Exploring halaqah as research method: a tentative approach to developing Islamic research principles within a critical ‘indigenous’ framework

This paper explores a traditional Islamic pedagogy known as halaqah as a potentially useful authentic research method and contributes to discourses about critical and indigenous research methodologies through an analysis of Islamization of Knowledge and other ‘critical indigenous’ movements amongst Muslims. Islamic research principles are tentatively proposed and then used to assess the effectiveness of halaqah as an authentic Islamic research method through analysis of a small qualitative study. The study involved Muslim mother-teachers participating in halaqah to collaboratively reflect on their work as holistic Islamic educators who are developing a ‘critical indigenous’ education to meet the needs of Muslim children in contemporary Britain. This paper argues that halaqah is a more authentic research method in this study than a group interview or focus group as it enabled participants to articulate themselves within their own epistemological and ontological context and engage in critical reflection within an Islamic paradigm.     

Action research and transformative learning in teaching development

The article reports on an action research project, informed by transformative learning theory. Transformative learning involves individuals gaining an awareness of their current habits of mind, and resulting points of views accompanied by a critique of their assumptions and premises, an assessment of alternative views, a decision to negate an old perspective or view in favour of a new one, or to make a synthesis of old and new, resulting in more justified beliefs to guide action. The action research was designed to change the perspectives and practices of higher education teachers from a teacher-centred to a learning-centred dialogic approach. The research demonstrated that a transformation in teaching perspective could be achieved through action research that involved inquiring and interactive teaching. However, implementing the new perspective required additional sustained support. The research also confirmed that action research is a viable means of exploring transformative learning in educational settings.     

Interface of Political Opportunism and Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh: Rhetorical Identification in Government Response

Critical approaches to study Bangladesh's political development have been widespread, especially in the fields of political science and international relations. What is missing from the existing critical account is an examination of the language that Bangladesh's political leaders use as symbolic means. This paper will critically analyze a rhetorical event, Address to the Nation by Begum Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, at the Fourth Anniversary of the former Alliance Government at Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 10, 2005 Zia , B. K. ( 2005, October, 10 ). [Address to the Nation]. Speech presented at the Fourth Anniversary of the Alliance Government. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Retrieved January 6, 2006, from http://www.mofa.gov.bd/st_prime_minister.htm  [Google Scholar]. The purpose is to investigate the responses of the then Bangladesh government to growing Islamic militancy in the country. Kenneth Burke's concept of identification will be used to this end.     

RESOCIALIZING FINANCE? OR DRESSING IT IN MUFTI?

Critical accounts of the financialization of the world economy decry the depersonalization and abstraction effected by finance in the service of extraction, expropriation and dispossession. Analysts and activists alike seek to re-socialize finance so that those whose interests it serves can be identified and so that new, socially embedded forms of exchange can emerge. They also seek to re-ground finance in a ‘real’, presumably material and social, fabric so that its excesses can be tamed and the sources of value made apparent. My essay questions these paired critiques and their supposed aims. It will argue that the continual attempt to reassert the social in economy points to a limit to the critical imagination, and that the critique of calculative rationality misses some of the other functions and practical effects of numbers besides commensuration and abstraction.     

近年来国内外关于极端伊斯兰原教旨主义研究综述

20世纪90年代以来,伊斯兰原教旨主义高潮再起,引发极端原教旨主义组织和恐怖组织不断进行分裂恐怖活动,不仅给阿拉伯世界和中东各国带来了不安全因素,也使世界局势动荡不安,引起国际社会极大关注。国内外学术界加强了这方面的研究,提出了一系列具有学术价值的观点,取得了一定的成就。     

Muslim Persecution of Heretics during the Marwānid Period (64–132/684–750)

This article traces the emergence of a systematic approach to combating heresy during the Umayyad period. It argues that the Umayyads sought to silence religious dissent by labelling it as heresy and that the doctrinal boundaries of “orthodoxy” narrowed as the Umayyad period progressed. The article also asserts that Umayyad efforts to impose their vision of orthodoxy were an important precedent for the mi?na under the ?Abbāsids.     

河南心意六合拳的传承方式及其形成原因

河南心意六合拳是回族武术的重要组成部分,其传承方式主要有宗教传承、宗法传承和地域传承。研究表明,伊斯兰文化的影响、清朝对回民的政治压制和回汉矛盾是形成宗教传承的主要原因;宗法思想对回民产生很大影响,直系血缘传承明显多于旁系血缘传承;清真寺促进心意六合拳在本地域的发展,经商活动推动拳术向外地域传承。     

伊斯兰教“吉哈德”涵义解读

伊斯兰教的"吉哈德"具有独特而丰富的内涵。"吉哈德"既是穆斯林的宗教义务,又是穆斯林群体与非穆斯林群体之间的交往方式。这种交往方式分为4种:用心、用舌、用手(笔)、用剑。"吉哈德"包括"大吉哈德"和"小吉哈德"。"小吉哈德"的内容常常使不了解其含义的人发生误解,也常常被心存不轨的人所利用而加以歪曲。因此,"吉哈德"中"小吉哈德"内容需要受到格外重视。     

元朝宗教管理机构述论

元朝是中国历史上第一个由少数民族建立的统一的多民族国家。元朝幅员辽阔,民族众多,各种宗教并存。为了维护统治,统治者既实行兼容并蓄的宗教政策,又设立专门机构对各种宗教进行管理。