Turkey and Malaysia, two countries on the Islamic periphery, are often not included in discussions of Islamic reassertion and identity. Yet both have been at the forefront of modernization and development, and are exposed to a rising trend of Islamic revival which discloses a deep, psychological identity crisis. In Islamic Identity and Development, Ozay Mehmet examines this identity crisis in the wider context of the Islamic dilemma of reconciling nationalism with Islam. He sees the Islamic revival primarily as a protest movement, concentrated among urban migrant settlements where uneven post-war growth has upset the traditional Islamic order. He argues that Islamic societies must move towards greater openness and an organic relationship between rulers and ruled. In particular, Mehmet suggests the need for a public policy that is not only responsive to material human needs but which also satisfies the ethical preconditions of the Islamic social contract.

This book theorizes a philosophical framework for educational policy and practice in the southern Philippines where decades of religious and political conflict between a minority Muslim community and the Philippine state has plagued the educational and economic development of the region. It offers a critical historical and ethnographic analysis of a century of failed attempts under successive U.S. colonial and independent Philippine governments to deploy education as a tool to mitigate the conflict and assimilate the Muslim minority into the mainstream of Philippine society and examines recent efforts to integrate state and Islamic education before proposing a philosophy of prophetic pragmatism as a more promising framework for educational policy and practice that respects the religious identity and fosters the educational development of Muslim Filipinos. It represents a timely contribution to the search for educational policies and practices more responsive to the needs and religious identities of Muslim communities emerging from conflict, not only in the southern Philippines, but in other international contexts as well.

This book centres on the key concept of diversity and relates it to the identity formation of Muslims. Muslim identity differs specifically within certain theological, social, political and regional circumstances and discourses. Considering the diversity of societies and the numerous factors contributing to the shaping of Muslim identity, this book brings together examples from different parts of the world, including Western societies, and each chapter focuses on separate determinants of individual, communal, political, institutional, civic and national Muslim identities, offering a blueprint for identity studies. A particular strength of the book is its detailed investigation of the complexity of identity formation and the heterogeneity of the Muslim experience. In addition to including a variety of themes and cases from different parts of the world, diverse methodologies, including quantitative and qualitative research methods, further enrich the book. The contributors’ academic backgrounds and organic relationships with their communities enable them to develop their arguments with insight. Furthermore, by giving voice to academics from different nationalities, this book reflects neither a predominantly Western nor a distinctly Eastern approach, but instead gives a balanced view from critical academia globally.

Rather than focus solely on theological concerns, this well-rounded introduction takes an expansive view of Islamic ideology, culture, and tradition, sourcing a range of historical, sociological, and literary perspectives. Neither overly critical nor apologetic, this book reflects the rich diversity of Muslim identities across the centuries and counters the unflattering, superficial portrayals of Islam that are shaping public discourse today. Aaron W. Hughes uniquely traces the development of Islam in relation to historical, intellectual, and cultural influences, enriching his narrative with the findings, debates, and methodologies of related disciplines, such as archaeology, history, and Near Eastern studies. Hughes's work challenges the dominance of traditional terms and concepts in religious studies, recasting religion as a set of social and cultural facts imagined, manipulated, and contested by various actors and groups over time. Making extensive use of contemporary identity theory, Hughes rethinks the teaching of Islam and religions in general and helps facilitate a more critical approach to Muslim sources. For readers seeking a non-theological, unbiased, and richly human portrait of Islam, as well as a strong grasp of Islamic study's major issues and debates, this textbook is a productive, progressive alternative to more classic surveys.

This volume is concerned with the origins, development and character of ritual in Islam. The focus is upon the rituals associated with the five 'pillars of Islam': the credal formula, prayer, alms, fasting and pilgrimage. Since the 19th century academic scholarship has sought to investigate Muslim rituals from the point of view of history, the study of religion, and the social sciences, and a set of the most important and influential contributions to this debate, some of them translated into English for the first time, is brought together here. Participation in the ritual life of Islam is for most Muslims the predominant expression of their adherence to the faith and of their religious identity. The Development of Islamic Ritual shows some of the ways in which this important aspect of Islam developed to maturity in the first centuries of Islamic history.

Exploring themes of identity and development in the post-Ottoman Arab world, this book updates the author’s earlier Islamic Identity and Development (Routledge, 1990) to analyse the root causes of chaos, civil war, and conflict in the Islamic Core today. Adopting a neo-Ottomanist framework, and using the latest scholarship on the Middle East, the author traces the historical development of the current crisis to the First World War, when the West instigated invasions, coup d’états, civil and proxy wars. It is argued that Western powers have facilitated the dispossession of the Arab people in their overarching aim to gain control of the oil fields. A range of historical case-studies are provided as evidence, from the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the creation of Israel and the displacement of Islamic refugees. Individual nations are also analysed, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Ultimately, the author suggests that artificial countries and unsustainable frontiers are the root causes of the Islamic crisis. However, a realistic (and long-term) solution may lie in the evolution of a new Silk Route Economy. This book will appeal to graduate-level students in political economy, area studies, international affairs, and Middle East studies generally.

The Isma'ili Muslims, a major sect of Shi'i Islam, form a community that is intriguing in its deterritorialized social organization. Informed by the richness of Isma'ili history, theories of transnationalism and globalization, and firsthand ethnographic f