Authored and edited books, monographs, and translations 2014 Malaysia. Aachen (Germany), missio (Länderberichte Religionsfreiheit) Singapur. Aachen (Germany), missio (Länderberichte Religionsfreiheit) Oman. Aachen (Germany), missio (Länderberichte Religionsfreiheit) Bahrain. Aachen (Germany), missio (Länderberichte Religionsfreiheit) Katar. Aachen (Germany), missio (Länderberichte Religionsfreiheit) 2012 (with Nora Eggen), Islam in Europe: Present Trends and Future Challenges. With a foreword by Constance Chevallier-Govers, University of Grenoble. IAIS Monograph Series 4 (Kuala Lumpur: IAIS Malaysia, 2012).

Since December 2010, the ‘Arab Spring’ has featured techniques of civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, as well as the use of the new social media to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and censorship. In the case of Tunisia, Egypt, and - most dramatically - Libya, the protests have actually led to the departure of long-established regimes, whereas the situation in Syria and Bahrain remains unsettled to date.

This ‘viewpoint’ is (exceptionally) more extensive in terms of size, which is perhaps excusable in the light of the fact that the year 2008 witnessed several very auspicious events in the field of Muslim–Christian dialogue. The beginning of the currently rather positive news in this regard was a rather controversial incident back in 2006. On 12 September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture, entitled “Glaube, Vernunft und Universitat: Erinnerungen und Reflexionen” (Faith, Reason, and University: Memories and Reflections) at the University of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany, where he had been a professor of theology during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Benedict’s controversial remarks on Islam during his speech have stirred anger among parts of the Muslim community worldwide as it was perceived as misrepresenting the very essence of the religion of Islam. Contrary to what is usually known among the wider public, however, the lecture – equipped with often critical references r...

With Compliments This Working Paper series presents papers in a preliminary form and serves to stimulate comment and discussion. The views expressed are entirely the author's own and not that of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies The Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) was established in July 1996 as an autonomous research institute within the Nanyang Technological University. Its objectives are to: • Conduct research on security, strategic and international issues. • Provide general and graduate education in strategic studies, international relations, defence management and defence technology. • Promote joint and exchange programmes with similar regional and international institutions; and organise seminars/conferences on topics salient to the strategic and policy communities of the Asia-Pacific.

This article is intended to highlight selected episodes of the historical and cultural presence of Shi ' ism in the Southeast Asian region. It should be emphasized that this presence, however, is not a result of post-1979 events in Iran, but has rather been deeply entrenched for centuries in the historical course of Southeast Asian Islam, especially in Islamic mysticism (Sufism). The enigmatic 16 th-century Sufi Hamzah Fans u r i , for instance, a major figure of Malay-Indonesian Sufism and literary heritage and still one of those Muslim writers dearest to Malay-reading Muslims today, appears to have displayed certain Shi ' ite tendencies in his writings, as well as in the story of his life. In this particular context, reference shall be made to Persian cultural influences in the Southeast Asian region, Thailand, in particular. As will be shown, these influences are in no way marginal, as the Bunnag family, descendants from 17 th-century Persian Muslim immigrants to the Siamese Ayutthaya kingdom, continues to play a significant role in contemporary Thai politics and society. In the understanding of this author, pre-19 th-century Southeast Asian (especially Malay-Indonesian) Islam had been rather mystically inclined, displaying Shi ' ite and Sufi elements, although maintaining outwardly an "orthodox" Sunnite coloring. As will be pointed out, in spite of certain indications for the increase of somewhat more scripture-based tendencies from the 17 th century onward, it rather was one of the paradoxical results of Dutch and British colonialism in the region that Southeast Asian Islam took a different, more legalistic, course since the early 1800s. Improved means of communication, for instance, with and travel to the Sunnite centers of learning in the Middle East (in particular, Egypt and Arabia) accelerated the already ongoing purge of Malay Muslim literature of its more heterodox elements. This purge should perhaps not be termed a "renewal" or "revival" but rather an "intellectual retrogression." One of its side-effects today is the increase of radical and, at times, extremist tendencies among certain sectors of Southeast Asian Islam. Thus, it should be re-emphasized here that in order to avoid out-of-context dealing with and evaluating of contemporary issues (such as the current (re-)emergence of Shi ' ism among parts of the Southeast Asian Muslim community), we must also be constantly aware of the historical and cultural particularities of Islamic civilization in this part of the world. In practice, it is not so much the issue of leadership (im a mah. khil a fah) of the Islamic community as it presented itself in history-the question of the "merits" of either ' Al i or Ab u Bakr-which appears to trouble governments and religious establishments of Sunnite-dominated countries, such as Malaysia. Rather, suspicions with regard to the "fealty" and "trustworthiness" of the local Shi ' ite community seem to come to the forefront. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt-a country that is with about $US2 billion a year the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid after Israel and Iraq-aroused the anger of Shi ' ites The Muslim World • Volume 99 •

