To know you is to love you:Effects of intergroup contact and knowledge on intergroup anxiety and prejudice among Indigenous Chileans

Two surveys were conducted in Chile with indigenous Mapuche participants (N study 1: 573; N study 2: 198). In line with previous theorising, it was predicted that intergroup contact with the non-indigenous majority reduces prejudice. It was expected that this effect would be because of contact leading to more knowledge about the outgroup, which would then lead to less intergroup anxiety. The two studies yielded converging support for these predictions

Perceptions on the accessibility of Islamic banking in the UK—Challenges, opportunities and divergence in opinion

This study examines the views of UK-based Muslims, Islamic Scholars and Islamic banking employees on the current state of the latter industry, both in practical terms and as regards engagement with the nation’s large, but often marginalised Islamic community. The British Government has recently championed the Islamic banking sector and committed to supporting it as a means of addressing financial services needs and consolidating London’s position as the global centre for Islamic investment. The analysis adds to the substantive literature in two principal ways: (i) by contextualising the evidence via the notions of empowerment, engagement and social justice that underpin both the state’s attempts to foster growth and the central tenets of Islam; and (ii) by placing comparison of the opinions of key groups at the heart of the investigation. The findings reveal that while progress has been made, UK-based Muslims see several substantive impediments to access, including the complex terminology of Islamic banking products, the lack of internet banking facilities and branch networks as well as a generalised lack of interest in marketing on the part of the institutions. Whilst some coincidence of perception is evident, the views of bankers are shown to be out of line with those of the other parties in a number of key areas. For example, bankers appear to see less potential in the role of the internet as a medium for spreading awareness than do either potential customers or religious scholars. The paper therefore concludes with a call for multi-party Ijtihad and Qiyas (deductive analogy) that will encourage industrial outreach and, in so doing, support long-term growth

A translation and Descriptive Analysis of the Chapter on Theology in the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun.

Our purpose is two-fold: l) to elucidate and discuss Ibn Khâldün's attitudes towards theology. 2) to analyze and discuss Ibn Khaldun's style. Our analysis has been carried out against the background of Muhsin Mahdi's studies of Ibn Khâldün's work, especially Mahdi's thesis of the philosophic foundation of the Muqaddimah and Ibn Khaldun's "exoteric-esoteric" style. Our findings are as follows: 1) In Ibn Khaldün's opinion, theology should exist only for purposes of defence of the faith, and cannot legitimately incorporate philosophical ideas and methods. 2) Philosophy and revealed religion are equally valid, each in its own sphere. However, any attempt to mix the two approaches (as was done by the later Muslim theologians) is invalid. 3) The basic religious obligations of Islam are to be fulfilled in a personal commitment; philosophical reason is not involved here. 4) Ibn Khaldun expresses these ideas through a highly complicated "exoteric-esoteric" style

Mohamed Talbi's discussion of Ibn Khaldūn as the 'pioneer of reason and modernity'

This article offers the first extended analysis of a section of Li-yaṭmaʾinna qalbī (2007), a late work of the prominent Tunisian liberal modernist Islamic thinker and medieval historian Mohamed Talbi (1921-2017). Through a close reading of the introduction and first chapter of this work, we present Talbi’s views on the famous North African philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldūn (d. 1406), whom Talbi considers the “pioneer of reason and modernity” and “the progenitor of modernity” before modernity itself. Paying close attention to Talbi’s treatment of Ibn Khaldūn’s rationalism, empiricism, and supposed anticipation of modern scientific theories, as well as his relationship with philosophy and the thought of his own age, we detect in Talbi’s discussion an implicit conception of history, reason, and revelation, in which a “revelatory” divine-human encounter can continually recur, through God’s grace (faḍl), in the mind of the individual believer. In an epilogue, we offer a brief comparison between this conception of history and that of the Lutheran theologian and Biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976)