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Waikato Islamic Studies ConferenceProgramme and Abstracts

1 THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO

Welcome to the Waikato Islamic Studies Conference

11–12 November 2015S Block, Level 1 The University of WaikatoHamilton, New Zealand

For more information please contact: [email protected] waikato.ac.nz/fass/UWISG/conference

2WAIKATO ISLAMIC STUDIES CONFERENCE

ProgrammeDay 1, Wednesday 11 November

8:30-9:00 Registration S Block Foyer

9:00-9:15 Welcome and Introduction S Block, Level 1, Theatre Room 1

9:15-10:00 Keynote Address S Block, Level 1, Theatre Room 1

10:00-10:30 Morning Tea S Block Foyer

10:30-12:00 Panel A: Contemporary Islam: Challenges & Issues

Session A1: Challenges of IslamVenue: K.G.01Chaired by Melanie JonesIslamism in Western Africa: Trends and trajectoriesMamadou BahThe Evolution of Boko Haram: A Prospective Framework for Mapping Contemporary Islamism Simon Gray“Go to War for Anybody Who Embraces Islam”: Muslim Militancy, Polemics, and Identity in Vinnie Paz’s LyricsErik MagnussonThe Curious Case of “Paid in Full” Reflections on the semiotics of Islam in hip-hopAnders Ackfeldt

Session A2: Living Islam in a Modern WorldVenue: K.G.06Chaired by Dr Sayeeda BanoIslamic Legal Philosophy and the Modern Intellectual Property RegimeEzieddin ElmahjubInternal Mechanism of Corporate Governance and the Organizational Performance of Zakat InstitutionMohd Rizal PalilZakat: Optimum Economic AidsRoshaiza Binti TahaIslamic Waqf: A Corporate Social Responsibility and Value CreationNor Rihan Mohamad

12:30-13:30 Lunch S Block Foyer

13:00-14:30 Panel B: Islam and its Relations with Others

Session B1: Muslim/non-Muslim RelationsChaired by Professor Douglas Pratt Venue: K.G.01In the shadow of Muslim-Christian Relations: A Historical Study to the so Called Pact of ‘UmarMaher Y. Abu-MunsharA Matter of Meaning: Toward Epistemological PluralismWardah AlKatiriAcquiring the Ardabil: Arts acquisition and Anglo-Muslim relations, 1875-1900Katherine Jennings

Session B2: Effects of Islam on OthersChaired by Dr Mamadou BahAn Islamic Perspective of IslamophobiaZouhir GabsiThe relationship between Politics and Religion: Iranian Political Islamic thought from the 1960s to the1980s, with reference to the writings of Khomeini, Shariati, and BazarganSeyed LolakiIslam, Football, Civil Society and the StateTim Dobson

15:00-15:30 Afternoon Tea S Block Foyer


ProgrammeDay 2, Thursday 12 November

8:30-9:00 Registration S Block Foyer

9:00-10:00 Keynote Address S Block, Level 1, Theatre Room 1

10:00-10:30 Morning Tea S Block Foyer

10:30-12:30 Panel C: Gender Relations & New Zealand Topics

Session C1: Islam and Gender Relations

Venue: K.G.01

Chaired by Katherine Jennings

Gender Representation in an Islamic Context: Negotiating Iranian women’s identity in visual artNeda Nourmohammadi

Contemporary Islam and the Question of Muslims/non- Muslim Relations; Fragmented Universalisms or Cultural Relativisms?: Deconstructing Women’s Equality in Public Life under Islamic and International Human Rights LawMarium Jabyn

Muslima Rising: The Role of Social Media and the Blogosphere for Muslim Women in the WestBenjamin Jury

Islamic Perspectives on Milk Banks and their Usage by MuslimsAnke Sandra Bouzenita

Session C2: Islam and New Zealand

Venue: K.G.06

Chaired by Dr Todd Nachowitz

Muslims in New Zealand: European Converts and the Question of IntegrationAbdullah Drury

New Zealand’s duty of care: How far should it extend?Melanie Jones

Ummah in a Secular Society: New Zealand Muslims and the Question of CitizenshipMortaza Shams

12:30-13:30 Lunch S Block Foyer

13:30-15:00 Final Keynote Address & Close of Conference

S Block, Level 1, Theatre Room 1


DR NAJIBULLAH LAFRAIE

Former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan and University Professor

The English School and Muslims’ pre-

Westphalian International Relations

How did Muslims conduct their “international

relations” before they were subjected to European

colonialism, followed by incorporation into

European Westphalian international society?

