Muslims have a long history in Australia. In 2016, Muslims formed 2.6 per cent of the total Australian population. In this article, I will discuss Australian Muslims’ citizenship in two time periods, 2006–2018 and 2020. In the first period, I will examine Australian Muslims’ identity and sense of belonging, and whether their race or culture have any impact on their Australian citizenship. I will also discuss the political rhetoric concerning Australian Muslims. In the second period, 2020, I will examine Australian Muslims’ placement as returned travellers during the COVID-19 period. I conclude that, from 2006 to 2018, Islamophobia was rampant in “othering” many Australian Muslims. And in 2020 the Australian government has adopted a policy of inclusion by repatriating its citizens (both Muslims and non-Muslims), but with the COVID-19 crisis, a new dimension of discrimination has been added onto ethnic minorities – in this case Bangladeshi Australians who are mostly Muslims. They are now looked upon as the “other quarantined” or “detained Australian citizens”.
{"title":"Australian Muslim Citizens","authors":"N. Kabir","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i2.273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i2.273","url":null,"abstract":"Muslims have a long history in Australia. In 2016, Muslims formed 2.6 per cent of the total Australian population. In this article, I will discuss Australian Muslims’ citizenship in two time periods, 2006–2018 and 2020. In the first period, I will examine Australian Muslims’ identity and sense of belonging, and whether their race or culture have any impact on their Australian citizenship. I will also discuss the political rhetoric concerning Australian Muslims. In the second period, 2020, I will examine Australian Muslims’ placement as returned travellers during the COVID-19 period. I conclude that, from 2006 to 2018, Islamophobia was rampant in “othering” many Australian Muslims. And in 2020 the Australian government has adopted a policy of inclusion by repatriating its citizens (both Muslims and non-Muslims), but with the COVID-19 crisis, a new dimension of discrimination has been added onto ethnic minorities – in this case Bangladeshi Australians who are mostly Muslims. They are now looked upon as the “other quarantined” or “detained Australian citizens”.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126297111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
‘Islamists’ represent a very complex category of actors mostly associated with research on terrorism and radicalisation. While many studies have investigated the dangers posed by Islamist groups in various national contexts, only a few analyses have explored Islamist views on core concepts, including citizenship. This article examines the concept of citizenship through the lenses of two long-living transnational Islamist groups, i.e. Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Starting by framing the concept of citizenship within Islamism as an ideology, this article eviscerates the main causes that have led Ikhwan and the Hizb to hold diverse views on citizenship. This analysis concludes that different visions on citizenship are caused by two main factors (terminal and instrumental values), which are defined by the different evolutionary paths undertaken by the groups over the decades. Together, these values define a new social identity each individual develops as a result of his/her membership to the group. This new identity eventually aligns the members’ interpretation of reality and their behaviours with the group’s core values
{"title":"Citizenship in the Minds of Radical Islamists","authors":"Elisa Orofino","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i2.261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i2.261","url":null,"abstract":"‘Islamists’ represent a very complex category of actors mostly associated with research on terrorism and radicalisation. While many studies have investigated the dangers posed by Islamist groups in various national contexts, only a few analyses have explored Islamist views on core concepts, including citizenship. This article examines the concept of citizenship through the lenses of two long-living transnational Islamist groups, i.e. Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Starting by framing the concept of citizenship within Islamism as an ideology, this article eviscerates the main causes that have led Ikhwan and the Hizb to hold diverse views on citizenship. This analysis concludes that different visions on citizenship are caused by two main factors (terminal and instrumental values), which are defined by the different evolutionary paths undertaken by the groups over the decades. Together, these values define a new social identity each individual develops as a result of his/her membership to the group. This new identity eventually aligns the members’ interpretation of reality and their behaviours with the group’s core values","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131800156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This autoethnographic study explores how I am a citizen culturally speaking; that is, my Muslim identity and religious customs are positively recognised by my non-Muslim Australian work-colleague. In our interactions at my workplace—a train station—my colleague’s actions towards me made me feel included within Australian society. I also claimed recognition of my cultural identity and custom by including my work colleague in my Eid celebration. I interpret my colleague’s actions and my own as examples of cultural citizenship. This finding lends weight to the results of previous research that illustrate a positive trend vis-à-vis Muslims and Australian citizenship.
