On dietry laws for Muslims, permitted and the prohibited things in Islam.

Spiritual value and business ethics in halal label on Indonesian products.

In this article, I aim to contribute to the remedy of the current under-theorization of discourse on food ethics and politics from the perspective of the Islamic food tradition by proposing a formulation of an Islamic conception of food justice that extends the religious discourse on food beyond that of dietary laws. The conception of Islamic food justice that I propose makes explicit the connections between the religious, ethical, and political discourses on food. First, I argue that the similarity (...) between the central question of the secular approach to food ethics and that of the modern interpretation of the religious approach to food is best understood as a consequence of the shared assumption of the modern concept of subjectivity. Second, I argue that problematizing the concept of subjectivity that underlies both the secular and the religious approaches to food ethics is key to challenging the boundaries of the current disciplinary-bound discourses as it would allow for a reformulation of the central question beyond that of individual identity and extend the religious discourse on food to the realm on politics. (shrink)

According to Jewish dietary laws, known as Kashrut, the meat and milk mixing in the same meal is prohibited. This article examines this prohibition from a theological and modern medical viewpoint.

This paper analyzes how 'Jewishness' functions as a scapegoat for the apparently unbridgeable gap between spirit and matter in Hegel's social and aesthetic theory. If Hegel accuses 'the Jews' and 'Judaism' of inhabiting a radical divide between the empirical and the spiritual - a divide that coincides with the one between body and body politic - he follows the trajectory of Kant's opposition between autonomy and heteronomy. Kant's notion of freedom describes reason's transcendence of the material world, but this state (...) of autonomy paradoxically depends on the heteronomous force of legal power that enforces a 'Mine and Yours' ownership and property distinction. In Kant's account 'Jewishness' embodies a social way of life founded on superstition (Aberglaube) that enacts the opposite of autonomy and is heteronomously bound to objects of empirical reality, whereas the 'Mine and Yours' ownership and property distinction of a Kantian civil society teaches the foregoing of material goods, if contact with them violates positive law. Developing Kant's idealism, Hegel accuses 'the Jews' of making immediate being absolute. By conflating 'Jewishness' and materialism, Hegel excludes 'the Jews' from his idealist conception of the body politic. Key Words: anti-Semitism • autonomy • body • culture • dialectics • German idealism • Hegel • heteronomy • immutability • Kant. (shrink)

This paper investigates the socio-technical construction, quality control, and coordination of the credence quality attribute “halal” throughout the halal meat chain. The paper is framed within Actor-Network Theory and economic Conventions Theory. Islamic dietary laws or prescriptions, and how these are translated into production and processing standards using a HACCP-like approach, are discussed. Current halal quality coordination is strongly based on civic and domestic logics in which Muslim consumers prefer transacting with Muslim butchers, that is, individuals of known reputation (...) with similar moral and religious obligations. The HACCP-like approach with identification of critical halal control points, as presented in this paper, fits with the industrial quality convention mechanism and ideally yields guaranteed and trustworthy halal credence quality, eventually marked by a halal meat label. The socio-technical construction of halal credence quality, for example with respect to ritual slaughter, and the quality coordination mechanism aimed at reducing halal quality uncertainty among Muslim consumers, for example through labeling, are identified as key attention points in the future research agenda. (shrink)

In most countries where Islam is acknowledged as a, or the, source of legislation, abortion is permitted under certain conditions and at certain stages of pregnancy. This article examines some of these laws and argue that they represent a continuation of the logic that governed the views of pre-modern Muslim jurists on abortion, that is, harm aversion. However, these laws also add a ‘modernist’ twist to that logic – rather than repealing that logic altogether, modernist views on ‘rights’ and the (...) advancement of medical knowledge and technology have influenced the priorities of Muslim jurists and lawmakers as far as abortion and the issues associated with it are concerned. This influence has furthermore been possible by a conscious selection and blending of pre-modern views to serve modern concerns. In all this, however, harm aversion remains the centrifugal principle, even when the abortion discourse in Muslim countries appears couched in the modernist discourse of rights. (shrink)

Introduction : law, religion and the challenge of accommodation -- Muslim communities in a multicultural context -- Contextualishing Shari ̀ah : Shari ̀ah in the Common Law world -- Muslims, family relationships and the Common Law -- Muslims, crime and the Common Law -- Muslims, business transactions and the Common Law -- Conclusion.

