Journal articles on the topic 'Religious aspects of Mecca (Saudi Arabia)'

Pilgrimage has been performed by members of all religions, and all beliefs, from prehistoric times to the present. The visitation of religious and sacred sites represents a significant economic resource for many faith establishments and organizations. In this article, I will explore the Muslim Hajj to Mecca as a case study. The study is based on ethnographic research using interviews and observation. The economic impact of pilgrims is a multifaceted and complex subject. Pilgrims spend money on transport, accommodation, and other services; hence, they contribute to the economy of the host state. My research suggests that there is a particular type of relationship between the economic and the spiritual aspects of pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how motivation aspects including expected organizational rewards (EOR) and enjoyment in helping others (EHO) drive umrah travelers’ participation. Furthermore, it verifies the effect of umrah travelers’ participation on loyalty and assesses the perceived value and umrah travelers’ satisfaction emerging in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The survey uses the purposive sampling method. Data analysis uses confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling with a total sample of 438 umrah travelers. Findings The results show that EOR and EHO affect umrah travelers’ participation; umrah travelers’ participation has a direct effect on umrah travelers’ loyalty; and all the relationships between umrah travelers’ participation, perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty are significant. Originality/value This study contributes to the theory of religious tourism particularly in identifying the motivation aspects as the antecedents of umrah travelers’ participation beyond religiosity. Furthermore, this study provides the theory of umrah travelers’ participation and loyalty and proposes that perceived value and satisfaction emerge in this relationship.

Background & objective: Each year millions of Muslims embark on a religious pilgrimage called the “Hajj” to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The mass migration during the Hajj is unparalleled in scale, and pilgrims face numerous health hazards. Performing the tasks of pilgrimage is stressful and laborious and as such requires immense mental and physical fitness on the part of the pilgrims. But a substantial proportion of the pilgrims lack it. Besides, the hot and dry environment and untold overcrowding predispose them to the risk of many communicable diseases. The present study, was therefore, intended to find the pattern of diseases among Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims at Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
 Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on Bangladeshi Hazz pilgrims in Mecca Saudi Arabia over a period of 1 month from mid-September to mid-October, 2015. A total of 710 pilgrims (18 or > 18 years) attending at Bangladeshi Hazz Medical Center (BHMC) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the period were consecutively included in the study after having voluntary verbal consent obtained from them. Diseases were diagnosed mainly on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms with provision of only random and fasting blood sugar estimation and ECG. The diagnosed diseases were grouped into major and minor problems or conditions and were treated as out-patient basis.
 Result: In the present study upper middle-aged (50 – 60 years) and elderly (≥ 60 years) pilgrims together formed nearly 73% of the patients with mean age of the patients being 56 years. Males were a bit higher than the females with male-female ratio being roughly 11:9. The study demonstrated that the commonest cause of out-patient visit was respiratory illness (41.2%) followed by diabetes (17.2%), peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (11.7%) and cardiovascular diseases (10.7%)(which included hypertension, new onset ischemia or exacerbation of preexisting ischemic heart diseases). A few (3.2%) of the patients presented with diarrhoeal diseases (loose motion or dysentery). Other minor ailments were allergy or dermatitis, insomnia, paronychia, anxiety, UTI, hemorrhoids, epistaxis, glossitis, oral ulcer, earache, conjunctivitis, worm infestation, spot bleeding etc., accounting for 4.8% of the patients.
 Conclusion: The study concluded that respiratory illness is the most common health problems among pilgrims visiting to Mecca, Saudi Arabia followed by diabetes, PUD and cardio-vascular diseases. The pilgrims should be educated in their home country before starting for pilgrimage as how to maintain their health in their new and challenging environment and Bangladesh Hazz Mission in Mecca should ensure enough medical support to them.
 Ibrahim Card Med J 2020; 10 (1&2): 96-101

This article discusses Saudi Arabia (Hijaz), in the early 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century free from Western colonialism. Unlike other Muslim countries, almost all of them were colonized by the West. As a result, at that time many scholars and residents from various Muslim countries came to the Hejaz, especially Mecca and Medina. Things like this have caused Saudi Arabia as a country that has the development of Islam to be maintained until now. The results of this study indicate that political changes and religious understandings certainly bring changes in other fields of social culture. Moreover, the beginning of the 19th century was a time when the renewal movement in Islam had only just begun to rise. The reform movement in Islam certainly has a certain impact on the Islamic social life in the Hijaz at that time and in Saudi Arabia today.

The kingdom of al-Sa'ūdiyah actually existed since 1446. However, as a strong dynasty and established the Saudi Arabia state is since the era of Abd. Aziz ibn Abd. Rahman al-Sa'ud (Ibn Saud) with the spirit of Wahhabism and British aid. Officially in 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became an Islamic state with a monarchic system under King Ibn Saud. This paper will discuss the history of Islamic development in Saudi Arabia which is now as an Islamic State. Saudi Arabia is now dominated by the kingdom of al-Sa'ūdiyah which is influenced by Wahabiyah religious beliefs. From the beginning of the nineteenth century the Wahabiyah movement received support from Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud. They began expansion which culminated in the conquest of most of the Arabian peninsula and made social, religious and political set agendas in Saudi Arabia. Wahabiyah continues to expand and exist in Saudi Arabia, especially in the mid-19th to the 20th century, and its development pattern is based on top down. Thus, the development of Islam in Saudi Arabia can not be separated from Wahabiyah influence. In the midst of social change, Saudi authorities continue to maintain Wahabiyah as a royal religious ideology. In fact, Wahabiyah ulama also play a role in giving religious approval to the policies of the royal government. However, other factors that also make Islam flourish in Saudi Arabia are the historic impact as the main influence of Muslims since the Prophet era and Saudi Arabia's strategic position for various information reforms in the Islamic world as it controls Mecca and Medina as the sacred city (Haramain). On the other hand, the development of Islam in Saudi Arabia can also be seen in terms of Islamic politics played by the royal government and its foreign political economy which is deemed to be close to the Brtish, US or the West in the Middle East, preferably in the Israel and Palestinian conflict.

The kingdom of al-Sa'ūdiyah actually existed since 1446. However, as a strong dynasty and established the Saudi Arabia state is since the era of Abd. Aziz ibn Abd. Rahman al-Sa'ud (Ibn Saud) with the spirit of Wahhabism and British aid. Officially in 1932 the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became an Islamic state with a monarchic system under King Ibn Saud. This paper will discuss the history of Islamic development in Saudi Arabia which is now as an Islamic State. Saudi Arabia is now dominated by the kingdom of al-Sa'ūdiyah which is influenced by Wahabiyah religious beliefs. From the beginning of the nineteenth century the Wahabiyah movement received support from Muhammad Ibn Sa'ud. They began expansion which culminated in the conquest of most of the Arabian peninsula and made social, religious and political set agendas in Saudi Arabia. Wahabiyah continues to expand and exist in Saudi Arabia, especially in the mid-19th to the 20th century, and its development pattern is based on top down. Thus, the development of Islam in Saudi Arabia can not be separated from Wahabiyah influence. In the midst of social change, Saudi authorities continue to maintain Wahabiyah as a royal religious ideology. In fact, Wahabiyah ulama also play a role in giving religious approval to the policies of the royal government. However, other factors that also make Islam flourish in Saudi Arabia are the historic impact as the main influence of Muslims since the Prophet era and Saudi Arabia's strategic position for various information reforms in the Islamic world as it controls Mecca and Medina as the sacred city (Haramain). On the other hand, the development of Islam in Saudi Arabia can also be seen in terms of Islamic politics played by the royal government and its foreign political economy which is deemed to be close to the Brtish, US or the West in the Middle East, preferably in the Israel and Palestinian conflict

Almost of all universities in Saudi Arabia have Arabic learning program for non Arab student, one of them is Arabic language institute for non Arabic speakers at Umm Alqura university in Mecca. As a holders responsibility for developing and expanding the Arabic language, this Institute in collaboration with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has implemented a training program to strengthen Arabic learning for Islamic boarding school teachers, teachers and Arabic lecturers from Indonesia and Senegal.on 13 Shawwal - 20 Dzulqaidah 1439 coincides with June 28 - August 4, 2018. The various learning activities in this program include Arabic language, Islam and cultural insights that designed professionally. Based on the author's observations during became a participant in this program 2018. It’s can be a very good reflection for developing Arabic learning programs in Indonesia, especially from attitude aspects, and teaching management. The author also recommends Arabic educators in Indonesia to take part in the Daurah to enrich Arabic learning techniques.

The religious pilgrimage of Hajj is one of the largest annual gatherings in the world. Every year approximately three million pilgrims travel from all over the world to perform Hajj in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The high population density of pilgrims in confined settings throughout the Hajj rituals can facilitate infectious disease transmission among the pilgrims and their contacts. Infected pilgrims may enter Mecca without being detected and potentially transmit the disease to other pilgrims. Upon returning home, infected international pilgrims may introduce the disease into their home countries, causing a further spread of the disease. Computational modeling and simulation of social mixing and disease transmission between pilgrims can enhance the prevention of potential epidemics. Computational epidemic models can help public health authorities predict the risk of disease outbreaks and implement necessary intervention measures before or during the Hajj season. In this study, we proposed a conceptual agent-based simulation framework that integrates agent-based modeling to simulate disease transmission during the Hajj season from the arrival of the international pilgrims to their departure. The epidemic forecasting system provides a simulation of the phases and rituals of Hajj following their actual sequence to capture and assess the impact of each stage in the Hajj on the disease dynamics. The proposed framework can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the different public health interventions that can be implemented during the Hajj, including size restriction and screening at entry points.

SummaryDuring March and April of 1992, the health surveillance system began detecting increasing numbers of cases of meningococcal disease (MCD) in the Islamic holy city of Makkah (Mecca). We identified 102 bacteriologically confirmed cases (CC) and 80 suspected cases (SC) of MCD. Neisseria meningitidis was identified as Group A. III-1 clone. The ratio of male:female cases was 2·9:1. All age groups of males were affected. There was only one case among women aged 10–30; 50% of the adult female cases were 55 or older. The case-fatality ratio (CFR) was 14·7% among CC. Pakistanis, who comprised about one-third of the CC. had a CFR of 26·7%. Fifty-nine percent of CC were religious visitors. CC in residents were most common in persons living near the Holy Mosque (Haram), where the carriage rate reached 86%. A mass vaccination program against MCD was instituted, using AC bivalent meningococcal vaccine (MCV). An abrupt drop, from a mean of 15 CC per week to 2 CC per week (only in visitors), coincided with vaccinating 600000 persons over 2 weeks. Makkah residents who had been vaccinated against MCD were less likely to have contracted MCD (OR = 0·17, 95% CI: 0·06–0·50). MCV was of no significant protective value if it had been administered 5 years before the outbreak. The main reason for not being vaccinated as stated by both cases (71%) and controls (45%) was not knowing about the disease. The age and sex differences probably relate to differences in exposures to crowded conditions. Health education should illuminate the seriousness of the disease and the importance of vaccination.

The use of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia does not appear to continue in the coming years on account of its strong commitment towards the 2030 vision that aims to reformulate and restructure the foundations of the social and economic fabric of the Saudi society. The Arabic language holds its significance in the society due to being a religious language. The current review has analyzed the paradigm shifts from EFL to ESL in higher education in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and predicted the future of English in Saudi Arabia. The major challenge that policymakers may encounter would be how to localize education of English language to meet the Saudi norms and standards of learning while at the same time modernize and internationalize the higher education through western theoretical knowledge and the English language. Suggestions regarding these aspects may direct individuals involved in language planning in Saudi Arabia.

This article is focuses on evolution of Iranian political influence in Persian Gulf countries. It examines theological and political aspects of such influence and its consequences for the region. The author analyses origins of the transnational Shia movements such as “Harakat ar-Risala” and “ad-Dawa” linked with traditional Shia institutions at Najaf and Kerbela, and its ambiguous relationships with post-revolution Iranian elite. In the same way, not all of Shias of Persian Gulf was “fascinated” by “Islamic revolution” in Iran and became admirers of R. Khomeini’s conception of “vilayat-e-faqih”. In addition, the author traces history of local political Shia movements, that are, in fact, more influential on domestic politics of Gulf countries that mythical “Iran’s hand”.

