The Role of Religion in Young Muslims’ and Christians’ Self-presentation on Social Media

This article examines how young Muslims and Christians with ethnic minority backgrounds in Oslo reflect on their use of social media as a way to present themselves and their religiosity. The study draws upon Arlie Hochschild’s concepts of feeling rules and emotional labour and Erving Goffman’s typology of frontstage and backstage behaviour to analyse how young Muslims and Christian informants present themselves on social media. For minority groups, these strategies can be used to negotiate religion and create a different image. This study shows that both Christian and Muslim youth with minority backgrounds use different strategies to present their religiosity. Even though all the informants want to portray themselves as religious, they carefully consider what type of religious content they share to avoid social exclusion, conflict and religious discussions.

Da'wa in Social Media: The Views of Ustad Hanan Attaki and Felix Siauw to The Hijrah Phenomenon

This article examines the views of Ustad Hanan Attaki (UHA) and Ustad Felix Siauw, who use social media as a medium of preaching. The utilization of the internet as a new way of preaching Islam has helped shape contemporary forms of religious thinking and behavior for Muslim youth in Indonesia. One of them is marked by the emergence of the trend of hijrah in their community. This study aimed to explain the Islamic views of UHA and Siauw, which have implications for the emergence and development of the hijrah trend. This research focuses on extracting data through observations on a number of predetermined social media accounts, field participation and interviews, and puts forward literature studies on the fragmentation of religious authority as a result of the emergence of a number of popular ustadz who use social media as a new space for preaching. Regarding the fragmentation of religious authority, this article is based on the thesis of Eickelman and Anderson, which states that the current religious authorities are those who have succeeded in transmitting religious texts and preaching them through new media. In more detail, this study discusses two important issues, namely the trend of Islamic da'wa on social media and, in particular, the implications of the Islamic views of UHA and Siauw for the emergence of the trend of hijrah Muslim youth. This article concludes that according to UHA, hijrah is a message of Islamic da'wa that not only tells about individual repentance but also as a current trend that young Muslims must follow. Meanwhile, Siauw interprets it as an effort to awaken the spirit of Muslims to achieve the establishment of the Islamic Khilafah.

عالمية الدعوة القرآنية للسلام وسبل تقريبها: قراءة في التفسير المنهاجي للإمام عبد السلام ياسين

The problem statement of this research is about Imam Yassine’s thought in his reading of Islamic past and present and Western intellectual trends, and about his long experience in the field of Da’wah, as Imam Yassine urged Muslims to be capable of handling the mission of the holy Quran. It becomes more complicated with Al-Tafsir al-Minhaji as an approach to interpret the holy Quran and ease it for Muslim youth understanding in Imam Yassine’s books about thought, education, Da’wah, mysticism and civilization. This research aims to explain how Al-Tafsir al-Minhaji concerns about the method of practicing Quranic interpretation in Da’wah for Muslim Ummah renaissance. The research also aims to highlight that achieving global peace is one of main Quranic objective that Muslim thinkers are paying a great attention to its role in dialogue between variant sectarianists and theologians. Researchers followed the descriptive and inductive methods to explore Yassine’s views about peace, civilization and argumentation. Some findings of this research: Imam Yassine confirms the necessity of coincidence between the Quranic objectives and political objectives; and calls for dialogue based on Quranic objectives and its component of wisdom and dynamic argumentation, which leads to peace. To understand the fluctuation of history in the light of Quranic exegesis, Imam Yassine scrutinized the Quranic objectives of peaceful coexistence and cultural exchange.

URBAN MUSLIM YOUTH, PENGAJIAN COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA: FRAGMENTATION OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES IN INDONESIA

<p>Departing from the previous thesis which states that the development of communication technology encourages changes in religious practices among Muslim communities in general, this paper seeks to discuss the fragmentation of religious authority among Muslim youth in Indonesia. Through field research with data collection based on interviews, observation and documentation. This research shows that the fragmentation of religious authority among Muslim youth is motivated by the proliferation of pengajian in cities in Indonesia and the use of social media to da’wah messages disseminate.</p>

Pathways to Positive Development for Muslim Immigration Youth in Western Contexts

<p>Muslim youth growing up in Western contexts face a complex set of issues as a result of meeting the various, and often incongruent, expectations placed upon them by their family, religion, ethnic community and host national society. This group of young people is often thought to face high risks of maladaptation, as they potentially experience the negative effects of acculturation more so than host nationals or other immigrant youth. Recent research, however, has suggested that many Muslim migrant young people are successfully negotiating their experiences of cultural transition in Western societies. Therefore, the major aim of this thesis was to obtain systematic data on young Muslim migrant’s “pathways to positive development”, or how these young people achieve successful adaptation in the face of adversity. To examine the complexities of Muslim migrant youth acculturation fully, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of their lived experiences within and across contexts. In order to achieve this, four studies were conducted utilising mixed methodologies and drawing on a range of psychological and sociological theories, predominantly focusing on acculturation, development and religiosity. Study 1 qualitatively investigated the indicators and determinants of participation and success for Muslim youth in the New Zealand environment. The results of this study enabled a framework to be developed that illustrates the most salient ecological resources youth access (family, religion and the intercultural environment), the risks they face (discrimination and cultural differences) and outcomes of the acculturation process. In study 2, this framework was refined by drawing upon theories of resilience, and subsequently was tested quantitatively with a sample of Muslim youth in New Zealand. Results from this study indicate that while Muslim youth in New Zealand may be at risk of maladaptative outcomes because of their exposure to discrimination and cultural transition, ecological resources may counteract some of the negative effects of these stressors. Study 3 sought to test whether the results found in study 2 were generalisable to Muslim youth in other contexts by carrying out a comparative analysis of youth outcomes in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These societies were chosen to be compared because they share a similar historic culture but have taken very different routes to social cohesion and the inclusion of minorities. The major aim of this study was to investigate whether the country of settlement has an impact on the adaptation of Muslim migrant youth. The results demonstrate that the cultural environment of migration plays an important contributing factor to both the experience of stress and the achievement of positive adaptation above and beyond the effects of resources. Finally, study 4 utilised techniques of multilevel modelling to examine the acculturation experiences of Muslim youth cross-culturally. Drawing on the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY) data, Muslim migrant youth from 9 Western receiving nations were examined. Results indicate that the ideological context (cultural values and host national attitudes towards immigrants) has important effects on individual levels of adaptation and the experience of perceived discrimination. The findings of this thesis contribute novel perspectives to acculturation and development research as well as cross-cultural psychology more generally. Using multiple methods in the study of psychological phenomena enables a move beyond traditional descriptions of acculturation processes as situated predominantly within one cultural setting and advances our understanding of how Muslim youth fare in a global context.</p>

