Muslims in the West

Women's spiritual care networks are keeping the Islamic intellectual heritage fresh and intelligible for new generations of U.S.-based Muslims who are navigating faith, practices, and values as religious minorities. Here, I highlight leading voices and promising directions in the professionalization of Muslim women's spiritual caregiving. I detail how campus chaplaincy and seminary teaching positions have become vibrant settings for context-relevant guidance and spiritual mentorship among women.

This short paper is adapted from notes for a talk presented at the Richmond Islamic Center, for their non-Muslim Neighbors, on April 16, 2022/Ramadhan 14, 1443.
The aim of the talk, and hence the paper, was to present the message of Islam clearly and succinctly to an audience of non-Muslims and to do so in a way that was sincere and authentic to the message and, at the same time, not meant as ”preaching”.
It is meant to be educational and, at the same time, an open invitation.
And with God alone is every success.

Murad’s Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions is a rare and profound book. It consists of 100 pithy aphorisms - termed "contentions" - on a diverse array of topics ranging through ethics, cosmology, metaphysics, theology, law and history. Each contention is a terse distillation of Murad's often exquisitely crafted ruminations on a given matter followed by his own compressed elucidation (the commentary).  Though sometimes abstruse and esoteric, the book weaves itself into a dense, multi-faceted tapestry of insights into a range of contemporary issues that concern the religious mind.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC)- Canada Country Report. Prepared by Servet Erdem with the contributions of Erdal Akdeve, Onur Unutulmaz and Gürol Baba, Kenan Bağcı, Erhan Türbedar,  Kaan Namli, and Fatma Nur Zengin.

The paper investigate the specificity of penetration and evolution of salafi movement in the USA, as well as the problem of the number of salafi adherents, and the area of their distribution in this country. Within the analysis of the main stages of the salafi movement in the USA special attention is focused on the causes and pre-conditions of growth and decline of the salafi influence among US Muslim communi-ty.

В статье рассматриваются особенности проникновения и эволюции салафитского движения в США; затрагиваются проблемы численности американских салафитов, их этнонациональный состав и ареал распростра-нения. При анализе основных этапов салафитского движения особое внима-ние уделяется причинам и предпосылкам усиления и спада салафитского вли-яния на мусульманскую общину США.

Toward an Italian Reformism? New Generations between Secularism and Muslim Life

After an overview of how the secularization thesis has impacted the study of Islam in Europe and Italy, the paper explores the way new generations of Muslims in Northern Italy rediscover and reinterpret Islam through social media and Islamic youth groups. The article relies on interviews with Muslims raised in Italy who were born between the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as on materials drawn from social profiles and online discussion groups of Islamic youth groups that these young Muslims attend. The paper illustrates that, in line with long-standing trajectories within Islamic reformist thought, these “second generation” Muslims aim to live Islam in a more conscious way than their parents and also the Muslims who live in their countries of origin. It finally argues that, as my interlocutors contribute to the definition of an “Italian Islam”, they claim recognition not only for their Muslim identity but also for the possibility of cultivating their Islamic spirituality within the secular-liberal institutional and intellectual environment of contemporary Italy.

The criminalization of Muslims-framing an Islamic religious identity as a problem to be solved using state crime control logic-is undeniably in process in the United States. Local, state, and federal statutes target Muslims for surveillance and exclusion, and media sources depict Muslims as synonymous with terrorism, as others have shown. This paper analyzes the public's role in the criminalization of Islam, which I call "cr-Islamization." Drawing on in-depth, qualitative interviews in a major Southwest city during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, I detail how the majority of 144 politically, racially, and economically diverse interviewees talk about Muslims as a potential "racial threat," using "fear of crime" language indicative of the mass incarceration era. This suggests that criminalization theory should be central to sociological studies of Muslims in the contemporary United States, and that criminal-ization rhetoric remains powerful, despite mainstream enthusiasm for criminal justice reform. I argue that criminalization's power might reside in its ability to mutate in the "post-racial" era. The mechanisms supporting crimmigration, the criminalization of black Americans, and cr-Islamization are related but not identical. Muslims are religiously and racially subjugated, but more economically secure compared to other criminalized groups. This paper's findings should prompt scholars to reexamine the relationships between racialization, criminalization, religious subjugation, and economic exploitation in the twenty-first century United States.

