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Islam

Endangered democracy? : The struggle over secularism and its implications for politics and democracy in Nigeria

Upphovspersoner: Tar, Usman A. | Shettima, Abba Gana
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: politics, Religion, Secularism, State, Political power, democracy, Islam, Christianity, Cultural pluralism, Religious groups, Political conflicts, Nigeria, Political science, Statsvetenskap
This Discussion Paper critically examines the pivotal role religion plays in Nigerian politics, particularly as it relates to the ways Islamic and Christian identities have been manipulated by competing political elites in their struggle for power. It provides a concise but well-informed history of the evolution of the religious factor in politics and its adverse implications for Nigeria’s democracy. Its point of departure is a critique of the notion of a secular Nigerian state (as prescribed by the constitution), which shows how governments and politicians have taken advantage of constitutional loop holes and used state resources to foster the politicisation of religion, with serious consequences for society at large. Some of the adverse consequences identified include religious conflict, political instability, insecurity and the undermining of the country’s democracy and development. The study carefully peels away the outward display of religious piety by political elites and leaders to reveal some of the underlying personal and narrow calculations. Over time, these calculations have eroded the social elements binding relations in a multi ethnic, multi-religious setting such as Nigeria, and there have been periodic explosions of sectarian and communal violence in various parts of the country. The authors show how the politicisation and ethnicisation of religious differences have further fuelled conflict between competing groups and geopolitical interests in Nigeria and raised serious questions for Nigeria’s democracy, development and the nation-state project. While noting that religion cannot be completely de-linked from politics, the study proffers some suggestions to begin to address and reverse the adverse effects of the intrusion of religion into democratic politics in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country and leading oil producer.

Nyckeln till paradiset : sengalesiska kvinnors livsvägar

Upphovsperson: Evers Rosander, Eva
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet; Carlssons förlag
År: 2011
Ämnesord: Religion, Islam, Sufism, Kvinnor, Senegalesiskor, Senegal, Familjer, Levnadsförhållanden, Ekonomiska förhållanden, Sociala förhållanden, diaspora, Immigranter, Teneriffa, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Mouridismen är en sufiorden i Senegal som snabbt sprider sig med de senegalesiska emigranterna. Tron är stark bland anhängarna på att grundaren shaykh Amadou Bamba, hans mor, mame Diarra Bousso och de efterföljande närmaste släktingarna skall kunna hjälpa mouriderna till ett bättre liv på jorden och till ett evgt liv i paradiset. Man brukar säga, att grundaren är huset medan hans mor utgör dörren till paradiset. De gifta kvinnorna antas kunna nå dit endast genom sina mäns förmedling. Lydnad, underkastelse, hänsyn och takt visad gentemot maken utgör hustruns "nyckel " till paradiset. Boken beskriver några senegalesiska mouridkvinnor författaren mött i Senegal och på Teneriffa som immigranter. Författaren skildrar deras livsvägar med fokus på religion, ekonomi, handel och familjeliv. På vad sätt skiljer sig kvinnornas livsvillkor i hemlandet från vad de möter i diasporan? Hur uppnår de sina mål?

Knowledge, renewal and religion : repositioning and changing ideological and material circumstances among the Swahili on the East African coast

Medarbetare: Larsen, Kjersti
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2009
Ämnesord: Social anthropology, Cultural anthropology, cultural identity, Islam, Social change, modernization, Social history, Social anthropology/ethnography, Socialantrolopologi/etnografi
In the past decades religion has entered the political debate and is evoked in relation to a variety of events taking place around the world. Religion and religious differences, not political, economic or social, are claimed to be the cause rather than an expression of – or even a reaction to – ongoing problems. Islam and Christianity (or also Islam and Hinduism) are, in most cases, represented not only as opposed, but also as incommensurable worldviews, value systems and identities, where the one is threatening the existence of the other. Among the Swahili on the East-African Coast, this trend provokes questions related to whether we should approach what appear to be expressions of religious positioning in terms of renewal of previous understandings and relationships, or as a rephrasing of complex and conflictual matters that were always part of Swahili society. The papers in this book reveal that the Swahili are experiencing worsening economic, political and social conditions. Within these circumstances, Islam is invoked as a source of knowledge that not only explains the current state of life and living, but also gives directions on how to cope with and to change the situation for the better. Islam is both what reinforces Swahili identity and a particular way of life, and at the same time, given the current international climate, further marginalizes Swahili society and culture.

Begging and almsgiving in Ghana : Muslim positions towards poverty and distress

Upphovsperson: Weiss, Holger
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Muslims, Islam, Economic conditions, Marginality, Poverty alleviation, Social welfare, Social security, Political islam, Ghana, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
The vast majority of Muslims in Africa generally do not 'objectify' concepts such as poverty and religion in discussion. Poverty is a situation for 'ordinary' poor people in rural or urban poor areas where people seek to make marginal gains in income to avoid ever-threatening destitution and social disintegration. Most of these 'ordinary' poor people, especially poor and illiterate women, do not really believe that things can change. There exists, however, in all Muslim societies and communities in Africa a minority that criticize social and political conditions in society with the stated aim of striving for an Islamic solution to poverty and injustice. The common denominator for this group is that they are urban educated Muslims, having both a traditional educational background and, usually but not always, a modern, secular one, too. For them, the concept of poverty more readily forms part of a religious discourse involving feasible strategies for change. Their basic idea is to highlight the possibilities of generating new forms of financial resources by combining Islamic ethics and norms with a modern development-oriented outlook. Their vision is the usability of obligatory almsgiving in a modern context, namely that, instead of the traditional individual-centred 'person-to-person' charities, zakāt or obligatory almsgiving should be directed to become the source of communal and collective societal improvement. This study focuses on the conditions of poverty and the debate among Muslims in Ghana, a West African country with a substantial but largely economically and politically marginalized Muslim population.

Muslimer i kindpussarnas land

Upphovsperson: Pebaqué, Yvonne
Utgivare: Svensk-Kubanska Föreningen
Tidskrift/källa: Tidskriften Kuba
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Kultur, Islam, Kuba
Varje fredag ställer Pedro Lazo Torres undan sina möbler och täcker golv och balkong med mjuka mattor. Han är Imam Yahya och bostaden är också gudstjänstlokal. Det finns omkring 1500 muslimer på Kuba men inga moskéer. ”Kubaner är vanligtvis väldigt toleranta när det gäller olika religioner”, säger han till CNN. Noalia Gladys Carmen Perez, som bär huvudduk, berättar att ”folk bemöter oss med respekt, men några visar ogillande”. De kan säga saker som: ’Det måste bli väldigt varmt med huvudduken”

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