The Aceh Jinayat Qanun, which is often considered violating Human Rights, has become the choice of the non-Muslim minorities as their rational choice. This study aims to analyze non-Muslims’ choice of The Aceh Jinayat Qanun implemented by the Sharia Court in Aceh and its underlying motives. This study relies on field research involving observations, in-depth interviews with Sharia Court judges, Head of the Islamic Sharia Service, Acehnese clerical figures, and Non-Muslims involved in criminal cases handled by the Sharia (...) Courts. This study also analyzes Sharia Court decisions on criminal cases involving non-Muslims and various related documents issued by the Sharia Courts, police, and prosecutors. The study was undertaken between July 2017 and March 2020. The study shows that the Acehnese non-Muslims do not select The Aceh Jinayat Qanun because of its religious values but based on practicality, efficiency, and socio-cultural consideration. The Sharia-based sentences, which have often been conceived as inhuman and violate fundamental human rights, are chosen and become the rational choice for non-Muslims in solving their legal issues. This paper concludes that the implementation of the Sharia on non-Muslim has not always been negative. This paper demonstrates non-Muslims’ interest to choose Sharia-based criminal justice or The Aceh Jinayat Qanun over the Criminal Code. This can be seen as their rational choice over a more efficient, low-cost, effective, and fast legal process offered by The Aceh Jinayat Qanun sentencing system. (shrink)

Can the concept of law be indiscriminately extended to times and places in which it did simply not exist? Such an extension is at best useless and at worst misleading. Producing an intelligible jurisprudence of the concept of law means keeping it within the reasonable boundaries of its contemporary common-sense understanding: positive law. Parallel to Western societies in which it firstly emerged, the concept of positive law developed in many places, including countries characterized as Muslim. There, it faced other existing (...) normativities, like customs and the Sharia. This book aims, from the Muslim world's perspective, to clarify the uses of the concept of law and the ways of studying it, to describe some of its historical developments, including the ideas of constitutional law, customary law and forensic evidence, and to describe present-day practices, including reference to law sources, rules and interpretation. (shrink)

The article examines the ideas of divine command and divine law in their Quranic and Muslim legal contexts. It suggests a strong connection between western and Muslim values based on linkages developed in medieval times through Latin appropriation of Arabic studies of Classical philosophy. It also traces the need to address common, contemporary concerns such as poverty, through a shared ethical stance.

Machine generated contents note: 1. Spoken, intended and problematic divorce in Hanafi Fiqh; 2. Between person and property - slavery in Qudūrī's Mukhtasar; 3. Pig, purity and permission in Mālikī slaughter; 4. Islamic and other perspectives on evil; 5. The language of love in the Qur'ān; 6. Virtue and limits in the ethics of friendship 7. Drinking and drunkenness in Ibn Rushd.

Islam is not only a religious system that boils down to dogma and worship, but is a set of principles and norms that underpin the organization and activities of the authorities and regulate the behavior of Muslims. The status of a Muslim consists of two interconnected components: his rights and responsibilities as a believer and as a subject of civil relations. A special and main feature of Muslim law, as a part of Islam, is the interaction of religious and (...) secular, rational and irrational, spiritual and material, mainly as a system of legal norms, which is an important element of the Islamic way of life. (shrink)