Muslims have faced a constant level of scrutiny in the public eye and the Western media since the tragedy of 9/11. In this paper, i look at what factors have played into how Muslim's have been portrayed in the Western Media and why there has been such a high level of misrepresentation via different forms of media.

This journal articles examines sensitivity towards antisemitism and Islamophobia within British Jewish and British Muslim communities respectively. It reports the analysis of data related to Jewish and Muslim respondents who were shown a series of statements and invited to report the extent to which the statements offended them. The study develops a growing body of empirical studies in two fields dominated by historical and theoretical perspectives. The analysis reveals differences between Jewish and Muslim respondents in terms of inclination to attach labels of antisemitism or Islamophobia, respectively, and their overall sensitivity. The analysis also reveals the differing effects of various demographic and socioeconomic factors in determining sensitivity towards antisemitism and Islamophobia. The analysis focuses particularly on age, education and place of birth. It is the known comparative study of antisemitism and Islamophobia to use statistics.

Extant academic literature on the Tablighī Jamā‘at provides the rudiments of a schema for understanding its modalities of expansion in new socio-cultural milieus. This paper first explicates these modalities in more detail and applies them to the historical development of TJ in Britain. I then test and amplify this schema utilizing fresh data generated during a 40-day fieldwork khurūj (outing) to Bulgaria as a reflexive participant observer with a British TJ group. The paper argues that the Western branch of the movement has achieved a degree of institutional robustness and autonomy from TJ’s South Asian headquarters. Finally, the paper reflects upon possible future trajectories for British TJ in relation to the author’s ongoing ethnographic fieldwork.

In this public lecture delivered at Cardiff University’s Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Riyaz Timol presents the findings of his doctoral research on the Tablighi Jama’at (TJ) in modern Britain.  Though widely regarded as the largest movement of grassroots Islamic revival in the world, TJ remains significantly under researched.  Based on extensive recent ethnographic fieldwork with the British branch of TJ, Riyaz explains its appeal to second and third generation Muslims raised in a predominantly secular sociocultural milieu.

Link to the lecture: Spiritual Wayfarers in a Secular Age: The Tablighi Jama’at in Modern Britain

Kasar Abdulla is an inspirational success story of the 'till recent' robust American Refugee Resettlement Program. In 2013, the petite, hijab-clad co-founder of the American Muslim Advisory Council was honoured by President Obama as a 'Champion of Change'for her work on immigrant integration and promoting cross-cultural understanding. Since 1975, The United States has provided a safe home to refugees like Kasar, who fled war, persecution, and probable death, but the situation changed under the current administration. Not only has the flow of refugees reduced but according to experts like Amy Slaughter, a refugee advocate, the refugee resettlement program faces an 'existential threat' in the United States. I met Kasar Abdulla in Nashville, Tennesse, the place she and her family call home. I was there as a delegate of the East-West Center, yet another exceptional American program under threat because of the proposed cuts to the State Department budget. Kasar's story left a far-reaching impression. Her journey from a displaced person to a change maker is compelling.In many ways, she embodies the idealism of the 'American Dream', something she says she has lived, but the preservation of which requires 'continuous effort'. Kasar Abdulla was born in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Her childhood memories are dotted with berry picking and her grandmother praying by the waterfall. But soon all that changed. As a six-year-old, Kasar and her family were forced to safety to escape the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein, whose army bombed her hometown. Kasar spent the next few years in a Turkish refugee camp. Her young mind ravaged by brutal memories of displacement questioned the man-inflicted violence that renders people homeless, but her heart refused to despair.The small Kurdish girl made the most of her situation. She learned reading and writing and made toys out of trash to amuse herself. The Refugee Resettlement Program of the US proved a benediction as it helped Kasar and her family move to the States. To her parents, both of simple, illiterate farming stock, America was a different world. To navigate this world, and to build a life from scratch was a gargantuan task. But they did it. With quiet determination and hard work, they sought to build their lives. Over the years, Kasar Abdulla persisted. She did her Masters in Conflict Management from Lipscomb University and completed the University of Southern California's Fellowship on American Muslim Civic Leadership. Meanwhile, she became very active in community activism in Nashville Tennessee, her adopted home. At present, she is the Director of Community Relations at Valor Collegiate Academies. Her work as a social – justice educator, advocate, and changemaker marked her out as a youth leader, who has been widely featured by print and broadcast media. Kasar's story elevates and educates. In many ways, she represents the best of the Refugee Resettlement program. In this interview, Kasar Abdulla shares the story of her early life as a refugee and her later years as a community activist. She talks of the Kurdish community in Nashville, and the American Muslim Advisory Council, whose founding was prompted by anti-sharia legislation and incidents of mosque vandalism. As an American Muslim, Kasar speaks of the rise of Islamophobia and the need to address institutionalized racism.The last few months have been an uncertain time for the US and the world, but despite this Kasar Abdulla strikes a note of hope when she says, " What makes the US so great is the diversity of its people. We will overcome this struggle, and it will make us a stronger nation. "