Instances of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are perhaps the most dramatic exposures of recent date of the discrepancies between 'freedom of expression' and 'freedom of press' on the one hand, and 'journalistic ethics' on the other. 1 Such episodes expose the dilemma in journalistic ethics between a particularly Western understanding of 'journalistic freedom' and the more universal right of protection of the public and individual persons alive or dead against slander and misinformation. In what follows, the author shows how such dilemma and ambivalence can be overcome by recourse to the teachings of Islam, with its firm prohibition against slander, as well as the primacy of ethics linked with spirituality seen in the love of Muslims for the Prophet (p.b.u.h), which can then form the basis towards common values and understanding between Islamic and Western civilisations.

The still ongoing scandal surrounding the News International phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom, a controversy involving the News of the World, a now-defunct British tabloid newspaper, has resulted in several high-profile resignations, arrests, and legal instigations. The scandal eventually also garnered attention in the United States, when in July 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched its own investigations into the access of voicemails of victims of the 9/11 attacks. The affair has once more brought to the forefront the issue of ethics in today’s world of journalism.

Contrary to some of her neighbours, Malaysia had - until recently - not featured in the international headlines as a place known for religiously motivated acts of terrorism. This appears to have changed: since 2009, we have witnessed intrusions into churches, a development that culminated in January 2010 in attacks and burnings of houses of worship of ethnic minorities - and increasingly also of mosques - throughout the country.  

Since its publication, Measures and Weights in the Islamic World has established itself as a standard work - at least in the English-speaking Muslim world. There can be no doubt that reviews, when done out of purely professional interest, might be considered a valuable tool for raising scholarly standards. The reviewer is not personally known to me as we are apparently working in different fields - Varisco (Hofstra University, Hempstead NY, United States) seems to be largely involved in anthropology, with emphasis on Yemen, whereas I have so far contributed toward the study of contemporary and historical Shi’ism as well as security issues and Iranian Studies.

In 2011, a revolution rolled through the Arab world - from the Maghreb to the Nile, from Yemen to Syria. Political and sociological analysts of the Arab world were surprised by the drive for civil rights and democracy (rather than for the introduction of Islamic law) - and some said that even Western secret services were not prepared. The book under review was not intended as a scientific treatise. Much more, it is a personal confrontation with Islam by someone ‘from the region’ who has studied Islamic studies and participated at the international level on the dialogue of religions.

Closely connected to a discussion of the practical goals and objectives of Islamic law or maqasid al-shari'ah - the subject of this journal’s Special Issue – and to the question of Islam’s civilisational renewal (tajdid hadari) is the critical topic of openness for dialogue with those who hold views that are different from our own. Recent years have witnessed several initiatives by both Muslims and non-Muslims toward getting to know and respect each other better - especially (but by no means only) in the aftermath of Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial ‘Regensburg lecture’ of 12 September 2006.

The recent worldwide financial crisis has initiated a global fundamental debate and raised questions about the capacity of contemporary economies to ensure the welfare of the world. In October 2008, Reinhard Marx launched Das Kapital: Ein Pladoyer fur den Menschen with intentional reference to the work by his namesake Karl Marx - Das Kapital: Kritik der politischen Okonomie - an extensive treatise on political economy, edited in part by Friedrich Engels, which critiques capitalism.

