Islam, indigeneity, and religious difference in a secular context: Canadian case studies

This paper analyzes the hardening religious difference in contemporary Canadian society and explains why the presence of Muslims, including new converts, constantly incites in the public imagination the primordial threat of Islam to the secular accomplishments of Canadian society. Relying on the available data and previous research on the historical formation of the secular in Canada, the author attempts to detect a paradox within the state-lead politics of recognition that unintentionally creates the conditions for new communal conflicts” (warna kuning) diubah menjadi “Relying on the available data and previous research on the historical formation of the secular in Canada, the author attempts to detect a paradox within the statelead politics of recognition that unintentionally creates the conditions for new communal conflicts. By using an inductive generalization, the author argues that the perceived incompatibility between Islam and secular values is derived not so much from cultural and theological differences or actual political threats posed by Muslims or Indigenous converts. It instead emanates from the self-understanding of the majority of Canadians that defined the nation as essentially Christians and simultaneously secular.

Law, Love and the Limits of Liberalism

The creation of Imperial Germany in 1871 sparked a nationwide debate about the nature of marriage and the family. Behind these discussions was a common assumption: families were anchored in monogamous marriage. The assumption was so widely held that it was, with few exceptions, unspoken. It was revealed only in exceptional instances, for example, in confrontation with colonial others, bigamists who were deemed criminals or life reformers living on the fringes of mainstream society. By tapping into a discourse about civilization and human progress, it also linked discussions about the homeland and its overseas Empire. Drawing on a matrix of jurisprudence, social-scientific writings, tracts by social reformers, missionaries and government discussions, this article suggests that Germans embraced monogamy as the tacit rule of marital life within the boundaries of the metropole. Nonetheless, monogamy as a marital standard did not apply consistently within Germany’s overseas colonies. Instead, understandings of racial and religious difference, couched in a specific logic of imperial liberalism, predominated and meant that indigenous people were of ten lef t to continue their own family practices.

INSUFFICIENT INTERPRETATION OF METAPHOR IN THE QURANIC TRANSLATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SELECTED VERSES’ TRANSLATIONS BY PICKTHALL AND ARBERRY

Quranic verses are full of metaphoric phrases and compound metaphors which can be said to be the biggest challenge for its translators to the other languages. There is no doubt that a number of renown Western scholars and orientalists have translated Quran in different languages including English but keeping in view the cultural and religious difference, usually even renown translators and scholars like Pickthall and Arberry seem unable to totally apprehend and transfer the intended meaning of the Arabic metaphors of Quran. In this article, it has been tried to discuss and highlight the impact of this deficiency of Western scholars and untranslatability of Arabic metaphor into English without proper command and in-depth knowledge of the Arabic language. The methodology is based on the basic theories of Translation Studies in this regard, especially presented by Peter New Mark and Eugene Nida i.e. literal translation, semantic translation, equivalence, domestication and foreignization

Negotiation in the Contact Zone: Reading Joseph and Aseneth from a Postcolonial Perspective

In Joseph and Aseneth, religious difference is the decisive boundary that separates Aseneth (gentile) and Joseph (Jew). Therefore, Aseneth’s conversion is essential to cross over this boundary in the narrative. In this respect, one may see Joseph and Aseneth as a colonizing text that seems to romanticize Aseneth’s conversion. However, colonial realities never result one-sidedly from the intention of the powerful; they are full of ambiguity, ambivalence, and hybridity. Utilizing the postcolonial concept of contact zone, this article deals with which negotiations between the disparate groups occur in the contact zone, and consequently what unexpected changes happen after the encounter. The union of the two groups in Joseph and Aseneth is characterized as an ambiguous relation rather than as a unilateral assimilation. Aseneth becomes a shelter for anyone who is in danger beyond the religious boundary by redefining the identity given by the angel, City of Refuge.

Migration — Ecumenism — Integration

The three concepts of migration — ecumenism — integration are rich in meaning. What is important is their order, the hierarchy of their occurrence. Migration is more or less any movement of people, individuals or whole groups. Ecumenism is in turn an appeal and an action. Its mission/task is to recognize in a certain group of people a religious difference and to make an effort to place it in an integral whole with other people who believe a little differently, but in the same God. Integration has the task of restoring or building an integral whole from people living in a particular territory. Full integration is called individual or collective identity. Since migration violates — to a greater or lesser extent — the individual or collective identity of both the country that receives immigrants and the immigrants themselves, integration aims to rebuild it, but no longer within the same mental structures, but rather ones enriched with new impulses that are the contribution of immigrants. The foundation — in our context, it is about faith in the God of Jesus Christ — remains unchanged, yet the superstructure undergoes some changes.