‘What else could it be? It is an exotic which, though it may be artificially nurtured like some tropical plant in a hothouse, can never have the vitality it has on its native soil’ (p. 92). Thus did the Liverpool Review dismiss as no more than an audacious cultural experiment the burgeoning community of Victorian Muslim converts that gathered around the iconic and iconoclastic Abdullah William Quilliam in 1890. The subsequent influx of substantial migrant communities into Britain has somewhat complicated matters, and expressions of British Islam today are tightly bound with the imports of foreign culture. Modern incarnations of the Liverpool Review’s verdict abound: a persistent strand of the polyvocal discourse that has exploded around the Muslim presence in Britain insists that a
commitment to Islam—and, by extension, the culture of the Orient it has historically been wedded to—undermines the patriotism expected of British subjects. Put differently, facing Makka to pray five times a day requires one to turn one’s back on Queen and country; or, in the stark dichotomization of the
Poet of Empire, Kipling: ‘East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.’ Identity, allegiance and belonging have thus crystallized into critical buzzwords through which diaspora communities are examined, and the evocative oxymoron captured in the title of this book assails today’s believer just as much as it did yesteryear’s convert.

Abstract
Turkish Muslims have been living in United States of America for more than a century and are still immigrating
today. Although in number they are a large Muslim faith community, they lack a prominent social voice or
network comparable to other Muslim ethnic groups. Despite the difficulty faced with anti-Muslim sentiments
following the September 11th tragedy, Turks have made many positive advances in gaining stature. Although
Turks have established both civil and religious foundations in the USA, plans for a structural establishment have
been less successful. Turks who migrated to the USA after the 1960s began to realize that the lack of resources
for practicing their faith is affecting their social values and identification. The need for faith based institutions
became ever so urgent and they steadily continue to build. Despite the fact that Turks have not had a strong
institutional base, the future for building new faith based centers is promising. It also seems as though the future
leaders are brighter than their pioneers. This research will attempt to explain the stages of the process of
institutionalization of Turkish Mosque or faith center, the foundational and emerging history, recent
achievements, as well as the challenges of reaching each stage in order to carry out social and religious activities.
How these challenges effect the community as a whole and how this process can eventually result in a more
structural presence of Turkish Islam in USA will be discussed as well.

