Search Results (259)

Contrary to states such as Egypt or Morocco, the Jordanian state could not rely on long-lasting Islamic tradition and institutions at its creation and was exposed to the religious influence of its neighbours. The regime had to “invent” a Jordanian religious tradition, making Jordan a particularly interesting case for the study of the development of Islamic policies—central to a regime that significantly relies on religious legitimacy. This contribution based on fieldwork in Amman dives into the nationalisation of the Islamic education of Jordanian imams and preachers as a component of official Islam. It argues that the nationalisation of higher Islamic education is a crucial element of state control over religion and is inscribed in the regional competition over religious influence as much as in international considerations. It contributes to improving our understanding of the entanglement of the domestic promotion of official Islam and regional fight for religious influence. Full article

This article examines the configuration of carceral Islam in Algeria as an instrument of moral governance and civic re-education. Drawing on a multi-year qualitative investigation conducted within several research projects and framed by a comparative Maghrebi perspective, the study analyses how imam and Murshidat contribute to the construction of an “administered religion,” in which spiritual authority is translated into institutional competence and a tool of moral regulation. Through the examination of institutional sources, interviews, and field observations, the research shows how faith becomes a language of discipline, how Tawba (moral and spiritual repentance) is converted into a form of moral capital, and how spirituality functions as a technology of civic conformity. The Algerian prison thus emerges as a laboratory of religious governmentality, where the spiritual dimension is incorporated into logics of security and social control. The comparison with Tunisia—and, to a lesser extent, Morocco—highlights both convergences and divergences among Maghrebi models of religious management, opening new avenues for research on the public function of religion and on the contemporary forms through which states moralize the sacred in Muslim societies. Full article

A considerable portion of the Armenian population living in the Armenian highland and the South Caucasian region was subject to the Iranian dynasties of the Safavids, Afsharids and Qajars in the period from the 16th till the beginning of the 19th centuries. The rulers of Iran often initiated and stimulated processes of conversion to Shi̒i Islam among its subjects with the purpose of increasing the religious and cultural homogeneity of the society. Apart from some forced methods of conversion applied by different rulers of Iran, there existed a number of factors stimulating the conversion of Christian Armenians and their assimilation in Iran in the early modern period. After a review over the various factors stimulating this process, author focuses on the law of Shi̒i Islam practiced in the hereditary matters of Armenians since the 1620s. It became a major factor leading to the conversion of Christian Armenians not only in the inner provinces of Iran but also in their native settlements in the regions of South Caucasus and Anatolia subordinated to the rule of Iranian states. The article considers the consequences of the implementation of this law for the Armenians living under the rule of Iran, as well as the ways they used to avoid the claims of their relatives who had adopted Islam and to bypass its harmful effects. The data and information of the contemporary sources have also allowed us to reveal the legal ways used by the Armenians during the purchase and transmission of property in order to protect it from various encroachments of their Muslim relatives. The article elucidates likewise the attempts of the leaders of the Armenian Church to withstand the harm caused by the implementation of the law and stop it with royal decrees. Full article

This study explores the concept and practice of treaty-making within the Islamic tradition, delving into its theological, legal, and historical underpinnings. The study highlights the principles and processes that have governed treaty-making in Islam by examining key sources such as the Qur’an, Hadith, and classical Islamic jurisprudence. The research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the drafting, negotiation, and implementation of treaties within an Islamic context, focusing on the ethical and legal norms that guided Muslim rulers and states in their engagements with Muslim and non-Muslim entities. Through analysis of notable historical treaties and the jurisprudential debates surrounding them, the study underscores the significance of treaties in Islamic governance and diplomacy, offering insights into how these practices have evolved. Full article

Religion can provide comfort, a sense of purpose and community support, but when it comes to mental health, it may also have a negative impact by triggering feelings of guilt, fear and social stigma. The aim of this study is to explore the medical students’ beliefs about possible impact of religion on mental health. A 16-item questionnaire was distributed online to 100 medical students with different religious backgrounds. It assessed beliefs, the frequency of religious activities and the perceived influence on mental health. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test (via GraphPad Prism 10.5.0 (774) software). The participants were young adults (61% aged 20–25), predominately female (59%) and Islam was the most represented religion (51%). 64% reported mental struggles and 76% had faced hardships that affected their mental state. Among these, 66% said hardships brought them closer to faith and 85% found religious refuge helpful. Also, 83% valued religious community support. On the other hand, 56% have reported frequent feeling of guilt related to religious practices and 41% believe that being too religious can affect mental health. Significant associations were found between level of religious practice and several beliefs, indicating differences in how more and less practicing individuals perceived guilt, religious coping, and the impact of hardships. Religion may provide psychological support, offering effective coping tools and emotional help. However, it may also contribute to mental distress through guilt and social stigma. These findings highlight the need for culturally and spiritually sensitive mental health care that respects each individual’s beliefs. Full article

