Ahmet

Assist. Prof.

Baptiste

This paper aims to take the sociological narratives of Turkish pilgrims as a point of departure in discussing the experience of Hajj through its capacity to address their feelings. As such, this work will argue these feelings to be related to the spiritual experience of the pilgrimage to Mecca and to be motivated by the interactions of Muslim pilgrims who belong to diverse backgrounds, cultures, identities and nationalities. The Hajj itself brings together Muslims representing the global nation beyond the differences that might exist within Muslim communities and national boundaries. However, this chapter also argues that the use of feelings in descriptions of the pilgrimage at the personal level has enabled individual Turkish pilgrims to gain an ongoing awareness and sense regarding the time and place of the pilgrimage upon their return to Türkiye. The pilgrimage itself is a powerful experience because of its effects and impact it is able to leave on the senses of both those who’ve performed the Hajj as well as those who listen to their narratives and stories. As a religious experience, the pilgrims have may be perceptible, visible, and audible and may also provide a framework of emotions. From this point of view, this work tries to reflect on the narrative experiences of Hajj through some feelings and awareness will reflect on how transnational relations during Hajj become part of these pilgrims’ emotional and belonging experience.

The Boundaries of Belonging a Nation: Hajj as a Transnational  Interaction for the Turkish Pilgrims

The idea of a transnational Muslim community has always had great appeal, perhaps more so now than ever before. The rise of transnational Islamic civil societies in the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country of Malaysia in recent years has deepened its Muslim implantation mostly through educational and expatriate migrations, as well as due to Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa holders. However, this has not been duly reflected in the literature, as most of the studies related to transnational Islam only cover the Western context. Therefore, the current study analyzes under the theory of migration the push and pull factors influencing the international Muslim migration toward Malaysia. A self-administered survey was conducted based on the snowball sampling method among 100 international Muslims residing in Malaysia. Every effort was made to diversify the samples and make them as representational as possible by assigning a certain quota to the respondents’ country of origin, profession, age, marital status, and duration of stay in Malaysia. Six in-depth interviews were conducted based on purposive sampling with the international Muslim immigrants who had been residing in Malaysia for over 5 years. The outcome of this study can provide thoughtful insights into the impact of certain pull factors from the host country of Malaysia on maintaining the same mind frame in the migrants even after migration and thus building optimism for a sustainable transnational Islamic diaspora. This study may also inspire ideas among Muslim scholars and activists on how to initiate a sustainable integrated public sphere that is beneficial for the ummah at large.

Shamima

Abdullah

Analyzing Push and Pull Factors for the Sustainable Impact of Inbound  International Muslims in Malaysia:  An Emerging Diaspora of Integrated  Transnational Islam

This study discusses the ideological dispute between purist salafis (transnational Islam) and Islam Nusantara (local Islam) in the Indonesian Islamic discourse. During the Reformation era (1998–2023), purist salafis developed rapidly in Indonesia and even dominated the Internet and social media. Concerned about this, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has suppressed the development of purist salafis. In 2015, NU defined its ideology as Islam Nusantara (an ancient Indonesian name) and purist salafis as transnational Islam, to regard the ideology of NU as indigenous and that of purist Salafism as foreign. Meanwhile, the purist salafis campaign portrayed the ideology of Islam Nusantara as a liberalism project that is different from the Islam of Prophet Muhammad and called their purist salafis Ahlu al Sunnah wa al Jama’ah to attract sympathy as a mainstream ideology in Indonesia, which is interesting. How did the ideological dispute between purist salafis and NU form the Islamic discourse in Indonesia? Can a consensus be reached between them to form an ummah? Results show that reaching a consensus is difficult. The reasons are that both have formed their own Islamic discourse in Indonesia, the NU’s discourse formed over anti-Salafism, and integration of Islam with local culture was stronger than before, whereas the discourse of purist salafis has formed stronger than Islamic purification, anti-liberalism, and anti-Shiah.

Muhammad

Ideological Dispute Between Purist Salafis and Islam Nusantara in the Indonesian Islamic Discourse: Jurgen Habermas’ Perspective on Discourse Theory

To achieve the width and maneuverability of the soft power of the Islamic world, Islam needs to globalize its religious capacities to enable the formation of the Islamic ummah. To have this event occur, we must act on the discourse of Islam in the international environment based on fitrah with a focus on the ummah. Fitrah [innate nature] is considered to be one of the main topics in the Islamic religion as an intrinsic philosophical layer of Islam regarding intercultural and multicultural dialogue, while the ummah is considered an external operational layer of Islam in international dialogue. This study examines as a case the various dimensions of the large community of Arba’in, one of Islam’s innate transnational religious capacities. Nowadays, the Arba’in community has become a transnational ritual with indigenous and intercultural characteristics and the potential to focus on the Islamic ummah and its formation. This research addresses the challenges in forming the Islamic ummah and the globalization of innate and transnational religious capacities as the strategy for achieving it. This article has been conducted using library and documentary methods as a theoretical study on fitrah and its implications regarding cultural theory and the study of the Arba’in phenomenon.