This research focuses on the issue of human rights violations, particularly those affecting Muslim women in Indonesian diaspora marriages in Russia. Despite the regulations set by the Family Code of the Russian Federation, there have been reports of abuse, expulsion, withholding of documents and unilateral divorce. The purpose of this qualitative research using Smith’s phenomenological approach is to analyse the root causes of these violations and provide solutions. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation and documentation analysis. The results showed (...) that domestic violence was caused by a lack of self-concern and lack of cultural, legal and legal administration literacy. This lack of literation contributes to the violation of the rights of married diaspora women in Russia. Self-protection can be enhanced by increasing faith-based marriage literacy and cultural and legal literacy. Contribution: This research provides insight into the factors contributing to human rights violations in Indonesian diaspora marriages in Russia and proposes solutions to prevent such violations. The findings of this study can also serve as a basis for future research in the field of human rights and diaspora. (shrink)

Through a selection of principal judicial decisions and significant fact situations from pre- and post-independent India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, this volume provides an easy access to the basic principles and rules of Muslim law, and shows how case law acts as a social barometer and an instrument of change.

Non-Muslim leadership is still being a political issue and causes polemic in Indonesia. The previous election of Governor of DKI Jakarta was remembering last controversy either probability or prohibition to vote a non-muslim as a chief. The law judgments addressing this issue are NU Congress at Lirboyo in 1999 and Bahtsul Masail Kiai Muda GP Ansor in 2017. According to Congress at Lirboyo, authorizing state affairs to a non-Muslim is not allowed, except in an emergency situation. Meanwhile, Bahtsul Masailof Kiai (...) Muda Ansor in 2017 decided that voting non-Muslim leader in Indonesia is legally and constitutionally legitimate. This paper is trying to examine istinbat method which is used in those two forums considering their position in the theory of al-Sabit and al-Mutahawwil. By conducting a literature study, the author concludes that the outcomes of Muktamar NUat Lirboyo in 1999 using the istinbat Bayani method, belongs to al-Sabit category. Meanwhile, the outcomes of Bahtsul Masail Kiai Muda GP Ansor in 2017 which is using a combination of istinbat Bayani and istislahi, belongs to an al-Mutahawwil category. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to comprehensively review studies that have examined the relation between diet and childhood obesity. The review specifically considers the roles of total energy intake and energy density; dietary composition; individual foods, food groups, and dietary patterns; beverage consumption; and eating behaviors. The paper also discusses methodological considerations and future research directions and concludes by summarizing the evidence presented and highlighting the ethical issues surrounding providing dietary advice.

The Institute of Medicine’s 2005 publication, Dietary Supplements: A Framework for Evaluating Safety, is authoritative and thorough, and thus representative of other reports by the Institute of Medicine. What makes this report particularly interesting, however, is the rich political subtext that exists in the interstices of the report, popping up here and there in brief comments and barely suppressed yelps of exasperation. To understand this context, it is useful to reflect for a moment on the special nature of the (...) IOM and its relationship to government.IOM is part of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a private, non-governmental organization that does not receive direct federal funding for its work. Rather, IOM studies are often funded by contract with governmental entities that request reports on particular topics. As a case in point, the dietary supplement study was requested and paid for by the FDA. (shrink)