Jerusalem is an ancient venue that has been not only a symbol of peace and a focus of religious belief but also a city of dispute. For centuries, indeed millennia, it has been a magnet for conflict between diverse groups with divergent religious interests and others with competing political and/or national claims. It is sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and claimed as a national capitol by both Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Since the mid-1950s it has been a central issue of the Arab–Israeli conflict that emerged to be even more problematic after the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel gained full control over the entire city that had been divided between it and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the first Arab–Israeli war of 1948–1949. In recent years it has became the ultimate issue among the final settlement stumbling blocks for an Israeli–Palestinian peace. It has served as a pretext for Osama bin Laden and as a concern for Muslim regimes as diverse as Iran and Saudi Arabia because of Jewish control over Muslim holy places, in this instance the third holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

Extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is commonly associated with causing urinary tract and bloodstream infections. Over the past two decades, the antimicrobial resistance of ExPEC has increasingly been reported [1]. Given that Saudi Arabia annually hosts mass religious events, such as Hajj, this review investigated several aspects of antimicrobial resistance of ExPEC in this country including the current prevalence of resistance and molecular epidemiology of ExPEC isolates. Generally, the overall prevalence of antibiotic resistance of ExPEC in Saudi Arabia is on increase. The current emergence of colistin resistance in ExPEC represents a major challenge to public health. Local molecular epidemiological studies have shown the dominance of E. coli sequence type 131 (E. coli ST131) over other major ExPEC STs. This is an important observation given that this clone has been associated with high multidrug resistance and extended-spectrum β-lactamases carriage. To reduce the burden of this resistance in the future, it would be crucial to avoid uncontrolled use of antibiotics in either clinical settings or animal food industry.
 Keywords: Extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli, Antimicrobial resistance, ST131, Saudi Arabia, Colistin resistance, Extended-spectrum β-lactamases

Chinese enterprise personnel are faced with the problem of intercultural adaptation. Based on Black's theory of "three-dimensional" model of intercultural adaptation, this paper proposes a "four-dimensional" model of intercultural adaptation, namely, life adaptation, work adaptation, interpersonal adaptation and Chinese image adaptation. The research method of semi-structured in-depth interview is used to interview 23 Chinese people from one Chinese enterprise in Saudi Arabia, who have worked there for at least one year. We get findings as follows: (1) Life adaptation: maladjustment is mainly reflected in religious restriction. Especially, religious regulations and taboos make the life of Chinese enterprise personnel restricted. However, there are also many aspects of adaptation, such as Saudi cuisine, living environment and leisure life, which bring the satisfaction of life demands to Chinese enterprise personnel. (2) Work adaptation: foreign companies must employ a certain proportion of local people to work in their companies; the roles of buyers and sellers in Saudi Arabia and in China are different; the concept of time is different. (3) Interpersonal adaptation: Chinese people in Saudi Arabia still have the most frequent contact with their Chinese compatriots, and it is difficult for them to develop close friendship with foreigners. Chinese people are good at creating harmonious interpersonal relationships for work through some after-work activities, such as drinking tea, eating out and holding football matches. (4) Chinese image adaptation: Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia have decent income, and Saudi police fail to check Chinese cars, all of which make the Chinese people have a positive face value. 
 
 In view of the above four adaptation situations of Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia, the following suggestions are proposed: (1) Be strict with yourself in life, respect local social and religious customs, and also keep a careful attitude and actively deal with disadvantageous factors. (2) While benefiting from working or doing business in Saudi Arabia, we should make contributions for the development of local economy and society, providing employment and training for local people. (3) We should observe the local laws and regulations, and also follow the local and international market rules. (4) In interpersonal communication, we should combine the maintenance mode of Chinese "guanxi" (relationship) with western "principle" on the one hand, and make a difference between them on the other hand. (5) In terms of image adaptation, besides maintaining a good image politically and economically, it is also necessary to improve our individual quality and our cultural cultivation overseas, be a communicator bridging Chinese and foreign excellent culture, and build a positive national image and individual image.

Abstract:The question of whether there is justification for physicians to participate in state-sanctioned corporal punishment has prompted long and heated debates around the world. Several recent and high-profile sentences requiring physician assistance have brought the conversation to Saudi Arabia. Whether a physician is asked to participate actively or to assess prisoners’ ability to withstand this form of punishment, can there be an ethical justification for medical training and skills being put toward these purposes? The aim of this article is to examine aspects of Islamic law along with the different professional and religious obligations of Saudi Arabian physicians, and how these elements may inform the debate.

AbstractThis paper explores the main reasons for which progressive Saudis can be optimistic that women will eventually achieve their rightful place in society in general and in the employment sector in particular. A critical analysis is performed of the social, cultural, and religious background to gender inequality as well as of the current state of women’s education and employment. The evidence considered of the everlasting gender discourses in Saudi Arabia includes examples from the girls’ home economics textbook for Grades 7 and 8. This paper confirms that Saudi society is witnessing a growing acknowledgment of the undeniable Scriptural basis for women’s participation in all aspects of public life and an accompanying dilution of the influence of the some conservativeUlamaas enforcers of a narrow and literal interpretation of Islam. This paper also confirms that important institutional and policy changes are underway that are creating new educational and employment opportunities for women. The result is that the deeply entrenched gender issues that has for so long characterized the Saudi education system and society as a whole is being challenged by progressive Islamic principles and by a variety of institutional reforms, among other factors.

Measurement of public service satisfaction with government services serves as a valuable reflecting point for public officials to improve the public service quality. Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia is considered as a national duty and government responsibility in countries with a significant number of Muslim citizens. This article analyzes primary data from the 2019 national public service satisfaction survey on hajj-related services within Indonesian territory collected by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to examine variation across demographic backgrounds. 1,491 respondents participated in the survey representing individual appraisals toward various services during departure and returning phases. The main focus of investigation are the six selected service dimensions, namely, 1) Individual capability, 2) Ease of access to information, 3) Service procedures, 4) Speed of service, 5) Facilities and infrastructure, and 6) Cost-related perception. The results of regression analysis support diverse roles of demographic variables in explaining variance in public service satisfaction feedback. The empirical findings suggest that people with a higher-level education are more likely to experience less satisfaction. Meanwhile, females are likely to perceive higher satisfaction with the provided services than the males.

The article includes a literary review of scientific works devoted to the study of specific features of the motivational and personal sphere of mothers with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), published in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East. The author describes the difficulties faced by mothers in the process of education and treatment of their autistic children in these regions of the world; provides statistics on the extension of autism among the child population in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The article presents studies assessing the degree of influence of religious and cultural aspects on the parents’ perception of their "special" children in Israel and Somalia.

The current study is based on the tourism sector in Saudi Arabia. Kingdom’s tourism industry earnings from international travelers and tourism services are poised to hit SAR80 billion in 2015. The tourism industry in Saudi Arabia has witnessed an increasing level of growth in recent years and is seen to continue this trend moving forward. The industry has undergone a major transformation led by the commitment to upgrade the Kingdom’s infrastructure as well as improving its hospitality sector. Religious tourism is the main attraction for inbound tourists and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future, the government has taken steps to increase domestic tourism and persuade potential outbound tourists from vacationing abroad. However, large investment in the sector is required to bring these ambitious plans to fruition. The tourism sector comprises only 2% of government funding compared to the industrial sector. In this report random sampling was used as it is the best known form of probability sample. Pilot study was conducted by taking convenience sampling. To find the quantitative analysis SPSS 18.0 software is used. In this report factor analysis is used for the reliability test of the questionnaire. Chi-Square test is used for comparing the collected data with the desired data from the certain hypothesis on the other hand Pearson Correlation is used to measure means of a statistical test. The study evaluates the services provided to the tourist visiting the kingdom and at the same time it measures the satisfaction level of the tourists. The report is based on primary and secondary data for the primary data the questionnaire was used and being distributed to the tourists visiting the kingdom. Five hypothesis was proposed and are being analyzed using Chi – Square test and correlation test. The current study states that there are several variables, where excellent satisfaction is being rated by the tourists where as there are several factors where the authority needs to pay importance, which is mentioned in detail in this report. The outcome of this report also suggests some major policy recommendation by which convenience, excellence and comfort could be given to the tourists visiting the kingdom.

Damir Mukhetdinov got his higher education at the Institute of Arabic Language of Umm al-Qura University in Mecca (Saudi Arabia). Then he graduated from the Department of International Relations of Nizhny Novgorod State University and got a master’s degree, then - PhD (Political Science). He is the first deputy chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, a member of the Presidium of the Council of Muftis of Russia, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, rector of the Moscow Islamic Institute, professor of St. Petersburg State University, a member of the Commission on Improving Legislation and Law Enforcement Practice of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation, a member of the working group of the Commission on Religious Associations under the Government of the Russian Federation, a member of the Public Council of the Federal Agency for Nationalities. He was awarded the medals of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the European part of Russia “For Merit” and “For Spiritual Unity”; by Mufti Ravil Gainutdin decree was awarded the highest award of Muslims of Russia - the Order of Honor “Al-Fakhr”, the Order of Muslims of Russia “For Merit”. The interview comprehends the role of Islam in the modern world, including its role in maintaining peace and stability in regions of Islam. Particular attention is paid to cooperation and development of relations between the Russian Federation and the Eastern countries, including the CIS states, through religious channels. Damir Mukhetdinov emphasizes the importance of improving Islamic education in Russia, as well as the development of such scientific areas as Oriental studies, Islamic studies, Theology.

This study explores undergraduate students' perceptions of a foundation-year communication skills course at a large public university in Saudi Arabia from the aspects of perceived course effectiveness and relevance using a cross-sectional survey research design. The survey yielded scaled and short-answer responses, which were then analyzed using statistical and thematic analyses. The results revealed that first-year undergraduate students (n=209) in this study perceive communication skills as important for their future career and in major areas of their lives, and consider being a ’good’ communicator as part of their cultural and religious heritage. Participants further define communication skills as predominantly an oral, information transfer that builds relationships with others from interpersonal and intercultural aspects. The findings also revealed disagreement and uncertainty about the communication course focus and requirement, relevance of course assignments and materials, and language of instruction. Recommendations for teaching communication skills with relevance in this context include explicit, focused communication instruction, student-centered practical activities with cultural relevance, and, moving forward, coursework that integrates the communication discipline with the needs of the students’ academic fields. Future research in this area could enhance teaching communication skills in the Saudi context and lead to more relevant instruction that could positively impact students in their professional lives.

Names are more likely to be considered as cultural tags used to signify some deep-rooted aspects within the culture of a given speech community. In Saudi Arabia, naming is linked with religion, traditions, values, beliefs, and events in people's lives. This paper aims at investigating Saudi female personal names from a sociolinguistic perspective and it suggests that these names are not mere arbitrary tags, but socio-cultural labels that occupy socio-cultural meanings and functions. For this reason, the current study draws on a stratified sample size of 280 Saudi female personal names collected by the researcher qualitatively by means of oral interviews as the tool for data collection. The analysis takes the form of a typology of Saudi female personal names and they were classified into different categories such as names relating to religious backgrounds, Bedouin-bound names, kinship names, family names, circumstantial names, foreign names, etc. As a result, the study will be a valuable contribution to the body of Arabic anthroponomy as it shows how the selection of Saudi female personal names is influenced by the ideology, culture, religion, attitudes, and social values of Saudi communities. The study concludes that that (delete) the spread of foreign names may constitute a threat to the cultural identity of Saudis, an argument that calls for further investigation to either confirm or disconfirm it.

Abstract This paper handles a unique example of religious tolerance and Christian-Muslim coexistence in one of the most conservative Islamic societies; the Saudi Arabian society, by going through the story of Khawaja Yeni, the Greek merchant who lived in the city of Jeddah in the middle of the twentieth century, integrated with its people, formed extensive relations with its Muslim people, and was able to remain vivid in the collective memory of its inhabitants despite his death has Christian decades ago. The Yeni model represents a model of mutual understanding and coexistence between Islamic and Christian cultures. It would not have mattered if the story had been in another Islamic country, but it was in Saudi Arabia and in the city of Jeddah, which is part of the emirate of Mecca, the holy capital of Muslims, this has made the story of Yeni eye-catching and intriguing. Therefore, I saw fit to give that subject a special care and a thorough inquest in order to capture the details of the social, cultural and religious life experienced and interacted with by this Greek merchant. In the absence of official documentation of the details of public life in the mid-20th century, the stories and news about Yeni remained only circulating amongst the inhabitants of Jeddah, and were not written or collected in an academic research that would have saved them from loss and made them available for specialists to study and analyze. Therefore, I relied on the method of “oral history’s documentation” and I gathered these narratives from the mouths of the men who lived and worked with Yeni. Then I analyzed these narratives and drafted them in an academic form that brings together all the narratives from popular circles about the personality of this wonderful Christian who gave a wonderful example of coexistence and integration into a very conservative Islamic society.

The article includes a literary review of scientific works devoted to the study of specific features of the motivational and personal sphere of mothers with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), published in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East. The author describes the difficulties faced by mothers in the process of education and treatment of their autistic children in these regions of the world; provides statistics on the extension of autism among the child population in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The article presents studies assessing the degree of influence of religious and cultural aspects on the parents’ perception of their "special" children in Israel and Somalia.