The volume as a whole provides a welcome corrective to increasingly frequent rhetoric that pathologises young Muslims as either a threat to national security or a disgruntled underbelly of delinquents, dropouts and deadbeats. It also challenges the stereotypical characterisation of a monochrome British Muslim community inhabiting a rigid, static structure called Islam. But, alas, it seems the exorbitant price-tag will restrict its readership to those with access to university libraries. Read in conjunction with other recent publications, such as Maruta Herding’s Inventing the Muslim Cool or Shelina Janmohamed’s vivacious
Generation M, this book documents an important shift in intergenerational dynamics as hybridised modes of cultural expression drawing simultaneously upon multiple repertoires of lived experience develop organically in the Western Muslim diaspora. Alternatively, one also detects a basic synergy with the poignant yet provocative invective delivered by Afua Hirsch (2018) against the unspoken structures of racial and class hegemony that continue to permeate British society. A diaspora-born generation, clearly, has come of age amidst an aching vortex of questions concerning ethnicity, identity and belonging. The
contributions gathered in this volume shed light on how Muslim-inflected responses play out in the ordinary life experiences of young British citizens.

The language of trauma has been used by many to explain what happens to individuals and to the collectivities to which they belong. Some of these traumatic experiences stem from interpersonal violence, such as sexual and physical abuse or domestic violence. Others may stem from witnessing interpersonal violence and victimisation, such as witnessing or being a victim of a serious accident, war, a terror attack, or experiencing the loss of a loved one. Regardless of its cause, trauma, whether individualistic or collective, arises from the experience of pain and suffering post ‘an extraordinary event’ so disruptive that it triggers an emotional response and public attention. This chapter will situate the experiences of trauma felt by the surviving Muslim women victims of the Christchurch terror attack that occurred on March 15, 2019, within the scope of collective trauma theory. We do this by examining two types of collective trauma unique to the Christchurch experience: collective trauma through personal experience and collective trauma through empathy. Although our focus is on the Muslim women victims and survivors of the attack, we also show how ‘meaning-making’ processes such as the media and the New Zealand government helped define the type of pain and suffering felt by the victims. We discuss how this was translated into a broader form of collective suffering whereby the Muslim community, the community of New Zealand, and those abroad felt victimised by the event on a traumatic level.

The purpose of this topic is to examine the phenomenon of Islamic call, its entering in American scientific community and Islamic studies. It includes interpretation and correlation of the Islamic terms like da’wah, ijtihad, and jihad; investigation the roots of spreading Muslim da’wah in the USA; defining the conditions of the Islamic call spreading in the USA scientific community; showing main periods of da’wah dissemination in the USA society and the American Islamic Studies. A special consideration is given to the work of the Centre for Muslim-Christian understanding headed by J.Esposito. This paper deals with the problem of forming ties between Muslim and secular scientific community structures too.

Relying on an ethnographic research conducted both in the UK and Iraq, this article explores issues of cultural and religious identities among London-based young British Iraqi Shiis. Using Stuart Hall’s notions of ‘articulation’ and ‘new ethnicities’, I analyse how different realities and experiences of space and class shape young British Iraqi Shiis self-identification in relation to socio-political, religious and ethnic belongings.

Since its inception in 1920s British India, the Tablighi Jama’at (TJ) has grown into a global movement of faith renewal, animating grassroots Muslim communities around the world. Based on sustained ethnographic fieldwork with the British branch of the movement, this article proposes a concept of ‘intra-religious conversion’ to capture a key modality of its impact in everyday Muslim lives. By this is denoted a shift from a nominal form of Islamic practice to one of passionate devotion. Multiple interview narratives are presented to dissect the conversion experience through a series of precipitating push and pull factors, of which ‘affective ties’ and ‘intensive interaction’ emerge as key. Three key reasons for TJ’s enduring appeal to British-born male Muslims are suggested: (1) its propensity to transform the individual’s relationship with his religion from a ‘passive consumer’ to an ‘active purveyor’; (2) its fostering of strong bonds of belonging and brotherhood; (3) its ability to offer certainty in a world of flux. The findings challenge previous scholarship on British TJ by demonstrating its ongoing popularity among successive generations of Muslims, though reasons why followers may drift away from the movement after undergoing life-changing intra-religious conversion experiences are also explored.

