and ethnic social thought. Moreover, the publication served as a meeting point for the whole of Kalmyk expatriate community vastly scattered across different European countries. So, émigré Kalmyks stayed aware of all political and cultural events that were taking place not only in Europe but also in Kalmykia and Russia at large. Though it must be said superficially invisible ties to Motherland and indirect participation in all meaningful events had been part of their lives virtually since the earliest days abroad.


Author(s):  
John R. Bowen

This chapter traces the physical movement of Muslims to Britain. Muslims came to Britain mainly—though not only—from South Asia, and they settled in certain cities and neighborhoods. Although Muslims living in Britain today trace their origins to many parts of the world, the majority have roots in former British India, and mainly in today's Pakistan and Bangladesh. Furthermore, within those two countries, a small number of districts have contributed in strikingly disproportionate numbers to the Muslim population of Britain. The concentrations began with historical accident but, once in place, reproduced themselves through practices of “chain migration,” whereby one generation of immigrants pulled another after it. The results are concentrations of closely related people in certain British neighborhoods. Many of these new residents of Britain have sought to maintain their ties to the homeland through marriage and through forms of economic cooperation. These practices reinforce ties of shared ethnic and religious community within certain British neighborhoods.


1992 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 225-237
Author(s):  
Judy Ann Ford

Historians have long been aware that patronage is a crucial factor in interpreting the social meaning of art. The late Middle Ages knew a variety of patrons, each employing art to communicate different sorts of concern: royal and aristocratic courts emphasized political messages, urban communes created governmental myths, cathedrals and monasteries gave expression to spiritual ideas—and all used art to convey notions of social identity. Recent investigations into the process of choosing and procuring works of art in these contexts have not only added perspective to formal art criticism, they have also deepened our understanding of the groups interested in the creation of art. One area in which questions of patronage could perhaps be better illuminated is the community of the parish. The parish served as the primary religious community for the majority of men and women for most of the Middle Ages. It was complex in composition, involving both laity and clergy, encompassing other religious associations, such as gilds, and including the devout and the indifferent, the orthodox and the dissenters.


2001 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-185
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Czwartosz

A year ago Dr. Jacek Kurczewski asked me to take part in a symposium which he organized with the Polish Sociological Association, on the sociology of everyday life. The subject of my session was to be the sociology of the queue. As a psychologist I could, of course, interpret the phenomenon of the queue in terms of the interdependence of individual interests and social justice. Theses of social psychology, based on empirical grounds, provided some explanations of the mechanisms of behaviour in a queue. These explanations, however, led to trivial conclusions, though expressed in scientific terms. Therefore I decided to choose phenomenological analysis to deal with queue behaviour. This paper is a widened and more analytical version of my speech at the PSA seminar (I). I was inspired by three events from my personal experience:1. In Western Europe (especially in Belgium) I frequently encountered the following phenomenon. In a shop someone would come up to the counter and ask for some article, paying no attention to the fact that there were also others who were waiting to be served. To me that fact was an open violation of the rules of community life. My emotion urged me to intervene. I was held back however by the fact that the others in the shop seemed not to notice anything wrong. This would suggest that my notion of customers' rights and duties differed from that of Belgians or Dutchmen.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
A. D. Savateev ◽  
T. R. Khayrullin

The article is devoted to the analysis of non-violent elements in the anti-terrorist approach of Saudi Arabiaat the present stage. The article consists of three thematic parts. First of all, the authors considered several main factors, leading to the radicalization of the partisans of political Islam. Second, they pointed out some preventive measures that could prevent the dissemination of radical ideas among the Muslim population. The final stage was the consideration of the direct deradicalization program used by Saudi Arabiaagainst those accused of religious terrorism and extremism. The analysis, which had been made, showed that the program of deradicalization used in Saudi Arabiahad demonstrated quite impressive results. Apparently, Saudi Arabia is seriously trying to play a leading role in the middle East, strengthening its position not only through military operations against Islamist radicalism, but also paying great attention to the reasons for the growth of radical convictions among the Islamist groups in the region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sabarudin MSi