Northern Nigeria’s Qur’an schools (also known as ‘Almajiri Schools’) have existed for several centuries and remain a key source of education and socialisation for many young boys in rural northern Nigeria. The schools are the subject of often harmful and stigmatising representations and elitist discontent due to the students being seen as ‘out of school’ and ill-educated for the 21st century. The boys can sometimes be seen begging and at the mercy of the streets as the schools fall out of the purview of the state. Importantly, this system of schooling and education is largely understood as male-dominated, from the teachers to the students and the fathers who do the sending. This study therefore explores the historical and contemporary roles of women within northern Nigeria’s Qur’anic system of schooling and Islamic education more widely, paying close attention to the continuities and disruptions. By focusing on women and girls and making apparent their places in a practice regarded primarily as an avenue for educating boys, the exploration reveals ways that women have and still play an integral part especially as co-educators. From prominent women historical figures to the wives of the teachers; present-day scholars to women who act as mother figures within the local communities, women shape and influence Islamic education within northern Nigeria. Making these contributions, their roles, and agency apparent and visible is therefore a key goal, especially in a context where they have always been present yet disregarded (sometimes wilfully, sometimes inadvertently unseen), and subsequently ‘invisiblised’. Full article

This paper revisits Saudi Arabia’s religious statecraft through the lens of Pax Wahhabica, interrogating the transnational diffusion, strategic reconfiguration, and evolving instrumentalisation of Wahhabism as a modality of imperial theopolitics and a conduit of ideological projection. Tracing Wahhabism from its eighteenth-century roots, through its Cold War entrenchment as a bulwark against secular nationalism, to its post-9/11 fragmentation, this study offers a conceptual re-evaluation of Wahhabism not as a fixed theological doctrine but as a malleable constellation of norms and discourses continuously calibrated to state interest. Theoretically anchored in soft power analysis, constructivist norm diffusion, Gramscian hegemony, and Foucauldian governmentality, this paper examines how religious norms are mobilised through affective discourse, institutional socialisation, and securitised governance to advance regime resilience. Through empirical case studies on Bosnia, Indonesia, and Nigeria, it elucidates how Wahhabi norms were localised, hybridised, and, in some instances, weaponised against their progenitors. Finally, this paper examines the domestic reconfiguration and international repositioning of Wahhabism under Muḥammad bin Salmān, arguing that contemporary Saudi theopolitics marks not the abandonment of Wahhabism but its reconversion into a strategically curated, domesticated ideology. Pax Wahhabica, thus, persists—not as an unbroken theological doctrine but as a hybrid ideational empire in which Islam is strategically retooled as an instrument of hegemonic statecraft. Full article

In early modern Islamic thought, the concept of zindīq (heretic) occupied a critical space at the intersection of theology, law, and state authority, particularly in the context of Muslim–Christian relations. One of the most significant scholarly attempts to define this term came from Ibn Kemāl (d. 940/1534), a leading Ottoman jurist and theologian, whose treatise Risāla fī mā yataʿallaq bi-lafẓ al-zindīq (Treatise on the Definition of the Word Zindīq) sought to clarify the precise meaning and legal implications of zandaqa (heresy). This article provides the first English translation and critical edition of Ibn Kemāl’s treatise, making this important work accessible to a wider scholarly audience. Through a close reading of the text, this study examines how Ibn Kemāl systematically distinguished zindīq from murtadd (apostate), mulḥid (disbeliever), and munāfiq (hypocrite), shaping Ottoman legal discourse on heresy. The present analysis further explores the theological and jurisprudential foundations Ibn Kemāl employed to define and punish heretics, particularly in light of the controversial execution of Mollā Kābid (or Mullā Qābiḍ, tr. Molla Kābız), who had asserted the superiority of Jesus over Muhammad. This case demonstrates the presence of polemical debates in the shaping of confessional boundaries in the ninth/fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire and reflects the broader challenges of Muslim–Christian interactions during this period. Additionally, this study investigates the broader implications of Ibn Kemāl’s classification of zindīq within the context of Muslim–Christian relations, considering how interfaith polemics and religious boundary-making influenced Ottoman legal thought. By contextualizing this treatise within early modern Ottoman legal and theological traditions, this study contributes to the understanding of how heresy was redefined in a multi-religious empire navigating theological, political, and interreligious challenges. Full article

