This article critically examines the conceptual intersections between Islamic feminism and secular Muslim feminism, two paradigms that have significantly shaped the field of gender studies in Islamic contexts over the past decades. Building on the theoretical premises of political morality, secularism, and religious ethics, the study offers an in-depth analysis of the tensions, complementary, and limitations of these two feminist orientations. Islamic feminism, initially emerging as an internal hermeneutic project, seeks to reinterpret sacred texts, and reclaims gender equality through theological tools. In contrast, secular Muslim feminism operates within the logic of individual autonomy, the separation of religion and politics, and an ethical-political framework anchored in the universalism of modernity. The article argues that these two paradigms should not be viewed as irreconcilable positions, but rather as distinct ways of articulating Muslim female subjectivity, situated between Islamic moral norms and the values of modern secularism. Far from excluding one another, the two perspectives share a concern for women’s autonomy and for challenging patriarchal norms, although they rely on different methodologies and epistemologies. Ultimately, the article proposes an integrative approach that transcends the religious-secular dichotomy, highlighting that the status of Muslim women is shaped by multiple regimes of normativity that coexist, compete, conflict, or undergo continuous negotiation.
This paper re-examines the story of Lu Xiujing’s 陆修静 (406–477) abandonment of his ailing daughter, as recorded in <i>Daoxue zhuan</i> 道學傳 (Biographies of the Adepts of the Dao, hereafter <i>DXZ</i>), to challenge prevailing scholarly interpretations of this story that emphasize Daoist familial renunciation as a Buddhist-influenced complete rejection of Confucian ethics. Through close analysis of biographies in <i>DXZ</i>, Lu’s own writings, and the compiler Ma Shu’s 馬樞 (522–581) life, the study criticizes the habitual thinking of scholars that overemphasizes the tendency of early medieval Chinese Daoism to leave home, and argues that DXZ takes the protagonists in the biographies as models to convey the ethical concept of striving to reconcile the Daoist concept of leaving home to pursue religion aim with the family harmony advocated by traditional Confucianism, and it offers some feasible ideas for resolving the Confucian–Daoist ethical tensions. Ma Shu’s biographical strategy, reflecting his own Confucian-educated background engaged with Daoist belief, positions Lu as an exemplar of this balance. By contextualizing these accounts within social realities and compiler intentionality, the study advances a revised understanding of early medieval Daoist ethics, that is, an effort to pursue the harmonious coexistence of religious pursuits and family care.
Tasawwuf (Sufism) is a mystical Islamic tradition that emphasizes soul purification, sincere devotion to Allah, and fostering harmonious relationships across ideological divides. This study investigates the nature and challenges of online interactions between Sufi and non-Sufi Muslims in Nigeria. Utilizing a descriptive research design, data were collected through a Google Form questionnaire and analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. A multistage sampling approach ensured the inclusion of respondents from diverse Sufi and non-Sufi groups. The findings reveal that while interactions between Sufi and non-Sufi Muslims are frequent, particularly on platforms like Facebook, they are often marked by contentious exchanges. Provocative statements directed at Sufi Muslims occasionally lead to tensions, although most Sufi respondents prefer to avoid confrontation by ignoring such provocations. However, concerns were raised regarding the online behavior of some Sufi youth, which appears to deviate from traditional Sufi teachings as they engage in arguments to defend Sufism. This study underscores the importance of enhanced spiritual guidance for Sufi adherents to align their online activities with the principles of Tasawwuf. Promoting respectful digital discourse and fostering mutual understanding are essential strategies to mitigate tensions and strengthen harmony within the broader Muslim community.
This article begins by examining how two very popular massively multiplayer onlinegames, Dark Age of Camelot (Mythic Entertainment, US 2001) and Age of Conan(Funcom, NO 2008), manage complex social and cultural structures. Both combinereal history with legends, the first including the Norse pantheon of gods and thesecond emphasizing the Egyptian serpent deity, Set. They offer different degrees offantasy and conflict between three primary factions of players, each represented as aculture or coalition of cultures. Against that background, a series of diverse examplessuggest ways in which computer games and virtual worlds are exploring the modernmeanings of ancient religions that were replaced by monotheism. The concludingsection examines in closer detail the connections between religion and aspects ofeveryday life of virtual ancient Egyptians in A Tale in the Desert (eGenesis / DesertNomad, UK 2003). Postmodern gaming culture endorses tribalism, enjoys imaginingthe collapse of civilization, and seeks escape from traditional faith, possibly even fromany coherent philosophy of ethics. However, this creativity is a form of idealism ratherthan criminality, imagining the rebirth of creative legends and total religious freedom,often through the metaphor of repaganization.
