Talk Islam

Latest Updates: integration RSS

• 

  johnpi 10:17 am on February 8, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: canada (21), diversity (10), diversity in religious practice (4), immigrants (16), Integrating Islam (2), integration, Multiculturalism (44)

  Toronto college creates Muslim studies program to teach imams how to create a ‘Canadian Islam.’

  According to the 2001 census – the last one for which data are available – there were 579,640 Muslims in Canada, almost half of those in Toronto.

  Canada’s fastest growing religion, Islam is now firmly rooted in the country. And whileRoshan Jamal is glad to see her faith become established here, she laments that size has also allowed Muslims to remain isolated within their own communities if they choose.

  “It’s a natural instinct,” says Jamal, president of the Canadian Dawn Foundation, set up a year ago to help Muslim leaders learn what it means to be a person of faith in this country.

  But Jamal says Islam thrives best in a new country when its followers find ways to adapt the faith to their new home, as it did in the Middle Ages as the faith moved out of the Arab world and into Asia, Africa and Europe.

  That’s why her group is putting $70,000 over two years behind a new Canadian Certificate in Muslim Studies program that was launched Saturday at the University of Toronto’s Emmanuel College.

  Targeted at imams and other Muslim leaders – but open to anyone – the goal is to help develop a Canadian form of Islam, says college principal Mark Toulouse, a driving force behind the program.

   

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  Name (required)

  Email (required)

  Web Site

   
• 

  johnpi 10:24 pm on December 27, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: assimilation (10), france (71), integration, mosque construction (15), mosque expansion (14), new mosques (14), xenophobia (7)

  ‘Marseillais Islam’: The New York Times had a feature article today on responses to a large new mosque that is being built in France’s second-largest city.

  The large new mosque, which its builders call “the symbol of Marseillais Islam,” is a source of pride here in France’s second-largest city, which is at least 25 percent Muslim. But it is also cause for alarm, Mr. Geisser said, embodying the paradox that visible signs of integration set off xenophobic anxiety. “All these symbols reveal a deeper, more lasting presence of Islam,” he said. “It’s the passage of something temporary to something that is implanted and takes root.”

   
• 

  aziz 8:43 am on November 25, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America (36), assimilation (10), culture (72), integration, Islam (244), muslim american (20), The West (27)

  Muslim Americans, The Next Generation: a guest post at City of Brass by Willow which is pretty much the perfect example of muslims “reflecting about their faith” that non-muslims are always insisting we do in response to violence and whatnot.

  an excerpt:

  Ironically I think Muslims are at a disadvantage because Islamic law is comparatively easy to practice and apply in isolation. The result is a community with a sustainable level of conservatism (ie, it’s not like orthodox Jewish or Catholic doctrine, which are almost impossible to keep up en toto outside a Jewish or a Catholic community with established kashrut/regular access to communion etc). Other communities were forced to give up a great deal of religious life simply because the bells-n-smells necessary to sustain it weren’t there. Muslims in America haven’t been forced to make compromises. So any compromises they do make come with an almost hilarious level of groaning and moaning, like they are doing everyone a ginormous favor by budging an inch.

   
• 

  johnpi 1:06 pm on November 10, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America (36), american islam (8), American Muslims (71), assimilation (10), integration, islam in america (15), muslim american (20), muslim american extremism (25), muslim-americans (22), Muslims in America (36), Statistics (35)

  Pew research: 63 percent of US Muslims see no conflict in being devout and living in Modern society. Pew estimates the actual population of Muslims living in the United States at 2.35 million.

  The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.

  Research findings:

  • Overall, Muslim Americans have a generally positive view of the larger society. Most say their communities are excellent or good places to live.

  • A large majority of Muslim Americans believe that hard work pays off in this society. Fully 71% agree that most people who want to get ahead in the United States can make it if they are willing to work hard.

  • The survey shows that although many Muslims are relative newcomers to the U.S., they are highly assimilated into American society. On balance, they believe that Muslims coming to the U.S. should try and adopt American customs, rather than trying to remain distinct from the larger society. And by nearly two-to-one (63%-32%) Muslim Americans do not see a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

  • Muslim Americans reject Islamic extremism by larger margins than do Muslim minorities in Western European countries. However, there is somewhat more acceptance of Islamic extremism in some segments of the U.S. Muslim public than others. Fewer native-born African American Muslims than others completely condemn al Qaeda. In addition, younger Muslims in the U.S. are much more likely than older Muslim Americans to say that suicide bombing in the defense of Islam can be at least sometimes justified. Nonetheless, absolute levels of support for Islamic extremism among Muslim Americans are quite low, especially when compared with Muslims around the world.

   
• 

  johnpi 1:00 pm on October 29, 2009 | 10 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: assimilation (10), australia (24), immigration (51), integration, right-wing (96)

  Australian lawmaker calls for debate on Muslim immigration.

  Sydney – Member of Parliament Kevin Andrews on Thursday called for a national debate on whether Muslim immigration to Australia should be curbed. Andrews, immigration minister in the conservative government defeated two years ago, said Muslims were the first migrant group not to assimilate and to congregate in certain suburbs of big cities.

  “To have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good,” Andrews told local radio. “You should be able to talk about it … it’s ridiculous if you can’t talk about any subject.”