This article examines the legal and practical dimensions of religious education (RE) in Austria with a particular focus on interreligious education as an emerging pedagogical and societal response to increasing religious and cultural diversity. It begins by situating the discussion within Austria’s historical and constitutional framework, in which RE is governed as a res mixta—a joint responsibility shared between the state and legally recognized churches and religious societies (CRSs). The analysis highlights how this model of power-sharing is enshrined in both constitutional and ordinary legislation, granting CRSs extensive autonomy in the organization, content, and supervision of denominational RE. Despite the absence of explicit legal provisions for interreligious education, the article demonstrates that interreligious teaching practices can be implemented through cooperative arrangements between CRSs, particularly when aligned with national educational goals and international commitments to tolerance, religious freedom, and other human rights. It further analyses curricular references to interreligiosity across various denominational RE programs and discusses the institutional potential for integrating interreligious competencies into teacher training and school practice. Drawing on the example of the project Integration through Interreligious Education at the University Graz, a cooperative initiative between the Catholic Church and the Islamic Religious Society in Austria (IGGÖ) from 2017 to 2023, the article outlines how interreligious education was legally contextualized and contractually formalized. The article concludes that interreligious education, though legally unregulated, is both feasible and desirable within Austria’s current legal and educational framework. It calls for greater normative clarity and policy support to ensure the sustainability and broader implementation of such models, which foster mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic society. Full article

This article offers a comparative analysis of authoritarian governance in Egypt and Türkiye through the lens of two pivotal state–Islamist alliances: the early partnership and eventual rupture between Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and the strategic collaboration followed by confrontation between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Gülen Movement (GM). Despite operating in different historical and institutional settings—a postcolonial military regime in Egypt and an electoral, hybrid regime in Türkiye—both leaders allied with influential religious actors during moments of transition to gain popular support and dismantle entrenched power structures. These alliances were instrumental and temporary: once religious movements developed autonomous influence, they were recast as threats and suppressed through legal, institutional, and religious mechanisms. This study traces how religious institutions like Egypt’s al-Azhar and Türkiye’s Diyanet were co-opted to delegitimize these former allies and justify state repression. While the MB pursued overt political goals and the GM functioned through civic and technocratic channels, both were ultimately excluded from the political order once they had been considered as threats to the central authority of the regime. This comparison underscores the strategic use of religion in authoritarian statecraft and the enduring tension between religious autonomy and centralized political control in Muslim-majority polities. Full article

This paper critically interrogates the French model of secularism (laïcité) and its implications for Muslim women’s rights in contemporary France, particularly within post-colonial and post-secular contexts. It explores how historical legacies of colonial governance continue to inform current regulatory frameworks around religious expression, especially regarding the wearing of Islamic veils in public institutions. While laïcité is officially presented as a principle of neutrality and universalism, its practical enforcement often targets Muslim women, functioning as a mechanism of exclusion that conflates religiosity with political threat. Drawing on intersectional feminist theory and recent debates on post-secularism, the paper examines how dominant feminist movements in France have struggled to incorporate the lived experiences and agency of pious Muslim women, frequently aligning with state-led narratives that instrumentalises gender equality in service of national identity and securitisation. Drawing upon the concept of intersectional post-secularity as discussed in recent scholarship, this article offers a new contextualised framework from within the French system of laïcité for analysing how secular governance, feminist discourse, and colonial legacies converge to regulate Muslim women’s visibility and subjectivity. This approach moves beyond binaries of secularism versus religion and emancipation versus subjugation, offering new insights into the entangled politics of faith, gender, and national identity. Ultimately, the paper calls for feminist and civic discourse that upholds democratic inclusivity, accommodates religious diversity, and resists the racialised governance of Muslim women’s bodies in the name of laïcité. Full article