Saint Petersburg served from the end of the nineteenth century as a transit point for Mishär Tatars moving to the Grand Duchy of Finland. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a small community had already formed in Finland, but its members maintained regular contacts with their relatives and connections in the Sergach district (Nizhny Novgorod province), Saint Petersburg and other regions. Contrary to common belief, these ties were not interrupted even after the October Revolution of 1917. Throughout most of the 1920s, Tatars and others crossed the Soviet-Finnish border illegally. Tatars living in independent Finland also sent considerable financial aid to their contacts in Leningrad with the help of couriers.
The nature of the ties between the Tatar emigrants in Finland and the Tatars of Leningrad can be illustrated by the materials of one criminal case. This case was instituted by the Soviet political police against representatives of the Tatar Muslim community in Leningrad in 1931. Only after several arrests and tightening border control was communication between the Tatars in Finland and Leningrad interrupted. I suggest that the Mishär Tatars in Leningrad and Finland constituted a single social and cultural space until the 1930s, when the connections between them were blocked. The ensuing divide had a large impact on the identity of the Tatars living in Finland, who began developing a separate Finnish Tatar identity just a few years after the termination of contacts.

In the grim days following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, news commentator and retired Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters appeared on Fox News, saying: " Not all Muslims are terrorists, but virtually all terrorists are Muslim. " Peters's statement represents the sort of venomous rhetoric that has emerged all too often this election. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has put an immigration ban on Muslims at the core of his nativist pitch to voters, alleging that American Muslims and mosques are knowingly harboring terrorists. While many Americans, including President Obama, have spoken out against Trump's characterization of American Muslims as terrorists, there has been little opposition to the premise that all terrorists are Muslims. The prevalence of Islamophobia has been coupled with a selective definition of terror under US law, contributing to the belief that all terrorists are Muslims and hence that all Muslims be viewed with suspicion, justifiably hated, excoriated, and even banned. At the same time, amplification by social media reinforces hostile political rhetoric, making legislative reform that protects Muslims as effectively as the rest of the population more difficult. This paper dissects the premise that terror is a particularly Muslim problem and analyzes the key role that social media is playing in this issue. The paper begins with a quantitative snapshot of both anti-Muslim and anti-Islamophobic Google searches and statements made on social media. It then moves to a qualitative analysis of the low rates of reporting and prosecution of hate crimes against Muslims, paying particular attention to differing standards of proof required for these prosecutions. The second section looks at terror prosecutions of Muslims, noting how speech—and especially online speech— is treated very differently by courts when it involves Muslim American defendants and the mere possibility of terror connections. In paying particular attention to prosecutions under the Material Support for Terrorism Statute, we note how concerns raised in the prosecutorial context of hate crimes (such as requirements of intent and purposefulness) are summarily discarded when they arise in relation to terrorism cases. The analysis reveals a deep double standard between the identification and conviction of domestic and foreign terrorism. Under US law as it exists today, there is no provision criminalizing the material support of a domestic terror organization. This means that statements made by white supremacist groups that incite violence against minorities are provided First Amendment protection and cannot be prosecuted without meeting a very high standard of proof. The consequence is that hate speech against Muslims is not simply tolerated and largely unpunished, but normalized into a valid political position. Second, there is no legislation criminalizing material support for domestic terrorism, or even actual acts of domestic terrorism. What has no legal reality in turn has no moral or social reality. The statement that " all terrorists are Muslim " is created and affirmed in America by the language of statutes that recognize only " foreign " organizations as the sources of terrorist acts. Hate speech against Muslims is not simply tolerated and largely unpunished, but normalized into a valid political position.

A quelques jours des fêtes de fin d’année, et de Noël en particulier, émergent – comme à chaque fois – d’étranges histoires. De ces histoires dans lesquelles les musulmans endossent, volens nolens, le rôle du Grinch et parviennent à ruiner l’esprit de Noël. Le pire, c’est qu’ils ont toujours d’excellentes raisons pour se donner bonne conscience et fermer les yeux sur les coups de canif qu’ils ne cessent de donner ainsi dans le « faire-ensemble » .

