Books in the New Directions in Islam series

This book presents an empirical examination of consent-seeking among Pashtun Muslims in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), to determine whether cultural norms and beliefs have largely come to diverge from the principles of consent in Islamic law and jurisprudence. Is culture part of the 'inevitable decay' to which Max Müller says every religion is exposed? Or - if rephrased in terms of the research encapsulated within this book - are cultural beliefs and practises the inevitable decay to which Islam has been exposed in Muslim societies?Drawing on interviews with Muslims in Pakistan and Australia, the research broadly broaches questions around the rights of women in Islam and contributes to a wider understanding of Muslim social, cultural, and religious practices in both Muslim majority nations and diaspora communities. The author disentangles cultural practices from both religious and universal legal principles, demonstrating how consent seeking in Pashtun culture generally does not reflect the spirit or the intent of consent as described in Hanafi law and jurisprudence. This research will be of interest to students and scholars across sociology, anthropology, socio-legal studies, and law, with a focus on Islamically-justified law reform in Muslim nation states.

This book outlines the principal motivations, opportunities and barriers to Muslim women's political participation in France and francophone Belgium.

The alternative conceptual framework to traditional analyses of secularisation and civility presented across this volume will be of interest to students and scholars across Islamic studies, religious studies, sociology and political science, civilisation studies, and cultural studies.

As volunteering and interacting (caring) with the society requires careful deliberation of their society and their position as Muslims, and as women in that society, this research unpacks how multiple belongings of Muslim women in Belgium are negotiated, balanced, and influenced.

This book investigates ways of dressing, style and fashion as gendered and embodied, but equally as "religionized" phenomena, particularly focusing on one significant world religion: Islam.

The alternative conceptual framework to traditional analyses of secularisation and civility presented across this volume will be of interest to students and scholars across Islamic studies, religious studies, sociology and political science, civilisation studies, and cultural studies.

This book analyzes the development of Islam and Muslim communities in the West, including influences from abroad, relations with the state and society, and internal community dynamics. The project examines the emergence of Islam in the West in relation to the place of Muslim communities as part of the social fabric of Western societies.

This edited volume explores various facets of Muslims¿ civic engagement in Western post-secular societies, fundamentally challenging simplistic boundaries between Islamic ethical conduct and liberal-democratic norms and practice.Bringing together scholars from sociology, anthropology, and Islamic theology, the collection offers sound theoretical and empirical elaborations on the complex ways in which Islamic piety, principles and norms interact with, and shape, Muslims¿ everyday practice of volunteering as a performance of active citizenship in liberal societies. The contributions cover diverse manifestations of Muslim volunteering in North America, Europe and Australia, from environmentalism to mental health volunteering, and critically examine the national and global socio-political context within which certain forms of Muslims¿ civic engagement are viewed with skepticism and suspicion. It will be of use to students and scholars across sociology, political science, community studies and Islamic studies, with a focus on migrant integration, diaspora studies, and inter-ethnic relations.

This book focuses on the Boko Haram insurgence in Nigeria, and provides information on the origin and growth of the sect, antecedent and historical factors behind the insurgence, assessing a variety of socio-political drivers.

This book analyzes the development of Islam and Muslim communities in the West, including influences from abroad, relations with the state and society, and internal community dynamics. The project examines the emergence of Islam in the West in relation to the place of Muslim communities as part of the social fabric of Western societies.

The question of Muslim identity-and, more specifically, Muslim masculinities, political loyalty, and action-has become the central pivot for the debate on the place of Islam in the West, state polices on multiculturalism, and even foreign policy towards the Middle East.