scholarly journals Contemporary Influences on the Role of Imams in Britain: A Critical Analysis of Leadership and Professionalisation for the Imamate in 21st Century Britain

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 771
Author(s):  
Christine Victoria Hough ◽  
Edward Abbott-Halpin ◽  
Tariq Mahmood ◽  
Jessica Giles

This article is based on the findings from a research project, referred to hereafter as #ImamsBritain, commenced with a series of discussions with Imams in the north of England.. The role of the Imam has undergone far-reaching changes over the last thirty years chiefly due to the changing socio-economic and political climate, which in turn has directly affected the needs of Muslim communities. Consequently, Imams are now seen as professionals who need a wider range of pastoral care skills that go beyond those of their traditional role, which was mainly focused on religious teaching and spiritual guidance, The second stage of the data analysis for the research involved the exploratory Group Delphi technique, in which the Imam respondents underwent the processes of two critical reflections on the data collected. The resultant findings reflect their individual perceptions of the kind of training and development they need. This provides a unique framework for constructing a professional guide for Imams in Great Britain. The discussions and critical analyses in this paper draw on the discourses of professionalisation and pastoral care and relevant reports and reviews on Imam training in Europe and Canada.

2021 ◽  
pp. 223-249
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson

This chapter offers an overview of the field of Global Political Economy (GPE)—also known as International Political Economy (IPE). It builds on themes introduced in previous chapters, including connections with theories of global politics. These are discussed from a historical perspective to enable a better appreciation of how ideas, practices, and institutions develop and interact over time. These theories arose substantially within a European context, although the extent to which these may be applied uncritically to issues of political economy in all parts of the globe must be questioned. Significant issues for GPE include trade, labour, the interaction of states and markets, the nexus between wealth and power, and the problems of development and underdevelopment in the global economy, taking particular account of the North–South gap. The chapter then discusses the twin phenomena of globalization and regionalization and the way in which these are shaping the global economy and challenging the traditional role of the state. An underlying theme of the chapter is the link between economic and political power.


Author(s):  
R.S. Kandor ◽  
◽  

The article examines the historical experience of regulation of the issues of spiritual authorities of Muslim communities in 1880s by the authorities of the Kuban region, as well as appointment of aul mullahs, increasing the role of qadis in mountain verbal courts. The issue of spiritual governance of Muslim communities is important for understanding the process of Russian civil governance formation in the North Caucasus, which was associated with overcoming both the biased attitude of officials towards the Caucasian peoples and fears, for example, of the Adyghs (Circassians) of losing their ethnic identity and connection with the Muslim the world. Such a negative state of the Circassian population of the Kuban region manifested itself in their permanent desire to move to Turkey for permanent residence. And in the context of examining the Russian-Caucasian relations, it is relevant to study such a positive experience in regulating the issues of spiritual governance of the Muslim communities of the North Caucasus. In the article the author followed scientific principles in conducting the research and used a wide range of references on the history of the Adyghs (Circassians), which also included a large amount of archival material, suggesting a comprehensive coverage of historical facts on the issue. The author's adherence to the principle of historicism made it possible to examine the activities of the civil authorities of the Kuban region in dynamics from actual events in specific historical conditions to reasoning about their causes and consequences. The author concludes that the Russian authorities raised the issue of improving the organization of the activities of the Muslim clergy, while trying not to create an overloaded bureaucratic apparatus. The Muslim clergy in the districts of the Kuban region that needed control spiritual power, obtained it in the person of qadi of the district Gorsky verbal courts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-214
Author(s):  
Philip Lewis

AbstractThe new Muslim presence in the West has become the source of multiple anxieties. This article, by focusing on one city in the north of England with a Muslim presence which has grown from 3000 to 130,000 in 50 years, considers the resources which state and the established church bring to incorporate such communities in the mainstream of society. The Muslim communities are not presented as passive victims of prejudice and exclusion but as possessed of agency. This paper concludes that there are expressions of Islam which are easy to incorporate but others which generate an isolationist mindset which can create major problems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrienne Ou

Bataclan. San Bernadino. One need not read any further to understand how radicalization is crucial to counterterrorism and national security. Some states have implemented counter-radicalization strategies to cull terrorism at its root. These tactics fall within two broad groups: the North American method, which emphasizes behavioral radicalization, and the European method, which stresses cognitive radicalization. This paper compares the two methods by examining counter-radicalization strategies in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Case studies explain the social ramifications and the effectiveness of the US’ Countering Violent Extremism policy and the UK’s Prevent strategy, and the roles they play in abolishing or inadvertently incentivizing social divisions that lead to radicalization and terrorism. While the US strategy emphasizes the role of law enforcement, the UK strategy focuses on the role of community in preventing terrorism, including those of universities and healthcare providers. This difference is crucial in how Muslim communities view their place in the broader context of society, which makes up a fundamental precept of political alienation. Consequentially, this paper brings radicalization studies out of the ivory tower and into its broader sociopolitical context and effects.


Author(s):  
James N. Lapsley

The author sets forth the argument that pastoral caregivers ought to consider expanding their traditional role of ministering to dementia patients by pressing the issue of whether appropriate medication might significantly lessen the suffering of these persons. After discussing and documenting the current understanding regarding the nature of pain, the author outlines several advocacy, ethical, and procedural issues that could be included in providing pastoral care to this population, at the same time not minimizing more traditional faith-based activities.


