tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/islam-801/articlesIslam – The Conversation2024-03-28T12:50:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2263552024-03-28T12:50:10Z2024-03-28T12:50:10Z69% of US Muslims always give to charities during Ramadan, fulfilling a religious obligation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583547/original/file-20240321-28-vegr40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C988%2C5620%2C4421&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Muslim community gather for the first Taraweeh prayer of Ramadan in New York City in 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-muslim-community-gather-for-the-first-news-photo/2066798836">Adam Gray/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/items/ecaeeffb-5441-4b96-a2f6-ea8220571f22">Nearly 70% of Muslim Americans</a> say they always <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-zakat-a-scholar-of-islam-explains-170756">give zakat</a>, a yearly donation of 2.5% of one’s wealth that Islam encourages, during Ramadan according to a new study I worked on.</p>
<p>Ramadan is a month-long period of fasting and spiritual growth during which Muslims refrain from all food, beverages and sexual activity from dawn to dusk.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://lakeinstitute.org/research/muslim-philanthropy-initiative/">Muslim Philanthropy Initiative</a> research team at Indiana University surveyed 1,136 Muslims across the country in 2023 to assess the connection between Ramadan and zakat. We also looked into demographic differences in Muslim giving <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ramadan-is-called-ramadan-6-questions-answered-77291">tied to Ramadan</a>.</p>
<p>We found that women, married couples, those who consider themselves to be very religious, people with incomes in the US$50,000-$75,000 range, people in their 30s, and those who are registered to vote are most likely to give the bulk of their zakat during Ramadan.</p>
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<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Billions of Muslims across the world observe Ramadan.</p>
<p>Zakat, one of the <a href="https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/islam-five-pillars">five pillars of Islam</a>, is aimed at redistributing wealth and alleviating poverty within the Muslim community. Muslims can give to the poor, people who owe big debts, stranded travelers and those <a href="https://www.zakat.org/zakat-foundations-ceo-wins-lincoln-anti-slavery-award">seeking to free people from slavery or captivity</a> to meet the requirements of zakat.</p>
<p>Muslims often offer zakat during Ramadan through fundraising at <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/iftar-eftari-iftar-iftor-and-its-socio-cultural-traditions-01984">iftars</a>, which are gatherings held at sunset where people break their fast together.</p>
<p>Nonprofits that are not led by Muslims tend to focus their fundraising efforts on <a href="https://neonone.com/resources/blog/year-end-giving-statistics/">giving in December</a> and important secular days for campaigns, such as <a href="https://missionwired.com/insights/giving-tuesday-2023-final-report-11-takeaways/">Giving Tuesday</a>. But if these organizations don’t do outreach to Muslims during Ramadan they are less likely to raise money effectively from a <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-muslims-gave-more-to-charity-than-other-americans-in-2020-170689">small but generous population</a>.</p>
<p>Muslim-led U.S. nonprofits do spend a significant amount of time and money on fundraising during Ramadan. But they may not realize the importance of stepping up their efforts to seek zakat from Muslims in their 30s, women, married couples, active voters and those who regularly pray at a mosque.</p>
<p>In previous research projects, we’ve found that <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1805/29947">U.S. Muslims support both Muslim and non-Muslim nonprofits</a>, donating at least $4.3 billion in 2021, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-muslims-gave-more-to-charity-than-other-americans-in-2020-170689">including about $1.8 billion in zakat</a>. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are partnering with <a href="https://irusa.org/O">Islamic Relief USA</a>, the largest Muslim-led humanitarian charity in the United States which serves people in the United States and internationally, and our colleagues at Indiana University’s <a href="https://philanthropy.indianapolis.iu.edu/institutes/lake-institute/index.html">Lake Institute on Faith and Giving</a> to conduct annual surveys of Muslims in the United States to better understand Muslim giving starting in 2024.</p>
<p>We’re also conducting surveys and focus groups across the world to have a global understanding of Muslim giving. We aim to release data from Pakistan, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Kyrgyzstan, Italy, Bangladesh and India, in addition to the United States by the end of 2025.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Additional research is needed to better understand what motivates these donors to give during Ramadan, how much money U.S. Muslims give to charity during Ramadan and the best ways for nonprofits led by Muslims and non-Muslims to engage donors who are moved to support charitable causes during Ramadan.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shariq Siddiqui receives funding from The John Templeton Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts, Pillars Fund, Proteus Fund, Islamic Relief USA, Zakat Foundation of America, PennyAppeal USA, Mirza Family Foundation, Helping Hand Relief and Development, Nama Foundation and WF Fund. This research study was funded by Islamic Relief USA.</span></em></p>During the month-long period of fasting, the obligation of zakat takes on heightened significance.Shariq Siddiqui, Assistant Professor & Director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2266712024-03-28T12:21:08Z2024-03-28T12:21:08ZErdoğan’s party seeks advantage as Turkey’s local elections coincide with Ramadan<p>Millions of voters in Turkey will <a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-erdogan-local-elections-things-to-know-1cad0f209f0aed8c78f41307b52d4c2d">head to the polls</a> on March 31 to elect mayors in local elections. These elections are seen as crucial both for the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which has been in power since 2002, and the opposition.</p>
<p>The last time Turkey held local elections, in March 2019, Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost key cities such as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48739256">Istanbul</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/recep-tayyip-erdogan-loses-control-ankara-turkish-elections/">Ankara</a>. It will be looking to win them back. At the same time, retaining key cities would help revive Turkey’s opposition after it <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-erdogan-held-onto-power-in-turkey-and-what-this-means-for-the-countrys-future-206293">failed to defeat</a> Erdoğan in the 2023 national and presidential elections.</p>
<p>How will the elections pan out on March 31? Many things have happened since the last local elections, not least the COVID pandemic and the devastating <a href="https://theconversation.com/turkey-earthquakes-one-year-on-the-devastation-has-exposed-deep-societal-scars-and-women-are-bearing-the-brunt-221819">earthquakes</a> that rocked the country in 2023. But one thing is clearly different this time. While the elections in 2019 happened before the holy month of Ramadan, the 2024 elections will happen at the height of Ramadan.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00031224221101204">Research</a> from 2022 that I co-authored with my colleague, Diego Gambetta, suggests that Ramadan can drive up the intensity of religious beliefs, bolster the success of religious organisations, and even influence the results of elections. </p>
<p>Erdoğan’s AKP has a strong base of support among people from the conservative tradition of Turkey. This could give the party an extra edge. However, the role Ramadan might play in the elections is intricate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-erdogan-held-onto-power-in-turkey-and-what-this-means-for-the-countrys-future-206293">How Erdogan held onto power in Turkey, and what this means for the country's future</a>
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<h2>The Muslim holy month</h2>
<p>Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic year. It is a month where religious activities as well as charity and community services increase. Muslims abstain from drinking, eating, smoking and sexual intimacy from sunrise to sunset for a whole month.</p>
<p>Ramadan fasting is a physically and mentally demanding religious practice. Nevertheless, a very large majority of Muslims <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/dataset/the-worlds-muslims/">report</a> to be adhering to the full month of fasting.</p>
<p>A particular feature of Ramadan is that its start date is based on the lunar calendar. The lunar year is shorter than the solar year. Therefore, the whole month of Ramadan shifts back in the solar year by about 11 days each year. Because fasting happens between sunrise and sunset, this means that how long people must fast in a Ramadan day varies over the years. </p>
<p>How much day length changes over the years also varies by latitude. Take, for instance, London. When Ramadan falls in December (which happened during the late 1990s), a Muslim Londoner fasts for slightly less than eight hours. However, when Ramadan falls in June (which happened in 2015), the fasting duration is nearly 17 hours, a difference of nine hours. </p>
<p>In Antakya, the southernmost city in Turkey, the same difference between a winter and summer Ramadan day length is only about five hours (just below ten hours in winter and just above 14 hours in summer).</p>
<h2>Do religions defy the law of demand?</h2>
<p>The changing start date of Ramadan gives <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/130/2/615/2330341">researchers</a> a source of variation in the costliness of religious practice. This variation, in turn, helps researchers tackle the following longstanding social scientific puzzle.</p>
<p>As the cost of an activity increases (in this case, the physical and mental demands of fasting), people should, in theory, not be willing to spend as many resources on it, assuming all else remains equal. Economists call this the law of demand. In the religious domain, however, something different seems to happen. </p>
<p>Research, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00031224221101204">including my own</a>, shows that the more effort someone exerts in religious practice, the more religious they get, and subsequently the more successful religious organisations that require those practices become. </p>
<p>The mechanisms that give rise to this effect seem to involve adaptive preferences. This is where gradually increasing effort in a certain task raises a person’s commitment to the task. Indeed, the change in fasting duration over the years happens only gradually rather than abruptly.</p>
<p>If religiosity increases and religious organisations become more successful during and after Ramadans with long fasting days, we can, in principle, detect the effects of Ramadan on the electoral cycle. The longer people are fasting during Ramadan, the more votes Islamic political parties should get.</p>
<p>We tested this prediction in our research using data from Turkey, focusing on the parliamentary elections from 1973 to 2018. We found that a half-hour rise in the duration of Ramadan fasting increases the vote share of Islamist political parties by 11%. The sooner the election is after Ramadan, the stronger the effect of fasting duration on Islamic votes. </p>
<p>It seems that gradually exerting higher religious effort further intensifies religious beliefs and participation, which in turn drives up votes for political parties with religious connotations.</p>
<h2>What will happen on March 31?</h2>
<p>All else equal, which admittedly is never the case, the fact that Turkey’s local elections are taking place during Ramadan should help Islamist political parties gain ground, including Erdoğan’s AKP.</p>
<p>However, Ramadan day length in the northern hemisphere peaked in 2019 and has been decreasing since. This could mean that Islamic parties will face a steeper uphill struggle to keep their votes in the longer term. This is particularly true at northern latitudes (both within Turkey and beyond) where the decline in Ramadan day length is stronger. </p>
<p>It is difficult to tell which of these two opposing effects of Ramadan will dominate on March 31. But <a href="https://tr.euronews.com/2024/03/06/31-mart-yerel-secimleri-son-anketlere-gore-istanbulda-kim-onde-imamoglu-ve-kurumun-oyu-kac">polls</a> show that the race between AKP and the opposition is very close in many places. </p>
<p>In such close elections small factors could tip the balance. Time will soon tell who Ramadan will be most generous towards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ozan Aksoy receives funding from the British Academy (Grant no: SRG20\200045). </span></em></p>Research finds that Ramadan can bolster the success of religious organisations and even influence the results of elections.Ozan Aksoy, Associate Professor in Social Science, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248412024-03-26T18:35:25Z2024-03-26T18:35:25ZPakistan’s blasphemy laws continue to cause violence<p>The Supreme Court of Pakistan recently <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1160999-mubarak-sani-case-sc-accepts-plea-for-verdict-revision-issues-notices-for-26th">drew the ire</a> of religious parties and anti-blasphemy groups for granting bail to a man accused of blasphemy. The court ruled against the retroactive implementation of a law that bans the distribution of an <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/ahmadiyya-movement-pakistan">Ahmadiyya exegesis of the Qur'an</a>.</p>
<p>Mubarik Ahmad Sani was arrested on Jan. 7, 2023 and charged with distributing the book in 2019. However, the ban on its distribution was imposed in 2021. The court granted relief to Sani, who had been incarcerated for 13 months. <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1812607">The court observed</a> that Sani should not have been arrested for an act which was not an offence at the time. </p>
<p>The court’s decision did not go down well with some religious conservatives. The government of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, submitted a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1816694">review petition against the decision</a>, and a man in the city of Rawalpindi was <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2457292/man-arrested-for-launching-threatening-campaign-against-cjp-isa">arrested for inciting violence</a> against the chief justice on social media. </p>
<h2>History of blasphemy laws</h2>
<p>Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210521170530id_/https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/4219/1/THE-INDIAN-PENAL-CODE-1860.pdf">built on the foundations</a> laid in the Indian Penal Code of 1860 during <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/British-raj">British colonial rule</a>. These laws were revised over time in Pakistan, with significant amendments introduced during the dictatorship of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mohammad-Zia-ul-Haq">General Zia-ul-Haq</a> in the 1970s and ‘80s. In efforts to strengthen his unconstitutional rule, Zia-ul-Haq instrumentalized Islam and introduced several laws that promoted radical forms of Islam, stifled religious freedom and contributed to the spread of religious and sectarian violence. </p>
<p>Anti-blasphemy laws in Pakistan revolve primarily around remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. <a href="https://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html">The law states</a>:</p>
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<p>“Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”</p>
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<p>While various people have been charged with blasphemy, Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community in particular has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/26/ahmadi-persecution-pakistan-blasphemy-islam">repeatedly been targeted</a>. Sections 298-B and 298-C of the <a href="https://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html">Pakistan Penal Code</a> specifically prohibit the Ahmadiyya community from representing themselves as Muslims, calling their places of worship mosques and reciting the call to prayer.</p>
<p>Exonerating people charged with blasphemy, especially members of minority communities, has historically faced tough resistance. In 1997, a <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/03/02/pakistans-blasphemy-laws-a-history-of-violence/">Lahore High Court judge</a> was shot dead in his office for acquitting three Christians in a blasphemy case. In 2011, a Christian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/02/pakistan-minister-shot-dead-islamabad">federal minister</a> and a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12111831">provincial governor</a> were killed for demanding a review of the controversial blasphemy laws.</p>
<p>In 2018, violence erupted when a Christian woman, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/31/asia-bibi-verdict-pakistan-court-overturns-blasphemy-death-sentence">Asia Bibi</a>, was acquitted by the Supreme Court. Bibi had been given a death sentence by the Lahore High Court on blasphemy charges. Fearing harm from anti-blasphemy activists, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/5/8/aasia-bibi-christian-acquitted-of-blasphemy-leaves-pakistan">she fled to Canada in 2019</a>. </p>
<h2>Encouraging violence</h2>
<p>The promotion of anti-blasphemy laws and harsh sentences has resulted in <a href="https://crss.pk/blasphemy-cases-in-pakistan-1947-2021/">hundreds of arrests</a> and the killing of at least 90 people in vigilante violence since Pakistan’s independence in 1947.</p>
<p><a href="https://pewrsr.ch/2Y7MO44">A 2019 Pew Research Centre report</a> on religious restrictions placed Pakistan among the countries with the highest levels of restrictions on religion. The strict social restrictions have often manifested in <a href="https://aje.io/6hkbez">vigilante violence</a>.</p>
<p>The glorification of violence towards alleged acts of blasphemy appears to have become a norm in Pakistan. The graves of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/salmaan-taseer-case-harks-back-to-1929-killing-of-hindu-publisher">Ilm Deen</a>, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2006-05-13-voa19/312718.html">Amir Cheema</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/01/funeral-pakistani-mumtaz-qadri-executed-salmaan-taseer">Mumtaz Qadri</a>, for example, have become regularly visited shrines.
Deen was hanged in 1929 for murdering the Hindu publisher of a controversial book about Muhammad. His story is included in school textbooks. </p>
<p>Cheema attempted to murder a German newspaper editor in 2006 for publishing cartoons of Muhammad and died in the custody of German police. Qadri was executed for killing the governor of Punjab in 2011 because the governor had spoken in defense of Bibi.</p>
<p>Although the Qur'an does not command Muslims to punish blasphemy, the supporters of anti-blasphemy laws rely on rigid interpretations by scholars to justify their acts. </p>
<p>The petition by the Punjab provincial government for the Supreme Court to review its decision, and the continued threat of violence, all highlight the complicated challenges faced in Pakistan regarding the freedom of religion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Azmat Abbas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pakistan’s laws against blasphemy have been used to bring cases against numerous people over the years, and in particular, the country’s religious minorities.Azmat Abbas, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2256002024-03-14T17:19:14Z2024-03-14T17:19:14ZRamadan and Lent fasts could have cardiovascular benefits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/581669/original/file-20240313-24-wbolth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5176%2C3430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fasting-bread-water-strengthen-spirit-591668285">Jesus Cervantes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Food abstinence is <a href="https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/health-fitness/intermittent-fasting">all the rage</a> when it comes to health and wellbeing, it seems. Wherever you look, from the UK’s prime minister, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68129595">Rishi Sunak</a>, to Hollywood celebrities like Thor star <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a41925303/chris-hemsworth-fasting-limitless-exclusive-clip/">Chris Hemsworth</a>, someone’s extolling the virtues of fasting for mind and body. </p>
<p>According to reports, Sunak considers fasting for the first 36 hours of each week as “an important discipline”, while Hemsworth attempted to “unlock his body’s anti-ageing powers” through an extreme four-day fast for his <a href="https://youtu.be/0G-3o2tw9zI?feature=shared">2023 TV series, Limitless</a>. </p>
<p>Intermittent fasting has also become a popular form of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303720715300800">weight management</a>. Some plans, such as the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1476-511X-9-94">Daniel Fast</a> popularised by film star <a href="https://time.com/5503754/what-is-the-daniel-fast/">Chris Pratt</a>, claim to follow the diets of religious figures to offer spiritual as well as physical rewards.</p>
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<p>But, despite the widespread coverage of intermittent fasting over the past few years, religious fasts have not shared the same level of attention. Does following a religious fast have the same or even greater health benefits then fasting purely for health and wellbeing? </p>
<h2>Health benefits of fasting for Ramadan and Lent</h2>
<p>In 2024 and 2025, Ramadan and the Christian <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-rare-convergence-of-ramadan-passover-and-easter-recalls-a-shared/">period of Lent overlap</a>. Ramadan is a period of fasting for Muslims, while Lent is a period of abstinence for many Christians, particularly those of Orthodox denominations.</p>
<p>However, the nature of religious fasts varies. During Ramadan, fasting is a form of time-restricted eating – followers should avoid all food and drink between dawn and dusk. Whereas, Orthodox Christian fasting practices tend to focus on excluding <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC156653/#:%7E:text=Orthodox%20Christian%20holy%20books%20recommend,and%20Friday%20throughout%20the%20year.">all animal products and sources of fat</a> from the diet, rather than a full fast. </p>
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<p>With colleagues, I explored the potential health effects of different religious and faith-based fasts. By conducting a systematic review of published data from Muslim and Orthodox Christian communities only, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939475324000735">our recent analysis</a> showed that both fasting approaches are associated with a reduction in cardiovascular risk – although for different reasons. </p>
<p>Fasting during Ramadan was associated with a significant reduction in blood pressure and body weight, whereas fasting among Orthodox Christians for Lent showed a significant association with a reduction in cholesterol.</p>
<p>Lower blood pressure among those fasting for Ramadan could be an effect of not eating or drinking during the day, thereby <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpregu.00283.2021">lowering insulin</a> levels which can act on the sympathetic nervous system as well as reducing blood volume. </p>
<p>Orthodox Christians following a plant-based fast may <a href="https://www.heartuk.org.uk/ultimate-cholesterol-lowering-plan/uclp-introduction">reduce fat intake and increase fibre</a> in comparison to their usual diet, which may explain the association of their Lent fast with lower cholesterol.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly given that fasts tend to limit energy intake, fasting for both Ramadan and Lent were also associated with weight loss. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-fast-safely-during-ramadan-what-the-science-shows-224547">How to fast safely during Ramadan – what the science shows</a>
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<p>However, some of these benefits may be cancelled out by overconsumption of less healthy food and drink when the fast is broken. To maintain the benefits of fasting, followers should avoid eating foods high in fat, sugar and salt. </p>
<h2>Aligning healthcare and religious practices</h2>
<p>Our review suggests that health professionals could support people to use aspects of their faith, including fasting practices, to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939475324000735">support healthier lifestyles</a>. This could include working with faith leaders such as Imams and mosque communities prior to Ramadan, to explore healthy Iftar meals to break the fast.</p>
<p>It might even be possible to use aspects of faith to promote self-care as part of religious practice, to improve physical health alongside spiritual growth and identity. For example, religious leaders could encourage healthy community meals outside of fasting periods to promote health and social connectivity.</p>
<p>Research has suggested that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830705001424?casa_token=9eZG0-RtGd4AAAAA:yf0OACZa2lvKPwDVudeHxjkGCe33Six9gLElr7qcgpsNEEIcQLH_znU3zmO39rN_VF6DlXU6">people of faith</a> enjoy more positive health outcomes for a range of interventions, including weight management. This may be at least partially due to faith-linked health interventions being more <a href="https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/mcnair/vol13/iss1/11/">culturally appropriate and aligned</a> with patients’ beliefs and ideas. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X20302116">research suggests</a> an association between religiosity and self-control, which can positively impact eating patterns.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ramadan-four-tips-to-help-you-eat-right-and-stay-healthy-158731">Ramadan: four tips to help you eat right and stay healthy</a>
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<p>Aligning health programmes to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830705001424?casa_token=9eZG0-RtGd4AAAAA:yf0OACZa2lvKPwDVudeHxjkGCe33Six9gLElr7qcgpsNEEIcQLH_znU3zmO39rN_VF6DlXU6">faith identities</a> and practices of patients could <a href="https://www.researchprotocols.org/2015/2/e64">increase engagement and adherence</a>. For example, in the US, research has linked religious service attendance with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29790080/#:%7E:text=Frequent%20church%20attendance%20was%20significantly,Americans%20attempting%20to%20lose%20weight.">greater weight loss</a>. </p>
<p>So, Ramadan and Lent, when millions follow their religious obligations to fast, may be a good time for health professionals to work with faith groups to develop culturally inclusive approaches. This could help address the challenge of changing <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-65951-001">health behaviour</a>, as people are more likely to adhere to positive habits if these align with their personal values, including their faith.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane Mellor is a member of the British Dietetic Association.</span></em></p>Plenty has been said about the health benefits of fasting, but what about as a religious practice?Duane Mellor, Lead for Evidence-Based Medicine and Nutrition, Aston Medical School, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245472024-03-08T13:37:28Z2024-03-08T13:37:28ZHow to fast safely during Ramadan – what the science shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580697/original/file-20240308-21-os5g1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C26%2C5955%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-muslim-parents-their-kids-sharing-2131454041">Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/04/02/muslims/">1.9 billion Muslims</a>, Ramadan is the ninth and holiest Islamic month and this year starts on March 11. During the 30 days of Ramadan, many Muslims fast, refraining from food, drink, smoking and sex, between dawn and sunset each day. </p>
<p>Fasting is only compulsory for adult Muslims. There are <a href="https://islamqa.info/en/answers/23296/who-is-exempt-from-fasting-during-ramadan">exemptions</a> for people who are sick, elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, menstruating or travelling.</p>
<p>As Ramadan slowly moves across seasons, the fasting days are getting cooler and shorter than last year, at least for those in the northern hemisphere and those close to the equator. Regardless of where you live, it is important to drink plenty of fluids when breaking your fast at sunset and before you start your fast at dawn. </p>
<p>Scientific research has shown that fasting is <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2023/01/can-fasting-help-you-live-longer-heres-what-the-science-says">good for your health</a>. Animal studies have shown fasting results in longer life and better health. In humans, research suggests body weight, blood glucose, blood cholesterol and blood pressure all <a href="https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/article/view/9508">improve with fasting</a>. </p>
<p>In terms of mental health, Ramadan fasting improves mental health and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168822720308020">lessens depression symptoms</a>. Of course, there is an immense spiritual benefit too.</p>
<p>Many homes prepare traditional foods at the time of breaking the fast, often with fried food and sweets. A healthy alternative would be fresh fruit; dates have always been a common tradition. </p>
<p>One of the benefits of breaking fast with fruit is that it provides plenty of glucose for the organs, especially the brain. </p>
<p>Similarly, at dawn, a meal with protein, fat and complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains and beans, can be useful as fats can slow digestion, giving a fasting person a feeling of being full for longer. Complex carbohydrates also provide energy for longer. </p>
<p>Fluid intake is vital, especially if the weather is warmer and the fasting person is planning strenuous exercise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bowl of dates" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580695/original/file-20240308-16-kztkea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dates are a good choice for breaking fast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/raw-organic-medjool-dates-ready-eat-394253335">Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Physical activity</h2>