AbstractBackgroundMakkah (Mecca) is a holy city located in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Each year, millions of pilgrims visit Makkah. These numbers impact both routine health care delivery and disaster response. This study aimed to evaluate hospitals’ disaster plans in the city of Makkah.MethodsStudy investigators administered a questionnaire survey to 17 hospitals in the city of Makkah. Data on hospital characteristics and three key domains of disaster plans (general evaluation of disaster planning, structural feasibility of the hospitals, and health care worker knowledge and training) were collated and analyzed.ResultsA response rate of 82% (n=14) was attained. Ten (71%) of the hospitals were government hospitals, whereas four were private hospitals. Eleven (79%) hospitals had a capacity of less than 300 beds.Only nine (64%) hospitals reviewed their disaster plan within the preceding two years. Nine (64%) respondents were drilling for disasters at least twice per year. The majority of hospitals did not rely on a hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) to develop their Emergency Operations Plan. Eleven (79%) hospitals had the Hospital Incident Command Systems (HICS) present in their plans.All hospitals described availability of some supplies required for the first 24 hours of a disaster response, such as: N95 masks, antidotes for nerve agents, and antiviral medications. Only five (36%) hospitals had a designated decontamination area. Nine (64%) hospitals reported ability to re-designate inpatient wards into an intensive care unit (ICU) format. Only seven (50%) respondents had a protocol for increasing availability of isolation rooms to prevent the spread of airborne infection. Ten (71%) hospitals had a designated disaster-training program for health care workers.ConclusionsMakkah has experienced multiple disaster incidents over the last decade. The present research suggests that Makkah hospitals are insufficiently prepared for potential future disasters. This may represent a considerable threat to the health of both residents and visitors to Makkah. This study demonstrated that there is significant room for improvement in most aspects of hospital Emergency Operations Plans, in particular: reviewing the plan and increasing the frequency of multi-agency and multi-hospital drills. Preparedness for terrorism utilizing chemical, biologic, radiation, nuclear, explosion (CBRNE) and infectious diseases was found to be sub-optimal and should be assessed further.Al-ShareefAS, AlsulimaniLK, BojanHM, MasriTM, GrimesJO, MolloyMS, CiottoneGR. Evaluation of hospitals’ disaster preparedness plans in the holy city of Makkah (Mecca): a cross-sectional observation study. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32 (1):33–45.

Background: Annually, approximately 10 million pilgrims travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for Umrah from more than 180 countries. This event presents major challenges for the Kingdom’s public health sector, which strives to decrease the burden of infectious diseases and to adequately control their spread both in KSA and pilgrims home nations. The aims of the study were to assess preventative measures practice, including vaccination history and health education, among Umrah pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross sectional survey was administered to pilgrims from February to April 2019 at the departure lounge at King Abdul Aziz International airport, Jeddah city. The questionnaire comprised questions on sociodemographic information (age, gender, marital status, level of education, history of vaccinations and chronic illnesses), whether the pilgrim had received any health education and orientation prior to coming to Saudi Arabia or on their arrival, and their experiences with preventative practices. Results: Pilgrims (n = 1012) of 41 nationalities completed the survey. Chronic diseases were reported among pilgrims (n = 387, 38.2%) with cardiovascular diseases being the most reported morbidity (n = 164, 42.3%). The majority of pilgrims had been immunized prior to travel to Saudi Arabia (n = 770, 76%). The most commonly reported immunizations were influenza (n = 514, 51%), meningitis (n = 418, 41%), and Hepatitis B virus vaccinations (n = 310, 31%). However, 242 (24%) had not received any vaccinations prior to travel, including meningitis vaccine and poliomyelitis vaccine, which are mandatory by Saudi Arabian health authorities for pilgrims coming from polio active countries. Nearly a third of pilgrims (n = 305; 30.1%) never wore a face mask in crowded areas during Umrah in 2019. In contrast, similar numbers said they always wore a face mask (n = 351, 34.6%) in crowded areas, while 63.2% reported lack of availability of face masks during Umrah. The majority of participants had received some form of health education on preventative measures, including hygiene aspects (n = 799, 78.9%), mostly in their home countries (n = 450, 44.4%). A positive association was found between receiving health education and practicing of preventative measures, such as wearing face masks in crowded areas (p = 0.04), and other health practice scores (p = 0.02). Conclusion: Although the experiences of the preventative measures among pilgrims in terms of health education, vaccinations, and hygienic practices were at times positive, this study identified several issues. These included the following preventative measures: immunizations, particularly meningitis and poliomyelitis vaccine, and using face masks in crowded areas. The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for further studies that focus on development of accessible health education in a form that engages pilgrims to promote comprehensive preventative measures during Umrah and Hajj and other religious pilgrimages.

Delays in construction projects are a common phenomenon throughout the industry. This problem has many negative impacts on the time, cost, and sustainability of the projects. Many studies were conducted to identify the main causes of this delay in new construction projects in different regions but very few studies have focused on finding an explanation for the causes of delay in major reconstruction projects that have great religious and cultural sustainability. This paper examines the factors that contributed to work delays in one of the most major reconstruction projects that took place recently in the Middle East, which is namely the Mataf Expansion Project in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Fourteen interviews were conducted with project managers, construction managers, and senior site engineers to identify the factors that they encountered and led to the delay in the reconstruction activities of this project. Some of the findings were consistent and similar to most other causes of delay that are associated with new construction projects. However, interestingly, this research has discovered the existence of other unavoidable factors that caused a delay and should be considered for any similar reconstruction projects. The results showed that these factors could be divided into two groups: the first one is related to the demolition phase (five factors) and the second group is related to construction works (nine factors). In addition, it has been observed that the building material during the reconstruction is considered one of the major delaying factors. Finally, these 14 delay factors should be carefully considered to assure the sustainability of the main object’s function during the reconstruction activities.

A huge wave of mass protests for the last years has lead to a collapse of many longstanding traditional regimes in some Arab states (Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen). In other states (Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Morocco) a serious aggravation of political situation occurred. Many experts in Russia as well as abroad share an opinion that the phenomenon of the “Arab revolution" or the so cold "Arab Spring" has the same basic pattern: after the beginning of unrest in North Africa and the Middle East the Islamist political parties, organizations and groups are gaining strength, popularity and influence. The main content of the article is focused on the analysis of religious, political, socio-economic and other aspects of the contemporary ideology and practice of the radical Islam, its threats and challenges. The current situation in the region has favored the creation of a new political alliance in the Greater Middle East. Now the US administration's policy in the Middle East is aimed at the advancement of the of the radical Islam front to Iran, North Caucasus region and Central Asia. This policy corresponds to the global strategic interests of the U.S. regional partners including Petro-Islamic States, Turkey and even Israel. Analyzing the situation around Syria the author notes that the steps undertaken by the members of the new regional alliance to eliminate B. Assad - another victim of the "Arab Spring" – can, first of all, aggravate an extremely unstable situation in Syria, and, secondly, create a real perspective of the radical Islam advancement right up to the borders of the Russian Federation.

Background The most common religious mass gatherings in the Middle East are the Hajj at Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which occurs annually, and the Arbaeenia in Karbala. The importance of developing public health surveillance systems for mass gatherings has been previously emphasized in other reports. Objective This study aimed to describe the common illnesses and health conditions affecting people during the Arbaeenia mass gathering in Iraq in 2016. Methods A total of 60 data collectors took part in the field data collection over a period of 11 days, from November 12, 2016 to November 22, 2016. Data were collected from 20 health outlets along the major route from Najaf to Karbala (10 health facilities in each governorate). Two digital forms, the Health Facility Survey and the Case Survey, were used for data collection. Results A total of 41,689 patients (33.3% female and 66.7% male) visited the 20 health care facilities over a period of 11 days from November 12, 2016 to November 22, 2016. More than three quarters of patients (77.5%; n=32,309) were between 20-59 years of age, more than half of patients were mainly from Iraq (56.5%; n=23,554), and about 38.9% (n=16,217) were from Iran. Patients in this study visited these health care facilities and presented with one or more conditions. Of a total 41,689 patients, 58.5% (n=24,398) had acute or infectious conditions and symptoms, 33.1% (n=13,799) had chronic conditions, 23.9% (n=9974) had traumas or injuries, 28.2% (n=11,762) had joint pain related to walking long distances, and 0.3% (n=133) had chronic dermatologic conditions. Conclusions The Arbaeenia mass gathering in 2016 exerted a high burden on the Iraqi health care system. Therefore, efforts must be made both before and during the event to ensure preparedness, proper management, and control of different conditions.

This research focuses on specific models of health and illness, explored by many researchers across the world. The sequential variations and critic of each model is summed up by researcher and the relevant theoretical orientations of beta thalassemia major have been tried to integrate. Beta thalassemia major is a common genetic disorder, due to abnormalities in human globin (alpha or beta). The highest prevalence rate of disease has been seen in Saudi Arabia, Jordon, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, due to repeated cousin marriages, strong beliefs of cultural and traditional practices and lack of knowledge for the prevention and management of beta thalassemia major. The focus of epidemiologists remained on genetic causes and ignored the social, cultural, religious and psychological factors which preponderate over biological aspects of health. The academician and health experts lacked to focus the theoretical orientations of beta thalassemia major, this paper elucidates the models of health and illness and provides and logical theoretical itinerary for beta thalassemia major.

The COVID-19 outbreak emerged as an ongoing crisis at the beginning of the year 2020. Its horrific manifestation at the community level significantly affects various dimensions of the quality of life (QoL) of all individuals. The study aimed to examine some of the predictors of the QoL during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional online survey questionnaire was used to gather data on the participants’ sociodemographic backgrounds, physical health status, psychological reactions, and QoL. We adapted 12 items from the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instruments (WHOQOL-BREF) to assess the QoL. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21) was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress. The median and inter-quartile range were used to describe the QoL scores. A multinomial regression analysis was computed between QoL score quartiles and associated factors, and the statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The results of the multinomial regression analysis demonstrated that males (OR = 1.96; 95% CI = 1.31–2.94); participants aged 26 to 35 years (OR = 5.1; 95% CI = 1.33–19.37); non-Saudi participants (OR = 1.69; 95% CI = 1.06–2.57); individuals with chronic diseases (OR = 2.15; 95% CI = 1.33–3.48); those who lost their job (OR = 2.18; 95% CI = 1.04–4.57); and those with depression (OR = 5.70; 95% CI = 3.59–9.05), anxiety (OR = 5.47; 95% CI = 3.38–8.84), and stress (OR = 6.55; 95% CI = 4.01–10.70) were more likely to be in the first quartile of the QoL scores. While the full model predicting the total QoL score was statistically significant (R2 = 0.962, F (750, 753) = 16,705.4, p < 0.001), the three QoL dimensions explained 0.643, 0.283, and 0.036 of the variability in environmental, social, and religious/spiritual dimensions, respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced various aspects of individuals’ QoL, as well as their physical and psychological health. Community-based interventions are needed to mitigate the pandemic’s negative effects and enhance the health and QoL of the general population.

The commercial concealment phenomenon leads to negative economic, security and social consequences. It has been linked to several other phenomena such as money laundering operations and the violation of residence and work regulations by foreign workers who have been deported several times from the country due to their illegal entry. The trading practice by foreigners has been widespread for two main reasons: first, due to the availability of jobs; second, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the shrine for many Muslims, especially after the Umrah (mini religious pilgrimage ceremony) or Hajj seasons. These reasons have contributed to the presence of a large number of foreigners who engage in commercial concealment activities with the help of a Saudi citizen. Such practices have contributed negatively towards both, the economy and the society, noting that the number of those foreigners is on the rise. Aggravating this situation, foreigners conceal each other’s practices by hiring other foreigners in their businesses and not Saudi citizens. More light has been shed on the commercial concealment issue, whereby, citizens, the media and authorities have altogether started to combat this phenomenon. It is gaining more attention especially after the spread of many security-related crimes that are constantly published in daily newspapers. Moreover, commercial concealment played a role in the increase of the unemployment rate among young people and the control of foreigners of many commercial and services businesses in which small businesses occupy a large portion. The importance of this research study is demonstrated in its focus on the commercial concealment phenomenon and its negative impacts on the State. This particular phenomenon gravely harms the economy and inflicts damage on the society through the spread of drugs, theft and other crimes. The current research addresses this phenomenon relying on the application of a positivistic (scientific) approach to study, with a deductive approach by analyzing and reaching appropriate solutions or answers to this phenomenon. The research explores the reasons behind commercial concealment, its economic impact and defines the means to combat it by identifying the best local, international methods and regulations to combat the commercial concealment crime. To identify the various aspects related to the reasons behind commercial concealment, information and data relevant to the research topic was collected from the private sector, official bodies, citizens and other related sectors of the society. Thus, this research study followed an explanatory nonexperimental research design (Belli, 2008; Cook and Cook, 2008; Johnson, 2001) via a survey which was distributed to a 100 randomly selected sample. The IBM SPSS Statistics 23 Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS®) software was used to analyze the collected data. The research drew up some proposed recommendations to combat the commercial concealment phenomenon based on the results of the analysis of questionnaires and the study of laws, regulations and relevant references.