{"title":"Iftar at the Train Station","authors":"Rizwan Sahib","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i2.271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i2.271","url":null,"abstract":"This autoethnographic study explores how I am a citizen culturally speaking; that is, my Muslim identity and religious customs are positively recognised by my non-Muslim Australian work-colleague. In our interactions at my workplace—a train station—my colleague’s actions towards me made me feel included within Australian society. I also claimed recognition of my cultural identity and custom by including my work colleague in my Eid celebration. I interpret my colleague’s actions and my own as examples of cultural citizenship. This finding lends weight to the results of previous research that illustrate a positive trend vis-à-vis Muslims and Australian citizenship.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127664337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muslims as archetypal suspect citizens in Australia is a product of Australian state approach to manage a section of supposedly “rogue population.” Muslims have been increasingly framed as a security problem and, therefore, their securitisation. The horrendous atrocities of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States followed by a new period of similar attacks in various parts of particularly the Western world provided a new stage for an extensive range of discourses involving politicians, public intellectuals, academics, and journalists swiftly securitised Islam as an existential threat to Australian liberal democracy. This paper probes the politics of Muslim suspect and how securitizing and “othering” of Australian Muslims in the name of managing security threat to Australian national order are rendered Australian Muslims archetypal suspect citizens. It suggests that the politics of suspect and securitizing and “othering” of Muslims in Australia transforms security from the problem of producing national order to making Muslims feel unwelcome citizens.
{"title":"Muslims as Archetypal Suspect Citizens in Australia","authors":"Jan A. Ali","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i2.309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i2.309","url":null,"abstract":"Muslims as archetypal suspect citizens in Australia is a product of Australian state approach to manage a section of supposedly “rogue population.” Muslims have been increasingly framed as a security problem and, therefore, their securitisation. The horrendous atrocities of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States followed by a new period of similar attacks in various parts of particularly the Western world provided a new stage for an extensive range of discourses involving politicians, public intellectuals, academics, and journalists swiftly securitised Islam as an existential threat to Australian liberal democracy. This paper probes the politics of Muslim suspect and how securitizing and “othering” of Australian Muslims in the name of managing security threat to Australian national order are rendered Australian Muslims archetypal suspect citizens. It suggests that the politics of suspect and securitizing and “othering” of Muslims in Australia transforms security from the problem of producing national order to making Muslims feel unwelcome citizens. \u0000 ","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126491194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The provenance of Muslims in the West is multifarious. During the Crusades, a few Europeans had converted to Islam, but a majority of them converted during the Ottoman rule. During the colonial era, the colonial masters had moved the ‘natives’ around for their own ventures, and some of these ‘natives’ ended up in the West. In recent times, refugees have come to the West in order to escape conflict zones; similarly, individuals have migrated to the West in order to improve their financial situations or pursue higher studies. As the population in the West decreases, there is also a constant need for migrants. The belongingness of Muslims in the West has been of perennial concern due to factors like racism, islamophobia, rightist-populist antagonism and ultra-nationalism. But belongingness is not just a localised insulated phenomenon; it also has global affects and implications. To ensure positive Muslim belongingness in the West, the local problems obviously require to be secured; but, moreover, there is a need to fix the global issues related to the phenomenon and alter some ingrained perceptions efficaciously.
{"title":"Muslim ‘Belonging’ in the West and Some Global Implications","authors":"Mohammed J. Haider","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i2.263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i2.263","url":null,"abstract":"The provenance of Muslims in the West is multifarious. During the Crusades, a few Europeans had converted to Islam, but a majority of them converted during the Ottoman rule. During the colonial era, the colonial masters had moved the ‘natives’ around for their own ventures, and some of these ‘natives’ ended up in the West. In recent times, refugees have come to the West in order to escape conflict zones; similarly, individuals have migrated to the West in order to improve their financial situations or pursue higher studies. As the population in the West decreases, there is also a constant need for migrants. The belongingness of Muslims in the West has been of perennial concern due to factors like racism, islamophobia, rightist-populist antagonism and ultra-nationalism. But belongingness is not just a localised insulated phenomenon; it also has global affects and implications. To ensure positive Muslim belongingness in the West, the local problems obviously require to be secured; but, moreover, there is a need to fix the global issues related to the phenomenon and alter some ingrained perceptions efficaciously.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131054106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For many years, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had a long history of contact with the regions to the north of Australia. This preceded European contact by many years and led to fruitful dialogue and levels of social cohesion between Muslims from the Macassan and Malay region and the Indigenous people of Arnhem Land and beyond. The area of contact was widespread, encompassing around 3,000 km of Australia’s northern coastline. Initial contact was most likely with the people known as the Baijini, referred to as “followers of Allah”, followed by the Macassans. This article has two fundamental arguments concerning the nature and level of dialogue between Muslims and Indigenous Australians prior to the 20th Century. Firstly, there are established links that dialogue occurred in this era, as is evident by the linguistic traces, syncretic absorption of rituals and beliefs and the transference of technology. Secondly, whilst the primary objective of the interaction and dialogue was trade focussed, some of the Baijini and Macassans used this contact and trade as a vehicle for the purpose of da’wah (proselytizing or invitation to Islam, The syncretic nature of this dialogue has left a lasting legacy with many Indigenous peoples in Arnhem Land, including ceremonies and rituals reflecting certain concepts or ideas from Islam and other Macassan beliefs. Ultimately, this long term dialogue declined following the banning of the Macassan trepang fleets in 1906, however, the legacy remains to this day.
