The religious–secular interface and representations of Islam in phenomenological religious education

Abstract

Alongside community-based education, a principal agency which has contributed to defining multi-faith identities in England and Wales over the past five decades has been the subject of religious education in state maintained schools. Over this period, formulations of the social category of ‘Muslims’ and the curricular concept of ‘Islam’ in religious education have been significantly influenced by the application of the phenomenology of religion, a methodology derived from religious studies that has come under question for its decontextualised readings of religion. Drawing upon critiques of this approach, this article seeks to examine representations of Islam and Muslims in religious education based on the phenomenological model, with particular reference to the interface between the religious and the secular. Looking ahead, the article considers proposals on intercultural education which aim at preparing the young for a contributive role in society.     

Pedagogies of Muslim feminisms: reflections on faith,space and citizenship

In this article, I offer a qualitative study of three spaces created by and for young Muslim women in Toronto, Canada: an after-school drop-in programme for Muslim girls, a Somali women’s group and a Muslim women’s collective. I focus on data gathered from interviews of seven Muslim women in their 20s who created the spaces, which offered refuge from the racism and Islamophobia in Canadian schools and society and from the patriarchal forms of social control in their families and communities. Drawing on feminist and ethnographic approaches to citizenship studies and a critical faith-centred epistemology, I consider how these spaces function as loci for teaching and learning self and community, building communities of resistance and articulating new notions of the political and of citizenship.     

浅论当代伊斯兰教原教旨主义

伊斯兰原教旨主义作为当今打着“宗教复兴”旗号的一种国际政治力量，它的产生、发展和兴起是与伊斯兰教和伊斯兰教国家的产生、发展息息相关的。它的表现形式各异，其中的极端主义派别以暴力或恐怖手段从事反对异教徒、反对世俗政府的活动，对许多地区和国家的稳定构成严重威胁，从而在世界政治舞台上产生了极大的影响。本文即从伊斯兰原教旨主义历史发展的角度对其产生的原因、现状以及未来发展趋势做一探讨，并对它其中的宗教极端势力在新疆的危害做了阐述和分析。     

“Everything Has Beauty but Not Everyone Sees It”: An Islamic Alternative to Assessing Beauty

ABSTRACT

The constant reference to beauty ideals in all facets of contemporary culture, including work, sex, and religion as well as the constant exposure to images of “beautiful” women, which are ubiquitous in the mass media as the ideal, make a search for a categorical view a necessity. Through qualitative research approach, in which critical, content, and discourse analysis were applied on classical, as well as relevant contemporary materials on beauty, this study contributes an Islamic perspective to the discourse, and hinges its discussions on the primary sources in Islam (Qur’an and Hadith). The paper examines what the Qur’an and Hadith view as beauty and physical attractiveness. It was discovered that in Islam, beauty has five primary emphases: virtue, divine, nature, order, and proportion.     

从《古兰经》看真正的“吉哈德”

《古兰经》作为伊斯兰教的根本经典,对于"吉哈德"有明确的解释和说明。而对之进行误读和曲解,才会导致"暴力"的观点和做法。文章从《古兰经》的文本解读入手,主要论述了真正的"吉哈德"是奋斗,而不是战争和暴力,更不是恐怖主义的问题。     

Missionary girl power: saving the ‘Third World’ one girl at a time

Deborah Ellis’s The Breadwinner is a popular young adult novel about Muslim girls. In this paper, we offer an analysis of the representation of Muslim girls and women in the book as well as responses from undergraduate students enrolled in a children’s literature course to these constructions. Building on the work of postcolonial feminism (specifically the concept of paternalistic care) and critical pedagogy (the role of popular cultural texts as education), we argue that The Breadwinner, and similar historical fictions aimed at youth, wittingly or unwittingly focus on the real and/or imagined plight of ‘other’ girls/women. These representations build upon a care ethic central to the project and history of schooling in the West that in turn results in the stabilisation of colonial relations of domination between white women/girls and colonised women/girls.     

World Cup Football as a Catalyst for Change: Exploring the Lives of Women in Qatar's First National Football Team – A Case Study

In 2012, five Qatari women participated in a qualitative research study, which aimed to explore the negotiation of opportunity to be members of Qatar's first national women's football team. Qatar is a conservative Islamic country which is experiencing rapid modernisation. Part of this modernisation includes the increasing visibility of sport, for example the successful bid for the 2022 men's Football World Cup. In response to this bid, the first Qatari women's national football team was established in 2011. The project was positioned within a social constructivist framework. Five out of 12 squad members, over the age of 18, volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. Interview questions probed the women's experiences and influences on their opportunities and journey to membership in the national team. From a thematic analysis, issues such as the management of gender norms and the influence of significant others dominated the data. This research indicated that the women's agency enabled them to manage their situation with a range of strategies and to change attitudes towards women footballers. The winning of the bid to host the men's World Cup has been a catalyst for change in making spaces for Qatari sportswomen.     

“Piety Stories”: Muslim Tatar Women’s Identity Performance,Negotiation, and Transformation through Storytelling

This article examines “piety stories”—Muslim Tatar women’s narratives about adopting daily Islamic practices, such as five prayers or headscarves, in Tatarstan, Russia. I argue that sharing piety stories is a communicative way of performing identities, negotiating group memberships, and reaffirming one’s commitment to Muslim piety. These narratives provide a discursive way for the speaker to practice being a Muslim and for the audience, a blueprint for becoming one. By detailing a way of being where Muslim piety becomes one’s moral compass and source of agency, piety stories illustrate a culturally meaningful relationship among identity, Muslim piety, and local communicative practices.     

试析马坚译《古兰经》中gawmu一词的翻译——基于汉文本、英文本及波斯文本之比较

gawmu一词在马坚译《古兰经》中被翻译为宗族、民众、百姓。文章通过对马坚译《古兰经》与伊朗Tahereh Saffarzadeh所译英文本和波斯文本《古兰经》中gawmu的译义进行初步的比较与分析,认为马坚译《古兰经》将gawmu一词翻译为宗族、民众、百姓基本符合原意,但将其翻译为宗族则略显勉强。     

元明之际青海、宁夏伊斯兰教的传播与发展

元明之际,受蒙古人改信伊斯兰教的影响,青海、宁夏的伊斯兰教有了很大的发展,上至元安西王下至下层人民信仰该教者不断增多,并形成了三个信仰该教的民族:回族、撒拉族、保安族,是伊斯兰教在西北传播与发展的重要阶段。伊斯兰教由西向东逐渐传播、发展,穆斯林东移也有一个渐进过程,且受元明两朝统治者对该教态度的影响。元统治者推崇伊斯兰教,重用穆斯林,明王朝对其压制、排斥,故元代穆斯林地位高于明代。