Islamic Studies Commons^™

Review Essay: Welcoming Iranian Refugees And Immigrants To Toronto, Canada, Paul Pynkoski

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Shia Islam And Politics: Iran, Iraq, And Lebanon, Christopher Anzalone

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: The Islamic Moses And Muslim-Jewish Relations, Kareem Rosshandler

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Festival Diplomacy (Ceremony Diplomacy) As A Lesser-Known Form Of Cultural Diplomacy By Emerging Non-State Actors: The Newroz Legacy Of The Kurdish Regional Resistance In Iraq And Syria, Khaled Sheykholeslami

The Journal of Social Encounters

Kurds as the second largest ethnic groups in Iraq and Syria are the only nation in these two major-Arab countries that celebrate Newroz every year. However, as a minority community divided among different Middle Eastern countries, the arrival of the new year and the celebration of Newroz seem to have taken on a political significance beyond merely celebrating spring and the end of winter. This essay argues that Newroz has evolved from a cultural celebration into a strategic instrument of non-state cultural diplomacy used by Kurdish actors in Iraq and Syria to resist centralizing state power and project transnational identity. …

Islamic Relief As A Transnational Advocacy Network In Building Global Solidarity For Gaza, Nura Alanda Nabila, Zhafirah Fatin Azzah, Nuraeni -, R. Dudy Heryadi

The Journal of Social Encounters

This article examines the role of Islamic Relief in supporting Palestine from the perspective of the Transnational Advocacy Network. The conflict in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, raises the central question of how non-governmental actors contribute to global advocacy efforts amid the large-scale civilian suffering. The article is based on qualitative research, utilizing a literature review as a data collection technique, with constructivism as the theoretical framework. This study positions Islamic Relief as a transnational humanitarian organization whose work is shaped and rooted in Islamic values. The findings showed that the efforts to address the crisis in Gaza are carried out …

Food, Faith, And Sustainability: Rethinking Ramadan Consumption Practices In Qatar, Tamim Raihan

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines the paradox that Ramadan’s ethical horizon of restraint and moral accountability often coincides, in contemporary Qatar, with heightened provisioning and recurrent food waste. Bringing Émile Durkheim’s sacred–profane distinction into dialogue with Nancy Ammerman’s “lived religion,” the analysis treats commensality as a privileged site where religious meaning is socially produced, renewed, and contested through embodied practice. It further mobilizes Benjamin Smith’s critique of Market Orientalism to caution against culturalizing narratives that frame Gulf “excess” as moral deficiency while obscuring political-economic conditions, labor arrangements, and infrastructures that normalize surplus. Methodologically, the article is a theory-driven, interpretive conceptual essay grounded …

United States Middle East Policy In The Age Of Donald Trump, Gary Prevost

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay on the foreign policy of the United States in the Middle East in the middle of the second Trump administration and the continuing conflict in Gaza and the West Bank makes the case for decades of consistency in US policy but also some nuances from the current US administration. The author makes the case that there have been three constants in US policy since the era of the Second World War. First, is the guarantee the flow of reasonably priced oil to the United States and its allies.  Second, the maintenance of the state of Israel as a …

Geopolitical Transformation In The Post-October 7 Middle East (2023–2025): Power Shifts Vs. Structural Shifts, Nael Shama

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay investigates the geopolitical shifts that unfolded in the Middle East from October 2023 to the end of 2025, stimulated by the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent events it triggered. These included military confrontations between Israel and each of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. The essay demonstrates that these developments have reshaped power positions and alliances in the Middle East, leading to a more complex and unpredictable geopolitical landscape. It sketches out the new regional balance of …

Countering Social Encounters: Darwish’S “Speech Of The Red Indian”, J. Kristen Urban

The Journal of Social Encounters

In June 2025 the Washington D.C. Arab Center held a conference at the National Press Club titled, “A Historic Juncture: Israel’s Destruction of Gaza and the Palestinian Future.”  The discussion sparked an incisive question: Would such a future follow a Palestinian-owned trajectory?  Incisive, because Palestinians have not owned their trajectory since the 1915 Sykes-Picot Agreement, have consistently been defined in negative terms, and have lived with the ambiguity of existing while remaining unrecognized.  Growing up within Israel, Palestine’s national poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), experienced this paradox firsthand, and explored it directly in “Speech of the Red Indian,” a poem written …

Gender Justice Lessons From North-East Syria Amidst Patriarchal Perpetuation In The New Syrian Arab Republic?, Theresa Wagner

The Journal of Social Encounters

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for over sixty years, and his government by Hai’at Tahrir asch-Scham (HTS) signified for many the beginning of a new era of democracy and freedom after thirteen years of civil war. People in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), a self-governing region that had not been ruled by the Syrian state since 2012, joined in with the celebrating crowds. However, they remained skeptical of HTS, which originated as a branch of al-Qaeda, known back then as Jabhat al-Nusra. Since taking on government responsibilities in the new …

Introduction: The Arab World And Middle East In An Age Of Dynamism And Change, Eslam Elbahlawan, Mawa Mohamed, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel began a massive joint military attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran to which Iran has responded. At the time of the publication of this issue, the fighting continues and could become more widespread; the ultimate outcome of the conflict is unknown.  This conflict highlights the importance of a deeper understanding of the region.

