The Right to be Human:How do Muslim Women talk about Human Rights and Religious Freedoms in Britain?

Abstract This article examines existing literature and data from qualitative fieldwork with Muslim women in Britain to analyse their narratives of human rights and freedom, as they live within plural European contexts. In scared, securitised and polarised Europe, Muslim women have become visible markers of otherness. Each Muslim woman becomes a fulcrum upon which Western values and morality are measured against the “other”, its values, its beliefs and its choices. In exploring the implications of societal othering on Muslim women’s experiences of their human rights, this article concludes that in social contexts that are polemical, becoming the other dehumanises Muslim women who thus become ineligible for “human” rights. In such contexts, a human rights-based approach alone is insufficient to achieve “dignity and fairness” in society. In addition to human rights, societies need robust and rigorous dialogue so that societal differences become part of a new mediated plural reality.</jats:p

Women in Britain’s First Muslim Mosques:Hidden from History, but Not Without Influence

Two of the earliest Muslim communities in Britain evolved around the first mosques in Liverpool and Woking (both&mdash;1889). The history of these early British Muslims is being recovered but little is known about the women (usually converts) in these communities. This article will draw upon original findings from archival research, to examine &lsquo;leadership&rsquo; that women in these communities undertook and their influence in shaping their nascent British Muslim communities. The practical, theological and philosophical negotiations around gender roles, female leadership, and veiling and the social contexts within which they took place are examined. By uncovering historical responses to issues that remain topical in British Muslim communities, this article provides historical grounding for contemporary debates about female Muslim leadership in British Muslim communities

Learning from experience leading to engagement: for a Europe of religion and belief diversity

The Religious Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Training Program provides a remarkable opportunity for participants of all walks of life to share opinions, concerns and needs of a variety of very real and practical issues such as the role of religion in education, accommodating religious practice in the work place, adapting social services to religio-cultural needs and limitations, engaging minorities in community development, negotiating the use of public space, gender relations, etc. Not only do participants report that the training influences their own roles in local decision-making, but the issues which they raise can be very informative for policy-makers. This Policy Brief, based upon feedback gathered systematically from participants and trainers, provides new insights and ideas to European policy-makers on emerging issues and possible interventions that need to be considered.CEJ

The Effects of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) and Insulin-like Growth Factor Receptor (IGFR) Regulation on Cognition and Structure of Astrocytes

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a neuroendocrine signaling hormone that plays an integral role in bone and tissue growth and development. Inhibition of this hormone is known to disrupt the chemistry of the brain, resulting in cognitive impairments such as those seen in many common neurodegenerative diseases. While much research has been conducted on neurons and their relation with IGF-1, the role of astrocytes still needs to be explored. Our research investigates how astrocytes are affected as a result of IGF-1 regulation. Preliminary studies in our laboratory established a connection between IGF-1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and in this study we focused on understanding these changes in GFAP expression and astrocyte structure. We hypothesized that the mice lacking IGF-1 or its receptor, IGFR, would have increased number and size of GFAP positive (GFAP+) cells in the hippocampus, which is associated with cognitive dysfunction. The value of this research can be noted in its efforts to increase the understanding of astrocytes, a group of cells that contribute significantly to the maintenance of the brain’s environment and cognitive function. By investigating how astrocytes respond to particular changes, we will be clarifying aspects of an under-researched group of cells that have an undeniably important role in cognitive dysfunction

The training and development of Muslim faith leaders: current practice and future possibilities

"There were three broad aims [of the review]: 1. To research and evaluate the current training provisions for imams and scholars provided by seminaries and other imam-training institutions in the UK; to explore the strengths and weaknesses of current provision; and, in particular, to identify any gaps in the training of faith leaders that need to be addressed. 2. To explore the different models and methods employed for training faith leaders and to identify elements of best practice for wider dissemination. 3. To explore the possibilities of collaborative initiatives between the providers of Muslim faith leadership training and mainstream further education and higher education institutions and the possibility of attaining additional knowledge and skills leading to higher education qualifications and better employment prospects." - Page 8

Motherhood as constructed by us: Muslim women’s negotiations from a space that is their own

According to foundational Islamic texts, motherhood is a key aspect of women’s diverse social roles; however some Muslim religious commentaries position motherhood as the only aspect of women’s contributions to society. The everyday mothering experiences of Muslim women remain absent from these discussions. This anthropological article will examine Muslim women’s narratives of motherhood and mothering in contemporary Britain. In my research, Muslim women in Britain chose motherhood, firstly, as one of the many fronts on which to challenge patriarchy that is evident in some Muslim texts and to thus ‘reclaim their faith’ as articulated in foundational Islamic texts. Secondly, in their mothering experiences, Muslim women found a space of commonality that they shared with other women – motherhood was something these Muslim women believed they shared with their ‘sisters’ who were from backgrounds different to their own. Within their diverse and multifaceted struggles, Muslim women thus identified a space which they share with other women

De-mystifying the Muslimah: Exploring Different Perceptions of Selected Young Muslim Women in Britain

In this research I argue that although Islam as a faith is inherently emancipatory, Muslim women are doubly marginalised: by patriarchal interpretations of their faith within Muslim communities and by pluralist society that often does not understand the faith-based values and practices of Muslim women. The empowerment of Muslim women is crucial not just for the women themselves but also for socio-political dynamics within the Muslim community and its relationships in pluralist society. It is from this context, and acknowledging the paucity of academic literature written by Muslim women, that I set out to give voice to them, so that their opinions may be heard in discourses that they think are relevant to their lives. By encouraging Muslim women to take voice and by facilitating mechanisms for these voices to be heard, this research presents alternate narratives of Muslim women that challenge dominant media imagery of the oppressed and subjugated Muslim woman. These narratives, which are by and for Muslim women, portray instead the inherent diversity in the category 'Muslim woman' and thus add more facets to the category 'woman'. I used an ethnographic methodology that involved participants as contributors in the creation of new knowledge. Semi-structured interviews with 45 young university-educated Muslim women and 7 group discussions were used as initial data-gathering tools. The penultimate ethnographic stage involved Muslim women creating 3-minute long self-representational digital stories (DSTs), which consist of an autobiographical narrative accompanied by still pictures. This was a process of self-reflection for the women and an opportunity to take voice and to be heard. The subsequent screening of these DSTs to audiences who were not Muslim resulted in discussion and active debate about the reasons for prevalent (mis)understandings of Muslim women and stereotypes were challenged. In its initiation of more balanced representations of Muslim women this research empowers Muslim women, and by contributing to dialogue and cohesion it also empowers pluralist society as a whole. This research clarifies the overlapping priorities and identities of young British Muslim women and initiates new discourses, as narrated by the women, on subjects including religious interpretation and practice, feminism, media representation and social cohesion. In the research findings I propose an evolving British-Muslim identity among Muslim youth (in this case young women) which is distinct from that of their parents; a theological articulation of a 'feminist' struggle for women's rights; and the need to engage with the media and others to create positive representations of Muslim women. Experiences with DSTs indicate the potential of personal narratives and interaction for the purposes of inter-community dialogue

(R1521) On Weighted Lacunary Interpolation

In this paper, we considered the non-uniformly distributed zeros on the unit circle, which are obtained by projecting vertically the zeros of the derivative of Legendre polynomial together with x=1 and x=-1 onto the unit circle. We prescribed the function on the above said nodes, while its second derivative at all nodes except at x=1 and x=-1 with suitable weight function and obtained the existence, explicit forms and establish a convergence theorem for such interpolatory polynomial. We call such interpolation as weighted Lacunary interpolation on the unit circle