People who are not Muslims but live under the rule of the Islamic state under certain conditions are called "non-Muslim". With the Prophet’s migration to Madinah, he encountered a non-Muslim community and clearly demonstrated his stance on them with the "Madinah Convention". As a result of the intense conquest movements that started with the Companions period, non-Muslim people became the citizen of the Islamic state. Legal arrangements have been made regarding these, and their status before the state and within (...) the society has been determined. These people, who were not forced to accept the Islamic faith, were also given the freedom of belief and worship. However, by limiting the framework of this freedom to the interests of the Islamic state and Muslim society, social security and peace were ensured, and the basic parameters of coexistence were tried to be established. Islamic states have evaluated the non-Muslim temples in the places taken by peace and the places taken as a result of war. While obtaining the consent of the non-Muslim people for the demolition of the temples or the conversion of them into mosques in the places taken by peace; In the dispositions on the temples located in the places taken by the war, they were treated more freely. In principle, the principle of not touching or repairing the temples of non-Muslims built before the conquest was preserved in almost all periods, and the construction of new temples was not viewed positively. Yes, as a requirement of religion, non-Muslims were freed in their beliefs and were not forced to become Muslims, taking into account the freedom of religion and conscience. However, in order for the Muslim community to preserve its religion, non-Muslims are not allowed to live their religion, culture and traditions in front of the public; Restrictions have also been imposed on their temples. In this context, a series of measures were taken, such as the demolition of some churches and the reduction of the number of existing temples. Despite this, it was also allowed to build new temples in case of necessity. In this case, the magnificent construction of the temples was not allowed, and they were required to comply with some criteria in architecture. In this study, starting from the time of the Prophet, an answer will be sought to the question of whether the policies carried out by the Islamic states towards the places of worship of non-Muslims are religious or political, with some examples of practice from different periods of the history of Islamic law. In this context, the status of the temples belonging to these people, who are defined as "dhimmis" in the Islamic state, rather than their general legal status, forms the basis of our study. Our study has been limited to Christian and Jewish temples. (shrink)

This article tries to contextualise the formulation of Islamic laws with regards to contemporary dynamics of non-Muslim leadership in the government. It particularly addresses the religious deliberation of the traditionalist Muslim organisation, the Nadhlatul Ulama/NU, and its youth organisation, the Gerakan Pemuda Ansor. The construction of Islamic laws in contemporary Indonesia tells an insightful viewpoint in Islamic-laws making and delivers multiplicity in Islamic interpretation. Despite the fact that these two organisations are of the same organisation, the NU, their formulation of (...) Islamic laws with regards to non-Muslim leadership demonstrates a different and contrasting opinion. While the national board of the NU through its national congress in 1999 argues against non-Muslim leadership, the national religious deliberation board of the Ansor in 2017 issues a legal opinion that approves non-Muslim leadership. As this article argues, the different opinions between these two institutions develops particularly because of different construct in defining Islam and democracy in the largest Muslim country Indonesia. They differ in reconciling istinbat of two principles of Islamic laws ; al-sabit and al-mutahawwil. It further argues that the national board of the NU particularly sees the prohibition of non-Muslim leadership as al-sabit, an unchanged dictum, whereas the Ansor considers it al-mutahawwil as looking at the Indonesian state constitution that does not discriminate its citizens based on religion. Thus, making Islamic laws accords to the state constitution. (shrink)

Muslim legal culture is becoming more relevant to modern Ukraine, which can be explained, on the one hand, by the nature of Islam and, on the other, by the peculiarities of its current state in our country. After all, the internal logic of Islam, as a universal system that encompasses both religious and secular life, as one of the components of the awakening of Islam, involves recourse to Sharia, a strict adherence to which is an unmistakable criterion for Muslims (...) of deep religious faith. On the other hand, in addition to religious revival, in the lives of Muslims, social and economic, political, national and cultural problems need to be addressed and secular. It is secular relations that led to the formation of Muslim jurisprudence and its subsequent evolution. (shrink)

How is it possible to acknowledge and confront patriarchal violence within Muslim migrant communities without descending into cultural deficit explanations (they are overly patriarchal and inherently uncivilised) and without inviting extraordinary measures of stigmatisation, surveillance and control so increased after the events of September 11, 2001? In this paper, I explore this question by examining Norway's responses to the issue of forced marriages. I argue that social and political responses to violence against women in Muslim communities have been primarily culturalist. (...) That is, the violence is understood as originating entirely in culture, an approach that obscures the multiple factors that give rise to and sustain the violence. The culturalist approach enables the stigmatising and surveillance of Muslim communities. I approach this argument in two parts. In part one I discuss two important and influential books written by women who identify their concerns as feminist and who lay out the case for considering the problem of forced marriage as a problem of controlling fundamentally unassimilable and culturally inferior Muslims. I explore these works as paradigmatic of the culturalising or culturalist move. In part two, I review a variety of legal initiatives in Norway, first contextualising them as part of a larger European venture to control Muslim populations and then examining what they share conceptually with the approaches in part one. I end with how we might begin to develop an anti-racist response to the problem of violence against women. (shrink)