{"title":"Indigenous Australians and Muslims","authors":"David Sneddon","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i1.241","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i1.241","url":null,"abstract":"For many years, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had a long history of contact with the regions to the north of Australia. This preceded European contact by many years and led to fruitful dialogue and levels of social cohesion between Muslims from the Macassan and Malay region and the Indigenous people of Arnhem Land and beyond. The area of contact was widespread, encompassing around 3,000 km of Australia’s northern coastline. Initial contact was most likely with the people known as the Baijini, referred to as “followers of Allah”, followed by the Macassans. This article has two fundamental arguments concerning the nature and level of dialogue between Muslims and Indigenous Australians prior to the 20th Century. Firstly, there are established links that dialogue occurred in this era, as is evident by the linguistic traces, syncretic absorption of rituals and beliefs and the transference of technology. Secondly, whilst the primary objective of the interaction and dialogue was trade focussed, some of the Baijini and Macassans used this contact and trade as a vehicle for the purpose of da’wah (proselytizing or invitation to Islam, The syncretic nature of this dialogue has left a lasting legacy with many Indigenous peoples in Arnhem Land, including ceremonies and rituals reflecting certain concepts or ideas from Islam and other Macassan beliefs. Ultimately, this long term dialogue declined following the banning of the Macassan trepang fleets in 1906, however, the legacy remains to this day.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"409 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133726659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mathnawī, Jalāluddīn Rūmī’s magnum opus, is among the most quoted mystico-didactic epic poems in the Islamic world. The purpose of this research is to provide an assessment of the 13th-century scholar’s work as exegetical commentary on the Qur’an. A theological approach has been adopted to identify the major teachings in the work. In this study, after a brief introduction of Rūmī and his vision of the Qur’an, the research evaluated the Mathnawī from historical, mystical, exegetical and literary perspectives. It identifies the stories of Prophets and their people in his poetic lines and provides a holistic categorization of issues about them found also in various verses of the Qur’an as a possibility of commentary on the Qur’an. In order to establish a meaningful relationship in terms of the form and content in the work, stories of prophets mentioned in the Qur’an are analyzed to facilitate comprehensive assessment. This also serves as a guide to Rūmī’s interpretation of the Qur’an. It was discovered that Jalāluddīn Rūmī in his work pays particular attention to the spiritual attributes of each prophet. An overall evaluation of the Mathnawī shows that Rūmī did not only use Qur’an verses or words but also rational arguments, stories, and anecdotes to drive home his commentary on the Qur’an.
{"title":"Disguised Commentary on the Qur'an","authors":"A. Fahm","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i1.251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i1.251","url":null,"abstract":"Mathnawī, Jalāluddīn Rūmī’s magnum opus, is among the most quoted mystico-didactic epic poems in the Islamic world. The purpose of this research is to provide an assessment of the 13th-century scholar’s work as exegetical commentary on the Qur’an. A theological approach has been adopted to identify the major teachings in the work. In this study, after a brief introduction of Rūmī and his vision of the Qur’an, the research evaluated the Mathnawī from historical, mystical, exegetical and literary perspectives. It identifies the stories of Prophets and their people in his poetic lines and provides a holistic categorization of issues about them found also in various verses of the Qur’an as a possibility of commentary on the Qur’an. In order to establish a meaningful relationship in terms of the form and content in the work, stories of prophets mentioned in the Qur’an are analyzed to facilitate comprehensive assessment. This also serves as a guide to Rūmī’s interpretation of the Qur’an. It was discovered that Jalāluddīn Rūmī in his work pays particular attention to the spiritual attributes of each prophet. An overall evaluation of the Mathnawī shows that Rūmī did not only use Qur’an verses or words but also rational arguments, stories, and anecdotes to drive home his commentary on the Qur’an.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132394668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article is a systematic literature review of research conducted in the last two decades (2000-2020) on conversion and converts to Islam in western societies and Australia. The review highlights findings of this body of literature in six key points: there are important nuances of difference of conversions to Islam from country to country, conversion to Islam is a gradual process, converts to Islam do not entirely replace their existing identity with an Islamic one, converts are alienated by their friends and family leading to deep loneliness and isolation, converts to Islam feel denied meaningful roles in the Muslim community and converts to Islam experience a subtle form of Islamophobia. These findings and insights at the same time reveal gaps in knowledge and offer a road map in charting new research. This review highlights six important areas of research and gaps in knowledge: research need to include equally men and women converts, interplay between Islam influencing converts’ identity and converts influencing the way Islam is understood in western societies, there is a lack of the Muslim converts’ voice in research involving Muslims in the west, there is no study that investigates how converts successfully integrate within their respective Muslim community, the theory of conversion to Islam is not fully developed, research on Aboriginal converts to Islam needs to be investigated without the constraints of a security lens.