This article discusses the relevance of the Baumanian-Levinasian notion of religion within a concrete analysis of refugee reception. As various classical approaches and definitions of religion have described it as a social phenomenon of grouping or an ideological tool for maintaining social order, it is necessary to provide a relevant approach to discussing religion as an ethical drive to build social inclusion through transmigration. The previous 2015 Western Europe immigration crisis due to the Syrian civil war has invited xenophobic responses towards immigrants, inevitably resulting in the socio-political impact of Brexit in 2020. Demonstrations of refugee resettlement driven by religious causes have provided a practical and ethical critique of secular liberalism. Furthermore, this article also reflects on the church's role as a refuge for refugees and marginalised groups in Indonesia. In conclusion, the Baumanian-Levinasian thought on religion and ethics remains relevant to both Western and Indonesian contexts in fostering inclusion, particularly during political turmoil.
Anushka Ataullahjan, Sara Allin, Shaza Fadel
et al.
Introduction Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and religious actors increase vaccine confidence and uptake among ethnoracially minoritised communities in low-income and middle-income countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent vaccine rollout, global organisations such as the WHO and UNICEF called for faith-based collaborations with public health agencies (PHAs). As PHA-FBO partnerships emerge to support vaccine uptake, the scoping review aims to: (1) outline intervention typologies and implementation frameworks guiding interventions; (2) describe the roles of PHAs and FBOs in the design, implementation and evaluation of strategies and (3) synthesise outcomes and evaluations of PHA-FBO vaccine uptake initiatives for ethnoracially minoritised communities.Methods and analysis We will perform six library database searches in PROQUEST-Public Health, OVID MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, SCOPUS- all, PROQUEST - Policy File index; three theses repositories, four website searches, five niche journals and 11 document repositories for public health. These databases will be searched for literature that describe partnerships for vaccine confidence and uptake for ethnoracially minoritised populations, involving at least one PHA and one FBO, published in English from January 2011 to October 2023. Two reviewers will pilot-test 20 articles to refine and finalise the inclusion/exclusion criteria and data extraction template. Four reviewers will independently screen and extract the included full-text articles. An implementation science process framework outlining the design, implementation and evaluation of the interventions will be used to capture the array of partnerships and effectiveness of PHA-FBO vaccine uptake initiatives.Ethics and dissemination This multiphase Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project received ethics approval from the University of Toronto. Findings will be translated into a series of written materials for dissemination to CIHR, and collaborating knowledge users (ie, regional and provincial PHAs), and panel presentations at conferences to inform the development of a best-practices framework for increasing vaccine confidence and uptake.
ABSTRACTAs technology's frontiers advance, we acquire the capacity to alleviate the aspects of suffering and sorrow that are caused by our genetic programming, while also inviting unwelcome side consequences. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), a bacterial defense system with genome editing capabilities, is now being implemented to startling results. It is being used to correct for harmful mutations by permanently altering genes, promising to eliminate defects in whole species. Advantages notwithstanding, and apart from insufficiently considered dangers precipitated by the well‐intended technology, there are other moral issues to consider. What does existence look like in which humans become resistant to experiencing genetic defects? We can welcome medical innovation's reduction of undue hardship, but is there a threshold past which a permanently improved version of us makes us ineligible to participate in the human condition? This essay offers a theological and Aristotelian critique of using CRISPR for extensive human gene editing, arguing that it is our imperfections, including susceptibility to disease, decline due to aging, and the ephemerality of joy, which make us human.