<p>Lifestyle choices are important for your health. Apart from diet, exercise is important, too. Most exercises can be performed in Ramadan, but don’t expect to keep to your pre-Ramadan levels. </p>
<p>If you feel dehydrated, too tired or weak, then stop. A good time to exercise is in the morning or later afternoon when the outdoor temperature could be lower. However, this would not affect indoor exercises. </p>
<p>People whose professions require them to be physically active need to be careful that they don’t get dehydrated or suffer heat exhaustion – or worse, heatstroke. </p>
<p>Workers in hot climates need to be careful during the hottest part of the day (12 noon to 3pm). If you do need to go out a lot, be sensible and try to stay in shaded areas, if possible. When opening your fast, drink cool fluids and add a pinch of salt too, as excess sweating makes us lose salt. And wear light clothes.</p>
<p>Smoking and vaping are not permitted when fasting, so if you smoke or vape, it might be a good time to try to quit. </p>
<p>Smoking is the <a href="https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/facts-at-a-glance#:%7E:text=Summary,million%20deaths%20a%20year%20globally.">leading preventable cause of death</a> in the world. Think of using nicotine gum to help you quit when you break your fast. Islamic scholars allow the use of nicotine patches while fasting. </p>
<h2>What about the sick?</h2>
<p>If fasting would worsen a health condition, you should avoid fasting. However, many people with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28791239/">chronic diseases do fast</a> without any problems. </p>
<p>If you have an illness and you want to fast, you should consult your doctor first, especially if you have a chronic health condition, such as diabetes, a heart condition or hypertension (high blood pressure).</p>
<p>If fasting makes you more ill, how is it beneficial if you can’t perform your normal acts of worship, or you need to be taken to the hospital?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Feisal Subhan is a Lecturer in Biomedical Science (Human Physiology) and a Muslim Faith Advisor at the University of Plymouth. </span></em></p>Fasting is generally good for your health, but it needs to be done correctly. Ramadan mubarak.Feisal Subhan, Lecturer in Biomedical Science, University of PlymouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239292024-02-28T16:52:39Z2024-02-28T16:52:39ZRestaurants outside of Palestine and Israel are being attacked in protest of the war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577061/original/file-20240221-18-tts63c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Olives at a stall in Machne Yehuda Market, Jerusalem.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rebecca Haboucha</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023 and the ensuing war between Palestine and Israel, there has been a rise in <a href="https://cst.org.uk/data/file/9/f/Antisemitic_Incidents_Report_2023.1707834969.pdf">antisemitism</a> and <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2023-11-09/i-was-terrified-islamophobic-incidents-up-by-600-in-uk-since-hamas-attack">Islamophobia</a> around the world. </p>
<p>Much of this hate-driven crime has been committed against restaurants owned by Israelis and Palestinians, as well as by Jewish and Muslim people. Scholars <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-boycotting-everything-russian-and-blaming-russian-society-rather-than-putin-is-xenophobic-179267">highlight</a> the long-standing trend of <a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/russian-restaurant-owners-ukraine-war">restaurants being attacked</a>, physically or virtually, on social media, in relation to sociopolitical events.</p>
<p>My research looks at <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003085430-4/reimagined-community-london-rebecca-haboucha?context=ubx&refId=bb3d8c68-e404-4d4e-9e7b-49cee15abf6b">culinary heritage and diaspora</a>. People attacking restaurants in protest create a false dichotomy between food culture and national conflict, wherein one group casts the opposing group’s restaurants variously as villains or as diplomats. The question is what power such protest can wield in addressing war abroad. </p>
<h2>Food as a tool for soft power and protest</h2>
<p>Throughout the 20th century, food has been used as a tool for soft power, that is a means for achieving influence through means other than directly political ones. </p>
<p>When places like restaurants and warehouses, where food is sourced or served, have become <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2603315">sites of protest</a>, the aim has been to directly address a contemporary issue (<a href="https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2031397/m2/1/high_res_d/1981-v59-n02_a02.pdf">segregation</a> in the American south, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190629038.013.46">human rights violations</a> in apartheid South Africa or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joie.12298">diplomatic relations</a> between Japan and Korea). The protest is about enacting a change that could have observable, immediate effect by addressing those responsible. </p>
<p>Restaurants do often represent ethnic or <a href="https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.soas.idm.oclc.org/lib/soas-ebooks/reader.action?docID=7109689&ppg=4">national cuisines</a>. This can build the public’s idea of a particular community’s cuisine. </p>
<p>However, very few diasporic restaurants are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.16980/jitc.13.4.201708.93">sponsored</a> by the diaspora’s home government as a resource for diplomacy. More often, the restaurant’s culinary culture is related to the owner’s personal identity. In this way, the restaurant operates what might be termed <a href="https://liveencounters.net/2017-le-mag/12-december-2017/jennifer-shutek-gastrodiplomacy-in-palestineisrael/">“unofficial” culinary diplomacy</a>.</p>
<p>The attacks perpetrated against Israeli and Palestinian food stores and restaurants over the past five months, however, follow a different model. </p>
<p>In London, one attack on a restaurant, which was later classified as a burglary, evoked fear in the Jewish community. This led to public comments by <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/09/jewish-restaurant-pita-attack-golders-green-free-palestine/">local politicians condemning</a> the excuse to <a href="https://theconversation.com/attacks-on-jews-always-rise-globally-when-conflict-in-israel-and-palestine-intensifies-216590">target Jews</a> as a response to the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. </p>
<p>Similarly, a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67172707">Palestinian takeaway in London</a> has been receiving dozens of death threats, daily. The staff have spoken about being frightened and intimidated.</p>
<p>In Philadelphia, the Philly Palestine Coalition stormed an Israeli restaurant, <a href="https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/antisemitic-mob-targets-jewish-falafel-restaurant-in-philadelphia-g3xe630y">Goldie Falafel</a>, after closing time, chanting: “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” This accusation was rightly likened to the long-recognised antisemitic trope of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26770791">“blood libel”</a>.</p>
<p>Dating back to the middle ages, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685X.2015.1110380">blood libel</a> accused Jewish people of killing Christians to use their blood in Jewish ritual. The unfounded accusation that a Jewish restaurant owner is “genocidal” is a modern iteration of that idea in that it wrongly views a Jewish individual – and the Jewish people – as violent and hateful against others and uses that view as a justification for antisemitism.</p>
<p>The restaurant’s owner, Michael Solomonov, does not hide the Israeli inspiration of his restaurants or his Israeli-American identity. However, the fact that the restaurant was closed at the time of the attack shows that the protestors’ accusation was not entirely about the owner himself. Rather, it was an attempt to publicly scare Jews and hold them responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. </p>
<h2>Eating together can create community</h2>
<p>In this kind of attack, a national cuisine (Israeli or Palestinian) becomes a nationalistic symbol. The distinction is important. The protesting group simplifies their understanding of a national character and imposes it on the restaurant and the local community it is a part of, in a bid to justify its iconoclasm. By targeting a restaurant that identifies with a specific cuisine, the protester makes that restaurant’s owner responsible for the actions of an entire group, or country. </p>
<p>In so doing, the protestor also dehumanises the “other”. These attacks preclude any attempt to engage in a nuanced conversation with those of differing opinions, a phenomenon mirrored on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43545-021-00240-4">social media</a>.</p>
<p>This point is made clearer by the fact that protesters have also targeted <a href="https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/i-fought-off-the-golders-green-knifeman-with-only-a-broom-u9zhon1h">kosher</a> and <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/amp/ex-barack-obama-official-arrested-for-islamophobic-harassment-of-halal-food-seller-in-new-york-13014119">halal</a> outlets, that have links to neither Israel nor Palestine. </p>
<p>Research shows that the act of equating Israel with all Jews and speaking of Judaism as a homogenised entity is <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-is-criticism-of-israel-antisemitic-a-scholar-of-modern-jewish-history-explains-220995">antisemitic</a>. In the same way, attacking anyone or anything that is Muslim, in response to Hamas’s actions, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-islamophobia-and-anti-palestinian-racism-are-manufactured-through-disinformation-216119">Islamophobic</a>.</p>
<p>Restaurants, ironically, are precisely the kind of spaces where nuanced understanding can actually be built through what is termed <a href="https://theconversation.com/family-meals-are-good-for-the-grown-ups-too-not-just-the-kids-158739">commensality</a> – the act of eating together. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N50bl-1UdWg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">For the owners of Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn, food is a way to bring people together.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This has been evident both in some responses to attacks on restaurants and in actions restaurants themselves have taken. Contrary to iconoclastic or dehumanising protest, some have chosen to create opportunities for diners to find comfort in being together. </p>
<p>On the day after the rally outside <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/12/04/pa-gov-rebukes-protesters-for-chanting-outside-jewish-restaurant/">Goldie Falafel</a>, hundreds of customers showed up in solidarity. They bought and ate falafel. Some prayed together. </p>
<p>In January, meanwhile, a Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn called <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/29/ayat-brooklyn-palestinian-restaurant-jewish-sabbath-shabbat-dinner">Ayat</a> rose above the threatening calls and online messages they had received since December, by hosting a meal for the Jewish Sabbath. </p>
<p>They provided meals to over 1,300 customers. People came from across all communities – Muslim, Jewish and others – looking to support the restaurant. This act of eating together was about finding hope in a hopeless situation. </p>
<p>Access to food is playing a central role in the conflict itself. In Gaza, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/16/middleeast/gaza-famine-starvation-un-israel-war-intl-hnk/index.html">Palestinians</a> are facing <a href="https://theconversation.com/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-222657">famine and starvation</a>. Aid has been hampered, with the World Food Programme <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68360902">citing</a> “complete chaos and violence” for its decision to halt deliveries.</p>
<p>In Israel, meanwhile, around 200,000 people <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02521-7/fulltext">have been internally displaced</a> by the war. This has led to new initiatives for <a href="https://asif.org/en/the-open-kitchen-project/">food sharing</a> and volunteering in the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/volunteers-rush-israeli-farms-stripped-workers-after-hamas-attack-2023-11-16/">agriculture sector</a>. </p>
<p>Ayat’s owners said that through their Shabbat meal, they wished to convey a message of peace and shared humanity that has largely been lacking from this conflict. Food has the incredible power to unite, to provide natural spaces for conversations and to heal, if we let it. In a time of overwhelming grief, it is worth remembering that food is charged with the power we give it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Haboucha is currently the holder of a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023-2026) for her project, titled 'Jewish Table Talk: Discerning Mizrahi Belonging through Foodways'.</span></em></p>By targeting a restaurant owner who identifies with a specific cuisine, the protester makes that one person responsible for the actions of an entire group or country.Rebecca Haboucha, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Anthropology, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235192024-02-20T15:17:04Z2024-02-20T15:17:04ZReligious diversity is exploding – here’s what a faith-positive Britain might actually look like<p>The future of the UK’s Inter Faith Network (IFN), a long-standing charity that promotes dialogue and cooperation between Britain’s religious groups, is in doubt after the government announced it was <a href="https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/rmc-briefings/devastating-outrageous-impending-closure-of-the-inter-faith-network/">withdrawing funding</a> for the group. Communities secretary Michael Gove has cited concerns that a member of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), with which the government has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/mar/23/muslim-council-britain-gaza">suspended cooperation</a> since 2009, has been appointed an IFN trustee. </p>
<p>In response to Gove’s letter, the IFN <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/inter-faith-network-headed-for-closure-as-gove-minded-to-withdraw-funding">has said</a> it had never been advised “to expel the MCB from membership”. It also said that while the government might choose not to engage with the MCB, doing so “is not a sensible option open to the IFN if it is to achieve the purposes for which the government funds it in the first place”. </p>
<p>Founded in 1987, the IFN represents Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian faith groups. In the charity’s 37-year history, religious pluralism in the UK has grown exponentially – and is still growing despite an overall <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/11/uk-secularism-on-rise-as-more-than-half-say-they-have-no-religion">decline in religiosity</a>. </p>
<p>This underlines the importance of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-people-of-different-faiths-together-to-solve-the-worlds-problems-is-a-noble-goal-but-its-hard-to-know-what-it-achieves-170047">interfaith</a> dialogue the charity exists to promote. Indeed, the government-commissioned <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64478b4f529eda00123b0397/The_Bloom_Review.pdf">Bloom review</a> of England’s growing religious pluralism, published in 2023, made a similar point when examining how the government might best acknowledge the value different faith groups bring to society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd of women in colourful saris." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576736/original/file-20240220-20-io09l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Performers take part in the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi in Gravesend.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gravesend-apr-6-performers-take-part-1078636838">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The UK’s increasingly diverse faith landscape</h2>
<p>In 2018, the Pew Research Centre published “Being Christian in Western Europe,” a survey of religion in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/">15 western European countries</a>. The majority of the adults surveyed in 14 of the 15 countries considered themselves “non-practicing Christians”. </p>
<p>The survey found that the UK had roughly three times as many non-practicing Christians (55%) than church-going Christians (18%). It concluded that the notion of Christian identity remains a meaningful religious, political and sociocultural marker. </p>
<p>It also noted that many people have “gradually drifted away from religion, stopped believing in religious teachings, or were alienated by scandals or church positions on social issues.”</p>
<p>The rising number of people who subscribe to no religion belies the fact that the Christian proportion of the population is changing too. In 2023, British journalist Tomiwa Owolade <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2023/03/future-christianity-britain-african-christian">reported</a> on how demographic shifts are reshaping churches across the UK. Between 1980 and 2015, churches saw a 19% rise in attendance by non-white worshippers. </p>
<p>“Without immigration,” he wrote, “the decline of Christianity would be even more profound: it is largely white British people who are abandoning their faith.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An interior shot of a modernist church in England." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576589/original/file-20240219-30-38pqkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The St Francis of Assisi church on the Mackworth estate in Derby.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/church-altar-4COdbEnGCmA">Rachael Cox|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent migration from <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/27-october/news/uk/chinese-church-is-fastest-growing-in-the-uk-study-reveals">Hong Kong</a> has seen the Chinese Christian community in the UK grow substantially. As of 2023, there are about 115,000 Chinese Christians worshipping at over 200 churches across the UK. </p>
<p>Newly arrived Chinese Christians bring with them a belief in the importance of Bible reading. They are strengthening Church of England congregations in cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol. </p>
<p>This highlights how migrant populations in the UK and more broadly in western Europe wield <a href="https://theconversation.com/tarry-awhile-how-the-black-spiritual-tradition-of-waiting-expectantly-could-enrich-your-approach-to-lent-222007">increasing influence</a> in terms of spirituality and belief. Between 2011 and 2021, the proportion of the population of England and Wales that identifies as Muslim has grown, from 4.8% (2.71 million people) to 6.5% <a href="https://mcb.org.uk/2021-census-as-uk-population-grows-so-do-british-muslim-communities/">(3.87 million)</a>. </p>
<p>Other fast-growing religious groups in the UK include Shamanism, whose followers have increased from 650 people in 2011 to <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/02/09/shamanism-is-britains-fastest-growing-religion">at least 8,000 in 2021</a>. Its emphasis on all things in nature – from people to the environment – being treated with dignity and respect distinctively appeals to the growing number of people in the UK who live with <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-communities-can-make-the-difference-in-winning-the-fight-against-climate-change-172192">climate anxiety</a>. </p>
<h2>How the government engages with faith groups</h2>
<p>Until now, UK politicians have largely only engaged with local faith groups in public when it has been politically expedient to do so. A primary motivation has often been to not be criticised by detractors for excluding communities on the basis of religion. This approach is underpinned by an Enlightenment theory of secularism, which sees engaging with issues of religion as unworthy of the looming headaches such engagement might cause. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People kneel down in a carpeted space with tall windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576590/original/file-20240219-22-yr113h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Worshippers in prayer in the Regents Park Central Mosque, London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-february-18th-2009-crowd-1704858379">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 2023 Bloom review, by contrast, calls for government to build constructive relationships with faith groups. “It should be the government’s responsibility,” Bloom writes, “to equip all civil and public servants with the basic factual knowledge to be able to recognise and understand the diverse religious life of the population.” </p>
<p>Appointed in 2019 by Boris Johnson, who was then prime minister, Colin Bloom was commissioned to explore what the government could do to better acknowledge and support the contribution faith groups make to society. He investigated how to better promote shared values and tackle harmful practices and how to promote both freedom of religion and freedom of speech. He also looked at how government officials might improve their faith literacy.</p>
<p>To be <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/religion-and-belief-literacy">faith literate</a> is to understand how belief systems differ and how those distinct from your own shape other people’s attitudes, values and experiences. In a bid to boost equality, Bloom recommends that government workplaces and educational settings adopt the term “faith-sensitive”. </p>
<p>As opposed to the flattening out of difference that a “faith-blind” approach can take, promoting faith-sensitivity encourages people in positions of authority to acknowledge, understand and treat with respect diverse belief systems. </p>
<p>The language the UK government uses on faith-related subjects matters. It models – for everyone living in the UK – how to best engage with <a href="https://theconversation.com/glasgows-museum-of-religion-has-been-saved-from-closure-heres-why-its-important-for-multicultural-britain-180002">diverse manifestations of belief</a>. </p>
<p>I would argue that Bloom’s emphasis on a faith-sensitive government approach does not go far enough. It implies that the government’s priority should be to not cause offense. Even better would be a “faith-positive” approach that actively ascribes value to the contributions faith communities can make to everyday British life.</p>
<p>Back in 2001, the IFN <a href="https://www.interfaith.org.uk/uploads/ar2002.pdf">said</a>, “Greater awareness about the faith of others is crucial as we enter the 21st century in the UK because ignorance is a major contributor to prejudice and even to conflict.” Two decades on, the shocking rises in incidents of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/feb/15/huge-rise-in-antisemitic-abuse-in-uk-since-hamas-attack-says-charity">antisemitism</a> and <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2023-11-09/i-was-terrified-islamophobic-incidents-up-by-600-in-uk-since-hamas-attack">Islamophobia</a>, in recent months, point to how urgently that remains true. </p>
<p>Early 20th century English writer G.K. Chesterton once affectionately wrote, “Let your religion be less a theory and more a love affair.” He was offering a framework to help British Christians better understand their faith. A similarly faith-positive approach to all of Britain’s belief systems would both recognise and value quite what people of faith can bring to wider British society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Christopher Wadibia receives funding from a postdoctoral research fellowship specialising in race, theology, and religious studies based at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.</span></em></p>The language the UK government uses on faith-related subjects matters. It models – for everyone living in the UK – how to best engage with diverse manifestations of belief.Christopher Wadibia, Junior Research Fellow in Theology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2212982024-02-15T13:33:03Z2024-02-15T13:33:03ZTurkey will stop sending imams to German mosques – here’s why this matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575397/original/file-20240213-24-p2rrrc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=80%2C17%2C5867%2C3932&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The imam of the Khadija Mosque, in the Pankow district of Berlin, talks to visitors.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/october-2022-berlin-said-arif-imam-of-the-khadija-mosque-news-photo/1243697775?adppopup=true">Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, the Turkish government has sent imams to work in mosques across Germany. But the German Ministry of the Interior <a href="https://www.br.de/nachrichten/kultur/tuerkische-imame-sollen-bald-nicht-mehr-in-deutschland-predigen,TyQ3ynX">recently announced</a> that it had reached an agreement with the Turkish government to put an end to the practice. </p>
<p>These imams, approximately 1,000 at present, are Turkish civil servants. Imams are sent to Germany on four- to six-year rotations, based on a long-standing agreement between the two governments. They work with Germany’s <a href="https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Publikationen/Downloads-Migration/migrationshintergrund-2010220217004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile">more than 2.8 million</a> residents with Turkish citizenship or heritage.</p>
<p>The practice had come under intense criticism in Germany in recent years. German politicians have accused Turkish imams of <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-turkey-use-spying-imams-to-assert-its-powers-abroad-75643">spying on their flocks</a> or <a href="https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/oezdemir-warnt-vor-instrumentalisierung-junger-menschen-in-deutschland-durch-tuerkische-imame-100.html">abusing their positions</a> to promote support for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party.</p>
<p>The German government described plans to replace “imported imams” with imams trained in Germany as an “<a href="https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/DE/2023/12/imam-ausbildung.html#:%7E:text=Das%20Bundesinnenministerium%2C%20die%20t%C3%BCrkische%20Religionsbeh%C3%B6rde,der%20T%C3%BCrkei%20nach%20Deutschland%20geeinigt">important milestone for integration</a>.” On the other hand, <a href="https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/imame-tuerkei-ditib-100.html">some observers</a> have questioned whether it will change anything for Germany’s <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/29/the-growth-of-germanys-muslim-population-2/">5 million Muslims</a>.</p>
<p>As part of my ongoing research into the <a href="https://history.umbc.edu/facultystaff/full-time/brian-van-wyck/">history of migration</a> between <a href="https://migrantknowledge.org/2020/08/14/turkish-teachers/">Turkey</a> and <a href="https://zeithistorische-forschungen.de/sites/default/files/medien/material/2005-3/Wyck_2017.pdf">Germany</a>, I have investigated the origins of this exchange and the goals both governments pursued by bringing Turkish imams to Germany. </p>
<p>Efforts by both states to intervene in the religious lives of Muslims by selecting which imams can preach in German mosques have a long history – although such efforts might not always achieve the goals of governments.</p>
<h2>The ‘strategy’ of sending imams</h2>
<p>A 1961 agreement led to Turkish “guest workers” being sent to Germany to meet the labor demands of its booming postwar economy. Many recruited workers and their families chose to settle permanently in Germany. By 1974, a year after labor recruitment ended, at least <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/443877/pdf">1 million</a> Turkish citizens were residing in Germany.</p>
<p>It was only in the 1980s that the Turkish government began sending cohorts of imams abroad, after it had become evident that a large Turkish population was in Germany to stay. </p>
<p>This step was motivated by several goals. One was to use state imams to create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2014.926233">an alternative to Islamic groups</a> active in Germany who opposed the secular Turkish state. Another was to use imams to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315143842-16/governing-turkey-diaspora-limits-diaspora-diplomacy-1">foster continued ties to Turkey</a> among the Turkish diaspora in Germany, encouraging them to continue to invest in Turkey.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, conservative governments made increasing use of Islam to encourage national unity in Turkey by, for example, mandating religious education in schools and revising curricula to emphasize Turkey’s Islamic heritage. Sending imams abroad was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12184">an example of this strategy being exported to Turkey’s overseas diaspora</a>.</p>
<h2>Only Turkish imams for Germany</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An ivory-colored building with two tall minarets with a dome in their center, set against the backdrop of a clear, blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575398/original/file-20240213-20-2zhafm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sehitlik Mosque in the Berlin district of Neukoelln.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-sehitlik-mosque-photographed-on-july-16-2009-in-the-news-photo/1513208364?adppopup=true">Kaveh Rostamkhani/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 1980s, German authorities, like their Turkish counterparts, had become concerned about Islamic institutions in the country. Historian <a href="https://dl.acm.org/profile/99659642849">Alexander Konrad</a> has demonstrated that <a href="https://www.wallstein-verlag.de/9783835352681-umdeutungen-des-islams.html">unsubstantiated reports about corporal punishment and political extremism</a> in courses devoted to learning the Quran achieved wide currency in Germany in the 1970s.</p>
<p>When German diplomats and Turkish officials began to discuss their shared concerns in meetings in Ankara in 1980, they quickly found common ground. As diplomatic cables in the archives of the German Federal Foreign Office reporting on these discussions reveal, Turkish and German officials agreed that having the right imams in German mosques would solve the social and political problems they believed were caused by extremist imams. And they believed that imams employed by the Turkish state were guaranteed to be well-trained and moderate.</p>
<p>Accordingly, as I learned from directives preserved in the State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, German policymakers had begun by 1982 to issue entry visas directly to the Turkish government to distribute to those imams it selected to serve in Germany. Already by the end of the 1980s, <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/muslim-identity-and-the-balkan-state/oclc/037261064">more than 500</a> Turkish state imams were active in Germany.</p>