This concise and important book deals with the dimensional change in internationalconflicts and security pertaining to the power of ideas: Do ideas and/or political ideologies threaten the security of regimes and states in ways thatdiffer from those conventionally attributed to the mere balance of militarypower? By studying the role of religious or transnational ideology in the MiddleEast in particular, the study aims to advance an understanding of “how,why, and when ideology affects threat perception and state policy” (p. vii) viatwo aspects, one related to ideational threat perception and the other toideational balancing. Together they provide an analytical framework for understandingstrategic interaction as an “ideational security dilemma” (p. vii)with a specific focus on how Egypt and Saudi Arabia have responded to threatperceptions emanating both from the rise and the activities of Iran and Sudan.These four dyads attempt to examine changes in threat perceptions before andafter Islamists came to power in the latter two countries (p. 4).
 The idea behind this dyadic approach is to show how threat perceptionsto national security are not altered due to increased hard power capabilities,but rather due to soft power projections. Rubin makes the interesting pointthat Egypt and Saudi Arabia felt more threatened by a militarily weak Sudanas well as a militarily degraded post-revolutionary Iran far more than theydid during the time of the militarily powerful Shah (pp. 2-3). Much of thishas to do with the point that it is not mere ideology or ideas that pose a threatto national security, but rather that they become so in their “projected” form(p. 4).The following six chapters elaborate on this simple and straightforward,yet highly significant and relevant, proposition. In the introductory chapter,Rubin develops his framework of analysis (the “ideational securitydilemma”) and makes it clear that one of the study’s main purposes is “totake ideology seriously.” This is done within the realist framework that acceptsthe centrality of the state, as well as that of neo-classical realism (p.124) which focuses on the foreign policy emanating from domestic culturaland perceptual variables (p. 18). The study refocuses attention on ideationalprojections that resonate with a foreign domestic audience and that may consequentlybring about a transnational response, thereby exacerbating internalsocietal unrest ...

The danger of rumor-mongering became familiar since Adam was expelled from AI-Jannah (Paradise). This led the researcher in this study to evaluate the position of people with regards to rumors and its effect on the society. This research adopted the typical approach to investigate the Prophet's traditions on rumors from the nine basic collections of hadith and analyze their texts to bring out the negative religious, social and economic effects of rumors on the individual and society. Also, this research used the questionnaire as one of the quantitative approach tools to attain precise results in the study that was conducted on Saudi Arabia by selecting several random samples to whom the questionnaires were distributed, and feedback was collected. (97%) of the total feedback collected was suitable for analysis. However, the questionnaire contained the aspects such as position of people regarding rumors and effect of rumors on the individual and society religiously, socially and economically. The study concluded that there are few numbers of people who pay attention to spreading every news they hear or read without verification. In the study, the researcher also discussed the religious, social and economic effects of rumors on the individual and society and it became clear that rumors affect the individual religiously, socially and economically at a (very low level). Also, the recommendations including: to conduct a careful and specialist study of this subject, to generalize the teachings of the dangers of rumor mongering in order to curtail it and to establish a specialized body to fight rumormongering.

The global spread of Salafism, though it began in the 1960s and 1970s, only started to attract significant attention from scholars and analysts outside of Islamic studies as well as journalists, politicians, and the general public following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Al-Qaeda Central. After the attacks, Salafism—or, as it was pejoratively labeled by its critics inside and outside of the Islamic tradition, “Wahhabism”—was accused of being the ideological basis of all expressions of Sunni militancy from North America and Europe to West and East Africa, the Arab world, and into Asia. According to this narrative, Usama bin Laden, Ayman al-Za- wahiri, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and other Sunni jihadis were merely putting into action the commands of medieval ‘ulama such as Ibn Taymiyya, the eighteenth century Najdi Hanbali Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and modern revolutionary ideologues like Sayyid Qutb and ‘Abdullah ‘Azzam. To eradicate terrorism, you must eliminate or neuter Salafism, say its critics. The reality, of course, is far more complex than this simplistic nar- rative purports. Salafism, though its adherents share the same core set of creedal beliefs and methodological approaches toward the interpretation of the Qur’an and hadith and Sunni legal canon, comes in many forms, from the scholastic and hierarchical Salafism of the ‘ulama in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim majority countries to the decentralized, self-described Salafi groups in Europe and North America who cluster around a single char- ismatic preacher who often has limited formal religious education. What unifies these different expressions of Salafism is a core canon of religious and legal texts and set of scholars who are widely respected and referenced in Salafi circles. Thurston grounds his fieldwork and text-based analysis of Salafism in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and home to one of the world’s largest single Muslim national populations, through the lens of this canon, which he defines as a “communally negotiated set of texts that is governed by rules of interpretation and appropriation” (1). He argues fur- ther that in the history of Nigerian Salafism, one can trace the major stages that the global Salafi movement has navigated as it spread from the Arab Middle East to what are erroneously often seen as “peripheral” areas of the Islamic world, Africa and parts of Asia. The book is based on extensive fieldwork in Nigeria including interviews with key Nigerian Salafi scholars and other leading figures as well as a wide range of textual primary sourc- es including British and Nigerian archival documents, international and national news media reports, leaked US embassy cables, and a significant number of religious lectures and sermons and writings by Nigerian Salafis in Arabic and Hausa. In Chapter One, Thurston argues that the Salafi canon gives individ- ual and groups of Salafis a sense of identity and membership in a unique and, to them, superior religious community that is linked closely to their understanding and reading of sacred history and the revered figures of the Prophet Muhammad and the Ṣaḥāba. Salafism as an intellectual current, theology, and methodological approach is transmitted through this can- on which serves not only as a vehicle for proselytization but also a rule- book through which the boundaries of what is and is not “Salafism” are determined by its adherents and leading authorities. The book’s analytical framework and approach toward understanding Salafism, which rests on seeing it as a textual tradition, runs counter to the popular but problematic tendency in much of the existing discussion and even scholarly literature on Salafism that defines it as a literalist, one-dimensional, and puritani- cal creed with a singular focus on the Qur’an and hadith canon. Salafis, Thurston argues, do not simply derive religious and legal rulings in linear fashion from the Qur’an and Prophetic Sunna but rather engage in a co- herent and uniform process of aligning today’s Salafi community with a set of normative practices and beliefs laid out by key Salafi scholars from the recent past. Thurston divides the emergence of a distinct “Salafi” current within Sunnis into two phases. The first stretches from 1880 to 1950, as Sun- ni scholars from around the Muslim-majority world whose approaches shared a common hadith-centered methodology came into closer contact. The second is from the 1960s through the present, as key Salafi institutions (such as the Islamic University of Medina and other Saudi Salafi bodies) were founded and began attracting and (perhaps most importantly) fund- ing and sponsoring Sunni students from countries such as Nigeria to come study in Saudi Arabia, where they were deeply embedded in the Salafi tra- dition before returning to their home countries where, in turn, they spread Salafism among local Muslims. Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, as with other regions such as Yemen’s northern Sa‘ada governorate, proved to be a fertile ground for Salafism in large part because it enabled local Muslims from more humble social backgrounds to challenge the longtime domi- nance of hereditary ruling families and the established religious class. In northern Nigeria the latter was and continues to be dominated by Sufi or- ders and their shaykhs whose long-running claim to communal leadership faced new and substantive theological and resource challenges following the return of Nigerian seminary students from Saudi Arabia’s Salafi scho- lastic institutions in the 1990s and early 2000s. In Chapters Two and Three, Thurston traces the history of Nigerian and other African students in Saudi Arabia, which significantly expanded following the 1961 founding of the Islamic University of Medina (which remains the preeminent Salafi seminary and university in the world) and after active outreach across the Sunni Muslim world by the Saudi govern- ment and Salafi religious elite to attract students through lucrative funding and scholarship packages. The process of developing an African Salafism was not one-dimensional or imposed from the top-down by Saudi Salafi elites, but instead saw Nigerian and other African Salafi students partici- pate actively in shaping and theorizing Salafi da‘wa that took into account the specifics of each African country and Islamic religious and social envi- ronment. In Nigeria and other parts of West and East Africa, this included considering the historically dominant position of Sufi orders and popular practices such as devotion to saints and grave and shrine visitation. African and Saudi Salafis also forged relationships with local African partners, in- cluding powerful political figures such as Ahmadu Bello and his religious adviser Abubakar Gumi, by attracting them with the benefits of establishing ties with wealthy international Islamic organizations founded and backed by the Saudi state, including the Muslim World League. Nigerian Salafis returning from their studies in Saudi Arabia actively promoted their Salafi canon among local Muslims, waging an aggressive proselytization campaign that sought to chip away at the dominance of traditional political and religious elites, the Sufi shaykhs. This process is covered in Chapter Four. Drawing on key sets of legal and exegetical writ- ings by Ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and other Salafi scholars, Nigerian Salafis sought to introduce a framework—represented by the canon—through which their students and adherents approach re- ligious interpretation and practice. By mastering one’s understanding and ability to correctly interpret scripture and the hadith, Salafis believe, one will also live a more ethical life based on a core set of “Salafi” principles that govern not only religious but also political, social, and economic life. Salaf- ism, Thurston argues, drawing on the work of Terje Østebø on Ethiopian Salafism, becomes localized within a specific environment.As part of their da‘wa campaigns, Nigerian Salafis have utilized media and new technology to debate their rivals and critics as well as to broad- en their own influence over Nigerian Muslims and national society more broadly, actions analyzed in Chapter Five. Using the Internet, video and audio recorded sermons and religious lectures, books and pamphlets, and oral proselytization and preaching, Nigerian Salafis, like other Muslim ac- tivists and groups, see in media and technology an extension of the phys- ical infrastructure provided by institutions such as mosques and religious schools. This media/cyber infrastructure is as, if not increasingly more, valuable as the control of physical space because it allows for the rapid spread of ideas beyond what would have historically been possible for local religious preachers and missionaries. Instead of preaching political revo- lution, Nigerian Salafi activists sought to win greater access to the media including radio airtime because they believed this would ultimately lead to the triumph of their religious message despite the power of skeptical to downright hostile local audiences among the Sufi orders and non-Salafis dedicated to the Maliki juridical canon.In the realm of politics, the subject of Chapter Six, Nigeria’s Salafis base their political ideology on the core tenets of the Salafi creed and canon, tenets which cast Salafism as being not only the purest but the only true version of Islam, and require of Salafis to establish moral reform of a way- ward Muslim society. Salafi scholars seek to bring about social, political, and religious reform, which collectively represent a “return” to the Prophet Muhammad’s Islam, by speaking truth to power and advising and repri- manding, as necessary, Muslim political rulers. In navigating the multi-po- lar and complex realm of national and regional politics, Thurston argues, Nigerian Salafi scholars educated in Saudi Arabia unwittingly opened the door to cruder and more extreme, militant voices of figures lacking the same level of study of the Salafi canon or Sunni Islam generally. The most infamous of the latter is “Boko Haram,” the jihadi-insurgent group today based around Lake Chad in Nigeria, Chad, and Niger, which calls itself Jama‘at Ahl al-Sunna li-l-Da‘wa wa-l-Jihad and is led by the bombastic Abubakar Shekau. Boko Haram, under the leadership first of the revivalist preacher Mu- hammad Yusuf and then Shekau, is covered at length in the book’s third and final part, which is composed of two chapters. Yusuf, unlike mainstream Nigerian Salafis, sought to weaponize the Salafi canon against the state in- stead of using it as a tool to bring about desired reforms. Drawing on the writings of influential Arab jihadi ideologues including Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and the apocalyptic revolutionary Juhayman al-‘Utaybi, the lat- ter of whom participated in the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Yusuf cited key Salafi concepts such as al-walā’ min al-mu’minīn wa-l-bara’ ‘an al-kāfirīn (loyalty to the Believers and disavowal of the Disbelievers) and beliefs about absolute monotheism (tawḥīd) as the basis of his revival- ist preaching. Based on these principle, he claimed, Muslims must not only fulfill their ritual duties such as prayer and fasting during Ramadan but also actively fight “unbelief” (kufr) and “apostasy” (ridda) and bring about God’s rule on earth, following the correct path of the community of the Prophet Abraham (Millat Ibrāhīm) referenced in multiple Qur’anic verses and outlined as a theological project for action by al-Maqdisi in a lengthy book of that name that has had a profound influence on the formation of modern Sunni jihadism. Instead of seeing Boko Haram, particularly under Shekau’s leadership, as a “Salafi” or “jihadi-Salafi” group, Thurston argues it is a case study of how a group that at one point in its history adhered to Salafism can move away from and beyond it. In the case of Shekau and his “post-Salafism,” he writes, the group, like Islamic State, has shifted away from the Salafi canon and toward a jihadism that uses only stripped-down elements from the canon and does so solely to propagate a militaristic form of jihad. Even when referencing historical religious authorities such as Ibn Taymiyya, Thurston points out, Boko Haram and Islamic State leaders and members often do so through the lens of modern Sunni jihadi ideologues like Juhay- man al-‘Utaybi, al-Maqdisi, and Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi, figures who have come to form a Sunni jihadi canon of texts, intellectuals, and ideologues. Shekau, in short, has given up canonical Salafism and moved toward a more bombastic and scholastically more heterodox and less-Salafi-than- jihadi creed of political violence. Thurston also pushes back against the often crude stereotyping of Af- rican Islamic traditions and movements that sees African Muslims as being defined by their “syncretic” mix of traditional African religious traditions and “orthodox” Islam, the latter usually a stand-in for “Arab” and “Middle Eastern” Islam. Islam and Islamic movements in Africa have developed in social and political environments that are not mirrors to the dominant models of the Arab world (in particular, Egypt). He convincingly points out that analysis of all forms of African Islamic social and political mobi- lization through a Middle East and Egypt-heavy lens obscures much more than it elucidates. The book includes useful glossaries of key individuals and Arabic terms referenced in the text as well as a translation of a sermon by the late, revered Salafi scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani that is part of the mainstream Salafi canon. Extensive in its coverage of the his- tory, evolution, and sociopolitical and religious development of Salafism in Nigeria as well as the key role played by Saudi Salafi universities and religious institutions and quasi-state NGOs, the book expands the schol- arly literature on Salafism, Islam in Africa, and political Islam and Islamic social movements. It also contributing to ongoing debates and discussions on approaches to the study of the role of texts and textual traditions in the formation of individual and communal religious identity.
 Christopher AnzaloneResearch Fellow, International Security ProgramBelfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University& PhD candidate, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University