This study assesses the financial soundness of Sudanese commercial banks during escalating civil conflict by integrating Altman’s Z-score models with scenario-based stress testing. Using audited financial data from 2016 to 2022 (pre-war) and projections through to 2028, the analysis evaluates resilience under low- and high-intensity conflict scenarios. Altman’s Model 3 (for non-industrial firms) and Model 4 (for emerging markets) are applied to capture liquidity, retained earnings, profitability, and leverage dynamics. The findings reveal relative stability between 2017–2020 and in 2022, contrasted by significant vulnerability in 2016 and 2021 due to macroeconomic deterioration, sanctions, and political instability. Liquidity emerged as the most critical driver of Z-score performance, followed by earnings retention and profitability, while leverage showed a context-specific positive effect under Sudan’s Islamic finance framework. Stress testing indicates that even under low-intensity conflict, rising liquidity risk, capital erosion, and credit risk threaten sectoral stability by 2025. High-intensity conflict projections suggest systemic collapse by 2028, characterized by unsustainable liquidity depletion, near-zero capital adequacy, and widespread defaults. The results demonstrate a direct relationship between conflict duration and systemic fragility, affirming the predictive value of Altman’s models when combined with stress testing. Policy implications include the urgent need for enhanced risk-based supervision, Basel II/III implementation, crisis reserves, contingency planning, and coordinated regulatory interventions to safeguard the stability of the banking sector in fragile states. Full article

An analysis of Albanian Muslims in Italy provides a compelling case study of communities perceived as marginal. Studies of Muslims in Italy tend to focus on the majority and chronologically older groups within the country’s Islamic landscape, particularly those from Asia and Africa. In addition to providing a better understanding of Islam in Italy, a study of the identity and community-building issues of the Albanian community of origin offers many insights into that community’s complexity. Albanians in Italy have a very specific historical and religious heritage; so, analyzing their roots and community-building processes helps us to better understand the development of Islam on the margins of large national organizations and majority groups. This article presents the results of the first national study of Albanian Muslims in Italy. Online interviews and field observations were conducted in 2024 within the Union of Muslim Albanians in Italy (Unione degli Albanesi Musulmani in Italia—UAMI), using the ethnographic method. The Association has fewer members compared with national level organizations. It was founded in 2009 to address specific issues related to the management of Muslim Albanian religious identity. The Association has sought to address the fragmentation of religion and Albanian nationalism, a consequence of a long period of state atheism, and to counter the literalist and radical tendencies in the interpretation of religion that have emerged in Albania since the collapse of the communist regime. In addition to these challenges, the Association has also tackled issues related to the Islamic religion in its local and global dimensions. The analysis of these challenges and the ways to deal with them offers a new framework in the Italian Islamic panorama, despite its marginality. The results of this research point to the emergence of new forms of rooting and belonging characterized by spirituality over orthopraxis. These forms adopt a religious approach open to diversity and pluralism. Full article

This study examines the complex process of Islam’s localization in Sudan, focusing on how hospitality, Sufi dhikr, and Mawlid celebrations integrate with Islamic practices. Drawing on three years of qualitative fieldwork, it demonstrates how Sudan’s geography, ethnic diversity, and historical heritage enable the blending of core religious principles with local customs. Sufi brotherhoods—particularly Qādiriyya, Tījāniyya, Shādhiliyya, and Khatmiyya—play a pivotal role in local culture by incorporating traditional musical, choreographic, and narrative art forms into their rituals, resulting in highly dynamic worship and social interaction. In Sudan, hospitality emerges as a near-sovereign social norm, reflecting the Islamic ethics of charity and mutual assistance while remaining deeply intertwined with local traditions. Islam’s adaptability toward local customs is further illustrated by the vibrant drumming, chanting, and dancing that enhance large-scale Mawlid al-Nabi celebrations, uniting Muslims under a religious identity that goes beyond dogmatic definitions. Beyond their spiritual meanings, these Sufi practices and networks also serve as tools for social cohesion, often functioning as support systems in regions with minimal state presence. They help prevent disputes and foster unity, demonstrating the positive impact of a flexible Islam—one that draws on both scripture and local traditions—on peacebuilding in Sudan. While highlighting the country’s social realities, this study offers insights into how Islam can function as a transformative force within society. Full article

When designing, implementing and assessing public policies, and, in particular, those affecting the public management of religious diversity, it is increasingly common to include ethnographic approaches from the field of social anthropology and the broader social sciences. Ethnographic practice can provide more representative and accurate perspectives on the actors, settings, and social phenomena subject to regulation. This article presents the findings of an ethnographic study on two minority religious communities, conducted by a team of anthropologists within the framework of a broader research project on religious freedom in Spain, led by jurists. Based on two case studies—the teaching of Evangelical religion in state schools and Islamic burial practices—our study analyses the implications of the varying degrees of public recognition, as well as how this recognition actually manifests in the everyday practice of religious groups within a context of religious diversity. The study also examines the barriers to the full participation of these communities in public institutions and civil society, as well as the discourses, strategies, and practices they develop to overcome these challenges. Full article