Childhood obesity is a serious problem for increasing numbers of children around the world. According to the International Obesity Task Force, 1 of 10 schoolaged children worldwide is overweight or obese, a number totaling 155 million; of these, 2-3% are obese. Prevalence is highest in the Americas and Europe, followed by the Near/Middle East, with smaller but growing numbers in the Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan regions of the world.In the United States, which provides the data for much of this report, prevalence (...) continues to rise. The most recent nationally representative data indicate that 33.6% of individuals aged 2-19 years were overweight and 17.1% were at risk for overweight in 2003-2004, compared to 28.2% and 13.9% in 1999-2000, respectively. In this age group, the prevalence of overweight or at risk for overweight was highest among Mexican Americans, followed by Non-Hispanic blacks and Non-Hispanic whites, and a higher percentage of males were overweight compared to females. (shrink)

In Islam, the acquisition of knowledge is a form of worship. But human achievement must be exercised in conformity with God's will. Warnings against feelings of superiority often are coupled with the command to remain within the confines of God's laws and limits. Because of the fear of arrogance and disregard of the balance created by God, any new knowledge or discovery must be applied with careful consideration to maintaining balance in the creation. Knowledge must be applied to ascertain equity (...) and justice for all of humanity. Research in Islam must be linked to the broad ethical base set forth in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Whether embryonic stem cell research or cloning is ethically acceptable in Islam depends on the benefits derived from such applications. What is most important for the scholars is to adhere to the concepts of compassion, mercy, and benefit to everyone. (shrink)

As physicians encounter an increasingly diverse patient population, socioeconomic circumstances, religious values and cultural practices may present barriers to the delivery of quality care. Increasing cultural competence is often cited as a way to reduce healthcare disparities arising from value and cultural differences between patients and providers. Cultural competence entails not only a knowledge base of cultural practices of disparate patient populations, but also an attitude of adapting one's practice style to meet patient needs and values. Gender roles, relationship dynamics (...) and boundaries are culture specific, and are frequently shaped by religious teachings. Consequently, religion may be conceptualised as a cultural repertoire, or dynamic tool-kit, by which members of a faith adapt and negotiate their identity in multicultural societies. The manner in which Islamic beliefs and values inform Muslim healthcare behaviours is relatively under-investigated. In an effort to explore the impact of Islam on the relationship between patients and providers, we present an Islamic bioethical perspective on cross-gender relations in the patient-doctor relationship. We will begin with a clinical scenario highlighting three areas of gender interaction that bear clinical relevance: dress code, seclusion of members of the opposite sex and physical contact. Next, we provide a brief overview of the foundations of Islamic law and ethical deliberation and then proceed to develop ethicolegal guidelines pertaining to gender relations within the medical context. At the end of this reflection, we offer some practice recommendations that are attuned to the cultural sensitivities of Muslim patient populations. (shrink)