Finding an answer to this question within the

framework of mainstream IR theories would be difficult for various reasons, especially because of their ahistorical nature. The English School, though, can provide such a framework. It not only takes a historical perspective in the study of IR, but it also emphasises the significance of culture and religion. Moreover, its unit of analysis is not limited to the state but ranges all the way from individual to world society.

This paper uses the Neo-English School framework, presented by Barry Buzan, to analyse the past international relations of the Muslims. After looking into relationships of the Muslim “states” with the non-Muslim “states”, the article surveys the division of one unitary Islamic “state” into several and examines their relations among themselves and the impact of the division on the lives of general Muslim populations. The study finds some similarities and differences between Muslims’ pre-Westphalian “international relations” and the modern international society. Muslim “states” were territorial based “sovereigns” who actively engaged in war and diplomacy and resented outside intervention. Sovereignty and its associated concepts had somewhat different connotations, though. More importantly, the Muslim world formed an international society in the domains of transnational society and inter-human society, but not in the domain of interstate society.

Keynote Speakers


DR MUSTAFA FAROUK

Senior Scientist and Religious Leader

Islam and Science: Past and Present

Muslims believe Islam is a way of life built on the words of Allah as contained in the Quran

and exemplified by the practices (Sunnah) of the prophet (PBUH), and as supported by the consensus (ijmaa’) and the analogy (qiyas) of Islamic scholars on emerging issues based on the two main sources. The guidance in these sources, and their proper understanding, internalization, and application made Muslims during the 7th to 15th century leaders in many fields of fundamental and applied sciences. The remarkable achievements during this era could be attributed to: (1) a greater respect for knowledge and scholarship by secular, communal or political leaders and the wider Muslim population alike; (2) a tendency for the best and the brightest youngsters to be trained in theology; (3) the equation of piety to doing more of what benefits humanity; (4) the willingness of scholars to borrow and exchange knowledge from all sources; and (5) scholars themselves having a strong pride in their faith and in cooperation, and competing in virtues rather than vices. It is the relegation of these values to the bottom today that resulted in Islamic countries being behind in all the major indices of scientific achievements.


PROFESSOR DOUGLAS PRATT

Studies in Religion Programme, University of Waikato

The theological ideology of ISIS: a preliminary investigation

The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) burst onto the global political stage with, literally, vengeance and might. It caught the world by surprise. Even more so, it’s widespread appeal that has attracted many, mainly young, Muslims from elsewhere to join primarily as foreign fighters in the case of males, or as consorts to the fighters in the case of females, and its support, whether tacit or explicit, from within sectors of the global Muslim community, is a cause of widespread concern. At the same time, the so-called caliphate is roundly condemned by many leaders and

others from within the Muslim world as well as beyond. Arguably the ISIS phenomenon gains traction in the form of claiming to fulfil a desire, harboured within Islam by some at least, to see the restoration of the caliphate as a socio-political reality. But violent religious extremism predominates its methodology, even though that is not the full substance of its propagandist appeal.

Extreme behaviours, including violent acts of terrorism, are born of many factors. In the case of religious or religiously motivated actors, one factor is that of the religious ideology that embeds – that is, doctrinally or intellectually undergirds – the justifying narrative. As an instance of an extreme religious ideology, in this case Islamic, the analysis and critical understanding of the ideology of ISIS is necessary for the purposes of countering it. As the Prime Minister of the UAE states in his rejection of ISIS:

I consider this (ISIS) ideology to be the greatest danger that the world will face in the next decade. We must... strike at the root to deprive their dangerous ideology of the power to rise again...

(Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, CNBC 1 Oct 2014).

In this paper I shall engage in a preliminary analysis, based on a perusal of the magazine Dabiq, the principle organ of ISIS propaganda, of the ideological motifs that provide the appeal of ISIS to those who seek to join it, and which demonstrates the attempt at a self-justifying narrative in support of it as a reality, both in fact and substance. The root requires to be identified before it can be struck.