Since September 11, American Muslim identities, political views, sensi- bilities, and even private lives have been studied by academics, pollsters, government agencies, and think tank researchers. This renewed interest on the nexus of religious and national identity has produced a vast volume of publications, cross-cutting each social science discipline and thematic re- search area. Some are even available online, such as #islamophobiaisracism syllabus, #BlackIslamSyllabus and ISPU’s Muslim American Experience Bibliography page. What is often lost in this conversation, however, are the nuances that influence everyday lives of American Muslims and their practice of Islam. Situated within religious studies and Islamic studies scholarship and speak- ing to a broad disciplinary array, the edited volume The Practice of Islam in America: An Introduction is a much-needed contribution to the scholarship on Islam and American Muslims. The book’s editor, prolific and prominent scholar and historian of Is- lam in America, Edward Curtis IV, explains the goals of the book in this sentence: “This book is driven by the desire to provide clear answers to es- sential, and basic, questions about how observant Muslim Americans prac- tice Islam…” (2). Importantly, the book delivers on its promise to provide a lived religion perspective (3). While the twelve chapters in The Practice of Islam in America examine distinct practices and themes, the chapters synergize in giving voice to a lived religion perspective on American Muslims’ practices. This approach helps the reader to achieve a healthy distance from the significant but often overly dominant political context that influences discourse on American Muslim life. The book opens with an introductory chapter by Curtis, explaining the rationale and background to the project. The chapter is a good prelude to this rich volume, reflecting Curtis’ years of experience working on Muslim American history and experience. For the non-specialist audience, the in- troductory chapter also provides a broad historical overview of American Muslim history, starting from the slave trade and stretching into contem- porary Islamophobia while covering debates within the diverse American Muslim community. The volume is organized across four thematic parts. Each part includes three chapters, producing a rich, twelve-chapter account. Part I examines prayer and pilgrimage and includes chapters on ṣalāt, dhikr, and ḥajj. Part II explores holidays; individual chapters cover Ramadan and Eid celebra- tions, Ashura, and Milad/Mawlid celebrations. Part III takes the reader into the realm of life cycle rituals with chapters on birth, wedding, and funeral/ death rituals. The concluding Part IV touches on Islamic ethics and reli- gious culture. It examines philanthropy, food practices and engagements with the Qur’an with reference to everyday practices of American Muslims. Curtis explains in his introduction that the volume is intentional in de- veloping a lived religion focus. Moreover, almost all authors give examples for how these practices vary in different branches of Islam (Sunni, Twelver and Isma‘ili/Bohra Shi‘i communities) as well as for multiple ethno-racial demographic groups that make up the deeply pluralistic Muslim American fabric. Contributors should be applauded for producing chapters that are ethnographically rich, thematically diverse, and attentive to multiple sites and dynamics. Chapter 1 moves through multiple vignettes that involve ṣalāt, the Muslim ritual prayer. Rose Aslan’s vivid descriptions of the lives of Ameri- can Muslims and her ability to walk the reader along not only the basics of the prayer but also the nuances among individuals with diverse ethno-racial and socioeconomic backgrounds and the post-September 11 securitization of ṣalāt is refreshing. Rosemary R. Corbett’s chapter on dhikr—“medita- tive and sometimes joyous religious litanies,” to use the definition offered by Curtis in the introductory chapter (6)—is a comparative study of three related groups, each springing from the Turkish Halveti Cerrahi order. The historical account around the creation of these groups is helpful especially because one of these figures, Tosun Bayrak of the Spring Valley Halveti Cerrahi order, recently passed away. In the next chapter, Hussein Rashid skillfully walks the reader through the meaning, rites, and politico-eco- nomic realities surrounding ḥajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudia Arabia. His chapter helps to familiarize the readers with complexities of ḥajj. Part II of the book begins with Jackleen Salem’s nuanced and vivid account of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha. In testament to the volume’s attention to inclusivity, Michael Muhammad Knight’s chapter on Ashura is a vivid and informative account of this most popular Shi‘i commemoration. This chapter is less ethnographically driven than other chapters preceding it, perhaps to the advantage of the common reader who learns a great deal about early Muslim history and the background to the Sunni-Shi‘i split. The same is true also for Marcia Hermansen’s chapter on Milad/Mawlid celebrations recognizing Prophet Muhammad’s birth. The chapter strikes a balance between academic information on the subject and a thick description of these ceremonies. She provides a superb account of major debates and disagreements within the Muslim community sur- rounding these celebrations for the benefit of the uninitiated reader. In the first chapter of Part III, Maria Curtis explores birth rituals ranging from baby-showers to naming a child to postpartum complexities faced by moms within the American Muslim community. Her chapter is noteworthy in producing a much-needed addition to these underexplored topics. Juliane Hammer’s chapter on weddings is an exploration of not only ceremonial aspects of marriage but also legal approaches to marriage in America through a rich ethnographic account of three distinct weddings. She gives due attention to textual and Qur’anic interpretations on love and mercy by American Muslims. Her chapter is among those that provide the common reader with a nuanced view of the scholarship on the theme that is under exploration. The same is true for Amir Hussain’s chapter on Muslim funerals. Speaking from within a few funeral processions in southern Cali- fornia, as well as a brief description of the funeral ceremony of Muhammad Ali, Hussain explores the rites of death and burial in the American Muslim landscape.The first chapter of Part IV, by Danielle Witman Abraham, examines philanthropy and social giving in the American Muslim community. The chapter explains the norms in Sunii and Shi‘i communities, including concerns about domestic vs. international giving. Chapter 11, by Magfirat Dahlan, delves into American Muslims’ food consumption choices. She explores the fluid categories of permissible and impermissible food as well as ethical vs. non-ethical food as perceived by her respondents. The final chapter of the book is by Mona Ali and focuses on the Qur’an and how American Muslims engage with Islam’s holy book. Her approach provides a concise and effective summary of the Qur’an’s role in life cycles, identity formation and internal conversations among American Muslims. While the individual chapters’ focus on specific contexts and ethno- graphic accounts is very helpful, some chapters leave the reader with a sense of incompleteness due to the brief attempt to cram information on the broader context in the last two pages of each chapter. For example, in Chapter 1, Rose Aslan invokes the American Muslim debate around cre- ating gender equity in mosques and the third space wave but cannot do justice to the multifaceted conversations and developments around this issue. Chapter 4 by Jackleen Salem also suffers from trying to deliver too much. Salem’s concluding section, “Eid as an American Holiday,” fails to mention the heated debates that defined the “White House Iftar” dinners during President Obama’s presidency. These kinds of omissions create a kind of wedge between the complexities that arise in the everyday practice of Islam and the volume’s broader reflections. Chapter 9, by Amir Hussain, details Muhammad Ali’s funeral but does not fully engage with the debates and choices that marked the funeral. One wonders too if inclusion of other dhikr practices adapted by American Muslim followers of the Tijaniyya or the Ba‘Alawi sufi networks could have been helpful to give voice to dhikr practice in Chapter 2, out- side the Halveti Jerrahi context. Another theme that is neglected lies in the chapter on philanthropy, which does not mention what are often heated debates within American Muslim communities on the jurisprudence (fiqh) of giving to non-Muslims as well as whether certain service organizations (such as those serving students or social justice needs) are zakāt-eligible.There are practices that are left out as well. Du‘a Kumayl, practiced by Shi‘i Muslims on Thursday evenings similar to mawlid ceremonies, is not mentioned in the text. It would have been enriching to include this practice of reading a prayer that is traced to Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and one of the four great caliphs, Imam Ali. Finally, the choice to not cite online resources with their full web ad- dresses seems like an odd choice for a volume this rich in content. The lack of a full pathway in many instances makes it difficult for researchers to access information. These slight omissions notwithstanding, The Practice of Islam in Amer- ica: An Introduction is a great resource for instructors to use in introducto- ry courses in religious studies and American Muslim studies programs, as well as a good supplementary text for anyone teaching Islam in interfaith contexts. It delivers on its promise to provide rich narratives on what Is- lam looks like as a lived religion in America. It is highly relevant for those teaching not only on Islam but also on religion generally. The editor as well as the authors deserve recognition for producing a nuanced and insightful volume.
 Ahmet Selim TekeliogluAli Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic StudiesGeorge Mason University

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find out the importance of the tag “Islamic” in the title of banks. This will help to determine the future strategy of Islamic banks, while expanding to the countries where Islamic banking is seen as a religious banking and not an as an alternative approach to the conventional banking. Design/methodology/approach Adopting convenience sampling, a total of 596 customers of both Islamic and conventional banks were surveyed from four regions of Saudi Arabia (Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and Dammam) using a self-structured questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale. Findings The results concede that Islamic banks without the tag “Islamic” and conventional banks have same customer satisfaction. There are some factors other than the tag “Islamic” which are driving customers towards Islamic banking. Those factors include physical aspects of the bank, level of satisfaction with the services, dealing and attendance by the staff and safety and security of the bank. Besides, the application of fundamental principles of Islamic banking works as a key motivation for customer satisfaction with Islamic banking. Practical implications Applying the tag “Islamic” is not as important as implementing the principles of Islamic banking. Islamic banks can survive and compete well even without using the “Islamic” tag if they implement the prime principles of Islamic banking and work on improving the factors highlighted by this study. This study can prove to be helpful in the expansion of Islamic banking in the countries where religious banking is not generally preferred by customers. Originality/value This is the first study to find out the customer satisfaction in a dual banking system (comprising of conventional banks and Islamic banks that do not use the tag “Islamic”), thereby filling the existing gap in the Islamic banking literature.

This article examines the development of the theory and practice of jihad under the Circassian Sultanate in Egypt and Syria (1382–1517). The article aims to trace the development of the key aspects of the concept of jihad and reveal the peculiarities of its perception in the Mamluk state. The article highlights an essential characteristic of the theory of jihad in the Mamluk period, i.e. the interpretation of jihad as farḍ al-‘ayn (the personal duty of every Muslim). A fertile ground for this paper was given by studies of M. Bonner and D. Cook, who supplemented a balanced approach to the interpretation of jihad from a historical perspective with a critical consideration of its religious and political meanings. The authors emphasise the importance of the difference between the understanding of jihad as a collective and individual obligation using the concept of minimalism and maximalism developed by Y. Waghid. The paper is based on works by Ibn al-Nahhas (d. 1411), an outstanding thinker of the Mamluk era. The interpretation of jihad as a personal responsibility of every Muslim substantiated by Ibn al-Nahhas was the basis of the volunteer movement that unfolded in Egypt and Syria in the fifteenth century. The doctrine of jihad concentrated around the most important Islamic values embodied in the concepts of “justice” (al-‘adl) and “truth” (al-ḥaqq) and was initially used by the Mamluks and subsequently by the Ottomans as a powerful ideological tool for manipulating the Muslims’ consciousness. This paper is relevant because the conclusions of the study are valid not only for the Middle Ages but are directly related to the present. The authors of the article emphasise this by drawing parallels with modern events in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

