This article presents the results of a large-scale study of the relationship between materialism and well-being by examining the moderating role of religiosity. By confining the present study to a sample of young consumers drawn from Malaysia--a country of diverse subcultures who share similar cultural values (collectivistic), we attempt to…

The question of sustainability in multi-religious societies underscores interrelating theological, moral and cultural issues affecting the very process of social co-existence, cohesion and development. This article discusses Islam's understanding of the question of sustainability in multi-religious contexts while highlighting the contribution of…

In the course of reviewing a recent quantitative survey of approximately 1300 Swedish youths on subjects like religion and leisure activities, I came across a finding which seemed intriguing to me: some 50% of those identifying themselves as Muslims reported that they confided in their teachers (compared to only 5% of non-Muslims) for help with…

A sample of 3783 11- to 16-year-old secondary school pupils completed the Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith and the abbreviated form of the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised together with information on personal religious practice (prayer), public religious practice (attendance) and religious identity (secular,…

The common understanding of Islam tends to consider religious conversion as a matter of individual and rational belief and consisting, first and foremost, of attesting to the oneness of God ("shahada"). In this paper I argue that divergences exist among schools of Islamic Law concerning the modes and types of conversion. Contrary to Muslim jurists…

The campaign from 1996-2000 to include the religion question in the 2001 Census for England and Wales was a defining event for Muslim communities in Britain because it provided formal recognition of their collective identity as a faith group, rather than being subsumed in the "black", "Asian" or "Pakistani/Bangladeshi" ethnic categorisations of…

This paper discusses the recent efforts by the Singapore government to construct a Muslim identity for the madrasahs in Singapore. By promoting a prescribed set of desired attributes for the Muslims and introducing new curriculum materials for the madrasahs, the government aspires to construct a Muslim identity that is compatible with the…

This article looks at the contemporary rationale for faith-based universities. There has certainly been a new openness to issues in religion within higher education more generally. Religious influence and involvement in higher education continues to be extensive and manifests itself through the presence of believing Christians, Jews and Muslims in…

The paper reports and discusses some of the practical and contextual difficulties facing the teaching of Islamic studies within the British higher education environment. The main problems in the author's view stem from the haziness surrounding the discipline definition and the methodology employed in teaching it. This is particularly observed when…

This paper identifies the crisis in Muslim higher education as stemming from two unacceptable alternatives: (i) ethnically based Islamic education out of step with British culture and (ii) an 'objective' Islamic studies approach which is not held in esteem by the Muslim community. The path forward for Islamic education in Britain lies in…

This article begins to fill a gap in recent discussions of the future of Islamic studies with an account of the nature and significance of Anthropological and Ethnographic contributions to the study of Islam and Muslims. Drawing attention to both the problem of essence in Orientalism and the dissolution of Islam's significance for Muslims in…

The article is a historical recollection of how, for a short while, the Muslim community came to be involved in a teacher training programme and reflects on the underlying issues that had to be addressed. It also considers the impact on the host institution and implications for Muslim students, together with the lessons that should have been…

This article presents a report submitted to Bill Rammell MP, the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education. The report discusses what measures can be taken to improve the quality of information about Islam that is available to students and staff in universities in England. It also offers recommendations for universities…

Recent French and Turkish bans on Muslim women wearing Islamic head coverings in schools, colleges and universities starts this discussion of religious discrimination and the value of inter-religious open dialogue in which neither side holds entrenched positions. The paper links dialogue with the ethnographic methodology and uses this to examine…

English-speaking Pakistani university students responded to the Sahin-Francis Attitude toward Islam Scale, along with other religious measures and a social desirability scale. This scale was multidimensional. Correlations with religious measures confirmed its validity and were not explained by a social desirability response set. These data…