In the shadow of these events, people of the Middle East once again find their lives reordered by decisions taken far above their heads and far beyond their borders. The current war not only devastates cities, infrastructure, …

From Doctrine To Practice: Shūrā-Centred Islamic Ethics For Sustainable Ecological Solutions, Fatima Dhanani, Cecilee Glaus Jones

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This paper examines how Islamic ethics, when translated into lived practice, generate both moral frameworks and scalable solutions to pressing ecological challenges. Focusing on shūrā, tawḥīd, khilāfa, and taʿaddudiyya, and drawing on case studies of Stewardship Canada and the Aga Khan University’s Carbon Management Tool, the authors show how Islamic values move beyond doctrinal abstraction to guide institutional decision-making, programme design, and community engagement. More than treating ethics as fixed theological propositions, they frame them as negotiated, context-sensitive processes that align with ecological resilience, distributive justice, and economic viability.

Grounded in shūrā …

Polygyny Between Sharia, Custom And State Law As A Persistent Dilemma In Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, Zharkynbai Sebetov, Mairambek Tagaev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article presents a comprehensive study of the century-long historical and legal evolution of state-imposed prohibitions on the institution of polygyny in Kyrgyzstan. The primary objective of the research is to evaluate the outcomes of a hundred years of repressive policies – originally classified as “crimes of daily life” (bytovye prestupleniya) during the early Soviet era–and to uncover the transformed legal paradoxes of this phenomenon today. Drawing on historical archival materials, Communist Party reports, and contemporary regulatory acts, the authors investigate the fundamental reasons why polygyny persists as a resilient “shadow” institution in Kyrgyz society despite its criminalization. Within the …

Islamic Law Without Legal Authority: Sharia And State Governance In Kazakhstan, Duman Saifullin, Temur Amankul, Laura Toktarbekova, Erkinbek Daken

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the role and status of Islamic law (Sharia) in Kazakhstan, a Muslim-majority country that has consistently maintained a strictly secular legal order. The background of the study is grounded in the apparent paradox between Kazakhstan’s Islamic historical heritage and the complete absence of Sharia from its formal legal system. The objective of the research is to explain how and why Islamic law has remained confined to private, moral, and ritual domains while being excluded from state legislation and judicial practice. Methodologically, the article employs a qualitative legal-sociological and historical approach, combining analysis of constitutional norms, legal regulations, …

Charity Simone, Mark Naison, Anthony Abd-Al Shafi Rosado

Oral Histories

Simone’s path to leadership was inspired by her late mentor, Charles Foster, who encouraged her to be an active voice in their community. After seeing issues with building maintenance and a lack of clear communication, Simone ran for office and was elected Treasurer of her Building Association in 2023. Through this role, she noticed that community work is complex and needs navigating different opinions, yet the experience ultimately reinforced her belief that community is a “verb.” To her, it is an intentional, ongoing action that requires showing up every day to hold the system accountable.

A significant aspect of Simone's …

Parallel Concepts Found In The Thousand And One Nights And Sufi Hagiography, Walaa Kamal Emam Kamel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that The Thousand and One Nights functions as more than mere populist entertainment; rather, it constitutes a literary corpus imbued with Sufi mystical epistemologies that reflect the spiritual quests and Sufi concepts evident in hagiographical traditions. Through discourse and intertextual analysis of two Nights stories, “The City of Brass” and “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad,” alongside Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s Tadhkirat al-awliyāʾ, this study demonstrates how shared rhetorical strategies—specifically David Pinault’s Leitwörter analysis and L.A. Paul’s Transformative Experience concept—reveal a narrative and rhetorical emphasis on the metamorphosis of the self from worldly attachment toward …

Literature Review: Crowdfunding And Political Fundraising, Saiful Ahmad, Palupi Lindiasari Samputra

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

Crowdfunding is an effort to raise relatively small amounts of money involving many individuals to support a specific project. Typically, crowdfunding is conducted online through fundraising platforms. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the utilisation of crowdfunding in fundraising activities that are related to or have political goals carried out by certain organisations or political groups. The method used in this paper is qualitative in the form of narrative analysis carried out through in-depth reading of several scientific literatures that discuss political fundraising through crowdfunding. The sources of scientific literature collection were obtained through the Google …

How A Stay-At-Home Father Plays A Role In Family Resilience?, Fatimah Fatimah, Eko Daryanto

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

One of the impacts of modernization is the loss of barriers between job and particular gender. This also happens in the family unit, more specifically in the role of husband and wife. The husband's job which is identical to earn money and the wife's job is to manage the household should be able to be done more flexibly according to family conditions. This adaptation process is needed in order to strengthen family resilience. Non-traditional family composition that usually consist of a stay-at-home father and a working mother can be used as a family adaptation strategy. This study uses the results …

Implementation Of Zero Trust Architecture On Local Server Management In Educational Institutions, Joko Purwanto, Safar Dwi Kurniawan

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

Educational institutions are facing increasingly complex cyber threats, particularly as they continue to rely on on-premises servers with limited cybersecurity resources. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) offers a security model that rejects implicit trust and requires strict verification of each access request. This study aims to examine the applicability of ZTA in managing local servers within educational institutions through a qualitative literature review approach. Relevant literature from 2014 to 2025 was analyzed using thematic synthesis to identify recurring concepts, strategies, and gaps. The results show that ZTA, when integrated with Identity and Access Management (IAM), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), …

Ammar Abdul Rahman, Mark Naison, Anthony Abd-Al Shafi Rosado, Jane Kani Edward

Oral Histories

As a leader, Rahman plays many roles beyond leading prayers. He serves as a counselor, advisor, and guide, especially for immigrants and first-generation college students who may lack extended family support. He helps community members navigate not only education but also careers, marriage, and faith-based decisions through an Islamic lens. At Fordham University, he works to build a Muslim community through programs such as Ramadan events, spiritual counseling, mentorship initiatives, and multifaith dialogue.

Overall, Imam Rahman's lived experience demonstrates the role of a religious leader who continues to support minority communities and immigrants. His messages and teachings show how Islam …