Muslim Cultures

L'articolo si propone di presentare e di analizzare la nota serie di fumetti creata dallo psicologo kuwaitiano Naif al-Mutawa, dal titolo Al-99 [I 99]. Pubblicata, inizialmente in arabo e poi anche in inglese, a partire dal 2006, la serie è dedicata a 99 supereroi di ispirazione islamica che uniscono i loro poteri per combattere valori negativi come l’egoismo, l’arroganza o la sete di potere personale. Nella prima parte dell’articolo, dedicata all’autore e alla storia del fumetto, si nota che la serie ha il dichiarato intento di opporsi alla violenza degli estremisti islamici offrendo ai giovani (non solo musulmani) modelli e valori universalmente condivisi, indipendentemente dall’appartenenza sociale, religiosa e culturale dei lettori. Nella seconda parte, ciò trova conferma nell’analisi di alcuni supereroi: proprio le loro diverse identità, cui corrispondono precisi super-poteri, dimostrano che i pur numerosi riferimenti islamici, lungi dal porsi come esasperazione di un fattore identitario, mirano piuttosto a proporre valori universali che tutti i giovani del mondo possono fare propri per costruire una società inclusiva e variegata.

The rise of Mappila Malayalam induced the production of a compatible stream of knowledge, accessible to a community which was struggling under the tramples of landlord-colonialist nexus. Being an attempt to withstand the imperialist and feudal supremacy on native intellect, Mappila Malayalam publications provided an alternative literacy movement required for the sustenance of a society without the imperialist aids. Production of all sort of ethnic knowledge and artistic expressions in a language which is purely the representation of their voice, gave the community a courage to reject even English education. Being the representation of their identity, Mappila Malayalam grew into the shape of a social action. The anti-supremacy nature of its literature made it a poetic counter theory. Elaborate loans of words and expressions from neighbouring languages like Tamil, Kannada, Tulu etc. made it the currency of across-the-border cultural transactions. Arabimalayalam, is a lingua franca that developed in the Malabar region of Kerala. In the later period, it gave rise to a creole called Mappila Malayalam under the Mappila (Muslims of Malabar/Kerala) community. The language still survive in Kerala as a variety of Malayalam. The prominent feature of Arabimalayalam is that it uses Arabic and Persian orthographic symbols with some modifications and adaptations for scripting Malayalam. This lingua franca, as it grew into a creole called Mappila Malayalam, with loaned words from neighbouring South Indian languages like Tamil, Tulu, Kannad etc., has subtle politics and culture immersed in its history. The development and functioning of this language can be taken as one of the earliest intellectual anti-colonial/feudal measures taken out by one single community in Kerala. With this language, the Mappilas devised an alternative literacy movement based on the rich literature they developed in it. Before we look into the details of the alternative literacy strategy developed by Mappilas, let us look at the surrounding cultural and political scenario of the Malabar region.

In the last two decades, Islamic modest fashion has transformed from being a niche market to a large-scale global industry. The commerce, which addresses variety of clothing needs of particularly Muslim women with different understandings of female modesty in Islam, is also field of cultural performance and creativity. The range of items is rapidly widening to reach a diversity of tastes and lifestyles as well as consumption habits in different social classes. The rise of high-end conservative fashion as in the case of Dolce & Gabbana’s modest looks and internationalisation of local producers such as Istanbul-based Modanisa indicate an international marketing trend as well, which includes modest fashion shows and magazines, bloggers, and other social media influencers. Islamic modest fashion should also be considered as an expression of identity in Muslim minority settings, particularly in Europe, and a way of altering stereotypical understandings of Islamic veiling as backward, oppressive, and traditional.
The workshop aims to offer an opportunity for interdisciplinary discussions intersecting the fields of European studies, ethnology, cultural studies, religious studies, migration studies, gender studies, and textile research. Taking modest fashion in a broader artistic, social, and cultural context, the workshop invites papers from doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who study contemporary Muslim culture in Europe including its creative and artistic spheres, youth culture, gender and fashion, and other related fields.

Interested researchers are expected to send their 250 word abstracts until 20 April 2022 midnight to Petek Onur, petek.onur@hum.ku.dk.

Ayodhya for a period of over two thousand years has borne witnessed to the presence of Jainism, Buddhism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Islam (Sufism) too projected city as place of religious solidarity. According to the ancient history, Ayodhya was one of the holiest cities where the religious faiths of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam flourished together to build a place of enormous sacred importance. Ayodhya records ca 186 Muslim sacred properties, consisting of mosques, mazars (tombs), idgahs (prayer ground), Karbala (burial place), etc. that together makes distinct sacred/ritual landscapes. Ayodhya-Faizabad represents an aesthetic and unique type of religio-cultural landscape and heritagescape that include natural, cultural, and tangible and intangibles heritages, and variety of cultural landscapes. The existence, maintenance and functioning of intangible heritages and Muslim sacredscapes together with other religious group make this city a role model for understanding spirit of place, ritualscapes, and finally a model for inclusive heritage development based on mosaicness of religio-cultural landscape.
Keywords: Cultural landscapes, intangible heritage, dargahs, mazars, faithscape, heritagescapes, sacredscapes, UNESCO.