Ehsan

Globalization of Transnational  Religious Capacities: A Strategy  Towards the Islamic Ummah:  Investigating the Great  Arba’in Religious Event

This article deals with Pakistani migrants in Greece. The Pakistani diaspora is one of the largest South Asian Muslim immigrant groups (excluding Albanians) to have settled recently in Greece. Drawing upon ethnographic field work in Athens, Greece and using qualitative research methods, this text tempts to explain the challenges faced by the Pakistani diaspora there. It also demonstrates the Pakistani migrants’ use of information and communication technologies ICTs) to theorize how mediascapes are linked to novel forms of community and ummah, cultural reproduction, religious identity, and transnationalism among the Punjabi Barelvi Sufis who’ve settled in Athens. More specifically this research paper shows how followers of the transnational Sufi Barelvi missionary movement known as Dawat-e-Islami [Invitation to Islam] use ICTs to construct a community and transnational ummah as an expression of transnational Sufism among the Pakistani diaspora in Athens.

Inam

Digital Ummah and Novel Ways of Belonging: The Case of the Paki̇stani̇ Diaspora Community in Athens, Greece

The Rohingya are one of the most repressed communities of the world and live in Myanmar under miserable conditions. This study elaborates upon the impacts, issues, and activities of Rohingya Muslims living in Pakistan with reference to transnational Islam. Transitional Islam has arguably captured the attention of academic researchers in recent years, with many studies and reports available on the impacts, issues, and crises of transnationalism and transitional Islam. The crisis of the Rohingya people is undoubtedly a growing transnational challenge, as they are systematically discriminated against and compelled to leave Burma to find refuge in various countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Malaysia. They face many problems in Pakistan, such as being stateless because Pakistan considers them Bengali (i.e., a community originating from Bangladesh) while Bangladesh considers them as Burmese citizens. The Rohingya have faced decades of statelessness and targeted violence, as well as the brutal murder of innocent men, women, and children. Many reported cases are also found of women being raped and children being burnt during these tragedies by Burmese forces. These are violations of the United Nations charter on human rights in the age of globalization and civilization. This study aims to examine and highlight the current situation regarding the education, job opportunities, and healthcare services available to them in their host countries. The Rohingya seem to be in a very poor state and to be living a miserable life in most of the areas of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The dire need exists to provide them with citizenship and other human rights in the host countries. The Rohingya also need legal and constitutional protection in Pakistan and should be allowed to participate in national politics for the welfare and service of their community. This study has adopted the analytical and historical research methodologies using a qualitative approach.

Riaz

Transnational Islam in Paki̇stan: A Case Study of Rohingya Muslims

Studying the concept of the ummah is appealing in light of transnational Muslim networks’ activities toward operationalizing the essence of ummatic unity. Converts comprise a growing segment of the Muslim ummah in the West. With the ambition of changing the dominant stereotypes of Islam as a non-white religion and its negative imagery in Western mentality, white converts have the potential to contribute to changing the future of the entire Muslim world. This article contributes toward understanding converts’ perception of the ummah. The essence of ummah is seen through transnational Muslim solidarities that are best understood as forms of mobilization for social change premised around a particular set of values or discrepant normative visions and seldom articulate a vision of ummah as a political entity (Mandaville, 2011). Ummah is essential for providing a mechanism for coping with the difficulties converts endure through the course of conversion from their Western community. Converts undergo a re-racializing process where they become non-white or not-quite-white and lose accessibility to white privilege as they had before. As a result, they experience a subtle and discreet form of Islamophobia. Moreover, their religious authenticity is scrutinized lifelong Muslims and racialized because they do not look like a Muslim. They become the other white person who can never be entitled to the ummah, which increases their vulnerability. Practicing the ummah’s principles starts in public spaces that facilitate open discussions and reflections such as mosques. The study suggests empowering the ummah from below in a framework of transnational collaborative partnerships that focus on inclusive Muslim communities to revitalize the essence of the ummah.

