“Love Jihad”, “Forced” Conversion Narratives, and Interfaith Marriage in the Sikh Diaspora

This paper sets out to critically examine the “forced” conversion narrative circulating across the Sikh diaspora. The “forced” conversion narrative tells the story of Muslim men allegedly deceiving and tricking “vulnerable” Sikh females into Islam. The paper explores the parallels between the “forced” conversion narrative and the discourse on “love jihad” propagated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as drawing out its particularities within the Sikh community. The paper is informed by new empirical data generated by a series of qualitative interviews with Sikhs in the UK, US, and Canada, and captures the complexities and nuances of my respondents in their interpretations of, and challenges to, the “forced” conversions narrative. The paper adopts a decolonial Sikh studies theoretical framework to critically unpack the logics of the discourse. In doing so, it reveals a wider politics at play, centred upon the regulation of Sikh female bodies, fears of the preservation of community, and wider anxieties around interfaith marriage. These aspects come together to display Sikh Islamophobia, whereby the figure of the “predatory” Muslim male is represented as an existential threat to Sikh being.

From Love Jihad to Grooming Gangs: Tracing Flows of the Hypersexual Muslim Male through Far-Right Female Influencers

This article traces the transnational flows of constructions of the hypersexualized Muslim male through a comparative analysis of love jihad in India and the specter of grooming gangs in the UK. While the former is conceived as an act of seduction and conversion, and the latter through violent rape imaginaries, foregrounding both of these narratives are sexual, gender, and family dynamics that are integral to the fear of demographic change. Building upon these narratives, this study analyzes how influential women in Hindu nationalist and European/North American far-right milieus circulate images, videos, and discourses on social media that depict Muslim men as predatory and violent, targeting Hindu and white girls, respectively. By positioning themselves as the daughters, wives, and mothers of the nation, these far-right female influencers invoke a sense of reproductive urgency, as well as advance claims of the perceived threat of, and safety from, hypersexualized Muslim men. This article illustrates how local ideological narratives of Muslim sexuality are embedded into global Islamophobic tropes of gendered nationalist imaginaries.

Sound Biting Conspiracy: From India with “Love Jihad”

Since 2013, India has seen a remarkable growth of a conspiracy theory known as “love jihad”, which holds that Muslim men conspire to lure Hindu women for marriage to alter India’s religious demography as part of a political takeover strategy. While earlier scholarship on “love jihad” emphasizes the Hindu nationalist propagation of this conspiracy theory, this article pays equal attention to its appeal among conservative Hindus. Making its point of departure in the generative effects of speech, it argues that the “love jihad” neologism performs two logical operations simultaneously. Firstly, it fuses the long-standing Hindu anxiety about daughters marrying against their parents’ will, with the equally long-standing anxiety about unfavorable religious demographic trends. Secondly, it attributes a sinister political takeover intent to every Muslim man who casts his eyes on a young Hindu woman. To bring out these points, this article pays equal empirical attention to marriage and kinship practices as to the genealogy of, and forerunners to, the “love jihad” neologism, and develops the concept of “sound biting” to bring out its meaning-making effect.

Intersectional Representation Between Gender, Religion, and Nationality

Immigrants who came to Europe in recent decades (work immigrants and/or refugees) grapple with intersectional identities, such as religion, nationality and gender, yet current political research addresses these issues only in part. To address these omissions, I conducted a content analysis of all parliamentary questions Muslim representatives raised in their parliamentary activities in three Western countries. I also investigated whether the representatives' invisibility pertains only to their descriptive representation or whether it affects their substantive representation by analyzing five research hypotheses for differences in the content of the parliamentary questions. I found that male and female Muslim representatives ask parliamentary questions about Muslim men and women. In addition, I developed an Intersectional Representation Index to measure and demonstrate the complexities Muslim representatives face in Western countries. The index shows that such representatives have several identities, some of which have become invisible, as previous studies indicated.

Religious Moderation as A Solution of Interfaith Marriages in Multicultural Society

Multicultural implies the differences. If it is managed properly, the multicultural can generate the positive strength for national development. Conversely, if not managed properly, pluralism and multiculturalism can be destructive factors and lead to catastrophic disasters. Based on the plurality, in the field of marriage law, there is an element of pluralism or multicularism with the occurrence of interfaith marriages. This marriage occurred khilfaiyah (differences) of opinion among the scholars. There are some of them who allow interfaith marriages with the limitation that they only allow to marry women who are ahl al-Kitab, while other scholars strictly prohibit interfaith marriages. This research was a library research using descriptive analysis method. In this case the author sought to describe and analyze religious moderation as a solution to interfaith marriage in a multicultural society. The result of this research is that marriage between Muslim men and women of scripture is allowed if in their actions there is a benefit and does not cause damage or harm in accordance with the principle of "jalbu al-mashalih wa daf'u al-mafashid" (taking the goodness and rejecting the destructive). Meanwhile, the marriage of polytheistic Muslim men and women, that is the women from other religions other than the divine religion, is strictly prohibited. In principle, its application must be based on the values of moderation, fairness and rationality at the value of tawassuth (middle), tawazun (balanced), i'tidal (upright), and tasamuh (tolerance).