  Andrews was commenting on a column in The Australian newspaper arguing that large numbers of Muslim migrants posed a security risk because some would be drawn to terrorism.

  Andrews’ call for debate was immediately stomped on by Greens leader Bob Brown.

  “We are seeing a far-right, pretty disgusting point of view,” he said.

   
• 

  johnpi 6:21 pm on October 17, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: integration, UK (121), uk muslims (17)

  Muslim integration college opens.

  A new college in Cambridge has begun offering courses on how to integrate Islam into British society.

  The Cambridge Muslim College has just a handful of students, each of whom have ambitions to become a religious leader at a mosque or within the community.

  They are taking courses on subjects including Christianity, Judaism, international affairs and British law.

  Tutors will also advise them on how to provide counselling on issues such as drug abuse.

  Student Saleem Seedat, 25, from Blackburn, said: “I think there’s a misunderstanding and sometimes confusion around the issue of how we can be loyal to two different identities – being British and being Muslim.

  “This course will hopefully allow us to formulate a response to that problem.”

   
• 

  thabet 1:13 am on September 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: alientation, British Muslims (42), integration, media (408), social exclusion, united kingdom (733), young muslims (3)

  Research into Young British Muslims is published:

  Many young British Muslims feel demonised by the police and the media and say they have come under pressure to prove their loyalty since the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings, a study has found.

  The report for the Policy Research Centre, an Islamic think tank, was intended to give young Muslims their own voice to counter assumptions made by outsiders.

  It said young Muslims had been portrayed in the media as a threat to society and often struggled to convince people that they can be both British and Muslim at the same time.

  You can see the report at the Policy Research Centre’s website.

  I wonder how these experiences compare with the experiences of young people in the wider population?

   
• 

  plimfix 11:57 pm on August 23, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: europe (82), integration, muslims (347)

  A survey of more than 2,500 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in the UK, Germany and France (to be published next month) suggests Muslim youth are more integrated in Britain:

  Professor Roger Penn, co-author of the report, Children of International Migrants in Europe, said there was “a moral panic going on about young Muslims” in Britain after the suicide attacks on the London transport system four years ago that killed 52 people.In fact, he said, the research showed that young British Muslims from Asian families were “not much different” from any other young people in the country.

   
• 

  thabet 12:43 am on July 27, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: eurabia (22), europe (82), Extremism (167), integration, media (408), Multiculturalism (44), muslims (347), radicalisation (13)

  The New York Times publishes a review of a book by the Eurabian fantasist Bruce Bawer. The review concludes:

  [Bruce] Bawer is unquestionably correct, and that fact is quite simply ­terrifying.

  The reviewer is the pro-Israeli fanatic Stephen Pollard. Another good reason to avoid The New York Times…

  A more sane review is offered by Jason Burke in The Guardian.

  (Via The Arabist.)

   
• 

  thabet 12:18 am on June 26, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bloggers (59), blogging (50), immigration (51), integration, islamophobia (228), media (408), Multiculturalism (44), right-wing (96), united kingdom (733)

  Alex Massie writes a thinly-veiled attack on his co-blogger, Mad Mel.

   
• 

  thabet 10:51 pm on June 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: culture (72), Extremism (167), integration, language (95), politics (766), united kingdom (733)

  Still waiting for a Labour minister to drive into a town in the North West or in Yorkshire, or maybe in County Durham, and lecture people on extremism and integration.

   
• 

  thabet 5:23 am on May 7, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: British Muslims (42), europe (82), integration, Multiculturalism (44), muslims (347), polls (25), Statistics (35), united kingdom (733)

  Speaking of opinion polls about Muslims, a new study by Gallup and the Coexist Foundation shows that British Muslims are more ‘conservative’ than their European brethren when it comes to sexual morality.

  Muslims are also likely to identify themselves as ‘British’ more readily than the population at large*.

  It will be interesting to see how this survey is presented by Dalia Mogahed in London today. The Muslim West Facts website has the full report.

  *Note that the liberal-left Guardian led with the story about British Muslim attitudes towards homosexuality (‘zero tolerance’), while the right-wing Telegraph concentrated on attitudes towards ‘Britishness’. The slant obviously reflects the biases of their editorial teams and readers.

   
• 

  thabet 8:44 am on April 21, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: contest two (2), integration, Multiculturalism (44), muslims (347), politics (766), state (101), united kingdom (733)

  Eric Randolph offers a detailed analysis of the government’s Contest Two strategy.

   
• 

  thabet 11:20 am on January 13, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: culture (72), europe (82), Identity (75), immigration (51), integration, italy (40), race (80), Silvio Berlusconi’s Superior Civilisation Watch (18)

  Silvio Berlusconi’s Superior Civilisation Watch: NPR has a three-part series on race and immigration in Europe. Part 2 looks at  immigrants in Italy who find themselves facing the vitriol of populist xenophobic parties (which are part of Silvio Berlusconi’s Superior And Civilised Government); suspicion from Italian society at large; and physical threats of violence and intimidation from the security services.

  (Part 1 was about invisible German minorities.)

   
• 

  thabet 3:41 pm on January 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: citizenship (11), europe (82), immigrants (16), integration, politics (766)

  Immigrant mayors in Europe are thin on the ground.