How do ordinary Muslims deal with and influence the increasingly pervasive Islamic norms set by institutions of the state and religion? Becoming Better Muslims offers an innovative account of the dynamic interactions between individual Muslims, religious authorities, and the state in Aceh, Indonesia. Relying on extensive historical and ethnographic research, David Kloos offers a detailed analysis of religious life in Aceh and an investigation into today's personal processes of ethical formation. Aceh is known for its history of (...) rebellion and its recent implementation of Islamic law. Debunking the stereotypical image of the Acehnese as inherently pious or fanatical, Kloos shows how Acehnese Muslims reflect consciously on their faith and often frame their religious lives in terms of gradual ethical improvement. Revealing that most Muslims view their lives through the prism of uncertainty, doubt, and imperfection, he argues that these senses of failure contribute strongly to how individuals try to become better Muslims. He also demonstrates that while religious authorities have encroached on believers and local communities, constraining them in their beliefs and practices, the same process has enabled ordinary Muslims to reflect on moral choices and dilemmas, and to shape the ways religious norms are enforced. Arguing that Islamic norms are carried out through daily negotiations and contestations rather than blind conformity, Becoming Better Muslims examines how ordinary people develop and exercise their religious agency. (shrink)

Islam and the Rule of Justice: Image and Reality in Muslim Law and Culture. By Lawrence Rosen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018. Pp. xi + 279. $105 ; $35.

As physicians encounter an increasingly diverse patient population, socioeconomic circumstances, religious values and cultural practices may present barriers to the delivery of quality care. Increasing cultural competence is often cited as a way to reduce healthcare disparities arising from value and cultural differences between patients and providers. Cultural competence entails not only a knowledge base of cultural practices of disparate patient populations, but also an attitude of adapting one's practice style to meet patient needs and values. Gender roles, relationship dynamics (...) and boundaries are culture specific, and are frequently shaped by religious teachings. Consequently, religion may be conceptualised as a cultural repertoire, or dynamic tool-kit, by which members of a faith adapt and negotiate their identity in multicultural societies. The manner in which Islamic beliefs and values inform Muslim healthcare behaviours is relatively under-investigated. In an effort to explore the impact of Islam on the relationship between patients and providers, we present an Islamic bioethical perspective on cross-gender relations in the patient-doctor relationship. We will begin with a clinical scenario highlighting three areas of gender interaction that bear clinical relevance: dress code, seclusion of members of the opposite sex and physical contact. Next, we provide a brief overview of the foundations of Islamic law and ethical deliberation and then proceed to develop ethicolegal guidelines pertaining to gender relations within the medical context. At the end of this reflection, we offer some practice recommendations that are attuned to the cultural sensitivities of Muslim patient populations. (shrink)

Abstract.In Islam, the acquisition of knowledge is a form of worship. But human achievement must be exercised in conformity with God's will. Warnings against feelings of superiority often are coupled with the command to remain within the confines of God's laws and limits. Because of the fear of arrogance and disregard of the balance created by God, any new knowledge or discovery must be applied with careful consideration to maintaining balance in the creation. Knowledge must be applied to ascertain equity (...) and justice for all of humanity. Research in Islam must be linked to the broad ethical base set forth in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Whether embryonic stem cell research or cloning is ethically acceptable in Islam depends on the benefits derived from such applications. What is most important for the scholars is to adhere to the concepts of compassion, mercy, and benefit to everyone. (shrink)

Protecting women and children is one of the core values of the Islamic legal tradition. In Muslim countries religious, constitutional, and legal frameworks obligate the state to take special measures to provide protection to women and children within families and in society. However, despite such provisions, post-divorce maintenance rights are not granted to women in Pakistan and Iran. Family law enacted in Pakistan and Iran still differs in form and substance from what has been mentioned in the primary sources of (...) Islamic law and from the previous articulations of early Islamic law scholars. Moreover, patriarchal notions of male authority are still sustained through law and judicial interpretations when it comes to the question of giving post-divorce maintenance to women. As a result in the absence of a welfare system divorced women are left in a vulnerable situation. Although in Iran, some financial compensation under the concept of Ujrat ul Misl is given to divorced women, but it remains unclear whether the right to Mata’at-ul-Talaq has been recognised under the family law. In Pakistan the law does not include any provision for giving women Ujrat ul Misl and Mata’at- ul -Talaq. Moreover in the absence of a welfare system, divorced Muslim women in both countries are left in a vulnerable situation. This article engages with plural normative sources and contemporary notions of human rights to make the case for family law reform and for awarding post-divorce maintenance rights to Muslim women in Pakistan and Iran. (shrink)