Men, Capital and Hegemony: Male-Male Axis of Mappila Muslim Masculinities

This article explores how different forms of capital act in configuring power relations among differently positioned Mappila Muslim men. As such forms of capital as education and family status are influential in these relations, I consider ulama (religious scholars) and umara (community leaders) masculinities as analytical categories. While the former opens up access to non-hegemonic men to a rather hegemonic position upon accumulating religious knowledge, the latter restricts ascendancy to men from high-status families. Nevertheless, emergence of new elite men from non-hegemonic locations in the contemporary context of their upward social mobility challenges their hegemony, urging them to embody new forms of capital valued in the changing contexts.

Exploring prostate cancer experiences among Jordanian Muslim men

<p><b>Over the last decade, prostate cancer has been the most common cancer among men around the world. This study explores the experiences of this illness among a group of Jordanian Muslim men. The study aims to identify the impacts and challenges these men face throughout their experiences with cancer. Through the exploration, the study also focuses on the effects of these impacts and challenges on the men’s bodies, lives, and their identity, particularly gender. The study used ‘biographical disruption’ and ‘liminality’ theoretical concepts of illness narrative and the works of Connell (2000, 2002, 2005) on gender as a theoretical framework. It adopted a qualitative narrative approach in order to understand this cancer experience among these men. Fifteen Jordanian Muslim men, who had been treated with radiotherapy and hormonal therapy, were recruited, and interviewed to narrate their stories with prostate cancer. Three narrative analytical approaches (thematic, holistic form, and Bamberg’s positioning model) were used and integrated with the study’s theoretical framework for analysing the men’s stories.</b></p> <p>Five main key findings resulted from the analysis as follows. First, there is a range of common and specific disruptive impacts and challenges facing these men compared with other men who have similar experiences. Second, there are differing experiences of prostate cancer among these men across the cancer trajectory and over time. Third, the family of the affected men are involved and become a part of this illness experience along with the direct involvement of the healthcare providers with the men. Fourth, there are interactions and influences between the cancer experience and the men’s masculinity. Fifth, the complexity of this experience has an influence on the men’s identity as Jordanian Muslim men. The study, therefore, adds to the existing knowledge about the experience of prostate cancer by understanding how it can be from (Jordanian) Arabic Middle Eastern and Islamic contexts. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for nursing practice, for education, and for illness narrative and narrative research.</p>

Exploring prostate cancer experiences among Jordanain Muslim men

<p><b>Over the last decade, prostate cancer has been the most common cancer among men around the world. This study explores the experiences of this illness among a group of Jordanian Muslim men. The study aims to identify the impacts and challenges these men face throughout their experiences with cancer. Through the exploration, the study also focuses on the effects of these impacts and challenges on the men’s bodies, lives, and their identity, particularly gender. The study used ‘biographical disruption’ and ‘liminality’ theoretical concepts of illness narrative and the works of Connell (2000, 2002, 2005) on gender as a theoretical framework. It adopted a qualitative narrative approach in order to understand this cancer experience among these men. Fifteen Jordanian Muslim men, who had been treated with radiotherapy and hormonal therapy, were recruited, and interviewed to narrate their stories with prostate cancer. Three narrative analytical approaches (thematic, holistic form, and Bamberg’s positioning model) were used and integrated with the study’s theoretical framework for analysing the men’s stories.</b></p> <p>Five main key findings resulted from the analysis as follows. First, there is a range of common and specific disruptive impacts and challenges facing these men compared with other men who have similar experiences. Second, there are differing experiences of prostate cancer among these men across the cancer trajectory and over time. Third, the family of the affected men are involved and become a part of this illness experience along with the direct involvement of the healthcare providers with the men. Fourth, there are interactions and influences between the cancer experience and the men’s masculinity. Fifth, the complexity of this experience has an influence on the men’s identity as Jordanian Muslim men. The study, therefore, adds to the existing knowledge about the experience of prostate cancer by understanding how it can be from (Jordanian) Arabic Middle Eastern and Islamic contexts. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for nursing practice, for education, and for illness narrative and narrative research.</p>

Exploring prostate cancer experiences among Jordanain Muslim men

<p><b>Over the last decade, prostate cancer has been the most common cancer among men around the world. This study explores the experiences of this illness among a group of Jordanian Muslim men. The study aims to identify the impacts and challenges these men face throughout their experiences with cancer. Through the exploration, the study also focuses on the effects of these impacts and challenges on the men’s bodies, lives, and their identity, particularly gender. The study used ‘biographical disruption’ and ‘liminality’ theoretical concepts of illness narrative and the works of Connell (2000, 2002, 2005) on gender as a theoretical framework. It adopted a qualitative narrative approach in order to understand this cancer experience among these men. Fifteen Jordanian Muslim men, who had been treated with radiotherapy and hormonal therapy, were recruited, and interviewed to narrate their stories with prostate cancer. Three narrative analytical approaches (thematic, holistic form, and Bamberg’s positioning model) were used and integrated with the study’s theoretical framework for analysing the men’s stories.</b></p> <p>Five main key findings resulted from the analysis as follows. First, there is a range of common and specific disruptive impacts and challenges facing these men compared with other men who have similar experiences. Second, there are differing experiences of prostate cancer among these men across the cancer trajectory and over time. Third, the family of the affected men are involved and become a part of this illness experience along with the direct involvement of the healthcare providers with the men. Fourth, there are interactions and influences between the cancer experience and the men’s masculinity. Fifth, the complexity of this experience has an influence on the men’s identity as Jordanian Muslim men. The study, therefore, adds to the existing knowledge about the experience of prostate cancer by understanding how it can be from (Jordanian) Arabic Middle Eastern and Islamic contexts. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for nursing practice, for education, and for illness narrative and narrative research.</p>