Asia Institute - Theses
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ItemWomen in Islam: How Australian Muslim Feminist women practise their faith in a gender-positive way( 2021)This thesis researches how Australian Muslim feminist women practise their faith in a gender-positive way. The practical aspect of Islamic feminism in the Australian context has been under-researched within the Islamic Studies discipline, despite the growing popularity of pro-faith feminism. This research seeks to understand how Muslim feminist women have challenged and reframed traditionally patriarchal practices and interpretations of their faith in order to support or form their belief in divinely sanctioned gender equality. The position of women in Islam is a topic fraught with disagreement and controversy. While many Muslims argue that God has proclaimed men and women to be equal, others declare that the Qur’an and Muhammad’s sunnah place men in a position of superiority over women. Some Muslim women argue that Islamic practices that favour male superiority are not due to the Qur’an placing men in a position of authority. Rather, they are due to the tradition of men interpreting the foundational texts and imbuing within them a patriarchal bias. Muslim women are challenging this convention through interpreting the texts themselves from a feminist perspective. The result of these changing interpretations is a version of Islam that empowers women and encourages gender equality. Yet there are some controversial aspects of Islam - for example, Qur’an verse 4:34, often known as “the beating verse” - that present more of a challenge than others in being reinterpreted as gender-positive. This thesis, therefore, addresses these aspects of the faith that have traditionally been utilised to support male superiority and patriarchal practices. Due to the paucity of existing research on this topic in the Australian context, this research relies heavily on independent fieldwork in the form of semi-structured interviews. This thesis utilises the theoretical framework of standpoint feminism, which places women’s lived experiences as central to understanding society and for challenging patriarchal knowledge paradigms. Through employing a feminist standpoint as a theoretical framework, this research presents a counter-narrative to the persistent characterisation of the Muslim woman as an oppressed, agentless being who needs to be ‘saved’ from her culture. In order to challenge patriarchal practices within Muslim communities, the voices of Muslim women presenting an alternative, yet equally legitimate interpretation of the faith must be amplified.
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ItemCultural and linguistic issues in Arberry’s English translation of the Qur’anic dialogue( 2019)Analytical and comparative studies on the translations of the Qur’an into English are prominent and widespread. However, to the best of my knowledge, research on translating Qur’anic dialogue, which is one of the most important techniques in Qur’anic narratives, has not received sufficient attention. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the strategies followed in translating Qur’anic dialogue into English, as seen in Arthur Arberry’s (1964) text, The Koran interpreted. Within this context, the main question is: To what extent are Arberry’s strategies for translating dialogue in the Qur’an successful in conveying the intended message of the Qur’anic dialogue from a linguistic, semantic, and cultural perspective? To address this question, different types of dialogues from Arberry’s translation are selected for analysis from several Surahs in the Qur’an. The analysis focuses mainly on those dialogues that form connections between diverse participants. This study analyses and evaluates the strategies used by Arberry in his translation of the selected Qur’anic dialogue, and compares Arberry’s translation with that of Muḥammad Taqī al-Dīn al-Hilālī and Muḥammad Muḥsin Khān (1996), The Noble Qur’an: English translation of the meanings and commentary. In addition to the comparison, some of the standard Islamic exegeses are used to aid in the assessment and analytical process. This study does not only rely on the linguistic and semantic aspects, as have most of its predecessors, but also focuses on cultural aspects. Cultural and linguistic translation methods are adopted as a framework for the analysis. Lawrence Venuti’s (1995) “domestication” and “foreignisation” strategies have been chosen as the criteria for analysing different Qur’anic dialogues at the cultural level. In contrast, Mona Baker’s (1992) categories for problematic issues of translation are considered in the data analysis at a linguistic level. This research finds that Arberry, al-Hilālī and Khān have achieved notable English translations of the Qur’an. Arberry uses a literary style with formal English without providing any compensation strategy, while al-Hilālī and Khān use simple language and provide many bracketed illustration and footnotes. Difficulties in Arberry’s translation of the Qur’anic dialogue occur mainly in the translation of conjunctions, emphasis, syntactic order, duality, pronouns, the vocative, culture-specific items and figurative tools. These linguistic problems have led in turn to semantic and cultural difficulties. The research finds that a foreignisation strategy would reduce most of these difficulties and achieve a more authentic translation of the Qur’an, which is a holy book. This research provides a closer and more appropriate translation of the intended meaning of Qur’anic dialogue both for Muslim and non-Muslim readers.