<p>At the same time, entry visas for all other imams were more tightly controlled. This meant that imams from Turkey or anywhere else in the world who wanted to work in Germany but were not employed by the Turkish government faced new hurdles. I learned from legal judgments in the German Federal Archives that some imams who were already working in Germany were forced to leave the country as a result of the new policy.</p>
<h2>Limits to the influence of Turkish state imams</h2>
<p>Both governments assumed that Turkish state imams would be able to reshape German mosques, eliminate perceived extremism and ensure secular Islamic practice in Germany. However, this agreement did not achieve the results the Turkish or German government desired. </p>
<p>There were a few reasons for this. For one, imams often arrived with limited knowledge of German and Germany. Because of that, they relied on members of the local Turkish community, as the sociologist <a href="https://www.irp-cms.uni-osnabrueck.de/personal/professoren/prof_dr_dr_rauf_ceylan.html">Rauf Ceylan</a> has <a href="https://www.herder.de/geschichte-politik/shop/p4/58318-imame-in-deutschland-kartonierte-ausgabe/">argued</a>.</p>
<p>Contrary to what German and Turkish officials might have assumed, these imams could not simply assume control over the often long-established mosques to which they were assigned. And that meant that whatever control the Turkish government exercised over German mosques through them was partial and depended on local buy-in.</p>
<p>Furthermore, not all mosques in Germany received Turkish state imams. Turkish-origin migrants and their descendants created Islamic institutions and organized religious life for themselves for decades <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9783657782130/BP000007.xml">without Turkish state intervention</a>. Those institutions did not disappear when competition in the form of Turkish state imams arrived. Both now and then, many Muslims with Turkish roots choose to attend mosques with Turkish state imams, but many do not. </p>
<h2>Imams trained in Germany?</h2>
<p>Over the course of the more than 40 years in which Turkish state imams have been sent to Germany, the German and Turkish governments invested their work with high expectations. And now, as the end of these imam exchanges comes into sight, German officials continue to assume that changing who preaches in mosques will dramatically alter religious life for German Muslims.</p>
<p>In the coming years, imams trained in academies in Germany will replace more and more Turkish state imams as they end their rotations in Germany and return home. According to this plan, the eventual result will be that only domestically trained, German-speaking imams will work in German mosques at some point in the near future. German officials <a href="https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/pressemitteilungen/DE/2023/12/imam-ausbildung.html#:%7E:text=Das%20Bundesinnenministerium%2C%20die%20t%C3%BCrkische%20Religionsbeh%C3%B6rde,der%20T%C3%BCrkei%20nach%20Deutschland%20geeinigt">described the new model</a> as “an important milestone for the integration and participation of Muslim communities in Germany.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, as history demonstrates, it is German Muslims themselves, and not the imams who lead them in prayer, who will determine if this is the case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Van Wyck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Turkish government started sending imams to Germany in the 1980s, but under a new agreement, imams will be trained in Germany instead.Brian Van Wyck, Assistant Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2213992024-02-13T13:22:45Z2024-02-13T13:22:45ZWhy having human remains land on the Moon poses difficult questions for members of several religions<p>Sending human remains to the Moon on the first commercial lunar lander, Peregrine 1, on Jan. 8, 2024, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-remains-are-headed-to-the-moon-despite-objections/">along with scientific instruments</a>, caused a controversy.</p>
<p>Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, objected, saying that “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/05/world/peregrine-moon-mission-navajo-nation-objection-human-remains-scn/index.html">the moon holds a sacred place</a>” in Navajo and other tribal traditions and should not be defiled in this way. The inside of the lander was to be a kind of “<a href="https://elysiumspace.com/">space burial</a>” for remains of some 70 people. Each of the families had <a href="https://www.celestis.com/experiences-pricing/">paid over US$12,000 for a permanent memorial on the Moon</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/joanne-pierce">professors</a> <a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/religious-studies/faculty/mathew-schmalz">of religious studies</a> who have taught courses on death rites, we know that death rituals in the world’s religions have been shaped by millennia of tradition and practice. While these ashes didn’t make it to the Moon because of a <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=PEREGRN-1">propellant leak</a>, their presence on the lander raised some important religious issues: Beliefs about the polluting nature of the corpse, the acceptability of cremation and the sacredness of the Moon vary across traditions. </p>
<h2>Jewish death rituals and purification</h2>
<p>In ancient Judaism, certain activities were believed to be polluting, rendering a person unfit to participate in prayers and animal sacrifices offered exclusively at the Temple in Jerusalem. There were many ways in which one could become ritually unclean, and each level of pollution was cleansed by an appropriate purification rite. <a href="https://www.religiousrules.com/Judaismpurity03corpse.htm">Direct contact with a human corpse</a> was believed to cause the most intense form of pollution; even touching a person or object that had been in contact with a corpse would cause a lesser level of defilement.</p>
<p>After the Romans <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/destruction-second-temple-70-ce">destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E.</a>, Jewish religious practice changed dramatically, including rules about purification. These days, after a burial or visit to a cemetery, many Jewish people wash their hands to wash away negative <a href="https://outorah.org/p/64492/">spirits or energy</a>.</p>
<p>In Judaism, the bodies of the dead are to be buried or entombed in the earth. Cremation of human bodies, <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/510874/jewish/Why-Does-Judaism-Forbid-Cremation.htm">rejected for centuries</a>, has become more popular but <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/judaism-on-cremation/">still remains a controversial option</a> due to the older tradition of respect for the body as a creation of God – to be buried intact and without mutilation.</p>
<h2>Christian death rituals over the centuries</h2>
<p>Before Christianity developed in the first century C.E., <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9497-3_1">Roman civil religion</a> stressed the need to separate the living from the dead. Corpses or cremated remains were interred in burial places outside cities and town – in <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/city/necropolis">the necropolis</a>, literally a city of the dead. As in Judaism, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v26i2.52569">any visitor needed purification</a> afterward. </p>
<p>As monotheists, Christians rejected belief in the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, including the <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Selene.html#:%7E:text=SELE%E2%80%B2NE%20(Sel%C3%AAn%C3%AA)%2C,371%2C%20%">Moon goddess called Selene or Luna</a>. They also refused to participate in Roman state religious rituals or activities based on pagan polytheism. Decades later, after Christianity became the official imperial religion, Christians moved the <a href="http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01019">remains of people they considered holy into towns and cities</a> to be re-entombed for easier veneration inside churches.</p>
<p>During the medieval period, ordinary Christians desired to be buried close to these saints in anticipation of the resurrection of the body at the second coming of Christ. Graveyards around the church were <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501753855/standing-on-holy-ground-in-the-middle-ages/">consecrated as “holy ground</a>.” In this way, Christians believed that the departed might continue to <a href="https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-medieval-pilgrimage/burial-ad-sanctos-SIM_00143#:%7E:text=Burial%20">benefit from the holiness of the saints</a>. Their bodies were considered sources of spiritual blessing rather than causes of spiritual pollution.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A relief showing a corpse being placed in a coffin as people stand around, one holding a tall crucifix." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574710/original/file-20240209-26-yavs36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fourth-century Christian burial depicted in relief at the Shrine of San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro, Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/9691_-_Milano_-_S._Ambrogio_-_San_Vittore_in_Ciel_d%27oro_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_25-Apr-2007.jpg">G.dallorto, Attribution/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Increasingly today, cremation is considered acceptable, although the Catholic Church requires that cremated remains <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/bereavement-and-funerals/cremation-and-funerals">must not be scattered or partitioned</a> but buried or placed elsewhere in cemeteries. </p>
<p>Unlike some other religions, neither Judaism nor Christianity considers the Moon divine or sacred. As part of God’s creation, it <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-easter#:%7E:text=The%20">plays a role</a> in setting the religious calendars. In both Jewish and Christian spiritual writing, the <a href="https://blog.nli.org.il/en/jewish_moon">Moon is used as a spiritual analogy</a>: in Judaism, of the majesty of God, and in Christianity, of Christ and the church.</p>
<h2>Islamic beliefs on burial</h2>
<p><a href="https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2018/11/01/respect-for-the-dead-under-islamic-law-considerations-for-humanitarian-forensics/">Cremation is strictly prohibited in Islam</a>. After death, the deceased is <a href="https://www.islamicity.org/5586/preparation-of-te-deceased-and-janazah-prayers/">ritually washed, wrapped in shrouds</a> and brought for burial in a cemetery as soon as possible.</p>
<p>After a <a href="https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/ep-1-the-janazah-prayer-for-those-left-behind">funeral prayer</a>, led by an imam or senior member of the community, the deceased is buried – usually without a coffin – with their head oriented toward the holy city of Mecca. The soul of the deceased is <a href="https://zamzam.com/blog/life-after-death-in-islam/">said to visit their loved ones</a> on the seventh and 40th days after death. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://quran.com/en/fussilat/37">Quran warns against worshiping the Moon</a>, as was done in pre-Islamic culture, because worship is due to God alone.</p>
<p>In September 2007, when the first Muslim astronaut from Malaysia got ready to go into space, the Malaysian National Space Agency <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2007-09-20-islamic-body-rules-on-how-to-pray-wash-die-in-space/">published religious directives</a> on burial rituals for Muslims in space. These directives said if bringing the body back wasn’t possible, then he would be “interred” in space after a brief ceremony. And if no water was available in space for the ceremonial rituals, then “holy dust” should be swept onto the face and hands “even if there is no dust” in the space station. </p>
<h2>Hindu and Buddhist funerary practices</h2>
<p>Hinduism is a diverse religion, and so funeral practices often vary according to culture and context. Most commonly, death and the period following a person’s death are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/006996689023001007">ritual pollution</a>. Because of this, the deceased should be cremated within 24 hours after death.</p>
<p>The cremation of the corpse cuts the ties of the soul, or the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/atman">atman</a>, to the body, allowing it to move on to the next level of existence and eventually be reincarnated. The ashes are collected and placed into an urn on the third day after cremation and immersed in a body of water, ideally a sacred river such as the Ganges.</p>
<p>Within Hinduism, the Moon has played an important role in conceptualizing what happens to the dead. For example, the ancient Hindu texts describe the spirits of the virtuous dead as entering Chandraloka, or the realm of the Moon, where they experience happiness for a time before being reincarnated.</p>
<p>In the many forms of Buddhism, death provides an opportunity for mourners to reflect <a href="https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhist-death-rites/">on the impermanence of all things</a>. While in Tibetan Buddhism there is the tradition of “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757283">sky burial</a>,” in which the deceased is dismembered and left to the elements, in most forms of Buddhism the dead are usually cremated and, as in Hinduism, the corpse is considered polluting beforehand. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person lighting a candle at an altar, painted in red color, with white flowers in two vases and incense sticks in a small pot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574713/original/file-20240209-16-vrekcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ritual being performed at a Thai funeral ceremony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/funeral-watering-ceremony-thai-cultural-ritual-royalty-free-image/1831759719?phrase=buddhist+cremation&adppopup=true">Surasak Suwanmake/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In older forms of Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet, the Moon was understood to be <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38344#:%7E:text=Worship%20of%20the%20moon%20god">identified with the god Chandra</a>, who rides on a chariot. The Moon is also one of the nine astrological deities whose movement provides insight for reckoning individual and collective futures.</p>
<h2>Difficult questions</h2>
<p>In response to the Navajo objection that landing ashes on the Moon was a defilement, the CEO of Celestis, the company that paid for capsules containing the ashes, <a href="https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/biden-administration-to-consult-with-navajo-about-human-remains-on-the-moon/">issued a statement</a> stressing that launching containers of human ashes to the Moon is “the antithesis of desecration … it’s celebration.” </p>
<p>In the end, the question was moot. Peregrine 1 <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/15/world/peregrine-moon-lander-failure-nasa-scn/index.html">never made its soft landing on the Moon</a> because of an engine malfunction, and its <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67962397">payload was destroyed</a> after entering the atmosphere. </p>
<p>As more people decide to send their ashes into space, however, religious conflicts are bound to arise. The key concern, and not just for the Navajo Nation, will be how to respect all religious traditions as humans explore and commercialize the Moon. It still remains a problem today here on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two scholars who study death rituals explain that the corpse is considered spiritually polluting in many religious traditions, while the Moon holds a sacred place.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossMathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197862024-02-01T23:03:34Z2024-02-01T23:03:34ZGirls in hijab experience overlapping forms of racial and gendered violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570251/original/file-20240118-27-ltadts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=308%2C625%2C5251%2C3075&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Violence against girls who wear hijabs is often situated in structural oppression, including gendered Islamophobia and white supremacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/girls-in-hijab-experience-overlapping-forms-of-racial-and-gendered-violence" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://worldhijabday.com/">World Hijab Day</a> recognizes the millions of Muslim women and girls who wear the traditional Islamic headscarf.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/europe/un-hijab-olympics-intl/index.html">Around the world</a>, Muslim girls in hijab are experiencing unique forms and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/islamophobia-canada-health-care-muslim-1.6792148">heightened rates</a> of gender and race-based <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9549134/ttc-islamophobia-nccm-police-toronto/">violence and discrimination</a>. Overt violence against girls and women in hijab have captured global attention, evidenced most recently in the violent Canadian attacks on <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/community-groups-join-calls-for-further-action-in-attack-on-two-women-1.5839402">women in hijabs in Alberta</a> and the horrific <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/it-s-been-6-months-since-members-of-the-afzaal-family-in-london-ont-were-killed-what-s-changed-1.6274751">murders of the Afzaal family in London, Ont.</a></p>
<p>Violence against hijabi girls is often situated in structural oppression, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680600788503">gendered Islamophobia</a> and white supremacy. Understanding the underpinnings of this violence is key to imagining more just and equitable futures for girls and young women in hijab.</p>
<h2>Islamophobia</h2>
<p>The term Islamophobia has often been used and understood in different ways. While often used interchangeably, some have argued that the term anti-Muslim racism, rather than the term Islamophobia, better encapsulates the systemic nature of anti-Muslim hate and violence.</p>
<p>Sociologist and Muslim studies scholar Jasmin Zine <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48696287">has outlined how Islamophobia in Canada is comprised of systemic oppressive networks</a> and industries that are both fueled by and fuel anti-Muslim racism. Zine explains that an “industry behind purveying anti-Muslim hate” distinguishes Islamophobia from other forms of oppression.</p>
<p>According to Zine, this well-funded, lucrative and often transnational industry is comprised of media outlets, political figures and donors, white nationalist groups, think tanks, influencers and ideologues that support and engage in “activities that demonize and marginalize Islam and Muslims in Canada.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C6000%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young girl in a pink hijab watches a sunset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C6000%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568512/original/file-20240109-25-pd0nip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Understanding the underpinnings of violence is key to creating more just and equitable futures for girls and young women in hijab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gendered Islamophobia</h2>
<p>Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism is part of the fabric of institutions. Critics of laws such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.32.1.05">Bill 21 in Québec</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.738821">similar measures in France</a> have argued that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/muslim-women-most-affected-by-quebec-s-secularism-law-court-of-appeal-hears-1.6644377">Muslim women who wear the hijab are most affected</a>. These measures reflect narratives that <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674088269">position Muslim girls and women as oppressed victims</a> in need of rescue, as well as <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/159783/orientalism-by-edward-w-said/9780394740676">Orientalist tropes</a> in the form of the <a href="https://assertjournal.com/index.php/assert/article/view/31/62">“save us from the Muslim girl” narratives</a>.</p>
<p>As Muslim women in hijab, we grieve horrific violence alongside our communities. Violent attacks highlight how anti-Muslim racism is often situated at a nexus of anti-Black racism, xenophobia, white supremacy and patriarchy. </p>
<p>We know that anti-Muslim violence is often aimed at girls and women in hijab. Yet, academic literature on hijabi girlhood is relatively scarce. Two years ago, we put out <a href="http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/_uploads/ghs/GHS_cfp_TheGirlInTheHijab.pdf">a call to the international academic community</a> seeking papers and creative submissions on the experiences of girls and young women in hijabs.</p>
<h2>The girl in the hijab</h2>
<p>Two years later, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2023.160302">our new special issue</a>, called <em>The Girl in the Hijab</em>, has now been published in the international journal <em>Girlhood Studies</em>. It comes at a time when anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and <a href="https://www.canarablaw.org/s/Anti-Palestinian-Racism-Naming-Framing-and-Manifestations.pdf">anti-Palestinian racism</a> are on <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/muslim-groups-report-skyrocketing-number-of-islamophobic-incidents-across-canada">the rise around the country</a> and around the world.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/girlhood-studies/16/3/girlhood-studies.16.issue-3.xml">The special issue</a> includes academic articles written by mostly Muslim women and creative works produced by hijab-wearing girls themselves. Both types of work provide insight into the current global landscape of hijabi girl experiences. </p>
<p>Cultural politics lecturer <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2023.160303">Noha Beydoun explores the events surrounding the donning of the American flag as a method of protest</a>. She finds that this phenomenon gained popularity because it worked to conceal complicated U.S. histories regarding Muslim immigration and broader imperial interests. Beydoun’s analysis evidences that the “American flag as hijab for girls and women reinforces the larger constructs it seeks to resist.”</p>
<p>Gender studies professor Ana Carolina Antunes highlights <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2023.160305">how unconscious bias and microaggressions hinder a positive sense of belonging among hijab-wearing students and impacts their academic success</a>. This study also reveals that anti-Muslim sentiment in schools affects the everyday experiences of Muslim girls, leading to disconnection from the school community. </p>
<p>Among the central themes in the special issue is <a href="https://assertjournal.com/index.php/assert/article/view/31/62">how women and girls resist gendered and Islamophobic discrimination in their everyday lives</a>. Hijabi girls resist oppressive narratives through their everyday actions and activist engagements. In Antunes’s study, girls asserted their right to occupy space in the educational environment.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobia-in-schools-how-teachers-and-communities-can-recognize-and-challenge-its-harms-162992">Islamophobia in schools: How teachers and communities can recognize and challenge its harms</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A girl in a black hijab with a handbag walks down a tree-lined path" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570252/original/file-20240118-20-old0n0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For Muslim women, donning the hijab can be an act of resistance and resilience in the face of discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clinical social workers Amilah Baksh and her mother, Bibi Baksh, provide insight into their <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2023.160306">lived experiences as Indo-Caribbean social workers and university educators</a>. In their article, they identify the hijab as a form of resistance and resilience in their personal and professional lives. In their words, “it was never the hijab that rendered us voiceless. It is Islamophobia.”</p>
<p>The special issue highlights how Muslim girls and women, racialized through donning hijab, continue to be at the forefront of the struggle against Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence, even as we remain among the primary targets of that violence.</p>
<p>The articles in this special issue demonstrate the need for better policies, education and laws that consider the unique experiences of girls and women in hijab. To counter violence against girls and women in hijab, we must name and understand the complexities of anti-Muslim racism and gendered Islamophobia. </p>
<p>Critically, this must center the voices of girls and women in hijab, opening or widening spaces for girls and women in hijab to practise acts of resistance in ways that are not bound by colonial logics and respectability politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salsabel Almanssori receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muna Saleh receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant (2022-2024) for her research titled “A Narrative Inquiry into the Curriculum-Making Experiences of Palestinian Muslim Youth and Families in Alberta.”</span></em></p>Around the world, Muslim girls who wear hijabs are experiencing unique forms and heightened rates of gender and race-based violence.Salsabel Almanssori, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of WindsorMuna Saleh, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Concordia University of EdmontonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207252024-01-26T13:20:10Z2024-01-26T13:20:10ZFrance’s biggest Muslim school went from accolades to defunding – showing a key paradox in how the country treats Islam<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569761/original/file-20240117-21-kh948e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1022%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students attend a class at the Averroès school in Lille, France, in September 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-attend-a-class-at-the-averroes-high-school-in-news-photo/1801185507?adppopup=true">Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>France is famously strict on enforcing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13310-7_6">what it calls “laïcité</a>”: keeping religion out of the public sphere. Yet more than <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/289657-lenseignement-prive-sous-contrat">7,500 private schools</a> receive government funding, and most are Catholic. In a country where about 1 in 10 people are Muslim, just three Muslim high schools receive state support – or did.</p>
<p>In December 2023, local authorities of the French Ministry of the Interior confirmed a decision to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/frances-largest-muslim-school-threatened-closure-amid-scrutiny/story?id=105542824">revoke state funding from Lycée Averroès</a>, France’s largest and most acclaimed private Muslim high school. Authorities cited “<a href="https://www.la-croix.com/dissensions-autour-du-lycee-musulman-averroes-prive-de-subventions-publiques-20231211">serious breaches of the fundamental principles of the Republic</a>,” <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/11/27/lycee-prive-musulman-averroes-avis-consultatif-favorable-a-la-resiliation-du-contrat-avec-l-etat_6202633_3224.html">raised concerns over certain texts in religious education classes</a>, and accused administrators of opaque financial management, among various alleged infractions. </p>
<p>None of these claims are supported by previous inspection reports, and <a href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/hauts-de-france/nord-0/lille/lycee-musulman-averroes-syndicats-politiques-directeur-de-grande-ecole-tour-d-horizon-des-soutiens-affiches-2884994.html">many French scholars and activists have denounced the decision as politically motivated</a>, setting off a political firestorm.</p>
<p>Lycée Averroès, located in the suburbs of Lille, opened in 2003 and was granted state funding in 2008. In 2013, it was named the best high school in France, <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Urbi-et-Orbi/Actualite/France/Le-lycee-musulman-Averroes-de-Lille-meilleur-lycee-de-France-2013-03-28-926203">according to the Parisien newspaper’s rankings</a>, and has consistently <a href="https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1309270/article/2023-03-29/lille-averroes-et-faidherbe-dans-le-top-3-des-lycees-de-la-region">ranked among the region’s best</a> in recent years. Teachers and administrators <a href="https://www.lycee-averroes.com/">pride themselves</a> on being dedicated to both French Republican and Islamic values. As <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2017.1303768">our research</a> has shown, the school often goes above and beyond to teach civic values such as equality and laïcité.</p>
<p>In many French Muslim communities, the school is seen as a beacon – an example of a Muslim institution that succeeded <a href="https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/religious-discrimination-against-muslims-in-france#:">despite discrimination</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/islam-and-the-governing-of-muslims-in-france-9781350214538/">political tensions around Islam</a>, and the French Republic’s <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/122/article/843095">strict secularism</a>.</p>
<p>The defunding decision represents a common paradox in contemporary France: Many of the steps its government takes to supposedly protect “<a href="https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/french-brief-reinforcing-principles-republic-french-paradox">French Republican values</a>,” better “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12942">integrate” Muslim minorities</a> or prevent radicalization have the potential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/france-terrorism-muslims-confusion/2020/11/13/e40332be-2042-11eb-ad53-4c1fda49907d_story.html">to do the opposite</a>.</p>
<h2>High scores, high scrutiny</h2>
<p>Private schools in France <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pur/109889?lang=en">can receive state funding</a> for up to <a href="https://www.cafepedagogique.net/2023/06/02/enseignement-prive-8-milliards-de-fonds-publics-et-pas-de-controles/">about three-quarters of their operating budgets</a> if they agree to certain stipulations. Teachers can provide optional religious education, but otherwise must follow the national curriculum and admit students of any religious background, based on merit alone. </p>