It is not acceptable to wear thin or see-through clothing that does not conceal the Awrah (body part). It is Har’am for the Muslim-man to let any garment fall beneath his ankles (an action known as isb’al); the limit for any garment is the ankle. The Awrah of men is from the navel to the knees. Therefore, Muslim-men must cover, at a minimum, the navel to the knees. If the shorts are above the knees, it is Har’am for a man to wear it in public, even at home among his mother, sisters and daughters to maintain Haya and dignity.

Believers from a Muslim Background (henceforth, BMB) have absorbed over fourteen hundred years of multigenerational and communal indoctrination, which includes a strong polemic against the Bible and the biblical God. When the BMB comes to faith, they carry religious baggage regarding all areas of discipleship such as: identity, ethics, theology, biblical narratives, spiritual disciplines, and practical theology. Unless there is a clear biblical and practical model of discipleship that addresses the challenges of a BMB, many will struggle in their faith, identity as a Christian, and place in the church. This paper gives a short version of Dr. Pursley's dissertation. This presents a model of discipleship from a Reformed Presuppositional Apologetic Approach, and gives helpful tools for disciplers of BMBs.

Violet Moller's The Map of Knowledge: How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found: A History in Seven Cities is a history of ideas study that examines the efforts of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Humanist scholars to understand ancient Greek and Egyptian science, mathematics, and medicine. Moller comprehensively explains how the works of Euclid, Ptolemy, and Galen were transmitted, lost, and rediscovered in the medieval and early modern era across six Mediterranean cities and Baghdad from the moment of their production until about 1500 CE.

The "Muslim World" is often narrowly conceived as tied to the Middle East and North Africa, or more broadly as encompassing Africa’s Sahel region, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of the Balkans. But what about Latin America and the Caribbean? It is this question that inspired Ken Chitwood's book.

Chitwood traces the story of Muslims in Latin America and the Caribbean: their deep roots in the region, as well as the current connections among the multiple networks of people, ideas, economies, politics, and religion that extend across the Americas and beyond. Moving from pre-Columbian encounters to the present day, his rich account leaves the reader with a deeper understanding of an integral, but little recognized, part of the Americas and global Islam.

This paper aims to highlight that daily and weekly rhythms, being a part of the social organization of time, mediate people’s responses to social change in rural Pakistan. Indigenous ways of measuring different stages of the day have recently been replaced by clock time as a consequence of industrialization and urbanization. Further, changing socioeconomic circumstances have given rise to a new temporal rhythm, which unfolds in daily time allocation for different activities. The debate regarding whether Sunday or Friday should be the weekend in Pakistan points to the contested notions of time that can be explained on the basis of temporal identity, religion, and urbanization. By using an ethnographic example, this study also discusses how daily and weekly rhythms are maintained in rural Pakistan through the socioeconomic realities of everyday life.

In tracing the development of popular Islam in Bulgaria, this article examines aspects of local culture that were 'Islamicized' as the religion spread and points to Bulgarian Islam as peculiarly syncretistic. It considers the role of vak õ fs and of S ½ ū sm, and the often paradoxical relationships between orthodox and heterodox institutions and the state, and also shows how local culture, after being in uenced by and taken into Islam, has itself gone on to in uence the regional expression of Islam that is found in Bulgaria. The author puts the case for the urgent need for research into the complexities of these developments.

Waren sind zunehmend von Bedeutung für Islam und muslimische Glaubenspraxis. Mit ihrer Gestaltung werden Bilder vom Islam entworfen, sie prägen alltägliche Abläufe und markieren soziale Gefüge. Die Ästhetik von Haushaltsgeräten oder Markenkleidung spiegelt politische und ökonomische Allianzen, Plakate und Accessoires eignen sich zu gelebter Kritik am Bestehenden, auf Verpackungen und in der Mode werden islamische Utopien entworfen.

In diesem Buch wird Syrien im Jahrzehnt vor dem Krieg aus der Perspektive seiner Warenwelt betrachtet. Damit wird sichtbar, wird greifbar, was den Alltag zwischen Islam und Regime geprägt hat und zwar im Kontext von Islamisierung der Gesellschaft und Resten des arabischen Sozialismus, von ökonomischer Öffnung für »den Westen« und umliegenden Konsumkulturen. Feldforschung aus mehr als zehn Jahren in Syrien, Libanon und Türkei ist die Grundlage dieser islamwissenschaftlich und philosophisch fundierten und zugleich poetischen Studie.