Ahmad Syafiq Yusof, Muhammad Talhah Ajmain Jima’ain, Muhammad Hazwan Mohd Shukor
Islamic education has been strongly emphasized in Muslim communities. The quality of education and adherence to the Islamic worldview will shape Muslim personalities towards the true meaning of excellence in this world and the hereafter. This article discusses and introduces the efforts of Tawhid purification in Islamic Education perpsective undertaken by Hassan Al Banna (1906-1949 AD) and Badiuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960 AD) to address emergent problems within the Egyptian and Turkish Muslim community in early 20th century whereby the absorption of values and thought outside the authenticity of Islam had successfully influenced society thinking in terms of religious beliefs and practices. Both Hassan Al Banna and Said Nursi therefore offered a solution to this problem by implementing measures to purify tawhid in society. This article analyses their efforts in tawhid purification in the implementation of da’wah dictates in Egypt and Turkey. To achieve this goal, the historical analysis method is utilised to discuss the efforts of Hassan Al Banna and Said Nursi and present critical examination of his efforts to save the tawhid of Muslims and ensure they return to the true teachings of Islam. The results of this analysis highlight Hassan Al Banna and Badiuzzaman Said Nursi as a da’wah figure who contributed to tawhid purification in the Islamic world. The findings at the same time could be used as guidelines for the religious, preachers and researchers to propose tawhid purification as an important da’wah effort in society today.
This essay centers on the question of political action in a technologically mediated abundance of political possibility. It argues that from the election of Trump through the politicizations of Covid, tech-enabled discourses exacerbated an intransigent rhetorics of opposition and division. This atmosphere is and continues to be fueled by mimetic reproductions of capitalist news media strategies acted out by individuals on social media platforms. The liberal/enlightenment tradition of dialectics — opposition, contradiction and negation — emerges as religious struggle of good versus evil. For politics to change, strategies must change. To shake the resentment of our time, we must, as political voices, embrace an ethics of difference and engage in viral expressions of creative action. At issue is not side against side, nor even power against power, but an affirmation of living in an age that demands survival.
AbstractWhile much Jewish thought, culture, and professional ethics increasingly accommodate a range of gender roles and expressions, sexualities, and family structures, they also remain deeply pronatalist. This overwhelmingly frames reproduction as a core Jewish value and the choice not to bear or raise children as contrary to Jewish values. I argue that Jewish pronatalism masks the true extent to which the whole community must support the care and formation of all its generations. Through a counter‐reading of a passage from the Babylonian Talmud in which three sages neglect their wives and children in various ways that allow a careful reader to notice “person‐shaped holes”—narrative features whose presence implies various people’s nonparental labor—I argue that multiple people in multiple roles within a community make it possible to sustain its continuity in a robust and all‐encompassing way.
German philosopher and sociologist Max Scheler (1874–1928) puts forward the concept of “prophetic Christian socialism” as a means of political and ideological opposition to Marxism. The concept expresses his religious-philosophical views, developed in earlier works, primarily in the main work “Formalism in Ethics and Material Ethics of Values”. Scheler compares his own views on socialism, understanding of history, the possibility of foreseeing historical processes with the views of these realities of K. Marx. Scheler's criticism of Marx's teachings is interspersed with the recognition of its partial correctness.
AbstractThis essay discusses five recent books, written in French, that contribute to refection in environmental ethics. Francophone literature on the topic is marked by resonant and divergent concerns, and rooted in a geography, politics, and history different from North America and marked by distinctive lines of intellectual influence. Jean‐Claude Eslin proposes recovering ecological resources from the Christian tradition and also suggests imagining new images of God: notably, God as pilote rather than artisan. Dominique Bourg takes a multi‐disciplinary approach that emphasizes the spiritual conditions for relating to the world ecologically and economically; he argues for sobriété (austerity) as a spiritual disposition and an economic model. Baptiste Morizot develops diplomacy as an ethical, political, and spiritual model for cohabiting with wolves, whose return to the French countryside has been highly controversial. Nastassja Martin offers an anthropological study of the indigenous Gwich’in community of Fort Yukon, Alaska that accentuates the mix of Protestant missional influences and Gwich’in spiritual affirmations and practices at play in their relationship to the nonhuman world. Attending to this literature may helpfully decenter anglophone debates and enrich their conceptual vocabulary.
AbstractIn this essay, I examine Richard Miller’s exposition of political solidarity as one of the key contributions of his multifaceted argument in Friends and Other Strangers to the study of religion, ethics, and culture. Miller’s focus on culture broadens the landscape of ethical analysis in ways that illuminate how culture and cultural productions mediate and construct norms and virtues, and the complex relations between self and society. I challenge Miller’s inclination, however, to focus scholarly attention more on habituated forms of civic identity and communal solidarity rather than on disruptive potentialities and critical practices. I suggest that an engagement with social movement theory and the sociology of emotions, with their focus on semiotic analysis and social change processes and mechanisms, can greatly enrich Miller’s account of religion and ethical solidarity.