<p>The first Muslim schools opened in 2001, and <a href="https://www.theses.fr/2021UPSLP080">dozens more have been established</a> since. But <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pur/109988?lang=en">as the first one to be granted state funding</a>, Averroès has been under <a href="https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/973367/article/2021-04-01/suspension-des-subventions-du-lycee-averroes-le-tribunal-administratif-rappelle">particularly close scrutiny</a> since its inception. The school has previously faced controversies related to <a href="https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/lycee-musulman-averroes-a-lille-la-region-sommee-de-verser-500-000-euros-a-letablissement-12-10-2022-LMTHICKKVNCR7PXBLWSUY4D6JQ.php">funding it received from an organization in Qatar</a>, and a former teacher’s claims, made a decade ago, that Averroès was <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20150206-teacher-quits-french-muslim-school-over-insidious-islamism">teaching “Islamism</a>.”</p>
<p>According to an <a href="https://static.blast-info.fr/attachments/stories/2023/gS9HjS-QQnumCrLXl7NLOw/attachment-kaCAkdjcQz2hkp2n1H3ixA.pdf">official 2020 report</a>, from 2015 through 2020 Averroès was inspected 13 times, making it “the most inspected school” in the region. Notably, it stated that “nothing in the observations … allows (us) to think teaching practices don’t respect republican values.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue of a seated man in robes on a pedestal, in front of a brightly lit stone wall at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of the medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes in Cordoba, Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/wall-and-averroes-memorial-royalty-free-image/500351883?phrase=averroes&adppopup=true">Domingo Leiva/Moment Open via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several public figures have argued that the decision to defund Averroès is representative of “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/12/16/la-decision-de-deconventionner-le-lycee-averroes-a-lille-est-inequitable-et-disproportionnee_6206186_3232.html">inequitable and disproportionate” treatment</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105022">French Muslims often face</a> compared to their non-Muslim peers. As our research has shown, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2022.2131735">many Muslim schools undergo more</a> surveillance and criticism <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/090223/homophobie-au-lycee-stanislas-six-mois-de-silence-du-ministre-qui-confinent-la-lachete">compared to their Catholic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359479.001.0001">Jewish</a> counterparts. </p>
<p>These double standards largely stem from a political environment rife with <a href="https://www.senat.fr/rap/r19-595-1/r19-595-12.html">fears over Islamic extremism</a> after <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210905-how-the-november-2015-attacks-marked-a-turning-point-in-french-terror-laws">numerous high-profile attacks on French soil</a>. </p>
<p>However, policies intended to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2020/11/18/le-projet-de-loi-contre-l-islam-radical-et-les-separatismes-finalise-et-transmis-aux-deputes-et-senateurs_6060131_823448.html">save French Muslim youth from radicalization</a> can have an adverse effect, making young Muslims feel that they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3917/scpo.broua.2005.01">not seen as fully French</a>, and further alienating them. </p>
<p>For some, this sense of unequal treatment manifests in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-paris-radicalism-secularism-france-951fe2ff0b42e8954193f6f9293b0803">frequent protests</a> and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2018.1440197">demands for justice</a>. But it has sometimes fueled riots, vandalism and <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/01/17/les-emeutes-de-juillet-2023-dernier-episode-d-une-crise-politique-sans-fin_6211398_3224.html">social unrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Security and separatism</h2>
<p>Other policies that affect education and were made in the name of French secularism have also drawn controversy for potentially discriminating against Islam.</p>
<p>For example, a broad 2021 measure often referred to as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/frances-controversial-separatism-bill-explained#:%7E:text=Under%20a%20so%2Dcalled%20%E2%80%9Cseparatism,be%20banned%20from%20French%20territory.">the “separatism law</a>” aimed <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/en-bref/283224-loi-separatisme-entree-en-vigueur-des-premieres-dispositions">to combat perceived nonallegiance to French values</a>. Among many requirements, the law made independent schools harder to open and easier for the state to close. </p>
<p>Although the text of the <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/rdr/1749">law does not explicitly mention Muslims</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3917/migra.183.0003">political discourse surrounding the law</a> clearly targeted Islam. In an October 2020 speech defending the legislation, President Emmanuel Macron stated, “What we must tackle is Islamist separatism,” which he accused of “<a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2020/10/02/fight-against-separatism-the-republic-in-action-speech-by-emmanuel-macron-president-of-the-republic-on-the-fight-against-separatism">repeated deviations from the Republic’s values</a>.” </p>
<p>Yet there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/separatisme-et-si-la-politique-antiterroriste-faisait-fausse-route-149078?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton">little evidence of such alleged “separatism</a>.” Rather, studies have <a href="https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/editions/document-travail/trajectories-and-origines-survey-on-population-diversity-in-france-initial-findings-en/">consistently shown</a> that Muslim support for French institutions mirrors that of the larger population.</p>
<p>Other examples of policies that purport to rein in radicalization, but may further fuel Muslims’ isolation, include the 2023 <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/09/05/france-s-century-long-crusade-against-religious-symbols-at-school-from-the-crucifix-to-the-abaya_6124828_7.html">ban on abayas in public schools</a> and the <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/livre-la_politisation_du_voile_en_france_en_europe_et_dans_le_monde_arabe-9782747578875-18971.html">2004 “headscarf” law</a> that banned “ostentatious” <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691147987/the-politics-of-the-veil">religious symbols from public schools</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="About half a dozen women in headscarves look frustrated as they hold signs on the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Veiled or not veiled, we want equality’: Parents and supporters protest in 2019 against a proposal to ban mothers who wear headscarves from school trips.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/parents-and-members-of-le-collectif-66-des-mamans-en-colere-news-photo/1146681939?adppopup=true">Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One study argues the 2004 ban <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000106">harmed Muslim girls’ graduation rates</a>, subsequently affecting their employment opportunities. Similarly, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/french-schools-ban-on-abayas-and-headscarves-is-supposedly-about-secularism-but-it-sends-a-powerful-message-about-who-belongs-in-french-culture-213543">abaya ban</a> has been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/27/how-do-you-distinguish-between-an-abaya-and-a-maxi-dress">criticized by human rights activists</a>, <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230830-un-criticises-france-for-banning-abaya-in-schools/">the United Nations</a> and the <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-concerned-frances-expanding-interpretation-ban-religious">U.S. Commission for Religious Freedom</a> for unduly restricting freedom of religious expression and potentially fueling discrimination. </p>
<h2>The future of pluralism</h2>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/muslim-and-catholic-experiences-of-national-belonging-in-france-9781350380448/">our fieldwork</a>, we believe France’s Muslim schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/muslim-schools-are-allies-in-frances-fight-against-radicalization-not-the-cause-149802">may help reduce radicalization</a> and one of its causes: young people’s sense that being both fully French and fully Muslim <a href="https://www.europe1.fr/societe/selon-un-sondage-ifop-pour-le-journal-du-dimanche-78-des-francais-jugent-la-laicite-menacee-3927717">is incompatible</a>.</p>
<p>As one young French Muslim told us, “I’ve always been made to feel as though I’m not ‘une vraie française’ (a real French person).” Such “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2017.1323199">everyday exclusion</a>” can fuel <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-migrations-societe-2023-4-page-3.htm">alienation</a>, <a href="https://arcade.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/article_pdfs/Occasion_v09_hargreaves_final.pdf">resentment</a> or even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2022.2147913">emmigration</a>.</p>
<p>Institutions like Averroès, however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2017.1303768">offer a haven</a> from the <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253218346/muslim-girls-and-the-other-france/">discrimination students may experience in public schools</a>, and create a space for pupils who want to wear a headscarf or abaya. In addition, they actively <a href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/marseille/rentree-marseille-eleves-musulmans-catholiques-se-rassemblent-hommage-samuel-paty-1890562.html">denounce terrorism</a> and <a href="https://www.20minutes.fr/lille/1512739-20150108-lille-hommage-charlie-hebdo-lycee-musulman-averroes">radicalization</a>.</p>
<p>But recent actions suggest that the French government may have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-closes-mosques-with-powers-that-some-critics-say-use-secretive-evidence-2022-04-05/">lost confidence in Muslim institutions</a> as a way to foster French values. France shut down <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/france/#:%7E:text=The%20government%20dissolved%20by%20decree,21%20mosques%20since%20November%202020.">672 Muslim establishments between 2018 and 2021</a>, including mosques and <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/france-has-shut-down-dozens-mosques-islamic-schools">independent Muslim schools</a>.</p>
<p>Most immediately, the decision to defund Averroès will impact its students and staff. The school offers scholarships to <a href="https://static.blast-info.fr/attachments/stories/2023/gS9HjS-QQnumCrLXl7NLOw/attachment-kaCAkdjcQz2hkp2n1H3ixA.pdf">approximately 62% of its student body</a>, including its nonstate-funded middle school – a number which will likely prove untenable without funding.</p>
<p>More broadly, such steps may intensify challenges to French Muslims’ sense of value and belonging, obstructing the path toward peaceful pluralism and paradoxically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/france-terrorism-muslims.html">increasing the risk of radicalization and separatism</a>.</p>
<p>Yet we believe there is a third risk, as well. The French Republic considers secular neutrality and equality <a href="https://editionsdelaube.fr/catalogue_de_livres/etre-francais/">core pillars of French identity</a>, but many critics view its policies on Islam as prime examples of inequality and bias. Such discord may <a href="https://www.ldh-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HL195-Idees-en-debat-Loi-sur-le-separatisme-la-liberte-de-culte-entravee.pdf">undermine these values’ legitimacy</a>, if not their very essence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Geisser is affiliated with organization
President of the Center for Information and Studies on International Migration (CIEMI, Paris)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Ferrara and Françoise Lorcerie do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some of the measures the French government has taken to fight radicalization can do the opposite, three social scientists argue.Carol Ferrara, Anthropologist & Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson CollegeFrançoise Lorcerie, Professeure, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Vincent Geisser, Sociologue, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216352024-01-22T16:09:39Z2024-01-22T16:09:39ZIn opening a Hindu temple on the site of a former mosque, Narendra Modi is following an old Hindu nationalist ploy<p>Pronouncing the fulfilment of “the dream that many have cherished for years”, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/modi-inaugurates-hindu-temple-on-site-of-razed-mosque-in-india">has inaugurated</a> a new Hindu temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in the north of the country. It is built on the site of a mosque that was destroyed by Hindu nationalists more than 30 years ago. </p>
<p>When the Hindu nationalists demolished the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque, they did so in the belief that it had been built by the Muslim Mughal emperor Babur on the site of an ancient Hindu temple that marked the birthplace of the god Ram. But the historical and archaeological evidence for the existence of this is <a href="https://thewire.in/history/babri-masjid-asi-excavation-ayodhya-ram-temple">hotly debated by experts</a>.</p>
<p>Modi has turned the consecration of the Ayodhya temple into a massive national event, inviting 8,000 VIPs including Bollywood stars, Hindu religious leaders, politicians and diplomats. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims also made their way to the town, which has received a US$3 billion (£2.35 billion) government-funded makeover. </p>
<p>Critics have condemned what they describe as a <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ram-mandir-ayodhya-mamata-banerjee-bjp-politics-opposition-consecration-2486465-2024-01-09">politicisation of a religious event</a>, pointing to elections in April or May this year at which Modi will bid for a third term. Over his decade as prime minister, Modi has deliberately harnessed and encouraged Hindu nationalist aspirations for his own ends.</p>
<p>This event is undoubtedly aimed at energising Modi’s political base among Hindu nationalists. But there is more to this story than cynical electioneering.</p>
<p>The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of which Modi is now the leader, has been advocating for decades for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site at Ayodhya. </p>
<p>In 1992, the party was a relatively minor player in a country dominated by the secular Indian National Congress. But in 2019, with Modi as prime minister, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that the temple could be built on the site. Plans for a new mosque were relocated nearby to a symbolically smaller patch of land.</p>
<h2>History of hatred</h2>
<p>Immediately after the mosque’s destruction in 1992, riots between Hindus and Muslims erupted across India. One Hindu nationalist vigilante later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/06/travel.features">defended his violence</a> in curious political terms: “Muslims … had no compunction about killing people, while a Hindu would pause before killing and ask himself why he was doing it.”</p>
<p>The moral relativism of this remarkable statement reflects an attitude that has been at the heart of Hindu nationalist politics from its inception. It is centred on the twin paranoias of Hindu disunity because of the ancient caste system and the illusion of Islamic unity (Indian Muslims are actually <a href="https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/theorizing-modernities/modern-islam-story-south-asia/">doctrinally and politically divided</a>.</p>
<p>In 1923, these paranoias were systematically laid out by Hindu political philosopher Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentials_of_Hindutva#">Essentials of Hindutva</a>. This book is widely seen as a foundational text of Hindu nationalism. Imprisoned from 1911 to 1937 for sedition by the British, Savarkar rapidly shifted his revolutionary zeal from opposing the European colonisers to repudiating India’s Muslims. </p>
<p>At odds with his attempts to make Muslims out to be a polluting foreign influence is the fact that the majority were not external invaders but <a href="https://thewire.in/caste/caste-among-indian-muslims-real-why-deny-reservation">Hindu converts</a> attempting to escape the caste system. The caste system perpetuated ideas of purity and pollution within the hierarchy. High castes enforced a range of occupational, hygiene, religious, and dietary practices on the lower castes through shame, sanctions and violence. </p>
<p>Accordingly, Savarkar believed that Muslim unity came from an immunity to shame. Observing Muslim inmates in his jail, he glibly attributed the violence of Muslim prison gangs to an impulse inherent in Islam. </p>
<p>With the same breath, he implored his Hindu inmates to jettison shame, mimic these traits and contemplate a violent politics of “cruelty” towards Muslims. In doing so, they would distract from caste divisions.</p>
<p>Savarkar exhorted Hindu society to discard Gandhi’s philosophy of passive resistance. Instead they should pursue a violent and “shameless” <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/glory-and-humiliation-in-the-making-of-v-d-savarkars-hindu-nationalism/B196AD5F952FF78DF066CC25E0D058E8#fn1">quest for Hindu fraternity</a> in which caste distinctions would disappear. Meanwhile, the once united Muslims would live as a humiliated and cowed community that no longer had the self-belief to challenge Hindu political power.</p>
<p>The destruction of mosques and construction of temples became key strategies for uniting Hindus by banishing caste differences in <a href="https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/as-a-teenager-savarkar-tried-to-destroy-a-mosque-was-sad-hindus-werent-united/281796/">Savarkar’s ideology</a>. Some of the planned mega-temples would accommodate <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/glory-and-humiliation-in-the-making-of-v-d-savarkars-hindu-nationalism/B196AD5F952FF78DF066CC25E0D058E8">5,000 worshippers</a> from every caste. At the same time, tearing down Muslim heritage across India aimed to politically humiliate the seemingly unified Muslims and return political Hinduism “to its original glory”.</p>
<h2>Cynical politics</h2>
<p>Modi’s government and its Hindu nationalist surrogate organisations have put this ideology into practice. The inauguration of the Ayodhya temple has little to do with Hindu religious doctrine. Indeed, the government was criticised for trying to arrange the event before the temple’s “sanctum sanctorum” (holy of holies) was completed. </p>
<p>The BJP also failed to invite several key Hindu monastic organisations. Indeed, being overshadowed by high-caste Brahmin priests would distract from Modi’s populist brand built around him as a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/modi-is-a-teli-ghanchi-obc-bjp/articleshow/34084111.cms">humble middle-caste tea salesman</a>. </p>
<p>Allied to this project are other strategies for forging Hindu unity while publicly humiliating Muslims. For instance, the arbitrary demolition of Muslim homes and businesses by mobs aided and abetted by local police. </p>
<p>These attacks occur when Muslims are deemed to have shown insufficient deference to Hindu sentiments – for example by eating beef or participating in anti-government protests. The bulldozer has since become a Hindu nationalist symbol and even internationalised by BJP troll-farms <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/4/modis-lesson-from-israel-demolish-muslim-homes-erase-their-history">supporting Israeli actions in Gaza</a>.</p>
<p>At first glance, the Ayodhya inauguration innocuously celebrates a new self-confident “Vatican for Hindus”. But we cannot forget its political motivations. If the violent destruction of a minority’s place of worship is given legal and political legitimacy in the name of Hindu nationalism, then democracy has given way to mob rule.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bharat-why-the-recent-push-to-change-indias-name-has-a-hidden-agenda-213105">Bharat: why the recent push to change India's name has a hidden agenda</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vikram Visana received funding from the British Academy in the form of a Small Grant of £5300 from 2019-2023. </span></em></p>Modi is running for his third consecutive term of office, but many believe he plans to remain in power indefinitely.Vikram Visana, Lecturer in Political Theory, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2128552024-01-04T13:45:22Z2024-01-04T13:45:22ZSeeing the human in every patient − from biblical texts to 21st century relational medicine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564308/original/file-20231207-19-2ew23e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C3%2C2108%2C1406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making patients feel seen and heard -- not just "treated."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/clinical-doctor-giving-test-results-to-patients-royalty-free-image/1062186846?phrase=doctor+patient&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">Tom Werner/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Patients frequently describe the U.S. health care system as impersonal, corporate and fragmented. One study even called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.168.17.1843">the care delivered to many vulnerable patients</a> “inhumane.” Seismic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – particularly the shift to telehealth – only exacerbated that feeling.</p>
<p>In response, many health systems now emphasize “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jradnu.2023.02.005">relational medicine</a>”: care that purports to center on the patient as a human being. Physician <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/112358510-ronald-mark-epstein">Ronald Epstein</a> and health communication researcher <a href="https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/communication/profile/richard-l-street-jr/">Richard Street</a> describe “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1239">patient-centered care</a>” as advocating “deep respect for patients as unique living beings, and the obligation to care for them on their terms.”</p>
<p>In 15 years as <a href="https://www.religiousstudies.pitt.edu/people/jonathan-weinkle-md-faap-facp">a primary care physician</a>, I have seen the effects of dehumanizing medical care – and the difference it makes when a patient feels they are being respected, not just “treated.” </p>
<p>Though “relational medicine” may be a relatively new phrase, the basic idea is not. Seeing each person before you as someone of infinite value is fundamental to many faiths’ beliefs about medical ethics. In my own tradition, Judaism, “person-centered care” has roots in <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.1.28?lang=bi&aliyot=0">the biblical Book of Genesis</a>, where the creation story teaches that “God created the Human in God’s own image.” As <a href="https://www.chatham.edu/academics/graduate/physician-assistant-studies/faculty/jonathan-weinkle.html">a medical educator,</a> I teach students how to turn these abstract ideas into concrete clinical skills.</p>
<h2>Divine dignity</h2>
<p>Traditional Jewish law sets rules that shape my understanding of these skills. As the influential French sage Rashi wrote in an 11th century commentary on the Bible, <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.19.16?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Leviticus.19.17.1&lang2=bi&w2=all&lang3=en">it is forbidden to publicly embarrass a person</a> “so that their face turns white,” even while rebuking them. For doctors today, this might mean taking care not to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2337/diaclin.34.1.44">inflict shame on a person with a stigmatized illness</a> like substance use <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-weight-inclusive-health-care-mean-a-dietitian-explains-what-some-providers-are-doing-to-end-weight-stigma-207710">or obesity</a>.</p>
<p>The Bible <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.22.24?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en">forbids wronging</a> <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Metzia.60a.1?lang=en&with=all&lang2=en">or abusing strangers</a> not once, not twice, but 36 times – a reminder not to “other” people or obscure their basic humanity. A similar value appears in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44449883">18th century Physician’s Prayer</a>, written by the German-Jewish physician Marcus Hertz, who states, “In the sufferer, let me see only the human being.”</p>
<p>American Rabbi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/26/us/harold-m-schulweis-progressive-rabbi-is-dead-at-89.html">Harold Schulweis</a> used the concept of “covenant” – a holy, mutual agreement – as <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1859917">a model for the bond between physician and patient</a>, working toward a common goal. This idea inspired my own book, “<a href="https://healthylearning.com/healing-people-not-patients-creating-authentic-relationships-in-modern-healthcare-1/">Healing People, Not Patients</a>.”</p>
<p>Similar connections between medicine, respect and religion are found in other traditions, as well. A 1981 <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/islamic-code-medical-ethics-kuwait-document">Islamic code of medical ethics</a>, for instance, considers the patient the leader of the medical team. The doctor exists “for the sake of the patient … not the other way round,” it reminds practitioners. “The ‘patient’ is master, and the ‘Doctor’ is at his service.” </p>
<h2>Seeing and hearing the whole patient</h2>
<p>In undergraduate classes that I teach for future health professionals at the University of Pittsburgh, we focus on communication skills to foster dignified care, such as setting a shared agenda with a patient to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.40266.x">align their goals and the provider’s</a>. Students <a href="https://www.matthewsbooks.com/productdetail.aspx?pid=6221TRZ8106&close=false">also read “Compassionomics</a>,” by medical researchers <a href="https://preprofessionalstudies.nd.edu/people/stephen-trzeciak/">Stephen Trzeciak</a> and <a href="https://cmsru.rowan.edu/faculty-profiles/emergency-medicine/teaching-faculty/mazzarelli-anthony.html">Anthony Mazzarelli</a>, which aggregates the data showing caring’s impact on the well-being of patients and providers alike.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a white medical coat leans forward, seated, as she talks seriously with a seated boy in a green t-shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564321/original/file-20231207-17-v5t2n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Respectful care isn’t just ‘nice’ – it’s more effective.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-doctor-talking-to-boy-in-exam-room-royalty-free-image/1293518268?phrase=doctor+patient&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">The Good Brigade/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>However, even health professionals steeped in these practices can encounter people whose humanity they struggle to see. Students wrestle with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197804202981605">a classic article about “the hateful patient</a>” and practice an exercise called <a href="https://doi.org/10.7326/M13-0995">the “second sentence</a>.” This asks providers to look beyond their first impressions of a patient they might have trouble treating with compassion, imagining a “second sentence” that humanizes the person in front of them.</p>
<p>The course evaluation is based on a project in which students interview a friend, relative or neighbor about their experience of illness and care. Ultimately, they identify one element of the person’s care that could have been improved by attending more to the person’s individual needs and listening to their story. </p>
<p>One student recounted her brother’s experience after he suffered a serious sports injury. The trauma team followed protocol precisely, but this meant that they did not register him screaming in pain, telling them that what they were doing was making him feel worse. Only in the hospital did doctors discover that those screams were a clue to a specific injury that should have received radically different care in the field, which could have been caught earlier had the team attended more closely to his words. His sister explored the medical literature on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074019862680">when EMS needs to break its own rules</a> to care for a complex patient, and she suggested her own mnemonic – stop-ask-listen-evaluate (SALE) – for how to make “breaking protocol” one of the options in the protocol itself.</p>
<p>Another student related his father’s experience living with chronic illness. His condition frequently deteriorated because of delays in refilling medicine through his regular physician’s office. This student pointed to medical literature detailing how pharmacists can be given greater authority to refill medications for chronic diseases, preventing gaps in treatment, which would have saved his father significant hardship.</p>
<h2>Listening with both ears</h2>
<p>Down the road at Chatham University, I work with physician assistant students who are about to enter clinic for the first time. These students complete a workshop including many of the same communication exercises, including “listening with both ears”: listening not only to the patient, but also to what they themselves say to the patient, considering how it will be received. Students are encouraged to go home and practice until the words feel natural in their mouths, not scripted or mechanical – just like they drill anatomy facts and suturing skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Six young adults sit at a conference table, some of them in scrubs, as a doctor in a white coat leads a discussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564312/original/file-20231207-17-53rp14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Part of a doctor’s responsibility is translating respect for patients into concrete techniques.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-doctor-teaching-nursing-students-royalty-free-image/1387152896?phrase=medical+student+clinic&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>After their clinical year, the students return to reflect. Many of them report using patient-centered skills in challenging situations, such as validating patients’ concerns that had previously been dismissed.</p>