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ItemContextualising wasaṭiyyah from the perspective of the leaders of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore today( 2018)The need for this research arises from the current discourse associating extremism and violence to the Muslim ummah (community). In one corner of the discourse, certain sections have unequivocally associated violence and terror to Islam and Muslims. On the other corner, the constancy of suicide acts, arrests and acts of violence and terror perpetuated in the name of Islam have traumatised Muslims and non-Muslims alike all over the world. This violence-related discourse that the Muslim ummah (community) is presented in our present time, calls upon this research to understand how the text of the Qur’ān, being the primary revealed source of Islam, defines the central characteristic of the Muslim ummah (community). The focus of this research is on the ummatan wasaṭan verse in Qur’ān 2:143 which says: ‘We have indeed made you an ummatan wasaṭan’. The central characteristic of the Muslim ummah (community) is described in the Qur’ān as wasaṭan which is translated as ‘just, middlemost, and balanced’. Since the revelation of this verse, scholars have continued to address this wasaṭī characteristic aligning the Muslim community with the concept of wasaṭiyyah. This research attempts to continue this scholarly tradition. As much of the available scholarship on the wasaṭiyyah discourse have been focused from the context of a Muslim majority community, this research seeks to understand the applicability of the Qur’ānic concept of wasaṭiyyah from the context of the Malay/Muslim minority community in Singapore today. To understand the applicability of the Qur’ānic concept of wasaṭiyyah today from the context of the Singaporean Malay/Muslim minority community, this research uses Abdullah Saeed’s contextual approach to reading the Qur’ān. Saeed’s contextual approach deals with four levels of analysing the Qur’ānic text which are the linguistic context, macro context 1, connector context, and macro context 2. In this research, these levels of analysis provide a structured framework to understand three basic questions. Firstly, what is the Qur’ānic concept of wasaṭiyyah as understood at the time of revelation by the Prophet and his community? Secondly, was the concept of wasaṭiyyah prevalent among the Malay/Muslim community of the past in Singapore before the arrival of Raffles in 1819? Finally, how has the Malay/Muslim leadership understood and applied the concept of wasaṭiyyah in Singapore today? Based on these questions, this research examines the akal-hati-budi (rationality-belief-mannerism) of the Malay/Muslim community in terms of how wasaṭiyyah is read, understood, and applied by three key components of the community in Singapore – the political leadership, the ‘ulamā’ (religious scholars) and asātidhah (religious teachers), and the Islamic religious education. This research adopts a qualitative research method by interviewing relevant key political and religious leadership figures within the political and religious spheres, participating in conferences and seminars, and analysing khuṭbahs (Friday sermons). It also refers to a rich array of written literature, both classical and modern, in three different languages: English, Bahasa Melayu and Arabic with particular focus on the fields of Islamic studies, theology, tafsīr (Qur’ānic exegesis), Malay studies, minority studies, psychology and sociology. In summary, this research concludes that the concept of wasaṭiyyah has evolved since the revelation of the verse that moulded the wasaṭi (just, middlemost, and balanced) characteristics of the Medinan community in Prophet Muhammad’s time. Based on the subjectivity of these characteristics, over the different contexts of time and place, the concept of wasaṭiyyah has taken different forms. In medieval Islam, wasaṭiyyah took the form of a moral ethical framework, and today, it has adopted a more legalistic outlook. Focusing on the Malay/Muslim world, this research discovers that while the usage of the term wasaṭiyyah was a rarity in classical Malay/Muslim literary tradition, the values associated to wasaṭiyyah were inherent within the past Malay/Muslim’s aspects of power, diplomacy, language, and religion. In the context of the Malay/Muslim minority community in Singapore today, this research concludes that the applicability and degree of pervasiveness of the Qur’ānic concept of wasaṭiyyah within contemporary Malay/Muslim minority community in Singapore is determined by the current Malay/Muslim leadership’s conscious effort to balance living Islam faithfully as a minority community within the needs of progress and inclusivity in a modern, secular, and multicultural nation.