Abstracts

MOHA ASRI ABDULLAH

Professor, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Malaysia

Malaysia Islamic Entrepreneurship Mind Programing and its Effect on Muslim Entrepreneurial Motivation: An Exploratory Study on Malaysia

Literature on entrepreneurial mind programing and their implications on entrepreneurial motivation has been made available rather abundantly. Nonetheless, Islamic entrepreneurship mind programme is very much lacking and its effect on enhancing entrepreneurial motivation has been hardly found and discussed. From Islamic perspective, entrepreneurship is one of the best manifestations of profession or occupation. Prominent Muslim scholars and researchers mentioned that Muslims are called to seek after and persist in entrepreneurial exercises. This manifestation of consolation alludes to the most astounding identification by Sharia’ upon the true and legitimate business visionaries. This provides a huge vacuum to researchers. This study attempts to address this by identifying the attributes and essential elements of Islamic entrepreneurial mind programming and to utilise a contemporary psychological method to evaluate consciousness that enhance entrepreneurial motivation among the Muslim entrepreneurs in Malaysia. To serve the purpose of the research, a survey data of 201 respondents were used to test the research model using structural equation modelling (SEM). The research reveals an essentially significant positive relationship between Islamic entrepreneurial mind programming and entrepreneurial motivation. The findings confirm that Islamic entrepreneurial mind programming is an important factor among other factors that have influenced over entrepreneurial motivation in Malaysia and can be the case elsewhere in Muslim countries. The implications of the research will help the training and development authorities to take necessary steps to outline a new and productive content for potential entrepreneurial development in respective Muslim countries.

MAHER Y. ABU-MUNSHAR

Associate Professor of Islamic History, Department of Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Qatar

In the shadow of Muslim-Christian Relations: A Historical Study to the so Called Pact of ‘Umar

It was common practice for Muslim conqueror to issue pacts to conquered peoples. These pacts were quite similar in structure and contents and consisted of three main elements, which were safety for their persons, their properties and churches and finally ensuring freedom of religion. The simplicity of these pacts has dramatically changed with the existence of a long and controversial pact titled the ‘Pact of ‘Umar’. This document is totally different from others in terms of its contents and length. Moreover, it contained large number of conditions; rules and penalties that were unfamiliar with the teaching of Islam and did not match the line of treaties which Muslims used to issue to conquered cities. The problem appears to be that, during some periods of Islamic history and in the recent past, the justification to


treat Christians in a biased way was seen as an allegation under the pretext of implementing the pact of ‘Umar. Meanwhile, the examination of ‘Umar’s practice in his treatment of non-Muslims shows him to be extremely tolerant and always exemplary in his efforts to follow the instructions of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

This paper is an attempt to critically analyse this document to find out the validity or invalidity of attributing it to caliph ‘Umar.

ANDERS ACKFELDT

Ph.D. Candidate, Islamic Studies, Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden

The Curious Case of “Paid in Full” Reflections on the semiotics of Islam in hip-hop

This paper undertakes a multimodal investigation in to the semiotics of “Islam” in hip-hop culture through the music video “Paid in Full (Mini Madness – The Coldcut Remix)” (1987) performed by American hip-hop duo Eric B and Rakim and remixed by the British dance act Coldcut. The music video directed by Bruno Tilly; is a seminal artistic work, being the first hip-hop crossover hit that made use of semiotic resource perceived as “Islamic”. In the wake of it s success many more followed.

The academic study of Islam has to a large extent failed to recognize visual and sonic expressions in favour for textual based mono-modal research. This is also, maybe surprisingly, true when it comes to the field of Islam and hip- hop. Even though research has shown that the cognitive universe of Islam has changed the language and message of hip-hop, little research effort has been put into multimodal investigations of the interplay of Islamic semiotics in audio, visual as well as textual modes of the culture such as for example soundscapes, record covers arts or fashion.

The paper is not necessarily about Muslims that make hip-hop, and, this is important, the focus is on how social agents (Muslims as well as non-Muslims) have utilized Islamic semiotic resources within the hip-hop culture. This is a essential and often overseen aspect in the study of Islam: the fact that actors who do not identify themselves as Muslims participate in the process of shaping what is perceived as “Islam”.