The Javanese War was the event of the greatest resistance of the Javanese against the colonial authorities. As the last form of 'old order' resistance, the Java War witnessed the disarmament of the southern central Java palaces when their territories in eastern countries were finally annexed (1830-1831) (Houben 1994: 17-72). At the end of the war, Dutch control of Java was still unchallenged. Their role only ended 112 years later (1830-1942). That, too, was in the hands of the Japan (March 9, 1942), disputing only one day with the day when Diponegoro entered the city of Magelang to conduct a "peace negotiation" (March 8-28, 1830) with De Kock (Carey 2014: 338).
 In the Java war, Javanese identity became a key factor in the enthusiasm of Diponegoro's supporters like Meiji Restoration in Japan. Besides upholding the dignity of the Islamic religion, restoration of Javanese values in particular was a key priority, which also encouraged enmity towards non-Javanese during the war, especially to the Netherlands. The alliance of knights (ksatria) and muslim students (santri) built by Diponegoro has inspired a five-year war that seeks social support that is very broad and unique with religious fervor. Even after the Java War, the Dutch regarded the holy war clothing as a symbol of subversion crime for Javanese aristocrats (Carey, 2017: 166). The last remnants of the Diponegaran family were removed from the palace. This means, the Dutch Colonial continued to try to separate the Diponegaran breed from the religious scholars (Ulama), keeping the remaining Diponegoro knights from the santri network scattered in various parts of Java.
 This paper will explore the network of Diponegoro ulama-santri (scholars-students), although many of the characters have already been mentioned. Also provides another perspective in reading differences of opinion and strategy from Diponegoro and Kyai Mojo along with a network of ulama-santri in building an Islamic Balad (region/city/land), which in essence has the same goal, namely to synergize Islam and the order of society, to construct an Islamic Nationality which was later in the hands of Hadratus Syekh Hasyim Asy'ari and other scholars succeeded in being built to uphold the Republic of Indonesia. Then, who continues the restoration of the glory of Islam in Java and connects with it outside Java? Of course it cannot be explained by exposing its descendants who for nearly a century were chased and lived in coincidence because they were hunted down by the Dutch Colonial.
 One thing that was instilled by Diponegoro was that he did not see any inherent conflict between the Javanese spiritual realm and its position as part of the world's Muslims, whose centers were in Hijaz (Saudi Arabia) and Ottoman Turkey. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the ulama or the santri community then built a network in Haramain throughout the Ottoman Mufti in the Hijaz, which would later be known by the Javanese community (jama'ah al Jawiyyin) which led to the emergence of figures such as Hadratus Syekh Hasyim Asy’ari. The existence of Hasyim Asy'ari opened the veil of how his scientific network was connected with his struggle network to the paramilitary forces of the Diponegoro ulama-santri and knights also connected with other archipelago (nusantara) scholars, even worldwide, as well as connecting to sanad (scientific continuity) to previous scholars. Therefore, going through the network and sanad is very important to fade the awesome power of the spirit of Islam in building national values in Indonesia, which is different from the building of nationalism in Western countries. The spirit of Islam is inherited and maintained in the network and sanad of the scholars who succeeded in forming a unique Islamic character in Indonesia. The Diponegoro ulama network has become a crucial point in the progress of Nusantara's ulama-santri in caring for Islamic traditions in the nusantara and widespread throughout the Nusantara in mecca. Their works have become the main reference for learning systems in surau, pesantren and madrasa to date. The works are a historical legacy which is the mouth of cosmology of thought, the dynamics of knowledge and the accumulation of the culture of Jawi scholars and pesantren in this country.
 Tulisan ini akan mengeksplorasi jaringan ulama santri Diponegoro, meskipun dalam tokoh-tokohnya telah banyak disinggung. Juga memberikan perspektif lain dalam membaca perbedaan pendapat dan strategi dari Diponegoro dan Kyai Mojo berikut jejaring ulama santrinya dalam membangun Balad Islam, yang pada intinya memiliki tujuan sama, yaitu mensinergikan Islam dan tatanan masyarakat, mengkonstruk sebuah Islam Kebangsaan yang di kemudian hari di tangan Hadratus Syekh Hasyim Asy’ari dan para ulama lainya berhasil dibangun untuk menegakkan NKRI. Lantas, siapakah yang melanjutkan restorasi kejayaan Islam di Jawa dan mengkoneksikannya dengan luar Jawa? Tentu saja tidak dapat dijelaskan dengan mengungkap para keturunannya yang selama hampir seabad dikejar-kejar dan hidup dalam keterhimpitan karena diburu Kolonial Belanda.
 Satu hal yang ditanamkan Diponegoro adalah ia tidak melihat ada konflik yang melekat antara alam spiritual Jawa dan kedudukannya sebagai bagian dari umat Islam di dunia, yang pusat-pusatnyya berada di Hijaz (Arab Saudi) dan Turki Usmani. Oleh karena itu, bukan suatu kebetulan para ulama atau kalangan santri kemudian membangun jaringan di Haramain dalam penjuru para mufti Turki Usmani di Hijaz, yang nantinya dikenal komunitas Jawa (jama’ah al Jawiyyin) yang berujung munculnya tokoh seperti Hadratus Syekh Hasyim Asy’ari. Keberadaan Hasyim Asy’ari membuka tabir betapa jejaring keilmuannya bersambung dengan jejaring perjuangannya ke laskar para santri dan ksatria Diponegoro juga terhubung dengan ulama nusantara lainnya, bahkan telah mendunia, sekaligus menghubungkan pada sanad kepada ulama-ulama sebelumnya. Karena itu, menyusuri jejaring dan sanad tersebut sangat penting untuk mengudar kekuatan dahsyat dari spirit Islam dalam membangun nilai-nilai kebangsaan di Indonesia, yang berbeda dengan bangunan nasionalisme di negara-negara Barat. Spirit Islam itu terwariskan dan terjaga dalam jejaring dan sanad para ulama yang berhasil membentuk karakter keislaman yang khas di Nusantara. Jejaring ulama Diponegoro menjadi titik krusial kiprah ulama-santri Nusantara dalam merawat tradisi Islam di Nusantara dan menusantara di haramain. Karya-karya mereka menjadi referensi utama sistem pembelajaran di surau, pesantren dan madrasah hingga saat ini. Ulama Jawi menulis teks dengan menggunakan aksara Pegon, yakni beraksara Arab namun dengan bahasa Jawa. Kitab-kitab Pegon inilah yang menjadi tradisi pengetahuan dan formasi teks yang kokoh sebagai sistem komunikasi ulama untuk melawan kolonialisme. Kitab-kitab Pegon menjadi warisan sejarah yang menjadi muara kosmologi pemikiran, dinamika pengetahuan dan akumulasi kebudayaan ulama Jawi dan pesantren di negeri ini.


 
 