<p>Yet they also report a work culture where effective communication is often seen as taking too much time or as a low priority. Sixty years ago, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and psychiatrist William C. Menninger <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1964.03070010087041">presented on The Patient as a Person</a> to the American Medical Association. Heschel declared that the profession was suffering from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-018-9472-x">a “spiritual malaria</a>,” his term for precisely the “high-tech, low-touch” attitude that my students encounter. The emphasis on technology and a rapid pace of treatment leaves scant room for caring, whether in Heschel’s day or ours.</p>
<p>In both programs where I teach, I aim to provide new practitioners with tangible skills that their future patients will experience as real “whole-person care” and not just a slogan on a commercial. Those patients will know that the people caring for them value all of them – their livelihoods, their life stories and the worlds they inhabit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Weinkle is affiliated with American College of Physicians and American Academy of Pediatrics.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on how fragmented medical care can be. Relational, or person-centered, medicine is attempting to provide solutions.Jonathan Weinkle, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Part-Time Instructor of Religious Studies, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185032023-12-18T20:54:25Z2023-12-18T20:54:25ZAfter seeing the struggle of Palestinians in Gaza, TikTok users are learning about Islam<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565693/original/file-20231214-24-fcuu3e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C77%2C7380%2C3469&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Connection between Muslims and non-Muslims on TikTok has created a rare space for empathy to flourish.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/after-seeing-the-struggle-of-palestinians-in-gaza-tiktok-users-are-learning-about-islam" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The ongoing conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel is playing out on screens like never before. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/17/surrounded-by-death-gaza-content-creators-fight-to-get-the-truth-out">Through social media</a>, millions are witnessing the violence that has killed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker">thousands since Oct. 7</a>.</p>
<p>People have turned to social media to learn about the history and politics of the region. And increasingly, many are using it to learn about Islam after witnessing the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, giving rise to a movement around exploration of the religion. </p>
<p>In particular, TikTok has seen a spike in posts, livestreams and discussions about the Qur'an, with many citing the displays of Islamic faith they’ve seen in Gazans as their inspiration. </p>
<p><a href="https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/hashtag/islam?period=120&countryCode=&">TikTok analytics</a> show the hashtag #Islam has rapidly gained popularity since early October. In that time, videos using the hashtag have garnered more than 35 billion views globally, one billion views in the United States and 360 million in Canada, with the majority of viewers aged 18-24.</p>
<h2>TikTok challenging narratives</h2>
<p>In November, I spoke with six North American TikTokers who have taken part in the online movement by posting content about their faith journey. They shared insights about what they’ve learned, reactions from their audiences and their thoughts on the crisis in Gaza.</p>
<p>“You see women running out of rubbled buildings holding their lifeless child, and the first thing they do is thank Allah (God),” said TikToker <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@graves.hunter">Hunter Graves (@graves.hunter)</a> when I had a conversation with him. Graves is a 21-year-old college senior in Nashville. </p>
<p>In the past two months, he has posted several videos discussing Islam. In some, he showcases books he’s purchased; in <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@graves.hunter/video/7293886118410456366">others</a>, he lightheartedly muses about the religion and that he is “lowkey thinking bout becoming a Muslim.” </p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@graves.hunter/video/7294058523921730862">video expressing his excitement</a> over terms like <em>alhamdullilah</em> (praise be to Allah) gained almost two million views.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="TiktokEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.tiktok.com/@graves.hunter/video/7294058523921730862"}"></div></p>
<p>On Oct. 27, Graves <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@graves.hunter/video/7294838257714466091">posted a video</a> taking his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/shahadah"><em>shahada</em></a> — the formal declaration of faith whereby one becomes Muslim — at a mosque and officially “reverting,” the term used by some converts to Islam. “With faith, suffering has meaning,” he told me.</p>
<p>Muhammad Kolila, an imam at the <a href="https://www.theddic.org/">Downtown Denver Islamic Center</a>, told me people are using social media to spread knowledge, challenge biases and express solidarity. </p>
<p>“You can do a lot with social media,” he said, adding that some are linking the struggle of Palestinians to those of Indigenous people in North America and South African apartheid. Many TikTokers say the movement has deconstructed negative beliefs about Islam that they grew up with.</p>
<p>What’s happening online contrasts with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1354067X221103996">the anti-Muslim sentiment that has been growing in the West</a> since the early 21st century. The Canadian Senate Committee on Human Rights recently released a report outlining the frequency and harms of <a href="https://sencanada.ca/en/info-page/parl-44-1/ridr-islamophobia/">discrimination, violence and online hate against Canadian Muslims</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-islamophobia-and-anti-palestinian-racism-are-manufactured-through-disinformation-216119">How Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism are manufactured through disinformation</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@6toedcats">Madison (@6toedcats)</a>, a 24-year-old from Tampa, Fla., posted a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@6toedcats/video/7293756127429414190">teary-eyed video</a> in mid-October, seeking local Muslim women to support her journey to becoming a Muslim. She had previously researched Islam online but said that Palestine was the tipping factor. </p>
<p>“It clicked in my head — I am thinking of myself as Muslim, why am I not Muslim already?” she expressed to me in an interview. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/gingerbeardprog">Charlie Bowling (@gingerbeard.prog)</a>, who considers himself agnostic, posts videos listening to and reading the Qur'an. “I see the Palestinian faith that has kept them so willing and strong,” he told me, “when I started reading the Qur'an, I wanted to document my journey.”</p>
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<h2>History repeats itself</h2>
<p>Following the 9/11 attacks, a similar phenomenon of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/post-911-islam-converts_n_935572">people exploring Islam</a> occurred, <a href="https://hwpi.harvard.edu/pluralismarchive/news/reports-women-converting-islam-after-911">particularly among women</a>. Current interest mirrors that, but it is now happening through social media and before a much wider audience. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@camelawidad">Camela Widad (@camelawidad)</a> began learning about Islam in the months prior to 9/11 and officially converted in 2003. </p>
<p>“We started to see people go ‘What? Is it really a religion that promotes terrorism?’ And that’s when I saw it gain momentum,” she told me. In her eyes, access to social media today has humanized Muslims. </p>
<p>Islam has kept individuals in Gaza <a href="https://www.newarab.com/analysis/sumud-palestinians-form-steadfastness-continues-grow-stronger">steadfast in the face of adversity</a>, appealing to audiences on social media. Religion comforts individuals by providing answers to existential questions about life, death and suffering. The Qur'an encourages connection between lessons from its stories and the present day, contributing to its value in times of hardship.</p>
<p>The surge in online content is also inspiring some to re-explore their faith. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bbyfatz?_t=8iCyo2SwrnZ&_r=1">Fatima Abdi (@bbyfatz)</a>, a fashion influencer with over 83,000 followers, became distanced from Islam as a teen, but has started to find her way back. Seeing others’ videos inspired her to put more action into her belief — she’s started sharing parts of her faith and modest fashion journey with her audience.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@consciouscorn">Cornell Jones (@consciouscorn)</a> reverted to Islam three years ago. When I spoke to him in November, he said the current crisis in Gaza feels like a loss in humanity, but TikTok has allowed him to “make room for faith in Allah.” Jones said he’s received many messages asking about his reversion experience.</p>
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<h2>The dangers of social media</h2>
<p>While social media can be great, Kolila warns against rushing into Islam or comparing one’s journey to others online. “Walk to the faith, not the people,” he said. Seeking reputable sources is key. “Just because we have a platform, it doesn’t mean we have the authority,” said Jones. </p>
<p>Abdi and Graves added that being open about faith online can come with harsh scrutiny.</p>
<p>Connection between Muslims and non-Muslims on TikTok has created a rare space for empathy to flourish. At its core, the movement has allowed people to come together, learn and unlearn. In a time of stark inhumanity and collective grief, doing this might just be what helps us cope.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nahid Widaatalla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>TikTok has seen a spike in posts, livestreams and discussions about the Qur'an, with many citing the displays of Islamic faith they’ve seen in Gazans as their inspiration.Nahid Widaatalla, Dalla Lana Fellow in Journalism and Health Impact, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162572023-10-24T19:28:29Z2023-10-24T19:28:29ZTCUS senior editor Kalpana Jain explores Indigenous communities in Indonesia − and learns about their struggles to reclaim land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555475/original/file-20231024-19-ahdx0d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Traditional grain houses inside a village chief's residential complex in West Java, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2023/1010/Why-protecting-Indonesia-s-Indigenous-land-is-a-balancing-act">Kalpana Jain</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/team">Kalpana Jain</a>, senior religion and ethics editor at The Conversation, spent part of 2023 on a trip spanning over 20,000 miles, covering seven cities in three countries, as an <a href="https://www.eastwestcenter.org/professional-development/seminars-journalism/senior-journalists-seminar">East-West Center 2023 Senior Journalists Fellow</a> to pursue issues around the role of religion and identity in the public sphere. On this trip, which included traveling near the border of Myanmar, Jain interviewed representatives from Indigenous communities, minority faith groups, journalists and activists, among many others. She reported on the rise in <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/07/17/in-thailand-socially-engaged-buddhism-goes-beyond-meditation-to-seek-justice/">Buddhist </a>and <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/in-modi-s-india-press-freedom-is-curbed-and-journalists-are-under-threat-for-doing-their-jobs">Hindu nationalism</a> as well as the role of faith groups in promoting peace and care for the environment.</em></p>
<p><em>A 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, Jain pursued many social justice issues as a journalist at The Times of India. Her reporting in India led to many policy changes in the public health sector and won several awards. In 2019, she received a Pulitzer grant to pursue issues around rising Hindu nationalism in India. Jain has also worked as an editor, writer and researcher at Harvard University. Her case study on modern-day slavery is part of a Harvard course, and her book on the AIDS epidemic in India is taught at many Indian universities. She holds a master’s in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and a master’s in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School.</em></p>
<p><em>The piece below on the Indigenous community in Indonesia, first <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2023/1010/Why-protecting-Indonesia-s-Indigenous-land-is-a-balancing-act">published in the Christian Science Monitor</a> on Oct. 10, 2023, shows the depth of expertise on The Conversation team on global issues involving religion, ethics and the impact of colonialism in today’s world. The Conversation is very proud to share it.</em></p>
<p><strong>CISUNGSANG VILLAGE, INDONESIA:</strong> Once isolated from the rest of the world, the Kasepuhan Cisungsang – an Indigenous community in Indonesia – has been inviting outsiders to get a glimpse into their lives.</p>
<p>Their village rests at the foot of Mount Halimun in western Java, a six-hour drive from the bustling megalopolis of Jakarta. When visitors arrive, a band of musicians dressed in flowing black robes and colorful headdresses greet them by playing the angklung, a traditional bamboo instrument, while young girls dance. The guests are shepherded into a spacious hut where a Kasepuhan Cisungsang representative explains that the community is led by the abah, or father, and that they’ve lived in this forested area since before Dutch colonization.</p>
<p>“Our ancestors have left us a message to protect and defend the environment,” says Raden Angga Kusuma, the abah’s eldest son and crown prince of the village. </p>
<p>Indonesia is home to an estimated 50 million to 70 million Indigenous individuals, or nearly 20% of the country’s population. However, Indigenous communities’ claims to their homeland are precarious, often hinging on a community’s ability to convince local authorities of their Indigeneity. Add to that pervasive stereotypes about Indigenous communities being anti-development or stuck in the past, and the challenge for many of the archipelago’s Indigenous leaders becomes retaining their traditional culture and customs while also evolving with the times. For the Kasepuhan Cisungsang, opening to visitors is part of that strategic thinking.</p>
<p>Through a translator, Kasepuhan Cisungsang elder Apih Jakar shares another saying from their ancestors: “Cope with the dynamics of time and adapt with it.”</p>
<h2>Battle over land</h2>
<p>For the Kasepuhan Cisungsang and the 56 other Kasepuhan groups living in the Halimun Salak area of Java, the battle for land rights dates back to the 19th century, when Dutch settlers failed to acknowledge the communities living in and around present-day Mount Halimun Salak National Park. The colonizers’ demarcations and land practices persisted after independence in 1945. Under Suharto, Indonesia’s second president, Indigenous land was converted into state forests and redistributed as private concessions to rubber, mining and palm oil companies.</p>
<p>Throughout the Suharto era “the Indonesian government argued that the country had to catch up and needed to achieve higher rates of growth,” says Timo Duile, an anthropologist at the University of Bonn who has spent years researching land rights in Indonesia. “That could be done by cooperation with the West and by opening the country to foreign capital. … Land was an important issue that created a lot of conflicts.” </p>
<p>It wasn’t until 2013 that a historic ruling known as MK35 provided Indigenous people the opportunity to reclaim ancestral land. However, this has proved to be a long and complicated process. </p>
<p>An independent mapping initiative has recorded over 50 million acres of Indigenous land in Indonesia, but only 15% has been recognized by the government. Critics blame the bottleneck on slow bureaucracy, poorly implemented and conflicting forest laws, and corporate land-grabbing.</p>
<p>But the first hurdle many communities face is proving their roots. </p>
<h2>Proving Indigeneity</h2>
<p>A community’s Indigeneity must be recognized by an administrative unit in a province, known as a kabupaten. </p>
<p>A group can qualify if they have markings as an Indigenous people, such as following customary laws and retaining unique social institutions, says Muhammad Arman, director of advocacy for policy, law and human rights at Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara, or the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago. But many kabupatens have ill-defined regulations, and proving Indigeneity can depend on the whims of local politicians. </p>
<p>“If you wear modern clothes, the government can say you have changed socially and culturally and therefore are no longer a member of an Indigenous community,” says Arman.
Legal recognition is also no guarantee that a community’s wishes will be respected. </p>
<p>Mama Rosita Tecuari is one of several leaders from the Namblong Indigenous community in Papua province fighting to defend their land from the expansion of a palm oil plantation. A company got the license and a permit to use the land without any consent from the 500 tribes settled there, says Tecuari. Even after local laws recognized the Namblong community’s right to the land in 2021, the company has not retreated. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of five Indonesian men sit on a rug in a sparse but elegant room with a hutch in back. This is a room where they receive visitors. The men are royalty in this Indonesian community" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555483/original/file-20231024-19-hfv2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crown Prince Raden Angga Kusuma, far left, sits with other inner circle members on a rug in a room where visitors are received. He says, ‘Our ancestors have left us a message to protect and defend the environment.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2023/1010/Why-protecting-Indonesia-s-Indigenous-land-is-a-balancing-act">Kalpana Jain</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“It’s not that we don’t want development,” she says, they just don’t want it to come at the expense of the environment. “We in Papua think of forests as our own hearts. If you clear our forests, it is the same as killing us.”</p>
<p>Still, for Indigenous groups to have a shot at local autonomy, they must show that they retain their Indigeneity. “To get land rights, they have to prove continuity between past and present with Indigenous institutions and Indigenous laws,” says Duile. “They can be in a process of change but have to convince officials that they are the same.”</p>
<h2>History of transformation</h2>
<p>That emphasis on continuity means that Indigeneity can get conflated with primitiveness, says scholar Rebakah Daro Minarchek of the University of Washington.</p>
<p>For her 2019 dissertation, Rebakah Daro Minarchek spent years studying how three Kasepuhan communities, including Kasepuhan Cisungsang, were embracing technology.</p>
<p>After the central government brought the internet to Ciptagelar village through a universal connectivity program and built a TV station and a radio station, villagers trained youth to interview elders on traditions and record their musicians. One village leader even turned to YouTube videos to teach himself how to use GPS technology to map land boundaries.</p>
<p>Daro Minarchek also observed Ciptagelar village send two young men to Japan to learn how to do commercial gardening and increase productivity. Many Indigenous communities are hesitant about certain kinds of education that distance youth from the community, she explains, but they don’t look down on education. </p>
<p>In the case of Kasepuhan Cisungsang, the crown prince and a few others have been allowed to go to a university under the condition they will return to their village and their way of life.</p>
<p>In recent years, the village has also invited international visitors to attend an annual harvest festival, known as Seren Taun, a thanksgiving ceremony for all the blessings received during the year. The tradition was captured in a 2016 short documentary called “Harvest Moon Ritual.”</p>
<p>This adaptation isn’t new, Daro Minarchek notes, pointing to the community’s religious practices. The Kasepuhan Cisungsang currently practices Islam but incorporates it with ancestral practices, including shamanic animism, along with Hindu and Buddhist practices.</p>
<p>“To say that this is a community from 700 years ago that hasn’t caught up to the future is dehumanizing,” says Daro Minarchek.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Conversation’s senior religion and ethics editor traveled the world to learn more about Indigenous populations. See one piece of what she discovered.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism InitiativeBeth Daley, Executive Editor and General ManagerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138342023-10-17T12:19:52Z2023-10-17T12:19:52Z#UsToo: How antisemitism and Islamophobia make reporting sexual misconduct and abuse of power harder for Jewish and Muslim women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553742/original/file-20231013-15-4fnj3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C2585%2C1779&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Six years after the #MeToo hashtag went viral, women in minority communities still face extra challenges addressing harassment and abuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressSexualHarassment/a42b9d74f7c841c9a068c04d5e3e14ab/photo?Query=metoo&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=846&currentItemNo=40">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>October 2023 marks the anniversary of #MeToo: six years since <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssa_Milano/status/919659438700670976">actor Alyssa Milano’s tweet</a> calling for women to speak out about experiences of abuse went viral and helped launch a global movement. Ever since, #MeToo has been shorthand for people’s experiences with sexual harassment and assault, from <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/metoo-five-years-later-hollywoods-crafts-community-1235228124/">film sets</a> and office buildings to college campuses and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/silence-is-not-spiritual-the-evangelical-metoo-movement">religious communities</a>.</p>
<p>Many articles about #MeToo and religion focus on large churches, such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sexual-misconduct/metoo-goes-church-southern-baptists-face-reckoning-over-treatment-women-n880216">the Southern Baptist Convention</a> – spaces that are mostly white and Christian. Yet the phrase “Me Too” was first coined as a rallying cry against abuse by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/books/tarana-burke-unbound-metoo.html">a Black Christian activist, Tarana Burke</a>, back in 2006. Meanwhile, the perspectives of women in minority racial, ethnic and religious groups were often overshadowed – a focus of <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/research-projects/research.html">my research on Jewish studies and gender</a>.</p>
<p>These women face added challenges when they break the silence around sexual misconduct and abuse of power, as I document in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/UsToo-How-Jewish-Muslim-and-Christian-Women-Changed-Our-Communities/McGinity/p/book/9781032430355">my book “#UsToo</a>.” Many Jewish and Muslim women of color navigate three kinds of oppression simultaneously: sexism, racism and antisemitism or Islamophobia. </p>
<p>My interviews with dozens of women illustrate how race and religion affected their experiences of sexism, underscoring the need to normalize speaking out.</p>
<h2>’Dirty laundry’</h2>
<p>Jews and Muslims both experience prejudice, making them hesitant to <a href="https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/we-too/">draw attention to something negative</a> that others could weaponize. It is often harder for minority victims to speak out about abuse because they <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/07/it-s-time-for-muslims-to-talk-about-sexual-misconduct-among-our-islamic-preachers/">do not want to disparage their own faith communities</a>, for fear of fueling hated.</p>
<p>This problem is not exclusive to Jewish or Muslim communities but rather a general problem for all subcultures. Publicly airing communal “dirty laundry” is seen as precarious, both for the individual and for the ethnoreligious group. </p>
<p>Jewish and Muslim women in the United States are diverse, from <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/jewish-americans-in-2020/">different levels of religious observance</a> to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/">ethnic identity</a>. For many, though, cultural taboos make it harder to speak out, compounding concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia.</p>
<p>The Jewish concept of “lashon hora,” for example – Hebrew for “idle gossip” – sometimes deters women from <a href="https://jewishlink.news/lashon-hara-and-abuse-cover-ups/">calling out bad behavior</a>. Likewise, text in the Quran refers to talking about someone else’s actions <a href="https://zakirnaikqa.wordpress.com/tag/eating-the-flesh-of-your-own-brother/">as “backbiting</a>” – literally, “eating the flesh off your brother.” </p>
<p>The #MeToo movement has lessened the likelihood that, going forward, women will be shamed for speaking out. Women I spoke with recalled being warned previously against raising concerns within their communities and being told it would ruin the career or even the life of the abuser. However, these concepts continue to cause concern among those who do.</p>
<h2>Risks of silence and interdependence</h2>
<p>The insularity, sense of connection and interdependence within some minority communities can be conducive to abuses of power. Jewish philanthropy leader Maxyne Finkelstein <a href="https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/we-must-own-our-responsibility-as-women/">has referred to the sense of familiarity in some Jewish organizations as “living room syndrome</a>”: the tendency to act more casually than in a community or organization where people do not share as much cultural background.</p>
<p>In a poll of 2,376 people <a href="https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2019-predicting-and-preventing-islamophobia/">from many different faith groups</a>, Jews were the second-least likely to report unwanted sexual advances from a faith leader to law enforcement: just 12% of victims told police, according to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/08/17/disobedient-women-and-churchtoo-stand-up-to-sexual-abuse-in-evangelicalism/">As in other religions</a>, however, <a href="https://www.jta.org/2019/08/14/ny/study-communal-orgs-prone-to-abuses-of-power">sexual misconduct and abuse of power</a> exist in many kinds of Jewish spaces, from <a href="https://www.jta.org/2019/03/18/lifestyle/how-jewish-summer-camps-are-talking-about-consent-in-the-age-of-metoo">summer camps</a> and foundations to synagogues and academia.</p>
<p>In June 2018, I publicly shared my experience of a prominent sociologist using the pretense of professional advice to sexually harass and assault me. Given his status, <a href="https://www.jta.org/2018/06/21/ny/american-jewrys-metoo-problem-a-first-person-encounter">my op-ed</a> was shared widely. Word spread quickly in the Jewish community, and other women came out of the woodwork about his behavior.</p>
<p>Initiatives around #MeToo in the Jewish community have taken off in the past few years. One of the most visible was the 2018 founding of the <a href="https://srenetwork.org/">SafetyRespectEquity Network</a>, which brought Jewish organizations together under one umbrella to strive toward eliminating sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. <a href="https://www.jewishsacredspaces.org/">Sacred Spaces</a>, incorporated in 2016, is another organization that brings Jewish values to its work addressing and preventing abuse.</p>
<h2>Walking a tightrope</h2>
<p>Like Jewish women of color, many Muslim American women are triple minorities: female in a society where women are still “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/10379/the-second-sex-by-simone-de-beauvoir-newly-translated-by-constance-borde-and-sheila-malovany/">the second sex</a>”; a religious minority in a predominantly Christian country; and often judged by the color of their skin. Being <a href="https://philarchive.org/archive/FATNTMv2">a triple minority</a> exacerbates the challenges of speaking out about sexual harassment and assault.</p>
<p>In many ways, Muslim women of color had a steeper hill to climb than Jewish women, given the xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-muslims-are-portrayed-negatively-in-american-media-2-political-scientists-reviewed-over-250-000-articles-to-find-conclusive-evidence-183327">that have been prevalent in the U.S.</a> since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for ‘Breaking Silence’ (2017)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nevertheless, some Muslim women affected by sexual misconduct have been working for years to bring it out of the communal closet and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/26/588855132/-mosquemetoo-gives-muslim-women-a-voice-about-sexual-misconduct-at-mecca">into the public eye</a>. In 2004, for example – two years before the phrase “Me too” was coined – a Muslim woman named Robina Niaz started <a href="https://www.tpny.org/services/">Turning Point</a>, an organization that offers counseling, advocacy and youth programs to help women and families understand that sexual abuse and violence are not their fault. </p>
<p>In 2017, Nadya Ali – a Ph.D. student in biology at the time – directed <a href="http://www.breakingsilencethefilm.com/">the film “Breaking Silence</a>,” which aimed to raise awareness of abuse in Muslim communities. Voted <a href="https://m.imdb.com/event/ev0003612/2017/1">best short documentary</a> at the Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival, the film underscores that taboos around discussing sex did not prevent abuse; instead, they protected sexual predators and silenced women whom they abused. </p>