WARDAH ALKATIRI

PhD candidate at Sociology, School of Language, Social, and Political Sciences University of Canterbury, New Zealand

A Matter of Meaning: Toward Epistemological Pluralism

This paper presents debates among Muslim thinkers regarding Muslim’s reconstruction of knowledge project that emerged as reaction against the perceived incompatibility between modern knowledge system and the ‘Islamic minds’. The project aims at cognitive transformation towards a ‘unified systemic worldview’ of Islam where no barrier would appear to exist between the sacred and the secular. With


the concept of human as spiritual being - a far cry from Western’s vantage point in social sciences in which humans struggle only for economic gain and power - the paper explains Muslim’s reconstruction of knowledge project as reaction against cognitive dissonance inasmuch as inconsistencies appear between one’s belief, cognition and action, rather than in terms of Foucault’s power/knowledge in light of Western colonialism and imperialism in Muslim world. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that such inconsistency creates an aversive motivational state akin to hunger or thirst. This tension is typically reduced by changing one of the dissonant elements, or adding new ones, until mental consonance is achieved. In like manner, with reconstruction of knowledge Muslims aim at an epistemology in which religious convictions and the world correspond. The paper ultimately suggests the need of epistemological pluralism to exist to make the dialogue between Islam and the West possible.

MAMADOU BAH

Visiting research fellow in the Political Science and Public Policy Programme, the University of Waikato

Islamism in Western Africa: Trends and trajectories

In recent years, the emergence of radical militant jihadism in West Africa ignited interest in the role of Islam in West Africa. As such, the question of what factors have led to the recent militant-Jihadism in West Africa have increasingly occupied both academics and policy makers. This paper examines the dominant narratives and schools of thought that have attempted to address this question. The paper focusses on two types of Islamic traditions in West Africa: the Sufi and that of Salafi traditions. A minimalist-maximalist approach is used to analyse both trends and to determine the possible causes of the current militant-jihadism in the Region.

ROSHAIZA BINTI TAHA

PhD, School of Maritime Business and Management, Universiti Malaysia, Malaysia

Zakat: Optimum Economic Aids

The importance of Zakat in Muslim economic has been emerges since the rule of Prophet Muhammad. The existence of Zakat has become useful economic tools to develop Islam economy and further change the quality of Muslim life. Since then, Zakat has been seen as pivotal tool to combat poverty as the main aim of Zakat that always been seen to assist unfortunate people and people inneed. In Malaysia Zakat has been seen as a tool to assist Muslim for better life. Thus, this paper aims to explore the role of Zakat as an optimum economic aid in Islamic economic. The discussion focused on the importance of Zakat for eligible asnaf and how this Zakat may ease the burden of the recipient. In addition this study also covers the explanation on how Zakat become important in the economy. This study provide public and stakeholder first-hand information regarding the management of Zakat fund specifically in East Coast Region.


ANKE SANDRA BOUZENITA

Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Islamic Perspectives on Milk Banks and their Usage by Muslims

The usage of milk banks by Muslim donors and recipients raises a number of questions that may seem uncommon in a non-Muslim majority context. Breastfeeding establishes a blood-like relationship between the wet nurse, the nursed child and a considerable number of other persons that forbids marriage in Islamic law. The anonymous donation of and reception of human milk through milk banks is controversially discussed by contemporary Muslim scholars as to its permissibility.

The paper evaluates the different legal views and strategies on this issue with special reference to Muslims living in a non-Muslim majority context.

TIM DOBSON

M.A. in Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies from the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University, Australia

Islam, Football, Civil Society and the State

There has been a historically antagonistic relationship between Islam and football, with many aspects of it or the game itself being ruled haram by Islamic religious authorities. This could be due to its relationship to betting, that playing leads to the dereliction of religious duties, that it leads to artificial divisions within the Ummah or it can lead to physical injury. This historically antagonistic relationship was intensified by the fact that football was brought into Islamic majority countries through the British and the spread of colonialism. This hostility also existed across the many different Islamic schools, from Wahhabi to Shia. When religiously inspired movements came to take on state power, it is no surprise that these new religious states sought to sideline football, as in Iran or outright ban it such as in Afghanistan. Despite this, within civil society football’s popularity continued to expand, particularly with the globalisation of football being entrenched in the 1990’s. This continual assertion on behalf of civil society has led to a moderation of official Islamic views on football, with some states coming to embrace football, even when elements of civil society has used that acceptance to turn football into a realm of free speech.

This paper will seek to trace the transformation of Islamic thought on football from hostility to official acceptance and draw out what this tells us in particular about the relationship between civil society and Islamic inspired states and how that influenced official state policy when it comes to football.