{"title":"Conversion to Islam","authors":"Bonne Martinot, M. Ozalp","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i1.269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i1.269","url":null,"abstract":"This article is a systematic literature review of research conducted in the last two decades (2000-2020) on conversion and converts to Islam in western societies and Australia. The review highlights findings of this body of literature in six key points: there are important nuances of difference of conversions to Islam from country to country, conversion to Islam is a gradual process, converts to Islam do not entirely replace their existing identity with an Islamic one, converts are alienated by their friends and family leading to deep loneliness and isolation, converts to Islam feel denied meaningful roles in the Muslim community and converts to Islam experience a subtle form of Islamophobia. These findings and insights at the same time reveal gaps in knowledge and offer a road map in charting new research. This review highlights six important areas of research and gaps in knowledge: research need to include equally men and women converts, interplay between Islam influencing converts’ identity and converts influencing the way Islam is understood in western societies, there is a lack of the Muslim converts’ voice in research involving Muslims in the west, there is no study that investigates how converts successfully integrate within their respective Muslim community, the theory of conversion to Islam is not fully developed, research on Aboriginal converts to Islam needs to be investigated without the constraints of a security lens.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"129 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114337030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper attempts to determine, in cases where a prophetic tradition was reported in two different variants of differing lengths, which version originated first through an experimental focus on the report of Māʿiḏ’s lapidation, which followed his confession of adultery. It uses sanad-cum-matn analysis which relies on the examination and analysis of both the chains of narrators and the texts of versions under discussion. It argues against Schacht supposition that short versions of hadith always originate earlier and then elaborated at later stages through refinements and additions made by narrators. Similarly, it opposes Irene Schneider's assumption that long, detailed variants of a hadith are newer than their corresponding short versions. Schneider concludes that the short versions of a hadith could not have been based on an original “long version”.
本文试图确定,在预言传统以两种不同长度的不同变体报告的情况下,哪一种版本首先起源于对他承认通奸之后的马尼伊塔石碑的报告的实验关注。它使用了sanad- and -matn分析法,这种分析法既依赖于对叙述者链的考察和分析,也依赖于所讨论版本的文本。它反驳了沙赫特的假设,即圣训的短版本总是起源于较早的地方,然后在后来的阶段通过叙述者的改进和补充加以阐述。同样,它也反对艾琳·施耐德(Irene Schneider)的假设,即圣训的长而详细的变体比相应的短版本更新。施耐德得出结论,圣训的短版本不可能是基于原始的“长版本”。
{"title":"Brevity in Hadith Texts","authors":"Mohammad Said Arrahawan","doi":"10.55831/ajis.v5i1.225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v5i1.225","url":null,"abstract":"This paper attempts to determine, in cases where a prophetic tradition was reported in two different variants of differing lengths, which version originated first through an experimental focus on the report of Māʿiḏ’s lapidation, which followed his confession of adultery. It uses sanad-cum-matn analysis which relies on the examination and analysis of both the chains of narrators and the texts of versions under discussion. It argues against Schacht supposition that short versions of hadith always originate earlier and then elaborated at later stages through refinements and additions made by narrators. Similarly, it opposes Irene Schneider's assumption that long, detailed variants of a hadith are newer than their corresponding short versions. Schneider concludes that the short versions of a hadith could not have been based on an original “long version”.","PeriodicalId":178428,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Islamic Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124947765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}