<p>Researchers found that although unwanted sexual advances from faith leaders were no more prevalent among Muslims than other faith groups, Muslims were slightly more likely than other victims to report the incident to law enforcement: 54% compared with 44%, according to <a href="https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2019-predicting-and-preventing-islamophobia/">the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding</a>. In almost all other religious groups, women are more likely to report sexual violence to another member of their faith community than to law enforcement – whereas many Muslim women are more comfortable telling strangers about being sexually abused than telling their own community.</p>
<p>Many of the women I interviewed live on a tightrope: calling out the patriarchy and sexual misconduct they experienced, while defending their community against anti-Muslim stereotypes. </p>
<p>The Muslim communal response to #MeToo includes organizations to combat gender-based violence. <a href="https://hearttogrow.org/">HEART</a>, a sexual health and reproductive justice organization founded in 2009, offers education and resources to discuss sexual relationships and violence. More recently, FACE, which stands for <a href="https://facetogether.org/">Facing Abuse in Community Environments</a>, has investigated sexual, physical, financial and spiritual abuses. <a href="https://inshaykhsclothing.com/">In Shaykh’s Clothing</a>, founded in 2017, works with individuals and institutions to prevent abuse, hold abusers accountable and educate Muslims about recognizing abuse and standing up to it.</p>
<p>Despite this progress, many Jewish and Muslim women are still apprehensive about reporting coreligionists, as are women in larger Christian communities. The United States has not yet normalized reporting, and neither have our faith communities. Sharing women’s stories and organizing for change – while battling antisemitism and Islamophobia – will keep the #MeToo movement moving, which I believe will create a better world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keren McGinity does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In minority faith groups that already face hate, women who have experienced harassment sometimes fear bringing negative attention to their community.Keren McGinity, Research Associate, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2147362023-10-15T04:45:46Z2023-10-15T04:45:46ZBetween state and mosque: new book explores the turbulent history of Islamic politics in Mozambique<p><em><a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/dp/2014/afr1404.pdf">Mozambique</a> is a multi-religious southern African nation with excellent relations between faiths. Relations between Muslims and the state have been good too. But the situation became more complicated <a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-own-version-of-boko-haram-is-tightening-its-deadly-grip-98087">in 2017</a> when a bloody jihadist insurgency broke out in the north. Eric Morier-Genoud has published extensively on politics and religion in Mozambique. His latest book, <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/towards-jihad/">Towards Jihad? Muslims and Politics in Postcolonial Mozambique</a>, looks at the historical relationship between Islam and politics in the country. He fielded some questions from The Conversation Africa.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>When was Islam introduced to Mozambique?</h2>
<p>Islam has a very old presence in Mozambique. It is estimated to have arrived within the first century of the start of the faith, with Arab, Ottoman and Persian traders. It settled at once during and after the 8th century among new Swahili networks, cultures and societies that developed on the east African coast between Somalia and what is today Mozambique. </p>
<p>Expansion of the Islamic faith inland was slow and only made significant progress in the 19th and 20th centuries. This was the time when European colonial powers occupied Africa, building new infrastructure such as roads and railways that helped the spread of different faiths. </p>
<p>At <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mozambique/Mozambique-under-the-New-State-regime">independence in 1975</a>, Muslims represented 15% of the population of Mozambique. The latest census indicates it stood at 19% <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Mozambique/Religion">in 2017</a>. Today Muslims live mostly on the coast and in the north of the country. A majority of the population of Niassa and Cabo Delgado provinces are Muslim, as are 40% of the population of Nampula province.</p>
<h2>What’s been the political experience of Muslims since independence?</h2>
<p>A majority of Muslims, like all other religious people in the country, were in favour of independence. But when Frelimo, the liberation movement, came to power at independence in 1975, its policy was socialist-oriented and the government turned against religion. Frelimo saw faith as a superstition and an impediment to its programme. It closed churches near state and educational institutions, restricted religious practice, and even ran atheist campaigns between 1978 and 1980. </p>
<p>In the 1980s, the Frelimo party-state shifted towards tolerance, meaning a policy of minor religious restrictions and a strict separation between state and church/mosque. Frelimo party members were prohibited from being members of a religious institution. Faith institutions were ordered to focus on religion only. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, after the end of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-the-Cold-War-end">Cold War</a> and the official abandonment of socialism, the Frelimo government moved towards a freer religious regime. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the post-socialist <a href="https://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/por/Governo/Legislacao/Constituicao-da-Republica-de-Mocambique">1990 constitution</a> did not allow political parties based on regionalism, ethnicity or religion. So there’s a limit to what Muslims can do politically for their faith.</p>
<p>A law to recognise Muslim religious holidays in the 1990s was blocked by the Supreme Court in the name of secularism. Muslims argued this was unfair since Christmas is an official holiday, although called <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?country=126">“family day”</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly in the 2000s Muslim politicians (organised in a formal cross-party lobby in parliament) struggled to influence a new law to define the family, inheritance rights and women’s rights. </p>
<p>Consequently, many Islamic organisations and politicians have moved away from politics in the last two decades, to focus on education, social works and proselytism.</p>
<h2>What led to the current insurgency?</h2>
<p>There is much debate about the causes of the jihadi insurgency in northern Mozambique. <a href="https://www.iese.ac.mz/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cadernos_17.pdf">Researchers</a> have identified poverty, youth marginalisation, ethnicity and religion as push factors. </p>
<p>The pull factor is a jihadi project of more justice and equality through sharia law and a caliphate. It offers an alternative plan for state and society, and a path to it through violence. The insurgency developed regionally (in connection with Tanzanian jihadis) and the insurgents connected formally to the Islamic State, the <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/08/11/how-al-qaeda-and-islamic-state-are-digging-into-africa">international terrorist group</a>, in early 2018. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambican-terror-group-is-strikingly-similar-to-nigerias-deadly-boko-haram-201039">Mozambican terror group is strikingly similar to Nigeria's deadly Boko Haram</a>
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<p>My book shows that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Mozambique do not want full sharia law and a caliphate. Nor do they accept the violence used to achieve these objectives. </p>
<p>The insurgents have nevertheless settled militarily in the extreme north, where they have established bases in deep forests and rely on Islamic State for some technical support and public relations.</p>
<h2>What support, if any, do the insurgents enjoy in Mozambique?</h2>
<p>Insurgents enjoy hardly any support nationally. Locally, they draw some support from networks they established, from long-held local grievances, and from mistakes the state, the army and the police have made since the start of the conflict. </p>
<p>Other dynamics have come into play, including displacement, violence, uncertainty and fear. Today, the “Al-Shabaab” insurgents (as they are known in Mozambique) operate in a territory of about 30,000 square kilometres which represents less than half of the province of Cabo Delgado (one of the 11 provinces of Mozambique). </p>
<p>This is a very limited territory, but one where crucial economic projects are located. Among others, private investment is unfolding for the production of onshore and offshore LNG gas, and companies have developed graphite projects that have turned Mozambique into the second largest world producer of this mineral. </p>
<p>The insurgents have hardly expanded since they began their armed insurrection in October 2017. In 2021 they carried out attacks in Niassa and Nampula, but they withdrew rapidly. It is not clear whether they chose not to expand, or whether the government and its <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/06/regional-security-support-vital-first-step-peace-mozambique">international allies</a> have been effective in containing them. Still, the armed conflict continues today, six years on.</p>
<h2>How can the peace be restored?</h2>
<p>This is a topic of debate. The government has been active mostly militarily, with an international intervention since 2021. It wants to root out those it calls international “terrorists”. </p>
<p>Many commentators and partners of Mozambique believe that to resolve the conflict, one also needs to address the root causes: poverty, youth marginalisation and ethnicity. Donors and the Mozambican government have started social and economic programmes focusing on youth and on economic development in the north of Mozambique. Even private companies such as TotalEnergie want to engage in such programmes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/catalogue-of-failures-behind-growing-humanitarian-crisis-in-northern-mozambique-149343">Catalogue of failures behind growing humanitarian crisis in northern Mozambique</a>
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<p>An element which has not been touched upon yet relates to the pull factors. There are several possibilities. One would be for the state and civil society to develop a reflection and consultation about the future of the country and about inclusion and representation. It could look at social, economic, political, historical, cultural, and religious elements, aiming to establish a medium-term “agenda for the nation”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Morier-Genoud does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Mozambique reject the violence of the insurgents and their quest for a caliphate.Eric Morier-Genoud, Reader in African history, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152942023-10-09T16:16:13Z2023-10-09T16:16:13ZWhy Al-Aqsa remains a sensitive site in Palestine-Israel conflict<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552792/original/file-20231009-18-w1sjg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C25%2C5580%2C3712&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-picture-taken-from-the-mount-of-olives-shows-a-view-of-news-photo/1708612985?adppopup=true">Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a <a href="http://www.kenchitwood.com/">scholar of global Islam</a>, I teach an introduction to Islam course and include a discussion about Al-Aqsa as part of the syllabus. That’s because Al-Aqsa has deep religious significance for Muslims around the world. </p>
<p>But it is also important to highlight its remarkable political relevance for Palestinians. </p>
<p>These two facts make it a focal point for conflict. </p>
<h2>The night journey of Muhammad</h2>
<p>The Masjid al-Aqsa, or simply Al-Aqsa, means “the farthest mosque” or “the farthest sanctuary,” and <a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Islam.html?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&redir_esc=y">refers to the lead-domed mosque</a> within the sacred precinct of Haram al-Sharif – “the Noble Enclosure.” The precinct includes the Dome of the Rock, the four minarets, the compound’s historic gates and the mosque itself.</p>
<p>Mentioned in Sura 17, verse 1 of the Quran, the mosque is linked to the story of Muhammad’s “Isra” – the “night journey” from Mecca to Jerusalem – that in part confirms him as the last and most authoritative of the prophets for Muslims. <a href="https://quran.com/53">The Quran says</a> the prophet was “carried … by night from the Sacred Mosque [in Mecca] to the Farthest Mosque [al-Aqsa], whose precincts we have blessed.” </p>
<p>From there, it is believed that Muhammad ascended to heaven – called the Mir'aj. The Dome of the Rock – Qubbat as-Sakhra – is said to shelter the rock <a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Islam.html?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&redir_esc=y">from where Muhammad physically ascended</a>. </p>
<p>The mosque’s origins stretch back to the seventh century. It was <a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Islam.html?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&redir_esc=y">first built in A.D. 637</a>, just five years after the prophet’s death. It has been destroyed, rebuilt and renovated multiple times.</p>
<p>The current building largely dates to the 11th century and hosts daily prayers and Friday gatherings that draw large crowds. It lies adjacent to important Jewish and Christian religious locales, particularly the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples. </p>
<p>At times, the Dome of the Rock – a shrine – and Al-Aqsa – a mosque – have been confused as one and the same. While part of the same “Noble Sanctuary,” they are two distinct buildings with different histories and purposes. </p>
<p>However, the term Al-Aqsa is sometimes used to indicate the entire “Noble Sanctuary” complex. Originally, it is believed that the term <a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/Aspects_of_Islam.html?id=FAWPAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">“the farthest sanctuary” referred to Jerusalem as a whole</a>. </p>
<h2>Place in Islamic history</h2>
<p>After Mecca and Medina, the vast majority of Muslims worldwide consider <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Palestinians_Born_in_Exile/qRnUAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=palestinians+born+in+exile&printsec=frontcover">Jerusalem the third-holiest place on Earth</a>. </p>
<p>Referenced frequently in Islamic tradition and hadith – records of something the Prophet Muhammad said, did or tacitly approved of – it is believed that while in Mecca, Muhammad originally oriented his community’s prayers toward Al-Aqsa.</p>
<p>In A.D. 622, the community fled Mecca because of persecution, seeking refuge in Medina to the north. After a little over a year there, Muslims believe God instructed Muhammad to face back toward Mecca for prayers. In Surah 2, verses 149-150, the Quran says, “turn thy face toward the Sacred Mosque [the Kaaba in Mecca] … wheresoever you may be, turn your faces toward it.”</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Jerusalem and its sacred locales – specifically Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock – have remained sites of Islamic pilgrimage for 15 centuries. </p>
<h2>The ‘most sensitive site’ in conflict</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A golden dome and columns decorated by elaborate byzantine decorations." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400320/original/file-20210512-19-btu5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The decorated interior of the golden dome inside the Dome of the Rock mosque at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Jerusalem’s Old City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/picture-taken-with-a-fisheye-lens-on-january-10-shows-the-news-photo/903284924?adppopup=true">Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Given its sacred significance, there was great concern about the precinct’s fate after Israel’s victory in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/de/academic/subjects/history/middle-east-history/1967-arab-israeli-war-origins-and-consequences?format=PB">1967 Arab-Israeli War and its subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem</a>.</p>
<p>Although Israel granted jurisdiction of the mosque and complex to an Islamic waqf – “endowment” – Israel still commands access to the grounds and security forces regularly perform patrols and conduct searches within the precinct. Under the <a href="https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Protection+of+Holy+Places+Law.htm">Preservation of the Holy Places Law</a>, the Israeli government has also allowed entry to different religious groups – such as Christian pilgrims. </p>
<p>Many Israelis respect the sanctity of the place as the holiest site in Judaism. In 2005, the <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/1.4706117">chief rabbinate of Israel said it is forbidden for Jews to walk on the site</a> to avoid accidentally entering the Holy of Holies – the inner sanctum of the Temple, believed to be God’s dwelling place on earth. Nonetheless, certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups controversially advocate for <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/laying-the-groundwork-for-a-third-temple-in-jerusalem/">greater access and control of the site</a>, seeking to reclaim the historic Temple Mount, in order to rebuild the Temple.</p>
<p>Described as “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/violence-erupts-al-aqsa-mosque-israel-marks-jerusalem-day-2021-05-10">the most sensitive site in the Israel-Palestinian conflict</a>,” it has frequently been host to political acts. </p>
<p>For example, in August 1969, an Australian Christian named Dennis Michael Rohan <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-an-australian-sheepshearers-al-aqsa-arson-nearly-torched-middle-east-peace/">attempted to burn down</a> Al-Aqsa, destroying the historically significant and intricately carved minbar – or “pulpit” – of Saladin, a treasured piece of Islamic art. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Israeli security forces fire sound grenades inside the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400322/original/file-20210512-14-1tuw3mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Israeli security forces fire sound grenades inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on Aug. 11, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/israeli-security-forces-fire-sound-grenades-inside-the-al-news-photo/1160931707?adppopup=true">Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>On Sept. 28, 2000, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon and a delegation guarded by hundreds of Israeli riot police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/29/world/sharon-touches-a-nerve-and-jerusalem-explodes.html">entered the precinct</a>. This sparked protests and a violent crackdown by Israeli authorities, with multiple casualties. Many Muslims worldwide considered this a “<a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/111_Questions_on_Islam.html?id=fkZAnNDuNvsC&redir_esc=y">desecration” of the sacred mosque</a>, and the event helped ignite the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising. </p>
<p>Tensions peaked again after an attack on Yehuda Glick, a controversial right-wing rabbi, in autumn 2014. In response, Israeli authorities <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/03/world/meast/jerusalem-temple-mount-crisis-lister">closed down access to Al-Aqsa for the first time since 1967</a>. In March and April of that year, Israeli police <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/israeli-forces-storm-al-aqsa-mosque/2014/07/18/8ab345c0-0ea4-11e4-b0dd-edc009ac1f9d_video.html">used tear gas and stun grenades on Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa</a>, prompting an international outcry. </p>
<p>Numerous other incidents between Israeli forces and worshipers <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/3/12/israeli-police-assault-worshippers-close-al-aqsa-compound">have occurred at Al-Aqsa</a> in recent years. </p>
<p>Controlled access to the site reminds Palestinians of their relative powerlessness in their ongoing land disputes with Israeli authorities. At the same time, attacks at Al-Aqsa resonate with Muslims across the world who react with horror to what they see as the desecration of one of their most sacred sites. </p>
<p>Defending Al-Aqsa and fighting for rights to access it, I argue, have become proxy conflicts for both Palestinian claims and the need to defend Islam as a whole.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-al-aqsa-mosque-has-often-been-a-site-of-conflict-160671">piece originally published on May 12, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ken Chitwood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint in Hamas’ recent assault against Israel, hosts daily prayers and Friday gatherings. It lies adjacent to important Jewish and Christian religious locales.Ken Chitwood, Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, USC Dornsife Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142782023-10-09T13:32:55Z2023-10-09T13:32:55ZEthiopia: religious tension is getting worse – 5 factors driving groups apart<p>Religion is highly present in Ethiopia. It’s visible in churches and mosques, in clothing, and in public rituals. </p>
<p>The country’s main religious communities are Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Protestants. It’s home to one of the world’s oldest churches and has the third-largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa. Orthodox Christians account for <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">about 43% of the population, while approximately 33% are Muslims</a>. Protestant Christianity arrived in the late 19th century and has expanded rapidly in recent decades to account for an estimated 20% of the population. </p>
<p>Ethiopia is <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">often portrayed</a> as a unique case of harmonious inter-religious relations where Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully together for centuries. But the country has also seen religious conflicts. </p>
<p>In the last three decades, there has been a worsening of religious tension. In <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/27/ambush-kills-20-muslim-worshippers-in-ethiopias-amhara-region#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20incident%20happened%20yesterday%20when,three%20people%20and%20wounding%20five.">2022</a>, for instance, more than 20 people were killed following attacks on Muslims in the north-western city of Gondar.</p>
<p>Ethiopia is constitutionally a secular state. Religion has no formal place in politics. Shared spaces and government buildings are to be free from any religious expressions. However, this has been unevenly practised. Religion is present everywhere. </p>
<p>I am a scholar of religion, with extensive <a href="https://religion.ufl.edu/directory/terje-ostebo/">fieldwork and research experience</a> in religion, ethnicity and politics in Ethiopia. In a recent <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">paper</a>, I analysed the developments over the last decades that have affected inter-religious relations, worsened polarisation and produced conflicts.</p>
<p>In my view, five factors have contributed to the rise in religious tensions.</p>
<p>First, the political transition in 1991, which allowed for greater expression of religious activities and changed the religious landscape. Second, the expansion of Christian Protestantism from the early 1990s. Third, the rise of a more visible and assertive Muslim population. Fourth, the response from the Ethiopian Orthodox church to a loss of influence. Finally, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abiy-Ahmed">Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed</a> allowing religion to enter the public political discourse.</p>
<h2>Growing conflict</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/08/15/ethiopia-risks-sliding-into-another-civil-war">Civil war</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/08/25/two-ethnic-revolts-rack-ethiopia-at-the-same-time">ethnic conflicts</a> have dominated news coming out of Ethiopia in recent years. Religious and ethnic identities are closely connected, but the ethnic dimension of conflict has tended to overshadow the growing tensions between religious communities.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.eip.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Ostebo-et-al-2021-Religion-ethnicity-and-charges-of-Extremism-in-Ethiopia-final.pdf#page=14">2018</a>, young rioters burned churches and killed several priests in Jijiga, in the eastern Ethiopian state of Somali. In <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/ethiopia/">2020</a>, Muslim properties were attacked in Harar, eastern Ethiopia, during celebrations of an Orthodox Christian holiday. In <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/27/ambush-kills-20-muslim-worshippers-in-ethiopias-amhara-region#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20incident%20happened%20yesterday%20when,three%20people%20and%20wounding%20five.">2022</a>, attacks on Muslims in Gondar turned deadly. Such incidents have eroded trust between Ethiopia’s religious communities. </p>
<p>Inter-religious violence is often blamed on so-called extremist elements. However, a closer look reveals a more complex picture. </p>
<h2>The drivers</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ethiopia/Socialist-Ethiopia-1974-91#ref1033852">political transition in 1991</a> and the arrival of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front led to important changes to the political, social and cultural landscape. Seeking to promote equal rights for the country’s ethnic and religious groups, the new government lifted formal restrictions on religious activities. </p>
<p>This affected the balance of power between religious groups. Historically, Ethiopia’s inter-religious co-existence was made possible by one community dominating the others. </p>
<p>Since its establishment in the fourth century, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been intimately tied to the state. The domination of the church contributed to the marginalisation of other religious communities. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ethiopia/Socialist-Ethiopia-1974-91">1974 Ethiopian Revolution</a> ended the state-church marriage, and the changes after 1991 further eroded the church’s position and brought other religious communities in from the shadows. </p>
<p>The second driver of tensions has been the rise of Protestantism. Initially brought by western missionaries in the late 19th century, the religion was mainly found in Ethiopia’s non-Orthodox southern region. Protestantism grew rapidly after 1991, with churches and ministries expanding into traditional Orthodox and Muslim areas. On occasion, this has led to violent conflict. In <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">2006 and 2010</a>, for instance, clashes erupted in the southwestern area of Jimma.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/religion-was-once-ethiopias-saviour-what-it-can-do-to-pull-the-nation-from-the-brink-171763">Religion was once Ethiopia's saviour. What it can do to pull the nation from the brink</a>
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<p>The 1991 changes also led to Islam becoming more visible in the country. Various Islamic reform movements began strengthening religious identity among Muslims and countering their historically marginalised position. This produced a more assertive community. Muslims have become more active in Ethiopia’s social and political life. Numerous mosques have been built across the country. And Muslims have become increasingly visible through a changing dress code, particularly the use of veiling among women, and through public celebrations of religious holidays. </p>
<p>Many Christians, both Orthodox and Protestant, interpret a more visible and assertive Muslim community as proof of Islamic “extremism”. It’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41240192">commonly claimed</a> that mosques and religious schools are funded by Saudi Arabia. And that the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FMpXkKFzQ&t=29s">ultimate aim</a> of Ethiopia’s Muslims is political power. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_6lVEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&ots=FAYRrOHs-A&sig=2baPJasl1_wE5VUWCtnWka-M_Vg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Research</a> has shown that Saudi religious activism has actually dwindled over the last years. But the narrative about such ties continues to fuel suspicions and affect Christian-Muslim relations. </p>
<p>All these developments have been challenging for the Orthodox church. Many of its members are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">changing their affiliation to Protestantism</a>. The Orthodox church has made efforts to limit this. It has, for instance, prohibited the construction of Protestant churches and mosques in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/arts/design/churches-of-aksum-and-lalibela.html">Lalibela and Axum</a> in Ethiopia’s north. The church has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48634427">declared</a> these cities as sacred Orthodox spaces. </p>
<p>The Orthodox church has also sought to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/religious-dynamics-and-conflicts-in-contemporary-ethiopia-expansion-protection-and-reclaiming-space/ABD9865F31A8D01E5D87AA38EDF1B0F5">reclaim its lost space</a> by, for example, celebrating religious holidays through highly visible ceremonies. During its Meskel holiday in September this year, the Addis Ababa government <a href="https://apanews.net/this-years-ethiopian-meskel-festival-sees-low-turnout-tight-security/#:%7E:text=The%20laity%20is%20restricted%20from,Shirts%20was%20not%20allowed%20too">placed restrictions</a> on the celebration.</p>
<p>The church’s responses have provoked reactions among other religious communities, particularly Muslims who view its actions as an attempt to curb the space they have carved out for themselves. </p>