ABDULLAH DRURY

MPhil Student, Religious Studies, University of Waikato Research member, University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group

Muslims in New Zealand: European Converts and the Question of Integration

Muslims have been resident in this country since the 1850s and the first Islamic organisation was established here in 1950, and yet the religion is still largely understood by the general public as a recent phenomenon. This is due to the fact that the majority of Muslims here presently are indeed comparatively recent migrants and refugees, and also that the various active Islamic agencies actually prefer to project an impression of Islam that is resolutely foreign in accent and culture. Local converts to Islam (both Pakeha and Maori) have been identified from the 1960s onwards but the assumption of most migrants is that the acculturation process must be all one-way: the convert is expected to become an Easterner so to speak. My essay concludes that in reality converts bring more than English language skills to the mosque but that their contribution is frequently overlooked or ignored (both by the mainstream and the Muslim community).

This paper will examine the subject through an analysis of recent Muslim communal historiography using both the documentary material evidenced in public newspaper articles and also internal Muslim Association reports and documents.

EZIEDDIN ELMAHJUB

Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England, Australia

Islamic Legal Philosophy and the Modern Intellectual Property Regime

Modern intellectual property (IP) systems emerged and developed in the West. Western philosophical thought, particularly utilitarianism, shaped and continues to shape global IP regulation and policymaking. In utilitarian terms, IP is seen as a tool to incentivize individuals to invest in the production of intellectual products such as software, movies, and drugs and thereby increasing the wealth in the society. A large body of research argues that the utilitarian perspective is continuously contributing to over-empowering owners of IP rights and unfairly and inefficiently locking up valuable knowledge and cultural products. These products include journal articles, books, films, software, and inventions. This paper proposes a different normative vision on the regulation of global IP systems.

The sources of Islamic law contain principles that can be used to construct a normative framework for IP that goes beyond the economic/ utilitarian analysis to considering distributive justice and the dissemination of knowledge. The Islamic principles of stewardship (khilafa), distributive justice (tadawul) and the dissemination of knowledge (nashr al-ma’rifa) are of a particular significance to the global debate over the strength and design of IP law. At the heart of these principles, a fundamental value, which dictates that social institutions, including property, tangible or otherwise, must not only be organised to achieve


economic efficiency, but also fairness. I use these principles to argue that the normative analysis of IP law should not only be guided by the objective of maximising wealth. Instead, IP must also be constructed to provide a fair distribution of the opportunities to access, use and recreate knowledge and cultural products. According to this perspective, IP policymakers must not only invest in creating the infrastructure for stronger IP laws to increase economic efficiency. Policymakers should also consider designing fairer IP laws to enable more access to knowledge and cultural products.

ZOUHIR GABSI

Lecturer, Arabic Studies, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Australia

An Islamic Perspective of Islamophobia

Islamophobia is viewed as an old phenomenon in the Islamic discourse. It goes back to the period during which the prophet Muammad has declared a revolutionary message in Mecca. The contemporary academic narrative on Islamophobia fails to address the problem because it does not consider fully the Islamic perspective; as the arguments are usually void of any discussion or understanding of the main tenets of Islam. This is due to the fact that the interpretation of Islam is not treated as a social construct with its philosophical depth and interpretation. It is fundamental to attempt to merge both Western and Islamic notion of Islamophobia in order to fully understand the different facets of the problem.

This paper sets forth new arguments that explain the existence of Islamophobia and demonstrates that ideology and power are the driving force behind Islamophobic discourse.

SIMON GRAY

PhD Candidate, International Relations & Security Studies, University of Waikato Visiting Research Associate, International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University Research member, University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group

The Evolution of Boko Haram: A Prospective Framework for Mapping Contemporary Islamism

Since its inception in the mid-to-late-1990s, the Islamist organisation known as Boko Haram has evolved, especially in ideology, tactics, and objectives, and thus primary contours; consequently manifesting a series of key transformations in the nature of that organisation. In turn, such change arguably holds important insight into understanding the contours and hence nature of contemporary Islamism. Therefore, through a qualitative analysis this study examines key transformations in Boko Haram’s evolution with a view of identifying shifts in ideology, tactics and objectives. Findings indicate that Boko Haram has undergone four phases of evolution, each representing a hardening in ideological outlook, tactics and objectives. Collectively, it is hypothesised the four phases of Boko Haram’s evolution theoretically can be harnessed as key sets of cognitive analysis through which to frame and thus ‘map out’ primary contours in the nature of contemporary Islamism.