Jaweeda

European Converts’ Quest for Transnational Connectivity with the Islamic Ummah

Islam has evolved in form over recent decades in Western European countries, where its lack of institutionalization and official representation allow different ideological trends, movements, and religious organizations to compete for orthodoxy. This paper first proposes to synthesize the development of major religious trends within Islamic communities in the West over the last three decades. It drafts a tripartite periodization of dominant Islamic trends represented by Embassy Islam, transnational religious movements, and new types of local grassroots associations that are often youth-driven and mostly independent from Islamic organizations. The study assesses how these three steps represent a common evolution across various European countries. The paper first argues for a distinction between the Islam of the initial migrants and the Islam promoted by transnational religious organizations such as the Tablighi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the various currents of Salafism. Secondly, it shows how even these transnational movements and the organizations underpinning them have already lost much influence due to Muslim citizens launching many Islamic associations and charities totally independent of both transnational religious movements and foreign religious organizations. Often associated with reformism, this trend implies a religious and ideological rupture with previous religious institutions. Different factors should be considered such as a global crisis of authority in Islam, the diversification and multiplication of religious sources of knowledge, and finally an individualization of religiosity in order to help understand the transition from the domination of transnational Islamic movements to the multiplication of religious actors and ideologies. Finally, this paper aims to inspire further research to explore new ways of understanding Islam in the West and to understand the latest interactions among Islamic schools of thought, ideologies, theology, and activism within social and political spheres.

From Transnational Islamic Movements to Individual Religiosity: The Crisis of Religious Authority in Western European Muslim Communities

The increase in terrorist attacks at the verge of the 21st century and the politics of associating Islam with violence and Muslims with terrorists have brought the subject of Islam and Muslims under serious investigation among scholars of the humanities and social sciences. New vocabulary words such as jihad [struggle], Sharia [Islamic law], Dar alHarb [house of war], Dar al-Islam [house of Islam], hijab [headscarf], al-Qaeda, mujaheddin [jihadist], Taliban, and kafir [disbeliever] were introduced into political and intellectual debates along with new phraseologies such as Islamic terrorism, Islamic extremism, Islamization, Talibanization, Islamic fascism, Islamic jihad, the Green Terror, and Islamic bomb into the daily lexicon to malign the image of Islam and Muslims and to strengthen biased arguments. This chapter aims to analyze the literary response of Muslim writers regarding diaspora and the negative projection of the Muslim identity and stereotypes, especially after the 9/11 incident. The questions are addressed through select literary texts on topics such as how the Muslim identity and hijab identity came under the spotlight of racial and cultural discrimination in Western societies. The study discusses texts such as the Pakastani-Brit H.M. Naqvi’s (2009) Home Boy, PakistaniAmerican-Brit Mohsin Hamid’s (2007) The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Lebanese-American Laila Halaby’s (2007) Once in a Promised Land, Palestinian-Egyptian-Australian Randa Abdel-Fattah’s (2005) Does My Head Look Big in This?, Indian-British Shelina Zahra Jan Mohamed’s (2009) Love in a Headscarf, and Bangladeshi-British Monica Ali’s (2003) Brick Lane. The chapter argues that, despite the ongoing international propaganda campaign against Muslims, they have revisited and reclaimed their identities and resisted and exposed the biases in the contemporary discourses against Islam and Muslims.

Sajaudeen

Challenges to Muslim Identity in Transnational Spaces: A Comparative Study of Diaspora Fictions After 9/11

This book titled Transnational Islam and Muslim Politics: Policies, Identities, and Ideologies combines the important contributions of various researchers who’ve presented their in tellectual endeavor on transnational Islam. As a result, this book represents a bold transversal reflection on recent evolutions in transnational Islam by delving into its various dimensions in the realms of politics, identity, and ideology. This book seeks to explore the complexities and dynamics of transnational Islam as a phenomenon that transcends national borders by linking Muslims from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds as well as from different ideo logical and theological influences. Aside from the chapters expounding on various expres sions of Sunnism, the volume also integrates a contribution on Shiite Islam. The authors of the volume are distinguished researchers from different corners of the world, each bringing their unique expertise and perspectives to the table. A brief glance at the book’s various chap ters reveals this wide diversity of geographical and cultural focus.

Editor	Ahmet Köroğlu, Baptiste Brodard
This book titled Transnational Islam and Muslim Politics: Policies, Identities, and Ideologies combines the important contributions of various researchers who’ve presented their in tellectual endeavor on transnational Islam. As a result, this book represents a bold transversal reflection on recent evolutions in transnational Islam by delving into its various dimensions in the realms of politics, identity, and ideology. This book seeks to explore the complexities and dynamics of transnational Islam as a phenomenon that transcends national borders by linking Muslims from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds as well as from different ideo logical and theological influences. Aside from the chapters expounding on various expres sions of Sunnism, the volume also integrates a contribution on Shiite Islam. The authors of the volume are distinguished researchers from different corners of the world, each bringing their unique expertise and perspectives to the table. A brief glance at the book’s various chap ters reveals this wide diversity of geographical and cultural focus.
Subjects	Political Science, Religion

E-ISBN	978-605-07-1581-1
Publisher	Istanbul University Press
Publish Date	08.01.2024
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Transnational Islam and Muslim Politics: Policies, Identities, and Ideologies