<p>Finally, Abiy’s political language is laced with semi-religious references. The prime minister is a practising Pentecostal. His acknowledgement of religion has enabled actors to lift religion into the public sphere in ways that have <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429426957-45/strains-pente-politics-j%C3%B6rg-haustein-dereje-feyissa">sharpened boundaries and added to the tensions</a>. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>Religious identities and belonging are important in today’s Ethiopia. Changes over the last decades have, however, deepened inter-religious tensions. There is potential to alleviate these tensions. Doing this will require political and religious leaders to communicate across religious boundaries to accommodate Ethiopia’s plurality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terje Ostebo have receive funding from USAID.</span></em></p>News coverage of Ethiopia’s ethnic conflicts has overshadowed the growing tensions and polarisation between religious communities.Terje Ostebo, Chair of the Department of Religion and Professor at the Department of Religion and the Center for African Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135432023-09-29T12:23:09Z2023-09-29T12:23:09ZFrench schools’ ban on abayas and headscarves is supposedly about secularism − but it sends a powerful message about who ‘belongs’ in French culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550744/original/file-20230927-25-du7dcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C3608%2C2392&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents watch French air force jets fly over a Paris suburb during the Bastille Day military parade on July 14, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FranceSecularismSchools/bc7bd6cef9b447ab8d9fa8b7303a9f1e/photo?Query=france%20muslim&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5656&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Youcef Bounab</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>France’s decision to ban public school students from wearing the abaya – <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2023/08/29/what-is-the-abaya-the-garment-france-wants-to-ban-from-schools_6113640_8.html">a long dress or robe</a> popular among women in certain Muslim cultures – and the male equivalent, the qamis, has <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/france-abaya-ban-macron-accused-double-standard-uk-royal-visit#:%7E:text=French%20President%20Emmanuel%20Macron%20has,abayas%20worn%20by%20Muslim%20women.">faced criticism</a> since Aug. 27, 2023, when the country’s education minister announced the new rule.</p>
<p>Yet polls suggest that more than 80% of the French population <a href="https://www.ifop.com/publication/la-position-des-francais-sur-linterdiction-du-port-de-labaya-et-du-qamis-a-lecole/">supports the ban</a>, as does the country’s highest court: The Conseil d'État <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/world/europe/france-abaya-muslims-school.html">has upheld</a> <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/09/19/interdiction-du-port-de-l-abaya-a-l-ecole-deux-referes-suspension-a-leur-tour-examines-au-conseil-d-etat_6190060_3224.html">the challenged ban</a> twice – most recently <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2437691/frances-top-court-rejects-appeal-against-ban-on-abaya-in-schools">on Sept. 25, 2023</a>.</p>
<p>Education Minister Gabriel Attal cited “laïcité,” or French secularism, as the reason for the ban. Legislation passed in 2004 prohibits “ostentatious religious symbols” from public schools, including large crosses and Jewish head coverings, though its main target <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691147987/the-politics-of-the-veil">has been Muslim headscarves</a>.</p>
<p>Debate over the abaya, however, gets to the heart of <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/the-weaponization-of-laicite">debates over laïcité</a>. Many critics argue that the abaya <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230829-cultural-garment-or-religious-symbol-debate-over-france-s-ban-on-abyas-in-school">is a cultural garment</a>, not a religious one, and should be allowed under laïcité. In practice, though, anything associated with Muslim cultures tends to be considered “religious.” Catholic traditions, meanwhile, are often considered “cultural” – and therefore compatible with laïcité.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/carol-ferrara">ethnographic research</a> in French schools, where secularism debates are particularly heated, suggests that the abaya ban and the earlier “headscarf law” aren’t really about defending laïcité. Rather, they protect a particular version of French identity – an identity infused with Catholic culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People at a protest stand beneath an awning as they hold signs over their faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550416/original/file-20230926-15-sl86y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Staff from a school on the outskirts of Paris protest against the government’s abaya ban on Sept. 6, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rally-was-organized-by-staff-from-the-maurice-utrillo-high-news-photo/1648579667?adppopup=true">Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Catho-laïcité’</h2>
<p>Despite its reputation as a staunchly secular country, France has a deep and tangled relationship with Catholicism. </p>
<p>Recent studies show that only about 1 in 3 French people ages 18-59 <a href="https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/6793308?sommaire=6793391#onglet-3">consider themselves Catholic</a> – whether in a religious or cultural sense – and <a href="https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/6793308?sommaire=6793391#onglet-1">weekly Mass attendance is uncommon</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the faith still has a powerful influence upon French culture. Attending church for holidays, funerals, weddings and baptisms remains commonplace. Crosses, <a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/covid-19-les-cloches-des-eglises-de-france-vont-sonner-ce-mercredi-25-mars-a-19h30-20200325">church bells</a> and <a href="https://laportelatine.org/medias/videotheque/paris-video-de-la-procession-de-la-fsspx-du-8-decembre-2021">public church processions</a> are considered ordinary aspects of French culture, despite the official emphasis on <a href="https://editionsdelaube.fr/catalogue_de_livres/etre-francais-les-quatre-piliers-de-la-nationalite/">laïcité as a unifying pillar</a> of national identity. </p>
<p>“I am convinced that the Catholic sap (of France) must still, and forever, contribute to the life of our nation,” President Emmanuel Macron said in <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2018/04/09/discours-du-president-de-la-republique-emmanuel-macron-a-la-conference-des-eveques-de-france-au-college-des-bernardins">a 2018 speech to bishops</a>.</p>
<p>By contrast, headscarves, abayas, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20091203-2009-12-03-0710-french-press-review-minarets-mosques-french-poll-46%25-ifop-thierry-henry-handball-fifa-pompidou-strike">minarets</a>, the <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/France/Politique/Appels-priere-islamique-Le-Pen-RN-denonce-une-nouvelle-escalade-2020-04-04-1301087872">call to prayer</a>, halal food and Islamic <a href="https://www.francesoir.fr/societe-faits-divers/les-prieres-de-rues-de-clichy-la-garenne-jugees-illegales">prayer in public spaces</a> are often perceived as threats to French identity. Moreover, these get flagged as religious symbols, putting them in conflict with laïcité <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo59260270.html">in ways that Catholic symbols avoid</a>.</p>
<p>Catholicism’s intimate relationship with secularism in France is sometimes referred to as “catho-laïcité,” referring to how Catholicism, laïcité and Frenchness become almost interchangeable. Rather than neutral secularism, “laïcité” can represent a particular, Catholic-infused French identity that views religious or cultural “others” with suspicion.</p>
<h2>Santa Claus in class</h2>
<p>These contradictions are especially evident around Catholic holidays. In the lead-up to Christmas, schools often celebrate with decorations, concerts and even visits from Santa Claus – activities defended as cultural rather than religious. My 3-year-old son’s holiday concert in a public preschool just outside Paris included “O Christmas Tree,” “Little Father Christmas” and “Silent Night,” but no songs from other religious traditions despite many of his classmates’ Muslim heritage. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Half a dozen people in red and white fuzzy suits paddleboard beneath a bridge as a crowd watches above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550414/original/file-20230926-23-1bck3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People dressed as Santa Claus attend a paddleboarding parade on the Ill river in Strasbourg, France, on Dec. 3, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pedestrians-take-pictures-as-paddlers-dressed-as-santa-news-photo/1245331036?adppopup=true">Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Controversies stemming from holiday activities point back to this idea of “catho-laïcité”: Traditions rooted in Christian culture are more likely to be considered cultural and thus compatible with both secularism and “Frenchness.”</p>
<p>In 2018, an elementary school director in southern France <a href="https://www.sudouest.fr/politique/education/laicite-une-ecole-annule-les-animations-autour-de-noel-l-education-nationale-intervient-2954198.php">canceled all Christmas-related activities</a> to adhere to the “rules of laïcité” after a parent expressed disapproval. Community backlash was so fervent that the national ministry of education stepped in to intervene and reinstated the ostensibly cultural activities.</p>
<p>More recently, a mayor in northern France issued an <a href="https://www.tf1info.fr/regions/video-insolite-pas-de-calais-le-pere-noel-autorise-a-marcher-sur-les-toits-par-arrete-municipal-lors-du-reveillon-les-24-et-25-decembre-2242157.html">official authorization for Santa Claus</a> to park on rooftops, publicly declaring that Santa would be “within the law” during his visit that season. Local public elementary school students were later surprised with a video of Santa Claus and his elves depositing gifts at their school.</p>
<h2>Fish, fowl and halal</h2>
<p>Discrepancies between how laïcité applies to different religious traditions do not emerge just at holidays. French school cafeterias often serve fish on Fridays, <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-fagan/fish-on-friday/9780786722334/?lens=basic-books">a Catholic tradition</a>, but debates have raged over offering halal food or other substitutes. </p>
<p>In 2015, a town in central France decided to stop providing substitutes for pork, which is forbidden in Muslim and Jewish tradition, in its school cafeterias. Officials argued that providing exceptions had impinged upon secular neutrality. In 2020, the case <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/12/11/proposer-des-menus-sans-porc-a-la-cantine-ne-contrevient-pas-a-la-laicite-juge-le-conseil-d-etat_6063109_3224.html">went to the top court</a>, where judges declared that schools were not obligated under laïcité to provide alternative menu options for religious diets – though they added that doing so would not contradict laïcité.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women in headscarves hold a cardboard sign written in black marker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550431/original/file-20230926-17-jzllgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A placard at a 2019 protest in Toulouse reads, ‘France: it’s you and me.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-with-a-headscarf-holds-a-placard-reading-france-its-news-photo/1178484365?adppopup=true">Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The following year, a middle school in Bordeaux began providing occasional halal meals, as well as nonhalal alternatives. Nonetheless, the move sparked significant protest from local parent groups that lamented the “<a href="https://www.lefigaro.fr/bordeaux/on-bafoue-le-principe-de-laicite-et-c-est-assume-le-menu-halal-d-un-college-bordelais-inquiete-des-parents-d-eleves-20230521">flouting of the principle of laïcité</a>.”</p>
<h2>Other options</h2>
<p>Families seeking alternative education options often turn to France’s state-funded private schools, which are allowed to offer optional religious education but must otherwise follow the national curriculum and accept students of any faith. Yet here, too, the playing field is uneven.</p>
<p>There are more than <a href="https://enseignement-catholique.fr/chiffres-cles-enseignement-catholique/">7,000 Catholic schools</a> to choose from, and at some of them, upward of 70% of the student body <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Actualite/L-enseignement-catholique-face-a-ses-eleves-musulmans-_NG_-2010-09-08-578289">is Muslim</a>. Options for state-funded private Muslim schools, on the other hand – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2017.1303768">a focus of my research</a> – are sparse. This is due, in part, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2022.2131735">challenges that Muslim schools face</a> when applying for permits and funding.</p>
<p>Families can also choose from the approximately <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Famille/ecoles-hors-contrat-musulmanes-viseur-autorites-2020-12-07-1201128640">100 independent Muslim schools</a>, run without government funding. However, these face <a href="https://www.saphirnews.com/La-loi-Gatel-destinee-a-mieux-encadrer-l-ouverture-des-ecoles-privees-vise-t-elle-les-projets-musulmans_a24965.html">constant scrutiny</a> compared with the roughly 200 <a href="https://www.ecoles-libres.fr/statistiques/">independent Catholic schools</a> – some of which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09571558221151001">do not support laïcité</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A handful of women in long dresses, and many with headscarves, stand and chat on the grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550415/original/file-20230926-17-8ya7k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People in front of a school in Trappes, France, protest the abaya ban on Sept. 8, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muslim-people-protest-against-the-interdiction-of-abaya-in-news-photo/1653667947?adppopup=true">Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future consequences</h2>
<p>It is not clear how the abaya ban will affect students. On Sept. 4, 2023, only about <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/09/07/abaya-le-conseil-d-etat-valide-l-interdiction-a-l-ecole_6188297_3224.html">300 students out of France’s 12 million</a> came to school wearing an abaya, and only 67 refused to remove it, according to the education ministry.</p>
<p>The 2004 headscarf law, however, seems to have harmed Muslim girls’ educational success. According to one key study, the gap in secondary school completion rates between Muslim and non-Muslim women <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000106">doubled among those who were teenagers when the ban was passed</a> because of higher dropout rates. Moreover, the study’s authors argue that this disparity increased <a href="https://humsci.stanford.edu/feature/stanford-scholars-report-french-headscarf-ban-adversely-impacts-muslim-girls">the employment gap</a> between Muslim and non-Muslim women.</p>
<p>Taking a closer look at France’s education system, I argue, shows that the abaya ban isn’t really about laïcité. If it were, Santa and Christmas songs would be relegated to the private sphere, and cafeteria menus would equally accommodate common religious diets. Instead, Catholic symbols are often embraced as integral to French culture, while Muslim symbols are scrutinized or barred – sending students a powerful message about what it means to be “French.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213543/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Ferrara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Catholicism, ‘Frenchness’ and secularism are often conflated in French culture, a scholar writes, while non-Christian traditions are viewed with suspicion.Carol Ferrara, Anthropologist & Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135242023-09-27T12:27:58Z2023-09-27T12:27:58ZWhy some Indians want to change the country’s name to ‘Bharat’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550340/original/file-20230926-15-ivocio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C23%2C7774%2C5171&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes delegates to the G20 leaders summit in front of a placard reading 'Bharat,' the Hindi word for 'India.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-and-us-president-joe-news-photo/1669134258?adppopup=true">Dan Kitwood/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When India invited delegates attending the G20 summit in September 2023 to dinner with “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66716541">the President of Bharat</a>,” rather than “the President of India,” it may have looked to the world like a simple case of postcolonial course correction. </p>
<p>The word “India” is, after all, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-turkey-want-other-countries-to-start-spelling-its-name-turkiye-199390">an exonym</a> – a placename given by outsiders. In this case, the name came from the British, who ruled the subcontinent from 1858 to 1947, <a href="https://theconversation.com/colonialism-in-india-was-traumatic-including-for-some-of-the-british-officials-who-ruled-the-raj-77068">a violent period of colonialism</a> that later came to be called “the British Raj.” </p>
<p>“Bharat,” on the other hand, is the word for “India” in Hindi, by far <a href="https://www.forbesindia.com/article/news-by-numbers/hindi-day-2020-indias-mostspoken-languages-are/62577/1">the most spoken language in the nation</a>. Alongside English, Hindi is one of two languages used in <a href="https://qz.com/india/1712711/indias-constitution-is-over-30-times-as-long-as-the-us">the Indian Constitution</a>, with versions written in each language.</p>
<p>“Bharat” may, therefore, look like a well-reasoned and uncontroversial replacement for a term anointed long ago by outsiders – something akin to how <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43821512">Eswatini</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1980/08/26/archives/zimbabwe-is-welcomed-into-un-independence-achieved-in-april.html">Zimbabwe</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13072774">Burkina Faso</a> updated their countries’ names from the colonial designations “Swaziland,” “Rhodesia” and “Upper Volta,” respectively. </p>
<p>But the use of “Bharat” has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/6/india-or-bharat-whats-behind-the-dispute-over-the-countrys-name">elicited outcry</a> from the political opposition, some Muslims, and Hindu conservatives in the south, reflecting ongoing tensions in India between language, religion and politics. </p>
<h2>Two different language families</h2>
<p>My book with fellow linguist <a href="https://julietetelandresen.com/">Julie Tetel Andresen</a>, “<a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Languages+In+The+World%3A+How+History%2C+Culture%2C+and+Politics+Shape+Language+-p-9781118531280">Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language</a>,” covers the language history and politics of India.</p>
<p>Hindi is the most-spoken language in India, but its use is largely relegated to a part of the country that linguists refer to as “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindi-language">the Hindi belt</a>,” a massive region in northern, central and eastern India where Hindi is the official or primary language.</p>
<p>Around 1500 B.C.E., a group of outsiders from Central Asia – known now as the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/theres-no-confusion-the-new-reports-clearly-confirm-arya-migration-into-india/article61986135.ece">Indo-Aryans</a> – began migrating and settling in what is now northern India. They spoke a language that would eventually become <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language">Sanskrit</a>. As groups of these speakers separated from one another and spread out over northern India, their spoken Sanskrit changed over time, becoming distinctive.</p>
<p>Most of the languages spoken in northern India today – Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati, among many others – derive from this history. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of India highlighting predominant languages spoken in various regions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550428/original/file-20230926-21-ur64w0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Different languages are predominantly spoken in different parts of India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/indian-map-with-official-languages-of-indian-royalty-free-illustration/1490281073?phrase=map+of+indian+languages&adppopup=true">Venkatesh Selvarajan/iStock via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Aryans were not the first group to inhabit the Indian subcontinent. Another group, the Dravidians, was already living in the region at the time of the Aryan migrations. They may have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00868-w">the original inhabitants of the Indus-Valley Civilization in northern India</a>. Over the millennia, the Dravidians migrated to the southern part of the subcontinent, while the Aryans fanned out across the north. </p>
<p>Today, Dravidians number <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dravidian_peoples">about 250 million people</a>. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dravidian-languages">Dravidian languages</a>, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tamil-language">Tamil</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Telugu-language">Telugu</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Malayalam-language">Malayalam</a>, have no historical relationship and virtually no linguistic similarities to the Indo-Aryan languages of the north. </p>
<h2>Dravidians spurn Hindi</h2>
<p>By the time the Raj ended in 1947, English had been established as the language of the elites and was used in education and government. As the new nation of India took shape, Mahatma Gandhi advocated for a single Indian language to unite the diverse regions and for many years championed Hindi, <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/fact-check-did-gandhi-want-hindi-as-national-language/cid/1705408">which was already widely spoken in the north</a>.</p>
<p>But after independence, opposition to Hindi grew in the Dravidian-speaking south, where English was the favored lingua franca. For Tamils and other Dravidian groups, Hindi was associated with the Brahmin caste, whom many felt <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/why-periyar-is-still-an-influencer-in-the-political-landscape-of-tamil-nadu/periyars-movements/slideshow/63215382.cms">marginalized Dravidian languages and culture</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Portrait of a woman smiling, wearing a blue and white shawl." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550332/original/file-20230926-21-sf77gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indira Gandhi pushed to codify English, alongside Hindi, as an official language in the constitution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-politician-indira-gandhi-news-photo/639614209?adppopup=true">Henri Bureau/Sygma/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For many people in the south, Hindi came to be seen as a language as foreign as English. To keep tensions from spilling over, the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, supported verbiage in the constitution adopted in 1950 <a href="https://www.uottawa.ca/clmc/language-provisions-constitution-indian-union#:%7E:text=The%20Constitution%20adopted%20in%201950,official%20language%20of%20the%20Union.">allowing for the continued use of English in government</a> for a limited period.</p>
<p>Violence nevertheless continued in the south for years around what was seen as the <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/tamil-nadu/history-anti-hindi-imposition-movements-tamil-nadu-102983">unfair promotion of Hindi</a>. It abated only when Indira Gandhi – Nehru’s daughter and the third prime minister of India – <a href="https://www.impriindia.com/insights/linguistic-diversity-language-policy/">pushed to codify English</a>, alongside Hindi, as an official language in the constitution.</p>
<p>Today, the Indian Constitution <a href="https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf">recognizes 22 official languages</a>.</p>
<h2>Nationalists push for one official language</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/75-years-ago-britains-plan-for-pakistani-and-indian-independence-left-unresolved-conflicts-on-both-sides-especially-when-it-comes-to-kashmir-185932">The Partition of India in 1947</a> – corresponding to the dissolution of the Raj – led to the creation of Pakistan, which was set up to aggregate the majority Muslim regions from the colonial state. An independent India was set up to include the majority non-Muslim regions. </p>
<p>Today, roughly <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/Pakistan.pdf">97% of Pakistan’s population is Muslim</a>. In India, Hindus make up about 80% of the population, while <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58595040">Muslims make up about 14%</a> – more than 200 million people.</p>
<p>This is where modern domestic politics come into play. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/20/what-is-hindu-nationalism-and-who-are-the-rss">Hindutva</a>” is a brand of far-right Hindu nationalism that emerged in the 20th century in response to colonial rule but gained its biggest following under the leadership of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Narendra-Modi">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</a> and his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janta Party</a>, or the BJP. </p>
<p>As a political ideology, Hindu nationalism should be distinguished from Hinduism, a religion. It advances policies that seek to promote Hindu supremacy and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/11/modi-india-muslims-hatred-incitement/">are widely considered anti-Muslim</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/25/threat-unity-anger-over-push-make-hindi-national-language-of-india">One such policy</a> is the promotion of Hindi as the sole official language of India. Speaking in 2022 at a Parliamentary Official Language Committee meeting, <a href="https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/linguistic-imperialism-bjp-pronouncements-on-promoting-hindi-spark-outrage/article38492154.ece">BJP Home Minister Amit Shah said</a>, “When citizens of states speak other languages, communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India.”</p>
<p>To Shah, the “language of India” and Hindi were one and the same.</p>
<h2>Suppressing Urdu</h2>
<p>Muslims in India speak the languages of their communities – Hindi among them – as do Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Christians. </p>
<p>However, making Hindi the national language could be viewed as one part of a broader political project that can be characterized as anti-Muslim. That’s why the political opposition is against using “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/6/india-or-bharat-whats-behind-the-dispute-over-the-countrys-name">Bharat</a>,” even though many Muslims are themselves Hindi speakers. </p>
<p>These politics become even clearer in the context of the BJP’s attempts <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Urdu-language">to limit the use of Urdu</a> – a language with a high degree of <a href="https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Eharoldfs/540/langdial/node2.html">mutual intelligibility</a> to Hindi – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61199753">in Indian public life</a>. </p>
<p>Although Urdu and Hindi are remarkably similar, their differences take on outsized religious and national significance. </p>
<p>Whereas Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, which has strong cultural associations with Hinduism, Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which has strong associations with Islam. Whereas Hindi draws on Sanskrit for new words, Urdu draws on Persian and Arabic, again emphasizing associations to Islam. And whereas Hindi predominates in India, <a href="https://www.sprachcaffe.com/english/magazine-article/what-language-is-spoken-in-pakistan.htm">Urdu is the official language of Pakistan</a>, along with English. </p>
<p>Thus the appearance of “Bharat” in official government correspondence may reopen old wounds for Muslims – and even for conservative Hindus in the Dravidian-speaking south who might otherwise support Modi and the BJP. </p>
<p>Although an official name change is unlikely in the immediate future, “Bharat” will likely continue to serve as a rallying cry for right-wing nationalists. </p>
<p>To them, the conciliatory language politics of Nehru and Indira Gandhi <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/15/india-nehru-history-myths-modi-bjp-politics-review/">are a thing of the past</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip M. Carter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government’s use of the Hindi word for ‘India’ revives debates over whether Hindi should be the national language – and reopens some old wounds.Phillip M. Carter, Professor of Linguistics and English, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142022023-09-27T12:22:55Z2023-09-27T12:22:55ZWhat is an abaya − and why does it cause such controversy in France? A scholar of European studies explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550289/original/file-20230926-21-3zqi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C4898%2C3245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The abaya is typically paired with a headscarf to cover the hair.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-attend-a-book-fair-in-riyadh-saudi-arabia-on-march-11-news-photo/646814194?adppopup=true">Lynsey Addario/Getty Images Reportage</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Worn by some Muslim women, an abaya is a long, loose-fitting, robelike garment that covers the entire body, except for the face, hands and feet. Through the abaya, women can <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2159028">express their religious identity</a> and dedication to following Islamic guidelines regarding modest attire. </p>
<p>In more conservative social circles, the abaya is part of expected dress conforming to social norms and culture. In Saudi Arabia, for example, women were required to wear an abaya <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-women/saudi-women-should-have-choice-whether-to-wear-abaya-robe-crown-prince-idUSKBN1GV190">until 2018</a>.</p>
<p>Worn over everyday clothing, the abaya is typically paired with a headscarf to cover the hair. This garment <a href="https://www.learnreligions.com/islamic-clothing-definition-abaya-2004279">finds its primary usage</a> in North Africa; the Horn of Africa, which includes countries such as Somalia and Somaliland; and the Arabian Peninsula. </p>
<p>Traditionally, the abaya was black or dark in color, reflecting a conservative approach. In present times, however, its design and aesthetics can vary between regions and communities. In some places, abayas may feature intricate embroidery that is specific to that locality. In others, the choice of fabric and the style of draping can differ, allowing women to align their abaya with regional fashion preferences. These regional variations offer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc.1.1.45_1">women a way to express their cultural identity</a> while respecting religious norms. </p>