MARIUM JABYN

PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Waikato

Fragmented Universalisms or Cultural Relativisms? Deconstructing Women’s Equality in Public Life under Islamic and International Human Rights Law

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), is the most universally ratified human rights treaty, with up to 189 States Parties. Many of the Islamic Countries that have ratified CEDAW, have done so after entering reservations, argued to be contradicting with the Islamic law practiced in those States. Scholars have argued that women and men have different rights under Islamic law. Laws on marriage, inheritance, and socially acceptable behaviour such as veiling and domestic violence for example, give superiority to men over women, and hence affect the implementation of international human rights frameworks at the country level.

This paper examines whether Islamic laws on gender equality is in contradiction with the international human rights instruments. It finds that theories of globalisation, states and the international human rights regime provide useful insights into why human rights instruments may face a ‘backlash’ within domestic borders. Such theories often argue that ‘universalisms’ as pronounced in the international human rights instruments do not exist, and cannot exist given the histories of colonisation, imperialism and the current global legal order. Moreover, for many States parties, the concept and practice of human rights, in particular women’s rights have been conditioned by ‘colonial’ heritage, cultural background, and contemporary economic and political development as well as the political concerns of contemporary politicians. These provide more plausible explanations to the rights ‘problem’ at the local level, than any arguments based on the contradictions between Islam and Western conceptions of rights at present.

KATHERINE JENNINGS

PhD Candidate, Studies in Religion, University of Waikato

Acquiring the Ardabil: Arts acquisition and Anglo-Muslim relations, 1875-1900

Currently I am researching how arts acquisition relates to, reflects, and has shaped historical Muslim/non-Muslim relations. My presentation examines the process by which Safavid carpets entered English collections between 1875 and 1900. Taking the Ardabil Carpet as a primary example, I will address the ways, and to what extent, increased access to Islamic objects informed Victorian attitudes towards Islam and its adherents.

Art collection can function as a transaction between cultures. Acquiring an object from its place of origin and designating a new space for its display is a politically and culturally loaded process. Acquisition always has an agenda. The Ardabil Carpet, acquired by William Morris, generated significant public interest: its acquisition and exhibition at the South Kensington Museum facilitated engagement between English viewers and Shia Islam. It is clear from my findings thus far that, although orientalist subject


matter and inherited tropes continued to influence Victorian race relations, rhetorical paradigms shifted to a degree as the English public experienced closer contact with Muslims and with Muslim-made objects. My research approaches the Ardabil Carpet as a tangible Islamic presence in late-Victorian Britain.

MELANIE JONES

University of Waikato, New Zealand

New Zealand’s duty of care: How far should it extend?

Conflict causes people to leave their homes, violent conflict stemming from deep-seated religious intolerance causes thousands to flee one country for others. Never before have so many people been on the move. Across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the oceans of the world, thousands of despairing people seek safety and in New Zealand, the call is mounting for the government to show further compassion to the families of the Muslim interpreters who worked alongside New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel in Afghanistan.

In May 2012, the New Zealand Government announced that it would withdraw the bulk of its troops from Afghanistan the following year. NZDF personnel had been deployed in the region as part of Operation Enduring Freedom since last 2001 and, in September 2003, NZDF personnel took over command of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) based in Bamiyan Province. Over the coming decade, NZDF personnel forged close working relationships with Afghan interpreters employed to liaise between New Zealand troops and the local people. With the proposal to withdraw personnel, focus then turned to the plight of the PRT Afghan interpreters, some of whom had allegedly received anonymous threats of death by beheading from the Taliban, for their involvement with foreign troops.

In December 2012, the New Zealand Government announced an assistance package for the Afghan staff which included the option of resettlement in New Zealand. While this was in itself controversial, by mid-2014, 45 former interpreters and their families had been resettled in New Zealand.

One year on, it has become apparent that the decision to resettle the former interpreters and immediate family members may only have provided a fleeting panacea. Increasingly coming to light are the distressing stories of those left behind who must contend with the potent blending of ISIS and Taliban groups bent on delivering retribution.