Sains Insani ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84
Author(s):  
Azarudin Awang ◽  
Azman Che Mat ◽  
Sophian Ramli

Bagi sesebuah negara yang mempunyai etnik pelbagai anutan kepercayaan dan perbezaan amalan budaya, dialog antara agama berperanan membetulkan semula kekaburan dalam kehidupan beragama dan berbudaya. Melalui peranan Saudara Baru, dialog antara agama mampu menjadi medan bagi menjelaskan kebenaran tentang agama Islam kepada masyarakat bukan Muslim dan pelaksanaan amalan budaya asal kepada Muslim asal. Objektif kajian ini ialah melihat pengalaman pelaksanaan dialog antara agama di Terengganu dan relevansi dalam kehidupan beragama di negara Brunei. Metode kajian ini menggunakan kajian dokumen yang menyentuh komuniti Cina Muslim di Terengganu dan Brunei. Pengalaman pelaksanaan dialog antara agama di Terengganu dan negara Brunei memperlihatkan dialog antara agama mampu membetulkan salah faham dan selanjutnya mengendurkan ketegangan hubungan antara agama dan budaya antara komuniti Saudara Baru, ahli keluarga bukan Muslim dan masyarakat Muslim asal. Biarpun begitu, adalah dicadangkan agar kajian yang menyentuh dialog antara agama perlu diperkukuhkan sebagai medium membina semula peradaban memandangkan penduduk di kedua-dua lokasi ini terdiri daripada berbilang etnik dan agama sedangkan pada masa yang sama masalah yang menyentuh hubungan antara agama sentiasa timbul. Abstract: For a country with diverse ethics of beliefs and cultural practices, interfaith dialogue plays a role to redefine ambiguity in religious and cultural life. Through the role of the New Muslim (Muslim Convert), interfaith dialogue can become a medium to explain the truth about Islam to the non-Muslims and the implementation of real cultural practices to the others Muslim. The objective of this study is to examine the experience of interfaith dialogue in Terengganu and in Brunei. The method of this study is being conducted in document research that related with the Muslim Chinese community in Terengganu and Brunei. In addition, interviews with people involved in the management of New Muslims also carried out. The experience of interfaith dialogue in Terengganu and Brunei shows that dialogue capable explains misunderstandings and further loosening the tension between religion and culture among New Muslims, non-Muslim family members and Muslim communities. However, it is recommended that studies on interfaith dialogue should be strengthened as a medium for rebuilding civilization as the residents of both locations are multi-ethnic and religious while at the same time the problem of interreligious persists.


2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW BAINES

In reading archaeological texts, we expect to be engaged in a characteristically archaeological discourse, with a specific and recognisable structure and vocabulary. In evaluating the published work of 19th Century antiquarians, we will inevitably look for points of contact between their academic language and our own; success or failure in the identification of such points of contact may prompt us to recognise a nascent archaeology in some writings, while dismissing others as naïve or absurd. With this point in mind, this paper discusses the written and material legacies of three 19th Century antiquarians in the north of Scotland who worked on a particular monument type, the broch. The paper explores the degree to which each has been admitted as an influence on the development of the broch as a type. It then proceeds to compare this established typology with the author's experiences, in the field, of the sites it describes. In doing so, the paper addresses wider issues concerning the role of earlier forms of archaeological discourse in the development of present day archaeological classifications of, and of the problems of reconciling such classifications with our experiences of material culture.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 181-192
Author(s):  
Anna A. Komzolova

One of the results of the educational reform of the 1860s was the formation of the regular personnel of village teachers. In Vilna educational district the goal was not to invite teachers from central Russia, but to train them on the spot by establishing special seminaries. Trained teachers were supposed to perform the role of «cultural brokers» – the intermediaries between local peasants and the outside world, between the culture of Russian intelligentsia and the culture of the Belarusian people. The article examines how officials and teachers of Vilna educational district saw the role of rural teachers as «cultural brokers» in the context of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the North-Western Provinces. According to them, the graduates of the pedagogical seminaries had to remain within the peasant estate and to keep in touch with their folk «roots». The special «mission» of the village teachers was in promoting the ideas of «Russian elements» and historical proximity to Russia among Belarusian peasants.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Landman

A majority of the black community of Dullstroom-Emnotweni in the Mpumalanga highveld in the east of South Africa trace their descent back to the southern Ndebele of the so-called ‘Mapoch Gronden’, who lost their land in the 1880s to become farm workers on their own land. A hundred years later, in 1980, descendants of the ‘Mapoggers’ settled in the newly built ‘township’ of Dullstroom, called Sakhelwe, finding jobs on the railways or as domestic workers. Oral interviews with the inhabitants of Sakhelwe – a name eventually abandoned in favour of Dullstroom- Emnotweni – testify to histories of transition from landowner to farmworker to unskilled labourer. The stories also highlight cultural conflicts between people of Ndebele, Pedi and Swazi descent and the influence of decades of subordination on local identities. Research projects conducted in this and the wider area of the eMakhazeni Local Municipality reveal the struggle to maintain religious, gender and youth identities in the face of competing political interests. Service delivery, higher education, space for women and the role of faith-based organisations in particular seem to be sites of contestation. Churches and their role in development and transformation, where they compete with political parties and state institutions, are the special focus of this study. They attempt to remain free from party politics, but are nevertheless co-opted into contra-culturing the lack of service delivery, poor standards of higher education and inadequate space for women, which are outside their traditional role of sustaining an oppressed community.


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