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ItemMuslim community organisations and leadership in Australia( 2018)Contemporary Islamophobia, strengthened by its intersectionality with overlapping phenomena, such as racism and protectionist attitudes towards migration, has impacted and affected Australian Muslim communities in a variety of ways. Muslim community organisations (MCOs), often serving as the link between Muslim communities and government, media and wider society, are consistently required to navigate the challenges that arise amidst the socio-political context in which they operate. By exploring the socio-political context and developing an enhanced understanding of the overall structure of MCOs in Australia, this thesis identifies and examines the key contemporary challenges facing Australian MCOs. Through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty-four representatives of MCOs from across the five Australian cities with the largest self-identifying Muslim populations (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide), this research provides a new and valuable insight into issues that are both contemporarily important and significant for Australia’s future. After separating MCOs into three categories (peak bodies, collective religious leadership and community groups), this thesis identifies several key themes that emerged from the interviews representing internal challenges to MCOs. These included: the generation gap, employment of imams, diversity of Muslims in Australia, and staff, funding and governance. It then explores Islamophobia as an external challenge, addressing how it affects MCOs and some of the ways in which they have responded. Finally, building on the discussion in previous chapters, it discusses how the nature of MCOs’ relationships are shaped by these internal and external challenges. This qualitative research provides a comprehensive, yet accessible introduction to Australian MCOs and assists researchers and organisations intending or committed to working with Australian MCOs to better understand their natures and realities.
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ItemEthics and Islamic finance: a study of Islamic financial ethics and Islamic banks in Malaysia( 2015)Although theology and religion have in the past been important in promoting ethics in business, their contributions may be ignored in the current discourse and literature on business ethics. Currently, business ethics is treated narrowly as an applied philosophy and social science, even though, on a practical level, religious teachings inform and shape the morality of a substantial portion of the business population. While business ethics is considered to be integrated within the wider framework of established Islamic ethical norms, a large part of Islamic literature on the subject is either theologically oriented or superficial and inadequate in its assessment of Islamic business principles. The literature is fragmented and spread over a variety of sources, and does not sufficiently provide a systematic framework of business ethics despite the existence of many rich discussions about this concept in Islamic sources. The institutionalisation of Islamic finance aimed at promoting certain ethical values, such as the prohibition of unjust practices, encouraging moderation, balance and harmony in life, and assisting the underprivileged. However, current practices of Islamic financial institutions have been criticised for failing to promote such values, as they often adopt a ‘form over substance’ approach in Islamising conventional finance. My aim in this thesis is to analyse the discourse on ethics in Islamic finance to identify: (i) the similarities and differences between mainstream and Islamic business and financial ethics; (ii) the relationship between ethics and Islamic finance; and (iii) the ways in which ethics has been infused in the formulation of legislation, guidelines and standards for the Islamic finance industry in Malaysia. I also aim to develop an Islamic financial ethics framework that can then be used to assess the extent to which practices of Islamic banks in Malaysia are consistent with the expectations derived from such a framework. In doing the above, I depended on the available relevant literature, interviews with Islamic finance experts and practitioners, a survey of the perception Islamic bank executives, and secondary data in the form of annual reports and annual financial statements of four selected Islamic banks in Malaysia. My findings suggest that notions related to the concept of tawḥīd, such as accountability to God, revelation as a source of ethical guidance, and belief in life in the Hereafter appear to be the unique features of Islamic business and financial ethics. Nonetheless, mainstream and Islamic business and financial ethical norms are more or less similar. In the same way that law seems to be insufficient in warranting ethical behaviour, compliance with sharīʿah rules also does not guarantee ethicality, especially when focus is on the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit underlying it. I identified that the ethicality of Islamic finance is often established on the basis of the following premises: (i) its Islamicity renders it inherently ethical; (ii) prohibitions of ribā, gharar, maysir and involvement in ḥarām activities serve ethical purposes; and (iii) the macro maqāṣid of the Islamic financial system