 Introduction I am a transmigrant who has moved back and forth between the West and the Rest. I was born and raised in a Muslim family in a predominantly Muslim country, Bangladesh, but I spent several years of my childhood in Pakistan. After my marriage, I lived in the United States for a year and a half, the Middle East for 5 years, Australia for three years, back to the Middle East for another 5 years, then, finally, in Australia for the last 12 years. I speak Bengali (my mother tongue), Urdu (which I learnt in Pakistan), a bit of Arabic (learnt in the Middle East); but English has always been my medium of instruction. So where is home? Is it my place of origin, the Muslim umma, or my land of settlement? Or is it my ‘root’ or my ‘route’ (Blunt and Dowling)? Blunt and Dowling (199) observe that the lives of transmigrants are often interpreted in terms of their ‘roots’ and ‘routes’, which are two frameworks for thinking about home, homeland and diaspora. Whereas ‘roots’ might imply an original homeland from which people have scattered, and to which they might seek to return, ‘routes’ focuses on mobile, multiple and transcultural geographies of home. However, both ‘roots’ and ‘routes’ are attached to emotion and identity, and both invoke a sense of place, belonging or alienation that is intrinsically tied to a sense of self (Blunt and Dowling 196-219). In this paper, I equate home with my root (place of birth) and route (transnational homing) within the context of the ‘diaspora and belonging’. First I define the diaspora and possible criteria of belonging. Next I describe my transnational homing within the framework of diaspora and belonging. Finally, I consider how Australia can be a ‘home’ for me and other Muslim Australians. The Diaspora and Belonging Blunt and Dowling (199) define diaspora as “scattering of people over space and transnational connections between people and the places”. Cohen emphasised the ethno-cultural aspects of the diaspora setting; that is, how migrants identify and position themselves in other nations in terms of their (different) ethnic and cultural orientation. Hall argues that the diasporic subjects form a cultural identity through transformation and difference. Speaking of the Hindu diaspora in the UK and Caribbean, Vertovec (21-23) contends that the migrants’ contact with their original ‘home’ or diaspora depends on four factors: migration processes and factors of settlement, cultural composition, structural and political power, and community development. With regard to the first factor, migration processes and factors of settlement, Vertovec explains that if the migrants are political or economic refugees, or on a temporary visa, they are likely to live in a ‘myth of return’. In the cultural composition context, Vertovec argues that religion, language, region of origin, caste, and degree of cultural homogenisation are factors in which migrants are bound to their homeland. Concerning the social structure and political power issue, Vertovec suggests that the extent and nature of racial and ethnic pluralism or social stigma, class composition, degree of institutionalised racism, involvement in party politics (or active citizenship) determine migrants’ connection to their new or old home. Finally, community development, including membership in organisations (political, union, religious, cultural, leisure), leadership qualities, and ethnic convergence or conflict (trends towards intra-communal or inter-ethnic/inter-religious co-operation) would also affect the migrants’ sense of belonging. Using these scholarly ideas as triggers, I will examine my home and belonging over the last few decades. My Home In an initial stage of my transmigrant history, my home was my root (place of birth, Dhaka, Bangladesh). Subsequently, my routes (settlement in different countries) reshaped my homes. In all respects, the ethno-cultural factors have played a big part in my definition of ‘home’. But on some occasions my ethnic identification has been overridden by my religious identification and vice versa. By ethnic identity, I mean my language (mother tongue) and my connection to my people (Bangladeshi). By my religious identity, I mean my Muslim religion, and my spiritual connection to the umma, a Muslim nation transcending all boundaries. Umma refers to the Muslim identity and unity within a larger Muslim group across national boundaries. The only thing the members of the umma have in common is their Islamic belief (Spencer and Wollman 169-170). In my childhood my father, a banker, was relocated to Karachi, Pakistan (then West Pakistan). Although I lived in Pakistan for much of my childhood, I have never considered it to be my home, even though it is predominantly a Muslim country. In this case, my home was my root (Bangladesh) where my grandparents and extended family lived. Every year I used to visit my grandparents who resided in a small town in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Thus my connection with my home was sustained through my extended family, ethnic traditions, language (Bengali/Bangla), and the occasional visits to the landscape of Bangladesh. Smith (9-11) notes that people build their connection or identity to their homeland through their historic land, common historical memories, myths, symbols and traditions. Though Pakistan and Bangladesh had common histories, their traditions of language, dress and ethnic culture were very different. For example, the celebration of the Bengali New Year (Pohela Baishakh), folk dance, folk music and folk tales, drama, poetry, lyrics of poets Rabindranath Tagore (Rabindra Sangeet) and Nazrul Islam (Nazrul Geeti) are distinct in the cultural heritage of Bangladesh. Special musical instruments such as the banshi (a bamboo flute), dhol (drums), ektara (a single-stringed instrument) and dotara (a four-stringed instrument) are unique to Bangladeshi culture. The Bangladeshi cuisine (rice and freshwater fish) is also different from Pakistan where people mainly eat flat round bread (roti) and meat (gosh). However, my bonding factor to Bangladesh was my relatives, particularly my grandparents as they made me feel one of ‘us’. Their affection for me was irreplaceable. The train journey from Dhaka (capital city) to their town, Noakhali, was captivating. The hustle and bustle at the train station and the lush green paddy fields along the train journey reminded me that this was my ‘home’. Though I spoke the official language (Urdu) in Pakistan and had a few Pakistani friends in Karachi, they could never replace my feelings for my friends, extended relatives and cousins who lived in Bangladesh. I could not relate to the landscape or dry weather of Pakistan. More importantly, some Pakistani women (our neighbours) were critical of my mother’s traditional dress (saree), and described it as revealing because it showed a bit of her back. They took pride in their traditional dress (shalwar, kameez, dopatta), which they considered to be more covered and ‘Islamic’. So, because of our traditional dress (saree) and perhaps other differences, we were regarded as the ‘Other’. In 1970 my father was relocated back to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and I was glad to go home. It should be noted that both Pakistan and Bangladesh were separated from India in 1947 – first as one nation; then, in 1971, Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan. The conflict between Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) and Pakistan (then West Pakistan) originated for economic and political reasons. At this time I was a high school student and witnessed acts of genocide committed by the Pakistani regime against the Bangladeshis (March-December 1971). My memories of these acts are vivid and still very painful. After my marriage, I moved from Bangladesh to the United States. In this instance, my new route (Austin, Texas, USA), as it happened, did not become my home. Here the ethno-cultural and Islamic cultural factors took precedence. I spoke the English language, made some American friends, and studied history at the University of Texas. I appreciated the warm friendship extended to me in the US, but experienced a degree of culture shock. I did not appreciate the pub life, alcohol consumption, and what I perceived to be the lack of family bonds (children moving out at the age of 18, families only meeting occasionally on birthdays and Christmas). Furthermore, I could not relate to de facto relationships and acceptance of sex before marriage. However, to me ‘home’ meant a family orientation and living in close contact with family. Besides the cultural divide, my husband and I were living in the US on student visas and, as Vertovec (21-23) noted, temporary visa status can deter people from their sense of belonging to the host country. In retrospect I can see that we lived in the ‘myth of return’. However, our next move for a better life was not to our root (Bangladesh), but another route to the Muslim world of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia. My husband moved to Dhahran not because it was a Muslim world but because it gave him better economic opportunities. However, I thought this new destination would become my home – the home that was coined by Anderson as the imagined nation, or my Muslim umma. Anderson argues that the imagined communities are “to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined” (6; Wood 61). Hall (122) asserts: identity is actually formed through unconscious processes over time, rather than being innate in consciousness at birth. There is always something ‘imaginary’ or fantasized about its unity. It always remains incomplete, is always ‘in process’, always ‘being formed’. As discussed above, when I had returned home to Bangladesh from Pakistan – both Muslim countries – my primary connection to my home country was my ethnic identity, language and traditions. My ethnic identity overshadowed the religious identity. But when I moved to Saudi Arabia, where my ethnic identity differed from that of the mainstream Arabs and Bedouin/nomadic Arabs, my connection to this new land was through my Islamic cultural and religious identity. Admittedly, this connection to the umma was more psychological than physical, but I was now in close proximity to Mecca, and to my home of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mecca is an important city in Saudi Arabia for Muslims because it is the holy city of Islam, the home to the Ka’aba (the religious centre of Islam), and the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad [Peace Be Upon Him]. It is also the destination of the Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islamic faith. Therefore, Mecca is home to significant events in Islamic history, as well as being an important present day centre for the Islamic faith. We lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for 5 years. Though it was a 2.5 hours flight away, I treasured Mecca’s proximity and regarded Dhahran as my second and spiritual home. Saudi Arabia had a restricted lifestyle for women, but I liked it because it was a Muslim country that gave me the opportunity to perform umrah Hajj (pilgrimage). However, Saudi Arabia did not allow citizenship to expatriates. Saudi Arabia’s government was keen to protect the status quo and did not want to compromise its cultural values or standard of living by allowing foreigners to become a permanent part of society. In exceptional circumstances only, the King granted citizenship to a foreigner for outstanding service to the state over a number of years. Children of foreigners born in Saudi Arabia did not have rights of local citizenship; they automatically assumed the nationality of their parents. If it was available, Saudi citizenship would assure expatriates a secure and permanent living in Saudi Arabia; as it was, there was a fear among the non-Saudis that they would have to leave the country once their job contract expired. Under the circumstances, though my spiritual connection to Mecca was strong, my husband was convinced that Saudi Arabia did not provide any job security. So, in 1987 when Australia offered migration to highly skilled people, my husband decided to migrate to Australia for a better and more secure economic life. I agreed to his decision, but quite reluctantly because we were again moving to a non-Muslim part of the world, which would be culturally different and far away from my original homeland (Bangladesh). In Australia, we lived first in Brisbane, then Adelaide, and after three years we took our Australian citizenship. At that stage I loved the Barossa Valley and Victor Harbour in South Australia, and the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in Queensland, but did not feel at home in Australia. We bought a house in Adelaide and I was a full time home-maker but was always apprehensive that my children (two boys) would lose their culture in this non-Muslim world. In 1990 we once again moved back to the Muslim world, this time to Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. My connection to this route was again spiritual. I valued the fact that we would live in a Muslim country and our children would be brought up in a Muslim environment. But my husband’s move was purely financial as he got a lucrative job offer in Muscat. We had another son in Oman. We enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle provided by my husband’s workplace and the service provided by the housemaid. I loved the beaches and freedom to drive my car, and I appreciated the friendly Omani people. I also enjoyed our frequent trips (4 hours flight) to my root, Dhaka, Bangladesh. So our children were raised within our ethnic and Islamic culture, remained close to my root (family in Dhaka), though they attended a British school in Muscat. But by the time I started considering Oman to be my second home, we had to leave once again for a place that could provide us with a more secure future. Oman was like Saudi Arabia; it employed expatriates only on a contract basis, and did not give them citizenship (not even fellow Muslims). So after 5 years it was time to move back to Australia. It was with great reluctance that I moved with my husband to Brisbane in 1995 because once again we were to face a different cultural context. As mentioned earlier, we lived in Brisbane in the late 1980s; I liked the weather, the landscape, but did not consider it home for cultural reasons. Our boys started attending expensive private schools and we bought a house in a prestigious Western suburb in Brisbane. Soon after arriving I started my tertiary education at the University of Queensland, and finished an MA in Historical Studies in Indian History in 1998. Still Australia was not my home. I kept thinking that we would return to my previous routes or the ‘imagined’ homeland somewhere in the Middle East, in close proximity to my root (Bangladesh), where we could remain economically secure in a Muslim country. But gradually I began to feel that Australia was becoming my ‘home’. I had gradually become involved in professional and community activities (with university colleagues, the Bangladeshi community and Muslim women’s organisations), and in retrospect I could see that this was an early stage of my ‘self-actualisation’ (Maslow). Through my involvement with diverse people, I felt emotionally connected with the concerns, hopes and dreams of my Muslim-Australian friends. Subsequently, I also felt connected with my mainstream Australian friends whose emotions and fears (9/11 incident, Bali bombing and 7/7 tragedy) were similar to mine. In late 1998 I started my PhD studies on the immigration history of Australia, with a particular focus on the historical settlement of Muslims in Australia. This entailed retrieving archival files and interviewing people, mostly Muslims and some mainstream Australians, and enquiring into relevant migration issues. I also became more active in community issues, and was not constrained by my circumstances. By circumstances, I mean that even though I belonged to a patriarchally structured Muslim family, where my husband was the main breadwinner, main decision-maker, my independence and research activities (entailing frequent interstate trips for data collection, and public speaking) were not frowned upon or forbidden (Khan 14-15); fortunately, my husband appreciated my passion for research and gave me his trust and support. This, along with the Muslim community’s support (interviews), and the wider community’s recognition (for example, the publication of my letters in Australian newspapers, interviews on radio and television) enabled me to develop my self-esteem and built up my bicultural identity as a Muslim in a predominantly Christian country and as a Bangladeshi-Australian. In 2005, for the sake of a better job opportunity, my husband moved to the UK, but this time I asserted that I would not move again. I felt that here in Australia (now in Perth) I had a job, an identity and a home. This time my husband was able to secure a good job back in Australia and was only away for a year. I no longer dream of finding a home in the Middle East. Through my bicultural identity here in Australia I feel connected to the wider community and to the Muslim umma. However, my attachment to the umma has become ambivalent. I feel proud of my Australian-Muslim identity but I am concerned about the jihadi ideology of militant Muslims. By jihadi ideology, I mean the extremist ideology of the al-Qaeda terrorist group (Farrar 2007). The Muslim umma now incorporates both moderate and radical Muslims. The radical Muslims (though only a tiny minority of 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide) pose a threat to their moderate counterparts as well as to non-Muslims. In the UK, some second- and third-generation Muslims identify themselves with the umma rather than their parents’ homelands or their country of birth (Husain). It should not be a matter of concern if these young Muslims adopt a ‘pure’ Muslim identity, providing at the same time they are loyal to their country of residence. But when they resort to terrorism with their ‘pure’ Muslim identity (e.g., the 7/7 London bombers) they defame my religion Islam, and undermine my spiritual connection to the umma. As a 1st generation immigrant, the defining criteria of my ‘homeliness’ in Australia are my ethno-cultural and religious identity (which includes my family), my active citizenship, and my community development/contribution through my research work – all of which allow me a sense of efficacy in my life. My ethnic and religious identities generally co-exist equally, but when I see some Muslims kill my fellow Australians (such as the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005) my Australian identity takes precedence. I feel for the victims and condemn the perpetrators. On the other hand, when I see politics play a role over the human rights issues (e.g., the Tampa incident), my religious identity begs me to comment on it (see Kabir, Muslims in Australia 295-305). Problematising ‘Home’ for Muslim Australians In the European context, Grillo (863) and Werbner (904), and in the Australian context, Kabir (Muslims in Australia) and Poynting and Mason, have identified the diversity within Islam (national, ethnic, religious etc). Werbner (904) notes that in spite of the “wishful talk of the emergence of a ‘British Islam’, even today there are Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Arab mosques, as well as Turkish and Shia’a mosques”; thus British Muslims retain their separate identities. Similarly, in Australia, the existence of separate mosques for the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Arab and Shia’a peoples indicates that Australian Muslims have also kept their ethnic identities discrete (Saeed 64-77). However, in times of crisis, such as the Salman Rushdie affair in 1989, and the 1990-1991 Gulf crises, both British and Australian Muslims were quick to unite and express their Islamic identity by way of resistance (Kabir, Muslims in Australia 160-162; Poynting and Mason 68-70). In both British and Australian contexts, I argue that a peaceful rally or resistance is indicative of active citizenship of Muslims as it reveals their sense of belonging (also Werbner 905). So when a transmigrant Muslim wants to make a peaceful demonstration, the Western world should be encouraged, not threatened – as long as the transmigrant’s allegiances lie also with the host country. In the European context, Grillo (868) writes: when I asked Mehmet if he was planning to stay in Germany he answered without hesitation: ‘Yes, of course’. And then, after a little break, he added ‘as long as we can live here as Muslims’. In this context, I support Mehmet’s desire to live as a Muslim in a non-Muslim world as long as this is peaceful. Paradoxically, living a Muslim life through ijtihad can be either socially progressive or destructive. The Canadian Muslim feminist Irshad Manji relies on ijtihad, but so does Osama bin Laden! Manji emphasises that ijtihad can be, on the one hand, the adaptation of Islam using independent reasoning, hybridity and the contesting of ‘traditional’ family values (c.f. Doogue and Kirkwood 275-276, 314); and, on the other, ijtihad can take the form of conservative, patriarchal and militant Islamic values. The al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden espouses the jihadi ideology of Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), an Egyptian who early in his career might have been described as a Muslim modernist who believed that Islam and Western secular ideals could be reconciled. But he discarded that idea after going to the US in 1948-50; there he was treated as ‘different’ and that treatment turned him against the West. He came back to Egypt and embraced a much more rigid and militaristic form of Islam (Esposito 136). Other scholars, such as Cesari, have identified a third orientation – a ‘secularised Islam’, which stresses general beliefs in the values of Islam and an Islamic identity, without too much concern for practices. Grillo (871) observed Islam in the West emphasised diversity. He stressed that, “some [Muslims were] more quietest, some more secular, some more clamorous, some more negotiatory”, while some were exclusively characterised by Islamic identity, such as wearing the burqa (elaborate veils), hijabs (headscarves), beards by men and total abstinence from drinking alcohol. So Mehmet, cited above, could be living a Muslim life within the spectrum of these possibilities, ranging from an integrating mode to a strict, militant Muslim manner. In the UK context, Zubaida (96) contends that marginalised, culturally-impoverished youth are the people for whom radical, militant Islamism may have an appeal, though it must be noted that the 7/7 bombers belonged to affluent families (O’Sullivan 14; Husain). In Australia, Muslim Australians are facing three challenges. First, the Muslim unemployment rate: it was three times higher than the national total in 1996 and 2001 (Kabir, Muslims in Australia 266-278; Kabir, “What Does It Mean” 63). Second, some spiritual leaders have used extreme rhetoric to appeal to marginalised youth; in January 2007, the Australian-born imam of Lebanese background, Sheikh Feiz Mohammad, was alleged to have employed a DVD format to urge children to kill the enemies of Islam and to have praised martyrs with a violent interpretation of jihad (Chulov 2). Third, the proposed citizenship test has the potential to make new migrants’ – particularly Muslims’ – settlement in Australia stressful (Kabir, “What Does It Mean” 62-79); in May 2007, fuelled by perceptions that some migrants – especially Muslims – were not integrating quickly enough, the Howard government introduced a citizenship test bill that proposes to test applicants on their English language skills and knowledge of Australian history and ‘values’. I contend that being able to demonstrate knowledge of history and having English language skills is no guarantee that a migrant will be a good citizen. Through my transmigrant history, I have learnt that developing a bond with a new place takes time, acceptance and a gradual change of identity, which are less likely to happen when facing assimilationist constraints. I spoke English and studied history in the United States, but I did not consider it my home. I did not speak the Arabic language, and did not study Middle Eastern history while I was in the Middle East, but I felt connected to it for cultural and religious reasons. Through my knowledge of history and English language proficiency I did not make Australia my home when I first migrated to Australia. Australia became my home when I started interacting with other Australians, which was made possible by having the time at my disposal and by fortunate circumstances, which included a fairly high level of efficacy and affluence. If I had been rejected because of my lack of knowledge of ‘Australian values’, or had encountered discrimination in the job market, I would have been much less willing to embrace my host country and call it home. I believe a stringent citizenship test is more likely to alienate would-be citizens than to induce their adoption of values and loyalty to their new home. Conclusion Blunt (5) observes that current studies of home often investigate mobile geographies of dwelling and how it shapes one’s identity and belonging. Such geographies of home negotiate from the domestic to the global context, thus mobilising the home beyond a fixed, bounded and confining location. Similarly, in this paper I have discussed how my mobile geography, from the domestic (root) to global (route), has shaped my identity. Though I received a degree of culture shock in the United States, loved the Middle East, and was at first quite resistant to the idea of making Australia my second home, the confidence I acquired in residing in these ‘several homes’ were cumulative and eventually enabled me to regard Australia as my ‘home’. I loved the Middle East, but I did not pursue an active involvement with the Arab community because I was a busy mother. Also I lacked the communication skill (fluency in Arabic) with the local residents who lived outside the expatriates’ campus. I am no longer a cultural freak. I am no longer the same Bangladeshi woman who saw her ethnic and Islamic culture as superior to all other cultures. I have learnt to appreciate Australian values, such as tolerance, ‘a fair go’ and multiculturalism (see Kabir, “What Does It Mean” 62-79). My bicultural identity is my strength. With my ethnic and religious identity, I can relate to the concerns of the Muslim community and other Australian ethnic and religious minorities. And with my Australian identity I have developed ‘a voice’ to pursue active citizenship. Thus my biculturalism has enabled me to retain and merge my former home with my present and permanent home of Australia. References Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, New York: Verso, 1983. Australian Bureau of Statistics: Census of Housing and Population, 1996 and 2001. Blunt, Alison. Domicile and Diaspora: Anglo-Indian Women and the Spatial Politics of Home. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. Blunt, Alison, and Robyn Dowling. Home. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. Cesari, Jocelyne. “Muslim Minorities in Europe: The Silent Revolution.” In John L. Esposito and Burgat, eds., Modernising Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in Europe and the Middle East. London: Hurst, 2003. 251-269. Chulov, Martin. “Treatment Has Sheik Wary of Returning Home.” Weekend Australian 6-7 Jan. 2007: 2. Cohen, Robin. Global Diasporas: An Introduction. Seattle: University of Washington, 1997. Doogue, Geraldine, and Peter Kirkwood. Tomorrow’s Islam: Uniting Old-Age Beliefs and a Modern World. Sydney: ABC Books, 2005. Esposito, John. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? 3rd ed. New York, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Farrar, Max. “When the Bombs Go Off: Rethinking and Managing Diversity Strategies in Leeds, UK.” International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations 6.5 (2007): 63-68. Grillo, Ralph. “Islam and Transnationalism.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.5 (Sep. 2004): 861-878. Hall, Stuart. Polity Reader in Cultural Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994. Huntington, Samuel, P. The Clash of Civilisation and the Remaking of World Order. London: Touchstone, 1998. Husain, Ed. The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw inside and Why I Left. London: Penguin, 2007. Kabir, Nahid. Muslims in Australia: Immigration, Race Relations and Cultural History. London: Kegan Paul, 2005. ———. “What Does It Mean to Be Un-Australian: Views of Australian Muslim Students in 2006.” People and Place 15.1 (2007): 62-79. Khan, Shahnaz. Aversion and Desire: Negotiating Muslim Female Identity in the Diaspora. Toronto: Women’s Press, 2002. Manji, Irshad. The Trouble with Islam Today. Canada:Vintage, 2005. Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper, 1954. O’Sullivan, J. “The Real British Disease.” Quadrant (Jan.-Feb. 2006): 14-20. Poynting, Scott, and Victoria Mason. “The Resistible Rise of Islamophobia: Anti-Muslim Racism in the UK and Australia before 11 September 2001.” Journal of Sociology 43.1 (2007): 61-86. Saeed, Abdallah. Islam in Australia. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2003. Smith, Anthony D. National Identity. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991. Spencer, Philip, and Howard Wollman. Nationalism: A Critical Introduction. London: Sage, 2002. Vertovec, Stevens. The Hindu Diaspora: Comparative Patterns. London: Routledge. 2000. Werbner, Pnina, “Theorising Complex Diasporas: Purity and Hybridity in the South Asian Public Sphere in Britain.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.5 (2004): 895-911. Wood, Dennis. “The Diaspora, Community and the Vagrant Space.” In Cynthia Vanden Driesen and Ralph Crane, eds., Diaspora: The Australasian Experience. New Delhi: Prestige, 2005. 59-64. Zubaida, Sami. “Islam in Europe: Unity or Diversity.” Critical Quarterly 45.1-2 (2003): 88-98. 
 