Pathways to Positive Development for Muslim Immigration Youth in Western Contexts

<p>Muslim youth growing up in Western contexts face a complex set of issues as a result of meeting the various, and often incongruent, expectations placed upon them by their family, religion, ethnic community and host national society. This group of young people is often thought to face high risks of maladaptation, as they potentially experience the negative effects of acculturation more so than host nationals or other immigrant youth. Recent research, however, has suggested that many Muslim migrant young people are successfully negotiating their experiences of cultural transition in Western societies. Therefore, the major aim of this thesis was to obtain systematic data on young Muslim migrant’s “pathways to positive development”, or how these young people achieve successful adaptation in the face of adversity. To examine the complexities of Muslim migrant youth acculturation fully, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of their lived experiences within and across contexts. In order to achieve this, four studies were conducted utilising mixed methodologies and drawing on a range of psychological and sociological theories, predominantly focusing on acculturation, development and religiosity. Study 1 qualitatively investigated the indicators and determinants of participation and success for Muslim youth in the New Zealand environment. The results of this study enabled a framework to be developed that illustrates the most salient ecological resources youth access (family, religion and the intercultural environment), the risks they face (discrimination and cultural differences) and outcomes of the acculturation process. In study 2, this framework was refined by drawing upon theories of resilience, and subsequently was tested quantitatively with a sample of Muslim youth in New Zealand. Results from this study indicate that while Muslim youth in New Zealand may be at risk of maladaptative outcomes because of their exposure to discrimination and cultural transition, ecological resources may counteract some of the negative effects of these stressors. Study 3 sought to test whether the results found in study 2 were generalisable to Muslim youth in other contexts by carrying out a comparative analysis of youth outcomes in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These societies were chosen to be compared because they share a similar historic culture but have taken very different routes to social cohesion and the inclusion of minorities. The major aim of this study was to investigate whether the country of settlement has an impact on the adaptation of Muslim migrant youth. The results demonstrate that the cultural environment of migration plays an important contributing factor to both the experience of stress and the achievement of positive adaptation above and beyond the effects of resources. Finally, study 4 utilised techniques of multilevel modelling to examine the acculturation experiences of Muslim youth cross-culturally. Drawing on the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY) data, Muslim migrant youth from 9 Western receiving nations were examined. Results indicate that the ideological context (cultural values and host national attitudes towards immigrants) has important effects on individual levels of adaptation and the experience of perceived discrimination. The findings of this thesis contribute novel perspectives to acculturation and development research as well as cross-cultural psychology more generally. Using multiple methods in the study of psychological phenomena enables a move beyond traditional descriptions of acculturation processes as situated predominantly within one cultural setting and advances our understanding of how Muslim youth fare in a global context.</p>

Non-Institutional Forms of Political Participation of Muslim Youth in Modern Scotland

The article examines the main forms and socio-cultural features of the participation of Muslim youth in Scotland in non-institutional politics. As their research goal, the authors chose to identify the mechanisms through which political processes specific to the Scottish context (different from the general British or, for example, the English context) generate various forms of political participation of young adherents of Islam. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was a significant layer of empirical data (mainly Scottish), comprehended through an interpretive paradigm, which allowed the authors to analyze the non-institutionalized political experience of young Muslims, finding patterns in how Muslim youth perceive and construct the social world around them. The result of the study was an understanding that the strengthening of the “Islamic factor” in the social and political life of Scotland is explained not only by the growth of the Muslim population, but also by the obvious support that the Scottish authorities provide to adherents of Islam. According to the authors, the issue of national and state independence, the specificity of Scottish nationalism, the attractiveness of the political platform of the Scottish National Party for ethno-confessional minorities became the most important primary factors that predetermined the active entry of Scottish Muslim youth into politics. The main conclusion in this article was the idea that the specific socio-political and sociocultural contexts of Scotland create appropriate forms of political participation of young Muslims. Despite the prevailing opinion that Scottish Muslim youth are interested mainly in international events, the authors show a clearly traceable institutional and non-institutional involvement of young Muslims in national and local political issues in Scotland. According to the authors, the non-institutional political participation of young Scottish followers of Islam is manifested in such forms as social movements, activism and charity, and volunteer work.