This paper examines the extent to which the New Zealand Government’s duty of care should be extended to the former interpreters who worked closely with NZDF personnel, who were with New Zealand soldiers when they were fatally injured and who were themselves injured.


BENJAMIN JURY

Georgetown University, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, USA

Muslima Rising: The Role of Social Media and the Blogosphere for Muslim Women in the West

The rise of social media and blogging websites transformed the face of the Internet. Increasingly, American Muslims are taking advantage of the Internet to create and produce content that represents their community’s diverse cultures and identities. Young Muslim women are taking to websites like Tumblr to create virtual communities that foster self-actualization and self-expression in ways they never could in mainstream American culture and their own localities. This paper aims to explore these burgeoning spaces online and examine the ways in which social media and blogs succeed and fail in supporting these virtual communities. By undertaking an extensive review of the available literature on Muslim women’s activities online and conducting interviews with website founders and Muslim bloggers, this paper identifies several critical roles that Tumblr and other websites play in supporting these spaces online. The Internet returns agency to American Muslim women, allows them to form their own identity and interpretations of Islam on their own terms, deconstructs Orientalist stereotypes of women, and break free from their own cultural conceptions of womanhood.

SEYED LOLAKI

PhD Candidate, Political Science & Public Policy Programme, University of Waikato, New Zealand

The relationship between Politics and Religion: Iranian Political Islamic thought from the 1960s to the 1980s, with reference to the writings of Khomeini, Shariati, and Bazargan

My study investigates political Islam within the Iranian context. It examines the three main aspects of political Islam present in discourses that attempt to instrumentalise Islam and infuse it into political currents that are also motivated to some degree by nationalism and aspects of modernity and developmentalism. These discourses can be categorized into three main schools of thought: jurisprudential Islam grounded in the writings of Ayatollah Khomeini, leftist Islam based on Ali Shariati’s works, and liberal Islam exemplified in the thinking of Mehdi Bazargan.

Islamic political groups allied to these schools played a proportionately greater role than nationalist secularists or socialist secularists in mobilizing the Iranian masses in the 1960s and 1970s. The efforts of the Islamic political groups led to the 1979 Revolution. In the course of the post-revolutionary era, two out of these three schools have come to dominate Iran’s intellectual discursive arena: jurisprudential Islam and liberal Islam. In this paper I will analyse and examine the work of the three Iranian thinkers with respect to their ideals which came to inform and orient the ideology of the relationship between politics and religion.


ERIK MAGNUSSON

M.A., University of Stockholm, Sweden

“Go to War for Anybody Who Embraces Islam”: Muslim Militancy, Polemics, and Identity in Vinnie Paz’s Lyrics

This paper engages into the encounter between Islam and U.S. hip-hop culture, and aims to (1) disentangle how “Islam” is articulated in the lyrics produced by the Italian American hip-hop artist and Muslim convert Vinnie Paz; and (2) how the identity “Vinnie Paz” is subjectively positioned by the utilisation of Islamic references and signifiers; and finally, (3) what signs and signifiers that are significant to how “Islam” is articulated and how “Vinnie Paz” is subjectively positioned.

The paper analyses excerpts that amount to between one and six bars taken from 32 different songs from a repertoire that amounts to 210 songs; they feature on 14 different albums released over an 18-year-period, which begins in 1996. In tune with Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory, the aims are carried out by probing into what signs the invoked Islamic signifiers – “Allah”, “Khomeini”, and so on – are linked to. The study arrives at the following conclusions: First, “Islam” is articulated as a polemical, warmongering, and violent religion, which stands intellectually and morally superior to Catholicism, Paz’s childhood religion. Hence the relation between Islam and Catholicism is articulated as antagonistic. Second, the persona “Vinnie Paz” is subjectively positioned as an intolerant and self-righteous Muslim militant prone to violence and bent on proselytizing by the gun among non-Muslim Others, whom he repeatedly scoffs at; and furthermore, as a devout and fatalistic Muslim, who seemingly subscribes to narratives and teachings situated in mainstream Islamic discourse as well as in African American Islamic discourse, particularly Five-Percenter teachings.