<p>In fact, modern abayas – offering a wide spectrum of colors and innovative designs – <a href="https://en.vogue.me/fashion/saudi-designers-reinventing-the-abaya/">have become a fashion statement</a>. These designer abayas offer a departure from the conventional plain styles and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20160623-the-high-end-designer-fashion-hidden-beneath-the-abaya">incorporate innovative patterns</a>, like floral prints and geometric designs, and even metallic embellishments such as belts and pins. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Some women modeling colorful abayas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550302/original/file-20230926-19-138yj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Models displaying abayas during a fashion show in Amman, Jordan, in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/models-display-dresses-by-jordanian-designer-ayat-al-zoubi-news-photo/467076500?adppopup=true">Jordan Pix/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>In societies where Muslims constitute a minority, the abaya takes on an added layer of significance. Muslim women can use the abaya as a <a href="https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/pdf/doi/10.4324/9781351256568-27">means to connect</a> with their cultural heritage. But it has also drawn criticism. </p>
<p>Critics argue that religious garments like the abaya represent a form of religious control <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/MEW.2010.6.1.46">over women’s bodies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109911405827">and</a> a <a href="https://sekkamag.com/2019/04/30/non-fiction-the-day-i-was-called-out-for-wearing-an-abaya/">reinforcement of patriarchy</a>. </p>
<p>Other critics of abayas say they object to public symbols of religious identity. Some individuals who advocate for a strong separation between religious and state affairs <a href="https://policycommons.net/artifacts/4826610/the-latest-laicite-clothing-controversy-in-france/5663213/">argue that religious expressions should be limited</a> to private settings. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/world/europe/france-abaya-muslims-school.html">France recently banned the wearing of abayas</a> in its public schools, arguing that it was in conflict with secular principles, which has caused an uproar. </p>
<p>Others, however, say these laws predominantly affect the country’s Muslim minority. This is because Christians do not typically express their religious identity through attire. Even when they do, Christianity often <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315149707-15/christonormativity-religious-neutrality-armin-langer">prioritizes belief over outward religious practices</a>, as opposed to mainstream Islam. </p>
<p>These critiques underscore the ongoing discussion surrounding the tension between religious practices and individual rights in diverse, multicultural societies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Armin Langer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In some conservative countries, the abaya is part of expected dress. But in countries where Muslims are in the minority, the abaya can be a way for women to connect with their religious identity.Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131482023-09-25T04:02:27Z2023-09-25T04:02:27ZHow popular music videos drove the fight against the Islamic State<p>Almost a decade ago, the Sunni jihadist network known as the Islamic State (IS) declared the formation of an Islamic Caliphate after they <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Mosul">captured the Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014</a>.</p>
<p>In response, tens of thousands of Shia men joined a complex patchwork of militias to fight against IS. Many of these militias are notoriously violent and directly loyal to Iran’s theocratic state.</p>
<p>But very little is known about how these Shia militias were so quickly and so effectively mobilised. In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569775.2023.2196875">our research</a>, we have taken a novel approach, examining the many popular music videos produced by these militias.</p>
<p>These music videos drew on a complex cocktail of historical myths and contemporary clergymen to mobilise Iraq’s Shia population to fight the IS.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-islamic-state-where-does-it-come-from-and-what-does-it-want-52155">Understanding Islamic State: where does it come from and what does it want?</a>
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<h2>Foundational myths, historical grievances</h2>
<p>The popular music videos explicitly reference a deeply held set of religious myths and symbols that have informed Shia politics since its inception.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUUGLiTzUSY">One video</a> shows images of militiamen driving towards the front-lines and firing from a bunker at IS targets. </p>
<p>The singer extols the religious virtues of fighting the IS by comparing those killed today with the Shia martyrs at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala">Battle of Karbala</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We fight our enemies. Our martyrs are similar to the martyrs of Karbala. Our people are supporters of Hussein.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The divide between the Sunni and Shia sects dates back to the early years of Islam. </p>
<p>A debate emerged after the Prophet Muhammad’s death about who should lead the Islamic community. The majority accepted the authority of the Prophet’s senior companion, Abu Bakr. A minority, later identified as Shiites, believed only a blood relative of the Prophet – in particular, his cousin Ali – had the right to lead.</p>
<p>In the year 680, the division between the two sects escalated at the Battle of Karbala, where Ali’s son Hussein and many of his followers were defeated and executed by Sunni forces.</p>
<p>The legend of the Battle of Karbala has come to symbolise the historical injustice of the Shia faithful at the hands of the Sunni majority. It is commemorated at the annual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashura">Ashura</a> festival in which Shiites reenact the battle, including by self-flagellation. </p>
<p>The emotive lyrics and tone of the song are specifically designed to resonate with this history of suffering. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-shia-sunni-divide-78216">What is the Shia-Sunni divide?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>The Shia jihad against the IS</h2>
<p>The popular music videos produced by different Shia militias also draw on fatwas (religious edicts) issued by several prominent Shia clerics in response to the violence of the IS.</p>
<p>In 2014, Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_al-Sistani">Grand Ayatollah Sistani</a> issued a fatwa announcing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7by5almGhA">a jihad (holy war) against the IS</a>.</p>
<p>He called for a mass Shia mobilisation, arguing </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is the legal and national responsibility of whoever can hold a weapon to take up arms to defend the country, the citizens and the holy sites.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some popular music videos explicitly cite the fatwas of Sistani and other clerics, encouraging their young supporters to heed these calls. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpvDC9XTRcU.">A short clip</a> shows armed members of one militia chanting: “Al-Sistani is like a crown on our heads. Your wish is our command.”</p>
<p>One very slickly produced <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6DMWC93po8">music video</a> refers to both historical grievances over the failure to recognise Ali as the legitimate heir of the Prophet Muhammad and to the centrality of Sistani’s fatwa to their decision to fight the IS:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are the Turkmen [of Iraq] <br>
We follow Ali’s path <br>
Iraq must live in peace and happiness <br>
When Sistani orders us, we obey. We will defeat and destroy the IS <br>
We believe in the fatwas of our religious authorities, and we defend our holy sites.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the singer recites each verse, the footage shows heavily armed Shia men posing in front of a tank. It also features live action footage from various battles against the IS, including advancing on key targets, firing machine guns and heavy artillery. </p>
<h2>Mobilising young men</h2>
<p>These videos serve as a unique archive of the war against the IS, demonstrating the ways in which these militias found novel ways to mobilise young men to fight by drawing on a rich catalogue of Shia religious symbolism as well as the fatwas of clerics like Sistani.</p>
<p>Slick popular music videos draw on a rich catalogue of historical motifs of suffering as well as the contemporary edicts of key clergymen, produced by different Shia militias and shared on YouTube and other social media platforms. </p>
<p>These evocative and poignant songs played an underappreciated and under-examined part in mobilising young men to fight back against the horrors of the IS, indicating the powerful role popular culture plays in contemporary warfare.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-islamic-state-flag-hijacks-muslim-words-of-faith-banning-it-could-cause-confusion-and-unfair-targeting-of-muslims-209042">The Islamic State flag hijacks Muslim words of faith. Banning it could cause confusion and unfair targeting of Muslims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Isakhan receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Department of Defence.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Akbar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In our new research we examined popular music videos which drew on historical myths and contemporary clergymen to mobilise Iraq’s Shia population to fight the Islamic State.Benjamin Isakhan, Professor of International Politics, Deakin UniversityAli Akbar, Sessional lecturer and researcher, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135152023-09-20T12:25:56Z2023-09-20T12:25:56ZTinmel – Morocco’s medieval shrine and mosque – is one of the historic casualties of the earthquake<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548893/original/file-20230918-161679-css6uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C17%2C3940%2C2622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of men praying in front of the mosque in Tinmel village that has suffered serious damage in the recent earthquake.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-men-pray-in-front-of-the-famous-tinmel-mosque-news-photo/1665626248?adppopup=true">Matias Chiofalo/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/morocco-earthquake.html">damage from the earthquake</a> that struck Morocco on Sept. 8, 2023, is still being assessed. Moroccans are grappling not just with the loss of thousands of lives, but also with the widespread destruction of their cultural heritage and historical sites.</p>
<p>Among them is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ktb6Wfe84">12th-century mosque in the village of Tinmel</a>, about 4 miles from the epicenter of the quake that flattened many of the villages in the Atlas Mountains. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3ktb6Wfe84?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Tinmel Mosque after the earthquake.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mosque at Tinmel was originally built to commemorate the figure of <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/almohads-9781780764054/">Ibn Tumart, founder of the Almohad movement</a> that ruled an empire stretching from Mali to Spain from 1147 to 1269. Ibn Tumart was a Muslim reformist who advocated for greater accessibility and clarity in Islamic law and scripture. The Atlas tribes spoke little Arabic and lived in remote villages, so Ibn Tumart translated the Quran into the vernacular and issued <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/37452011">the call to prayer in the local Berber dialect</a>. </p>
<p>After Ibn Tumart’s death, his tomb at Tinmel became a shrine, marked by a simple whitewashed dome in front of the mosque. Under the Almohads, Ibn Tumart <a href="https://www.academia.edu/33889579/Peregrinaci%C3%B3n_y_ceremonial_en_las_mezquitas_almohades_el_caso_de_la_mezquita_de_Tinmal">was venerated as a saint</a>, and the early Almohad caliphs were also buried alongside him, turning Tinmel into a potent site of spiritual and social memory.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasofStudy/ArtHistory/Faculty/stockstillabbey">architectural historian who specializes in medieval Morocco</a>, I have spent many years visiting and researching Tinmel. For nearly 900 years, Tinmel was central to a distinctly Moroccan Islamic tradition, but the events of the past week have thrown its future into doubt.</p>
<h2>Unusual architecture</h2>
<p>Built in 1148 by Ibn Tumart’s successor, Abd al-Muʾmin, the mosque embodied the core principles of Almohad architecture. A rectangular prayer hall was supported by plaster-coated piers, while a façade of geometric ornamentation emphasized the niche that indicated the direction of prayer, the mihrab.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stucco archway with geometric designs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549116/original/file-20230919-29-q9jkap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mihrab of the Tinmel Mosque, prior to its collapse in the earthquake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abbey Stockstill</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The structure was designed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004392618_012">encourage circumambulation</a> around the mosque, with the ornamental decoration intensifying the experience. The closer one moved toward the mihrab, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/perspective.7545">the more elaborate the design became</a>, drawing the eye of the viewer in.</p>
<p>But the mosque’s most unusual element was its minaret, which wrapped around the exterior of the mihrab. A staircase behind the niche led to the upper story of the structure, where the call to prayer could be issued out over the valley.</p>
<p>Historically, minarets were never constructed in conjunction with the mihrab, but off to the side or opposite the mihrab. Tinmel’s minaret was thus both <a href="https://www.academia.edu/67879496/From_the_Kutubiyya_to_Tinmal_The_Sacred_Direction_in_Muminid_Performance">unique and innovative</a>. </p>
<p>Positioned on a steep hillside, with the mihrab and the minaret both facing the slope down toward the seasonal stream known as the Wadi N'Fiss, the mosque and its shrine looked larger and more monumental than their physical size suggested.</p>
<h2>A center for religious study</h2>
<p>After the collapse of the Almohad dynasty, Tinmel fell under the <a href="https://brill.com/display/title/21963">administration of the provincial sheikhs</a> who governed the Atlas territories.</p>
<p>When the Almohads’ competitors, the Marinids, succeeded in replacing the dynasty to rule much of Morocco between 1244 and 1465, they systematically demolished many of the Almohads’ most precious sites, including Tinmel. They sent soldiers to ransack the village and the shrine, though the mosque itself was left standing. </p>
<p>There is no architectural evidence to suggest precisely where Ibn Tumart’s tomb and those of the Almohad caliphs were located. <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-almoravid-and-almohad-empires.html">Scholars continue to debate</a> how the shrine, the dynasty tombs and the mosque may have fit together as a complex for pilgrims. </p>
<p>But despite Tinmel’s deterioration after the Almohads fell from power, the site remained a powerful place in Moroccan Islam. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/123497080">Ritual recitations of the Quran</a> were still being carried out twice a day in the 14th century, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511698309">pilgrims continued to visit</a> the site for another 200 years.</p>
<p>The site remained a <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pumi/12063">center for religious study</a> where men from the Atlas villages could gather and learn about the Quran and the hadith, which are stories of Muhammad’s life and actions.</p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>By the 20th century, the mosque had fallen into disrepair as a result of neglect and political instability in the Atlas Mountains.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/490386868">archaeological survey of the site</a> and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/32372229">advocacy from local historians</a> inspired a 1995 restoration under the aegis of Morocco’s Ministry of Culture. The site was a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/452/">tentative place</a> on the UNESCO World Heritage list, pending a full application from the Moroccan government.</p>
<p>The mosque’s plaster ornaments were conserved and the prayer hall’s brick piers reinforced, although the roof remained open to the sky – the original roof, likely wooden, had long since deteriorated. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, more renovations began <a href="https://www.maroc-hebdo.press.ma/rehabilitation-mosquee-tinmel">with the hopes of adding a museum</a> that could help contextualize Tinmel within the larger scope of Moroccan history and welcome more visitors.</p>
<p>The earthquake on Sept. 8 has set this project back indefinitely. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/16/world/middleeast/morocco-earthquake-heritage.html">Five of the workers at the site</a> – all local to the region – died in the disaster, and the site was further damaged. Although <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/morocco-earthquake-damages-historic-mountain-mosque-2023-09-10/">the Moroccan government has committed</a> to rebuilding the mosque, the details of how this will be accomplished and funded are unclear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abbey Stockstill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Morocco is grappling not just with the loss of lives from the recent earthquake, but with the destruction of its cultural heritage – a 12th century mosque in the village of Tinmel is among them.Abbey Stockstill, Assistant Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132172023-09-10T14:57:35Z2023-09-10T14:57:35ZMarrakech artisans – who have helped rebuild the Moroccan city before – are among those hit hard in the earthquake’s devastation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547343/original/file-20230910-15-27q05s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C25%2C8614%2C5716&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The earthquake has damaged many homes in Ijjoukak village, near Marrakech, Morocco.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MoroccoEarthquake/e1a299f4c3d247e4938c9103b189828f/photo?Query=Morocco%20earthquake&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=714&currentItemNo=3&vs=true">AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A powerful earthquake that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/09/09/world/morocco-earthquake-marrakesh">hit close to the medieval city of Marrakech in Morocco</a> on Sept. 8, 2023, has killed thousands and injured many more. It has also put at risk buildings and monuments of major historic importance, among them <a href="https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30333076/historical-marrakech-mosque-damaged-in-morocco-quake">the minaret of the Kutubiyya mosque</a>, a 12th-century structure that is an icon of the city.</p>
<p>The Medina, the medieval walled portion of the city, is now littered with rubble. The cultural significance of the Medina extends far beyond the antiques and trinkets sold to tourists.</p>
<p>It is the location of numerous artisan workshops that make the ceramic tiles, carved plaster and intricate woodwork that decorate the city. Many of these workshops have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia_00023_5">maintained traditional methods for centuries</a>, transmitting skill sets down through the generations.</p>
<p>Part of Morocco’s bid for Marrakech’s UNESCO status was based on these craft traditions being “<a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/what-is-intangible-heritage-00003">intangible cultural heritage</a>,” which the U.N. describes as knowledge or skills that are passed down orally rather than in written form. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A brick ancient wall with rubble scattered near it and some intact buildings across." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=181%2C38%2C8433%2C5703&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547333/original/file-20230909-152282-vuv5u4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People drive past a damaged wall of the historic Medina of Marrakech after the earthquake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MoroccoEarthquake/9ca08fdd29e9410ea690ac0d1be7e9f2/photo?Query=morocco%20medina&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=160&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy</a></span>
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<p>I’ve been <a href="https://smu.academia.edu/AbbeyStockstill/CurriculumVitae">working in Marrakech since 2014</a>, living there on and off as I completed research on a book about the development of Marrakech as a medieval metropolis. Although my work focused on the 12th century, the more I learned about the city, the more I realized that most of the urban fabric and architectural sites I was looking at were thanks to the conservation efforts of local workshops.</p>
<p>The UNESCO designation was a historical acknowledgment of the traditions of poor and rural communities that can often get left out of larger conversations about art history. It is precisely these communities that have maintained Marrakech’s architectural heritage for generations, but the earthquake has destroyed the workshops and residences of many in the Medina.</p>
<p>These poor and rural communities are at their most vulnerable just when their skills will be needed the most to help rebuild the city after this disaster.</p>
<h2>Oral origins</h2>
<p>Marrakech was <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-almoravid-and-almohad-empires.html">founded in 1070</a> by the Almoravid dynasty, which derived from a tribe that was part of a larger non-Arab confederation of peoples <a href="https://www.pennpress.org/9780812251302/inventing-the-berbers/">now referred to as Berbers</a>. </p>
<p>It was one of the first major cities in the wider Islamic west, known as the Maghrib – now comprising Morocco, Algeria and parts of Tunisia - to be founded by a group indigenous to the region. </p>
<p>The majority of the community <a href="https://doi.org/10.24425/ro.2021.139544">spoke a dialect of Tamazight</a>, an Afro-Asiatic language distinct from Arabic. It was primarily an oral language, meaning that knowledge was more commonly handed down via poetic stories rather than written texts.</p>
<p>Some Arabic sources described the Almoravids as “unsophisticated” and “illiterate,” yet the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10630/15883">evidence of their architectural and artistic heritage</a> suggests otherwise. In Marrakech, they built an elegantly proportioned dome known as the Qubba al-Barudiyyin and commissioned the elaborate wooden minbar (pulpit) that now sits in the Badiʿ Palace Museum.</p>
<p>They were followed by the Almohad dynasty, another largely indigenous group, that faced similar accusations in historical accounts despite building the Kutubiyya minaret, Marrakech’s signature monument.</p>
<h2>Site of independence movements</h2>
<p>The city’s origins as a Berber capital contributed to making Marrakech the epicenter of contemporary Moroccan national identity, rooted in a pride and independence centuries old. Whereas other North African cities had roots in Arab or Roman tradition, Marrakech could claim to be distinctly Moroccan.</p>
<p>In the face of Ottoman expansion in the 16th century, the kingdom of Morocco, based out of Marrakech, was the sole region of the Arabic-speaking world <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/304006747/abstract/680536CC2D40436BPQ/1?accountid=6667">to maintain their autonomy from Turkish control</a>.</p>
<p>Although the French and the Spanish would compete for colonial rule of the country, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700005119">the Moroccan independence movements of the 20th century</a> were largely based out of Marrakech. The city was so prone to revolt that the French administration moved the colonial capital further north to Rabat.</p>
<p>Even the word “Morocco” is derived from an <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315073842-114/marrakech-morocco-robert-john">etymological transmutation</a> of “Marrakech.”</p>
<h2>A hidden history</h2>
<p>And yet, recovering the city’s significant past is an exercise in reading between the lines. </p>
<p>The oral traditions of the city’s founders were rarely faithfully transcribed. Written sources are often scattered and unpublished, and those that do exist are often written by <a href="https://www.rct.uk/collection/1022581/primera-parte-de-la-descripcion-general-de-affrica-con-las-todos-los-successos-de">outsiders or visitors</a> to the city. </p>
<p>The Ottomans were excellent record-keepers, enabling scholars to explore extensive centralized archives on every part of the Arabic world – except Morocco, whose archives remain dispersed and underfunded. Historians have had to work obliquely to uncover concrete details, relying on archaeological and anthropological research to supplement oral traditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Shops selling an array of colorful goods on either side of a narrow old marketplace while two women in headdress walk through the lane in the center." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547334/original/file-20230910-17-qpvn3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Women walking through the old Medina in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXMoroccoMarrakechTourism/ffb0896604584ab98dba6fddf6257745/photo?Query=Marrakesh%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=287&currentItemNo=41&vs=true">AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy</a></span>
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<p>Integral to these efforts was the role of craft traditions in and around Marrakech. Craft was a <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/138704">key point of France’s colonial efforts in Marrakech</a>, where they established “artisan schools” in the Medina to ostensibly document and preserve their methods. In doing so, the French Protectorate - which ruled the country from 1912 to 1956 - created a kind of <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674980327">living nostalgia</a> within the Medina, conflating the people who actually lived there with the city’s medieval past.</p>
<p>This effectively <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49723">created a form of economic and social segregation</a> in which craftsmen and their families were siloed into the old town, while the wealthier expatriates and tourists occupied the Ville Nouvelle outside the medieval walls.</p>
<h2>Preserving the past through craft</h2>
<p>At the same time, these craft traditions are also what made it possible to preserve and restore many of the sites in and around Marrakech that now draw thousands of tourists each year. </p>
<p>The Qasba Mosque, the city’s “second” major mosque after the Kutubiyya and originally built between 1185 and 1189, <a href="https://doi.org/10.58278/0.2023.13">underwent successive restorations in both the 17th and 21st centuries</a> after political instability led to their decline. In both cases, local artisans were employed to renovate the mosque’s stucco walls and the mosaic tile work known as zellij.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An wall with multicolored tiles and carved plaster decoration." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547332/original/file-20230909-17-7y2k4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakech.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abbey Stockstill</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The 11th-century Almoravid pulpit required <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/THE_LUMINOUS_IMAGE/7Wk2_MI8oqEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">a team of Moroccan craftsmen</a> to successfully restore the minbar’s intricate marquetry. </p>
<p>Artisans have also been important ambassadors for Morocco’s place in the larger canon of Islamic art, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/arts/design/metropolitan-museums-moroccan-courtyard-takes-shape.html">building a courtyard as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s</a> 2011 renovation of their Islamic galleries using 14th-century techniques and materials.</p>
<p>With the Marrakech Medina partially destroyed, many of these artisans and workshops will face tough choices regarding their future. <a href="https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/morocco-hostels-foreign-ownership-tourism-indsutry-news-15421/">Gentrification over the last decade</a> has priced many residents out of their ancestral homes, and many of these workshops operate on thin margins – too thin to both pay for damages and retain control over their property. </p>
<h2>Rebuilding intangible heritage</h2>
<p>Parts of the city walls cracked in the earthquake, and an 18th-century mosque in the main square lost its minaret. The <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/09/09/earthquake-strikes-morocco-historic-tourist-sites/">historic 12th-century site of Tinmal</a>, not far from Marrakech and nestled in the Atlas Mountains, has also collapsed.</p>
<p>The human toll of the earthquake is still being tallied, and the material damage is likely to be extensive. Nothing can replace the loss of life. Yet the history and resilience of a place are <a href="https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787354845">instrumental in any recovery</a>. </p>
<p>It will be the role of Marrakech’s intangible heritage – its artists and artisans – to rebuild after this disaster. In the midst of narratives about caliphs and sultans, philosophers and poets, it can be easy to forget that the people who built these places often went unnamed in the historical texts.</p>
<p>But these artists will need support to maintain Marrakech’s history, to preserve the past for future historians to discover.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abbey Stockstill received funding from American Institute of Maghrib Studies. </span></em></p>A scholar who has been working in Marrakech writes about the artisan communities, which have maintained the city’s architectural rich heritage for generations and have been hit hard by the earthquake.Abbey Stockstill, Assistant Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.