The movement of people spatially at an unprecedented scale is a special social phenomenon of the 21st century. Among these people on the move are those who take up residence away from their place of origin—the “diaspora”—who are the focus of this study. This book is an interdisciplinary study on the 21st century demographic reality that led to the development of “diaspora missiology” as a new missiological paradigm, and the need to practice “diaspora missions” as a new mission strategy.

The purpose of this topic is to examine the phenomenon of Islamic call, its entering in American scientific community and Islamic studies. It includes interpretation and correlation of the Islamic terms like da'wah, ijtihad, and jihad; investigation the roots of spreading Muslim da'wah in the USA; defining the conditions of the Islamic call spreading in the USA scientific community; showing main periods of da'wah dissemination in the USA society and the American Islamic Studies. A special consideration is given to the work of the Centre for Muslim-Christian understanding headed by J.Esposito. This paper deals with the problem of forming ties between Muslim and secular scientific community structures too.

This document is a comprehensive resource for individuals and organizations alike.  Laypeople such as concerned citizens, parents, neighbors, and members of religious congregations will find tools here that empower them to challenge Islamophobia in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities.  Educators; political, civic, religious or business community leaders; civic organizations; and any entity looking for guidance to fight bigotry in their ranks, organization, or wider communities can follow actionable items in this guidebook to help them dismantle Islamophobia.

REPORT TEAM

Azka Mahmood, Report Author

Petra Alsoofy, Outreach and Partnerships Manager, ISPU

Lida Azim, Program Manager, America Indivisible

Nina Fernando, Program Director, Shoulder to Shoulder

Erum Ikramullah, Research Project Manager, ISPU

Dr. Catherine Orsborn, Executive Director, Shoulder to Shoulder

Lindsay Schubiner, Momentum Program Director, Western States Center

Meira Neggaz, Executive Director, ISPU

Dalia Mogahed, Director of Research, ISPU

“It is quite evident that most Islamic states, and especially those of the Arab world, suffer from chronic underdevelopment, violence, and intolerance. Furthermore, they have in recent times, experienced civil wars, ethnic cleansings, confessional strife, and bloody dictatorships which practice barbaric physical torture. Women suffer from discriminatory laws of various degrees, with respect to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Forced marriages are still tolerated, and when it comes to crimes of honour, it is always the (woman) victim that is punished, while the aggressor goes free!
“When we take these factors into consideration, we become aware of the many obstacles and challenges that face Muslims living in the West, such as: How to harmonize Islamic and Western values; how to succeed in education and work; how to re-educate young Muslims with respect to the relations between the sexes; and how to inculcate healthy and sane rules regarding courtship and marriage, that would allow the younger generation to live harmoniously within democratic and open societies.”

A series of focus groups in Canada, the United States and Britain revealed dissatisfaction among Muslims with their religious leaders lack of cultural understanding. Many mosque imams who are brought over from Muslim-majority countries do not have the knowledge to help congregants deal with life in Western societies.

This piece argues that a new epistemological terrain has emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 attacks. This new terrain is characterized by a silencing discourse of fear, terror and apology. It is established, fostered and supported by a misappropriation of human rights language, the Bush administration's domestic policies and foreign wars, mass media contributions and Muslim apologist literature. The author argues that new ways of thinking about the unthought and the unthinkable are necessary in order to deconstruct this recently emerged epistemological terrain.

This article presents the findings of a national survey on Islam in Australia based on responses of 1034 Muslim Australian citizens and permanent residents. Knowing what Muslim Australians think about Islam in relation to Australian society is essential for a more informed understanding about Islam and Muslims needed to address misinformation, Islamophobia, and extremism. The findings presented in this article include typologies of Muslims; sources of influence concerning Islam; interpretations of the Qur’an; perspectives on ethical, social, and theological issues; issues of concern; social connections and sense of belonging; views on various Muslim-majority countries; and perspectives concerning political Islam, including jihad, caliphate, and shariah. While respondents’ understandings, interpretations, and expressions of Islam overall align with values and principles of equality, human rights, social cohesion, and social justice, a minority were found to understand and interpret I...