NEDA NOURMOHAMMADI

University of Waikato, Screen and Media Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, New Zealand

Gender Representation in an Islamic Context: Negotiating Iranian women’s identity in visual art

Iranian women have been at the center of any socio-political changes and challenges. During all the changes in Iran’s history, the definition of women gender has been restricted to the foundation of tradition and religion. Iranian women have been frequently depicted in stereotypical ways, covered with “the veil”, and perform the rule of oppressed, segregated, and victimized gender of the society. This generalization in depicting Iranian women reduces the dynamicity of women’s identity, especially in Western perception that Islam is known to be practiced in backward and non-modern societies.

The Islamic laws for women have globally generated controversies and this has led to marginalizing Iranian women in their representations. In the international art market, in particular, a woman covered in veil seems adequate for defining the identity of the whole nation.


The study provides research-based evidence to analyze whether and to what extent gender characteristics represented through the contemporary visual arts of Iran are associated with the actual lives of Iranian society and updated resources.

MOHD RIZAL PALIL

School of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia

Internal Mechanism of Corporate Governance and the Organizational Performance of Zakat Institutions

Performance of zakat institutions are mainly based on several factors including the efficiency of corporate governance. Although zakat institutions are not profit oriented organizations, however, adoption of corporate governance might provide valuable insight towards their performances. This study attempts to apply the tools of corporate management, the practice of good corporate governance, which has proven capable of improving organizational performance. Specifically, it attempts to test the performance measurement of zakat distribution focusing on the internal mechanisms of good governance and administrative factors. Data was collected using a questionnaire and the primary data of annual reports from all zakat institutions in Malaysia from 2000 to 2010. The data were analysed using Ordinary Least Squared (OLS) to examine the relationship between the internal mechanisms of good corporate governance and zakat distribution performance. The results demonstrate that the quality of the audit committee appears to be positively related with performance distribution of zakat institutions. This study can be a reference to zakat institutions in other countries in respect to applying corporate governance approaches in increasing an institution’s performance. Moreover, negative perception from zakat payers towards the performance distribution of zakat institutions in Muslim communities will be minimised.

NOR RIHAN MOHAMAD

PhD, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia

Islamic Waqf: A Corporate Social Responsibility and Value Creation

Waqf or Awqaf, is an Islamic endowment that can be used as instruments to improve the welfare of society. Waqf connotes an endowment or foundation to provide support for the vulnerable members of the society by giving the valuable property. It is also meant to seek Allah’s blessing and a mechanism of wealth sharing. To date, many Islamic countries promote waqf as a means to increase Muslim’s standard of living. This paper aims to discuss the case of a specific Islamic contract; waqf, and highlights its possible use as a value creation through corporate social responsibility. The waqf is beneficial not only to the non-Muslim society, but also in line with the actual spirit of Islamic teachings. Based on the review of extant literature and existing established awqaf entity, it is agreed that waqf has huge potentials and advantages to provide equity and social justice in economic development. The ultimate result is to promote waqf instrument as a value creation and corporate social responsibility for firms.


MORTAZA SHAMS

PhD Candidate, Religious Studies, University of Waikato Research member, University of Waikato Islamic Studies Group

Ummah in a Secular Society: New Zealand Muslims and the Question of Citizenship

Numerous cases of Western Muslims going to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside ISIL against their Western countries’ policies and interests, has raised concerns regarding the level and nature of loyalty some Muslims have for their Western societies of citizenship. Although the majority of Muslims of the West insist that they are proud citizens of their countries and do not see their identity as faithful Muslims incompatible with being good Western citizens, some scholars doubt the veracity of such claims. For those who consider membership of Muslims within the Western societies problematic, the inconsistency between demands of citizenship and membership of ‘Ummah’ is the major focus of concern. As such due to, perceived, contradiction between Ummah and citizenship, (assumed) lack of loyalty of Muslims to their Western countries of citizenship is portrayed as a major security concern.

This paper is going to examine whether ‘membership of Ummah’ and ‘practicing Sharia/Islamic Law’ have the potential to override ‘citizenship’, and its associated ‘state law’ and lead to security threats for New Zealand? To answer the above question this research uses Critical Analysis method for investigating Islamic classical texts regarding concepts of ‘Ummah’ and ‘Sharia’ and their relations to the modern concept of ‘citizenship’.

The University of Waikato Toll Free: 0800 WAIKATO Private Bag 3105 0800 924 528 Hamilton 3240 Email: [email protected] New Zealand Website: waikato.ac.nz

©The University of Waikato, November 2015

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