Diversity is the reality of Indonesian life, whether ethnically, linguistically, culturally, or religiously. In that context, examining the diversity of Balinese society is certainly very interesting considering it is not just a "reality", but also a necessity and a need. Thus, the pockets of community diversity become an important benchmark because it is like a seeding ground for pluralism and the articulative medium of community experimentation in addressing differences. This is where the attractive village of Loloan Jembrana as a village that is predominantly Muslim in the midst of strong Hindu influence. This village can be a picture of a plural-culturally religious community life. The village has a historical uniqueness and local wisdom that has managed to glue the knot of interfaith togetherness. Key words: Local wisdom, Balinese exoticism, Loloan village, the knot of togetherness


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Hannah Helseth

For almost two decades, the public debate about Islam in Western Europe has been dominated by concerns about the lack of gender equality in the racialized Muslim population. There has been a tendency to victimize “the Muslim woman” rather than to encourage Muslim women’s participation in the public debate about their lives. This contribution to the study of discourses on Muslim women is an analysis of arguments written by Muslims about women’s rights. The data consists of 239 texts written by self-defined Muslims in major Norwegian newspapers about women’s rights. I will discuss two findings from the study. The first is an appeal to be personal when discussing issues of domestic violence and racism is combined with an implicit and explicit demand to represent all Muslims in order to get published in newspapers—which creates an ethno-religious threshold for participation in the public debate. The second finding is that, across different positions and different religious affiliations, from conservative to nearly secular, and across the timeline, from 2000 to 2012, there is a dominant understanding of women’s rights as individual autonomy. These findings will be discussed from different theoretical perspectives to explore how arguments for individual autonomy can both challenge and amplify neoliberal agendas.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
A. E. Nadezhdin

This article deals with the process of Islamisation in Western Europe, particularly in Germany taking into account the current domestic situation and the changes it has undergone. Muslim population growth and the fight for their rights, reconstruction of their native country elements (building mosques, wearing religious attire, conducting religious worship) or the voluntary refusal to adapt to the recipient society contribute greatly to segregation and growth of tensions between the local “majority” and the “minority” of newcomers. It has been noted that if state institutions don’t have the capacity to resolve the problems linked to Islamisation (enclavisation, ghettoisation, criminalization etc.), the recipient society starts to generate its own ways of tackling these issues. Such situations lead to internal conflicts between the authorities and the public and reshape the existing political landscape. Within the context of these circumstances, such groups as “PEGIDA” and the electoral success of the “Alternative for Germany” party are of particular interest. The article also provides a characteristic of the main Germany-based Muslim social organizations underscoring the radical and extremist ones whose members could potentially be involved in terrorist activities. Special attention is paid to The migrant crisis of 2015-2016, that has exposed the existing drawbacks of the German integration, socialization and adaptation policy targeted at migrants with Muslim background. The crisis and the subsequent criminal offences have highlighted the need to revise the existing national security strategy in view of the new threats and challenges as well as to harmonize the basics of intercultural and interreligious dialogue within the society of “guiding German culture”.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2459-2466
Author(s):  
Rejhan Mandak

The position and organization of the Islamic religious community of Muslims in the newly formed Kingdom of SCS in different parts of the country were set differently. The Islamic religion in the Kingdom of Serbia during the second half of the 19th century, up to the World War I, had the status of a recognized religion, but not equal to the Orthodox one. Up to the First Balkan War, Islam had the same status in Macedonia. After the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), the Ottoman rule ceased in Macedonia, Kosovo and Sandjak. The new territories were added to the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro. In these areas, the Muslim population was significant in numbers, so the question of their religious and civil-legal status was raised. These questions were also entered into the content of the Peace Treaty, signed between the Kingdom of Serbia and the Ottoman State on 14th March, 1914, in Istanbul. The Constantinople Agreement envisioned establishment of an entire religious organization of Muslims in the Kingdom of Serbia. The head of Muslims for the Kingdom of Serbia was the Supreme Mufti seated in Nis, and later in Belgrade, and in each Muslim-populated district there would be a mufti, which had local religious, administrative, educational and judicial power over the Muslim population. One of the characteristic of the Muslims in Vardar Macedonia, as well as in Kosovo and Sandjak, is that the religious and sharia-judicial functions were merged in one person – the mufti. With the Decree on the organization of courts and court proceedings in the incorporated areas in old Serbia, (referring to Macedonia, Kosovo and Sandjak) from 7th June, 1914, the jurisdiction of the mufti also included marital disputes of Muslims, disputes over support, guardianship and its obligations, as well as the emancipation of young people.


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