 
 
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Abstract Since the first release of NAEYC’s guidelines, DAP has received a lot of attention from childhood professionals in the United States. Internationally, many countries have also shown a growing interest regarding DAP, yet interest in DAP is new to the Saudi educators. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore preschool teachers’ subjective beliefs toward NAEYC’s guidelines of DAP in Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative Middle Eastern countries. Q Methodology, as a mixed methods approach, was used to study 37 preschool teachers randomly selected from five preschools in Mecca city. The participants sorted 50 cards with examples of DAP and developmentally inappropriate practice (DIP) or “In Contrast” statements which represented perceived importance of the practice to the sorter. To analyze the data, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation indicated four main components regarding the beliefs of Saudi preschool teachers as they relate to DAP’s guidelines. Each component represents a unique perspective (viewpoint) on how Saudi preschool teachers view DAP and contrasting items based on their subjective points of view. The four main perspectives that emerged from the analysis show a dominance consensus among perspectives that fit equitably within the DAP framework regarding the best practice of early childhood education. Findings from this study provide evidence that many aspects of developmentally appropriate practice can be appropriate in different cultures and countries.

Using Mohammad in Archipelago as a metaphor of the postmodern religious landscape, this article argues that Mohammad, a prophet of Muslim born in Mecca Saudi Arabia, has undoubtedly become a consumer item in shalawat council (Majelis Shalawat) practiced in many areas of Indonesia, including Probolinggo. This new religious phenomenon has been reproduced in line with the emergence of blurred negotiation between the profane and the sacred, and by the fact that religion is always posed in social life and in business life, shalawat practice also depends itself on the meaning and process making, or the certain socio-cultural context. This study sets the Majelis Shalawat Syubbanul Muslimin, located at Probolinggo, in relation with the ways they reproduced its penetration of religion vis-a-vis market economy. It also portrays how Syubbanul Muslimin produced a spatial order of certain followers since they have successfully practiced modes and techniques of production, consumption, and structuration of their own spiritual market. Additionally, it also contributes to the construction of charisma they have shaped by using the economic-political discourse of media.

In this article, we examine the selfie-taking and sharing practices of Muslim pilgrims in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. We introduce the concept of the “holy selfie” (a selfie taken during either theHajj or the Umrah pilgrimages) and report on a visual content analysis of a sample of 100 holy selfies publicly available on social networking platforms. We seek to reach an understanding of the work that holy selfies do in the context of the expressions of spiritual and religious identity of those producing them. Our findings suggest that the embodied experience of pilgrims at the holy sites finds an expressive release through holy selfies, with many pilgrims viewing selfie-taking as an important part of their journey. The selfies (and associated features) capture and document pilgrims’ experiences, contribute to their meaning-making, enable the sharing of memories with loved ones, and attract online followers. Our study provides a picture of how holy selfies blur the gender line (as many males as females take them), emerge despite the opposition of Saudi authorities, and serve as a means of engaging with a multiplicity of audiences. We seek to start a conceptual and methodological conversation about this emerging phenomenon of identity construction involving the use of new media along with the construction of affiliative identities among geographically dispersed communities of Muslim pilgrims. The taking of holy selfies can thus be read as a tactic used by 21st-century Muslims to create opportunities for self-representation and community building in a context of increasing Islamophobia.

Abstract: In the modern days, the role of female entrepreneurship has been expanded in the market and they also play their essential role in the contribution in the economic development for their respective nations. The aim of the study is to analyse and investigate the role of female entrepreneurship in the development of the economic condition in Saudi Arabia. The introduction section mainly sheds light on the research aim, objective and the research questions in order to provide the abrupt understanding of the research. The section also provides the justification for the research along with the structure of the study. In addition to this, the research methodology section provides a complete understanding of the research philosophy, approach, and design and data collection method. Additionally, in this research, the data has been collected with the help of secondary research. In the data finding section, the research provides the different types of theme in order to highlight the role of female entrepreneurship in the development of the national economic condition.
 Entrepreneurship development by women's group has been one of the major realms that are adopted by various organisations all over the world. The presence of various traditional and cultural norms has restricted women from attaining entrepreneurship engagement for a successful business environment in the Saudi Arabian region. This is because the Saudi Arabian government has laid the Limited number of services that a woman can avail in the economic framework of the country. The study claims to identify the benefits and challenges that arise while reforming the existing architecture and economical background of Saudi Arabia to that of the women employment criteria in business operations. In other words, the facilitation of women to attain Entrepreneurship and self-governing business need to be attained in order to gain economic growth regarding the financial aspects of the country. The study considers several theoretical frameworks including the Krueger and Brazeal's model of entrepreneurship potential so as to investigate perceived official feasibility propensity to act and perceive desirability for women in employment. Deducing entrepreneur opportunities regarding women residing in the Saudi Arabian region has often been our challenging aspect as religious and cultural rights are post against women. However, the importance of including women in business has been observed to provide the country in attaining business growth in the Global region of operation. Similarly, the Saudi Arabian region upon having a strong oil refinery bass would also be required to make them self-independent of another business sector that is to be developed in that region. The study provides a detailed analysis through data collection from various samples in an exploratory way to reduce conclusions regarding the benefits of including women in entrepreneurship and development.
 In the conclusion and recommendation section the research draft the overall summary of the research and provide the objective linking. The objective linking helps the researcher to correlate with the section of the study and where the specified objective has been met. The research future scope and limitation has been providing that in future the research scholar needs to expand the research in the form of open-ended and interview questionnaires in order to collect the individual aspects regarding the topic. The recommendation has been provided to the authority and society so that they can able to promote the female entrepreneurship activities for the development of the national economic condition.

Purpose This study aims to explore the relationship between consumers’ religiosity, their perceived functional, individual and social value of luxury and their luxury purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach The proposed relationships were explored in an intercultural setting by using samples from two considerably different cultures, Saudi Arabia and India. The identified constructs were measured by adapting the established scales. Statistical tests including exploratory factor analysis, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling were applied to test the conceptual model and research hypotheses. Findings The results show that religiosity is not found to be negatively related to luxury purchase intention in both samples. Moreover, it was found that the functional and social values produce positive mediating effects, whereas the individual values (materialism, hedonism) of luxury products negatively mediate the relationship between religiosity and consumer purchase intention. Practical implications This research suggests that a non-traditional strategy may be effective to market luxury goods to religious consumers such as suppressing the materialistic aspect to focus on the quality and functionality aspects of the products. Originality/value The role of luxury value perception as a mediator between religiosity and luxury purchase intentions has not been studied in the previous researches to the best of authors’ knowledge, and is therefore, the unique contribution of this study. This research addresses the gap in the existing body of knowledge by probing how religiosity effects perceptions of luxury value and resultant luxury purchase intention.

The formulation of this thesis problem has three aspects, those are: (1) How is the authority of Religious Court of Kediri in resolving sharia economics disputes before the Decision of the Constitutional Court No. 93 / PUU-X / 2012, (2) How is the authority of the Religious Court of Kediri in the settlement of the sharia economics dispute after the Decision of the Constitutional Court No. 93 / PUU-X / 2012 (3) How is the role of Religious Court of Kediri in resolving the sharia economics dispute after the Constitutional Court Decision No. 93 / PUU-X / 2012?The Research method used is qualitative method since this research describing an object in accordance with reality that is about the role of religious court of Kediri. Technique of collecting data is through interviewing and recording, while the data that has been obtained is analyzed by using descriptive analysis technique with deductive inductive pattern.Based on the results of the research and the discussion done it can be summarized as follows: 1. The Judges of Religious Court of Kediri disagree if the sharia banking dispute must be resolved through the General Court. Based on the reason that the operational activity in Sharia Bank uses sharia principles, therefore if there is a dispute then the resolution is in the Religious Court instead of General Court. 2. The Judges of Religious Court of Kediri argue that it is true if the resolution of the sharia banking dispute is the absolute authority of the Court within the Religious Court. 3. The role of Kediri Religion Court in facing the existence of authority in the resolution of Shariah economic dispute after the Decision of the Constitutional Court No. 93 / PUU-X / 2012 is through following the technical training of sharia economic dispute resolution held by the Supreme Court and Financial Services Authority, following the education and training held by the courtroom of the Supreme Court and Ibnu Saud University of Saudi Arabia and reading many books related to the sharia economic.On the basis of the results above, the researcher suggests to Judge of Religious Court of Kediri to be able to improve the quality especially in the field of sharia economy and the law of agreement and hopefully for the further researcher can analyze and examine more about sharia economic disputes both litigation and non litigation. Key words: Religious Courts, Shari'a Economics, Constitutional Court