is to establish socio-economic justice. However, there is a general sentiment that the establishment of Islamic financial institutions have yet to infuse ethics into the current financial system as they concentrate on Islamising conventional financial products and services because of: (i) the desire to expand and prove their financial viability; (ii) competition with their conventional counterparts; and (iii) the conventional background of most Islamic finance practitioners. On the basis of three guiding principles, tawḥīd, ʿadālah and iḥsān, I developed an Islamic financial ethics framework. From each principle, I derived practical expectations. Islamic financial institutions are expected to: (i) ensure operations are based on sharīʿah principles; (ii) fulfil social responsibilities; (iii) emphasise profit/loss-and-risk-sharing financial intermediation; (iv) fully disclose material information; (v) fulfil their contractual obligations; (vi) avoid exploitation; (vii) promote financial inclusion through microfinance; (viii) provide qarḍ ḥasan and be lenient in recovering debts; and (ix) deliver quality services. My assessment of the practices of the selected Malaysian Islamic banks reveals that they are committed to operating on the basis of sharīʿah principles and aim to fulfil their social obligations through corporate social responsibility initiatives. Bank Negara Malaysia has made it compulsory for Malaysian banks to be transparent and disclose pertinent information, and that corporate and sharīʿah governance structures are in place to promote integrity in fulfilling their duties. However, in general, the banks depend heavily on sale and lease based contracts in providing financing. Profit/loss-and-risk-sharing contracts are almost absent. The banks have also yet to actively introduce microfinancing schemes, and there seems to be a decline in the percentage of financing provided to small and medium enterprises. Only two out of the four banks recorded providing qarḍ ḥasan, and only one bank disclosed the manner in which it dealt with clients facing difficulties in fulfilling their financial obligations. Generally, the banks endeavour to provide quality services, but the observations and experiences of some of my interviewees indicate that they fell short of meeting their expectations. It can be argued that the agreement between the banks’ practices and the framework developed through this research was mainly driven by legal requirements. Meanwhile, the inconsistencies were mainly caused by a failure to appreciate the higher objectives of the sharīʿah in relation to Islamic finance.
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ItemAn uncertain certainty: a philosophical investigation into contemporary Muslim epistemology( 2012)Muslim and Western scholarship has suggested the possibility of some sort of epistemological crisis in contemporary Muslim philosophy. In this thesis I argue that there is indeed such a crisis. It is exhibited in a failure of contemporary Muslim philosophers’ arguments supporting their views to which core Muslim beliefs can be held with epistemic certainty, and the extent to which even Muslims might hold reasonable doubts about their beliefs. In support of my main conclusions, I argue that traditional Muslim accounts of epistemic certainty fail, and that the most religious believers can hope for is some future way of establishing that their beliefs are beyond reasonable doubt. I identify epistemic desiderata that need to be considered in any such Muslim project. I further argue that scholarship recognizes two main extant Muslim epistemological approaches: an Islamizing approach that, roughly speaking, rejects Western epistemology as mired in some form of skepticism and argues that Muslim belief can secure certainty via some distinctly Muslim epistemology defined by the Qur’an; and a “humanizing” approach that, roughly speaking, recognizes that epistemic certainty corresponds to the degree to which beliefs can be supported by philosophical argument. I show that there is an almost universal acknowledgement among scholars that both these schools of contemporary Muslim epistemology have largely failed to develop strong arguments. I build a supporting case that this assessment is correct through case studies into the thought of two representative Muslim epistemologists: the Islamizing approach of S.M.N. al-Attas and the humanizing approach of Shabbir Akhtar. Both these philosophers agree that there is some sort of Muslim epistemological crisis, both seek to address this crisis through positing an epistemology that is supposedly capable of securing certainty for Muslim belief, but neither epistemology is able to provide strong support for their approaches. Both accounts display, variously and to differing degrees, a lack of weighty philosophical argument, inadequate engagement with contemporary epistemological scholarship, and a failure to consider a wide enough range of epistemic desiderata. The weakness displayed reveals contemporary Muslim epistemology to be in a parlous state with respect to establishing meaningful epistemic certainty concerning key Muslim beliefs for the purposes of religious epistemological debate. I conclude with the suggestion that if Muslim epistemologists wish to participate in such debate – and I make no claim that they should – they might profit from engagement with emerging, and more permissive, religious epistemological approaches.