Pope Benedict XVI has dealt in quite a number of his works with the issues of secularisation and contemporary religious and cultural identity. Many of these works are now also readily accessible in English. It would be a rewarding task to collate his approach with those of thinking representatives of contemporary Muslim thought. In Truth and Tolerance, Benedict - still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time when its original German edition went to the press - presents, aside from some new contributions, milestone-articles that he has published over the last 15 years in the field of ‘theology of religions’ in various journals. What Benedict has to say about interfaith relations today might also be of interest to the audience of this journal, since he is in the Muslim world - usually exclusively (and perhaps selectively) - associated with his 2006 ‘Regensburg lecture’ which was perceived by some as misrepresenting the religion of Islam.

On 15 July 2010, IAIS Malaysia hosted a public seminar on “The Impact of Globalisation on Contemporary Muslim Societies”, which was attended by more than 300 guests, among them foreign diplomats and academics. The highlight of this event, however, was the Royal Address by HRH Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah II, the consort of the Sultan of Johor. In her speech, entitled “Globalisation: Building Bridges Between Islam and the West”, HRH Raja Zarith Sofiah pointed out that mutual understanding is also important if Muslims are to rid themselves of their stereotypical image as terrorists and extremists, whereas Muslims must know that they share a common history with people of other faiths.

One of the regrettable features which put many Muslim countries - although by no means only them - apart from their contemporaries in the West is the internal instability of their respective political structures. Since their independence from Britain and France, Arab regimes in the Middle East in particular went through myriads of military coups: every time a new regime came to power, not only the political framework but also the social and administrative setting was affected negatively.

It is certainly not easy these days to break a lance for dialogue with the scandal-ridden Catholic Church: ...paedophile ‘predator priests’, seemingly roaming freely through the Western (and developing) world; rampant moral decay among large segments of the Roman Catholic priesthood, while - at the same time - continuous preaching to other cultures and civilisations of the merits of Christian virtues; the alleged beating up of innocent orphan children, sometimes to unconsciousness, by a certain former German bishop who had been accused of lying under oath and invoking the name of God when questioned by legal authorities; the attempts to hush up such crimes; the financial (not to mention moral) bankruptcy of entire dioceses throughout the United States due to the compensation claims running into millions of US dollars by tens of thousands of victims - the list could be continued endlessly...

In 2005, the Research Centre of Malaysia’s International Islamic University (IIUM) published a study entitled Sexual Identity:  Effeminacy among University Students which features a shocking documentation of male Malay Muslim youths openly engaging in ‘cross-gender’ dressing and other ‘immoral’ acts with fellow (male) students on the campus of IIUM - Malaysia’s prime institution of Islamic higher education. The following addresses this serious issue which is also closely related to the topic of the present issue of this journal - the present-day ideals and realities of the family institution.

Jihadism has been an important issue in public discussions since 9/11. Internet media have been used as means of communication, propaganda, recruitment, and even training purposes. In this volume, the processes of interaction on Jihadi internet sides are analysed. Particular attention is paid to the mechanisms of the spread of propaganda via the internet by diverse technical means. The process of transformation of ‘Islamic knowledge’ into ‘Jihadi knowledge’, the rhetorics of videos, the development of South Asian Jihadi organisations and some conceptual issues are discussed.

This writer delivered a public lecture upon invitation by the renowned NalandaSriwijaya Centre (NSC) at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. In recent years, Thailand – as well as other Southeast Asian nations such as Malaysia, where to date there are said to live more than 100,000 Iranians in its capital Kuala Lumpur alone – has become a popular destination for Iranians. As a matter of fact, Iranian migration to what is now Thailand began as early as the seventeenth century, during the Ayutthaya period when the kingdom hosted a large colony of Iranian merchants. Some of their descendants converted to Buddhism and continued to retain influence in Thai public life to the present day; one prominent example is the Bunnag family, whose ancestor ‘Shaykh Aḥmad’ is said to have come from Qom and arrived at Ayutthaya in 1602. A cohesive, comprehensive, and chronological account of the Persian cultural presence in Southeast Asia is difficult, if not impossible, to p...