The objective of this paper is to illustrate the current reality of the Ocha-Ifá Rule in Cuba, which is characterized by the diversity mediated by modernity, which together with other social factors and syncretism identifies a social problem originated, in principle, by the circumstance in which the Spanish white man arrived in Cuba, the way in which he brought the African black and the conditions in which he kept him enslaved; nevertheless, the new reality, black, with skill and wisdom preserves and protects their traditions, their culture. Thus, the expansion of the primary oral transmission of African culture begins in the process of “transculturation”; At present, despite the survival of this religious practice, the modern trend has changed the coexistence between the branches and the actions of practitioners, who with the intention of making their actions prevail, set excessive prices for the established ritual ceremonies. Or they constantly violate duties and rights, thus deforming what is stipulated in the Ocha-Ifá Rule. The above is the result of the «boom» of the Ocha-Ifá Rule «Santería»; event that, sometimes for some implies a fashion and for others the spirituality of the practitioner, which differs from the ethics, respect and confidence of the believer in his practice, therefore the contrast in Cuba between the historical moment is questioned lived by those who preceded us; the silent, discreet scenario in which, for various reasons, they guarded the religion and the current context in which the Ocha-Ifá Rule is practiced.
In this Festschrift we want to both celebrate Professor Dr. Martin Prozesky’s academic career as student and scholar in Religious Studies and Ethics, and his substantial impact on South Africans of all walks of life through his thought, publications, and practical ethics training in the academy, and in the corporate and public domains. This comes after nearly 50 years since he started teaching Comparative Religion in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1969, and also 40 years, since he started as Senior Lecturer in 1977, at the then University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus, teaching Philosophy of Religion in the Depart-ment of Divinity1. It is also nearly 40 years since he was introduced to Process Philosophy and wrote his review of Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition, by John B. Cobb Jr. and David Ray Griffin (1979). It is also now 10 years since he took early retirement from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2007, and the publication of his very significant Conscience: Ethical Intelligence for Global Well-Being (2007). This year, Prof. Dr. Prozesky will celebrate his seventy-fourth birthday, and we are celebrating his contributions to our discipline, and its sub-disciplines, at the 40th Congress of the Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA).
ABSTRACT
Objectives
“Clearly, details about an individual’s mental health, for example, are generally much more ‘sensitive’ than whether they have a broken leg.”
UK Information Commissioners Office
There is a perceived wisdom – based on issues such as social taboos, religious sensitivities, or financial implications linked to health status – that some health data is more sensitive than others. This distinction is present in many of the regulatory interpretations of privacy law (e.g. the UK Information Commissioners Office interpretation of the EU Data Directive, illustrated above), and is factored into the thinking of ethics and other regulatory decision-making committees. However, these particularly ‘sensitive’ data are defined at a regulatory level in broad terms (e.g. mental health), yet need implementing by researchers in precise terms. In 2013 our longitudinal research study was given approval by the UK Secretary of State for Health to access identifiable patient health records with the exception of those relating to mental health, sexual health or termination of pregnancy. Our objective therefore was to develop a generalisable informatics approach which enabled us to filter out sensitive records at the point of extraction.
Approach
We developed a methodology based on the Cochrane systematic review approach: firstly using internationally recognised definitions of health concepts and reference texts (e.g. British National Formulary drug manual) we identified keywords associated with sensitive health events (including symptom and diagnostic terms, drug and appliance codes, community and secondary care references); secondly, through data-mining code terminologies – using both code terms and information embedded within the structure of the schema itself - we identified code values relating to these terms; thirdly we minimised our results through filtering out spurious results via manual review; finally, the resulting code lists were then crossed-referenced with other terminologies to ensure interoperability.
Results
We produced separate definitions of mental health and sexual health events initially using Read codes. Using NHS cross-reference tables we were able to translate Read observation and diagnostic codes to the SNOMED CT vocabulary, but were unable to translate Read drug codes into the SNOMED/DM+D vocabulary.
Conclusion
We have demonstrated a systematic and partially interoperable approach to defining ‘sensitive’ health information. However, any such exercise is likely to include decisions which will be open to interpretation and open to change over time. As such, the application of this technique should be embedded within an appropriate governance framework which can accommodate misclassification while minimising potential patient harm.