This article goes behind stereotypes of Muslim veiling to ask after the representational structure underlying these images. I examine the public debate leading to the 2004 French law banning conspicuous religious signs in schools and French colonial attitudes to veiling in Algeria, in conjunction with discourses on the veil that have arisen in other western contexts. My argument is that western perceptions and representations of veiled Muslim women are not simply about Muslim women themselves. Rather than representing Muslim women, these (...) images fulfill a different function: they provide the negative mirror in which western constructions of identity and gender can be positively reflected. It is by means of the projection of gender oppression onto Islam, and its naturalization to the bodies of veiled women, that such mirroring takes place. This constitutes, I argue, a form of racialization. Drawing on the work of Fanon, Merleau-Ponty and Alcoff, I offer a phenomenological analysis of this racializing vision. What is at stake is a form of cultural racism that functions in the guise of anti-sexist and feminist liberatory discourse, at once posing a dilemma to feminists and concealing its racializing logic. (shrink)

Religious thinking, including among Muslims, connects food and sex, as well as women and animals; both food practices and gender norms are significant for communal identity and boundary construction. Female bodies and animal bodies serve as potent signifiers of Muslim identity, as patriarchal thought sustains the hierarchical cosmologies that affirm male dominance in family and society and allow humans to view animals as legitimately subject to human violence. I argue that Muslims in the industrialized West—especially those concerned with (...) gender justice—ought to be vegetarians and that feminist ethics provides underutilized resources for Muslim thinking about ethics generally and food ethics in particular. Much contemporary Muslim thought about meat is at least as concerned with demonstrating the primacy of “Islamic” identity as with general questions about the formation of virtuous subjects and the development of good societies. This defensive concern with religious authenticity poses a stumbling block to richer thinking. Engagement with non-Islamic ethics provides a model for productive dialogue and engagement among parties who disagree about basic presumptions but agree on desirable outcomes, including the development of individuals' ethical sensibilities and the construction of societies conducive to human flourishing. (shrink)

Literature on categorization often invokes historical legacies to explain why states adhere to statistical categories that inadequately capture their population, and especially minority groups. The failure of the 2011 German census to produce reliable numbers on the country’s largest religious minority, Muslims, could be viewed as a case in point. However, this ignores the fact that in the late 1980s officials successfully counted Muslims. This article traces how officials changed their approach to Muslim enumeration over the course of (...) designing the 2011 census. Drawing on internal ministerial documents and interviews, I show that the reversal of statistical visibility was the result of a recoupling process. Through this process, old state-religion laws that officials had previously ignored now became rigorously applied to the census. An extra-statistical debate on religious education triggered this recoupling by reviving narrow, legal categories of religion and alerting church representatives and legal experts to imprecise census terms. Using the German case and other empirical examples, I describe a more uneven influence of historical legacies than commonly suggested by research on categorization. Rather than viewing legacies as having a stable, or even growing, influence on categorization, I argue that they only take effect when they become politicized and enforced by powerful actors. I call for a more nuanced analysis of the role historical factors play in determining trajectories of census categorization, especially those that are invoked to explain the reluctance of European states to collect ethno-cultural data. (shrink)

This paper provides a perspective on where contemporary Muslim responses to biomedical-ethical issues stand to date. There are several ways in which Muslim responses to biomedical ethics can and have been studied in academia. The responses are commonly divided along denominational lines or under the schools of jurisprudence. All such efforts classify the responses along the lines of communities of interpretation rather than the methods of interpretation. This research is interested in the latter. Thus, our criterion for classification is the (...) underlying methodology behind the responses. The proposed classification divides Muslim biomedical-ethical reasoning into three methodological categories: 1) textual, 2) contextual, and 3) para-textual. (shrink)