Author: Dan Jones* The West’s manipulation of the world’s second-largest religion for political purposes threatens to do lasting damage to the idea of Islam and its innocent followers. If you were born and raised in the West, think back to your textbooks on world history. Chances are, you remember learning about historical periods like the…
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Author: Bugra Kalkan* Secularization of the public sphere and public education through strong and restrictive public policies has been often offered to solve the religious conflicts and religious radicalism problems in Muslim-majority countries. From this perspective, explicitly or implicitly, Islamic religious beliefs and organizations are seen in conflict with the idea of constitutional democracy, innovation…
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by Henry Jackson Society On May 15th, 2017, The Henry Jackson Society welcomed Mohammed Amin MBE, Azhar Aslam and Sheikh Dr. Usama Hasan for an open discussion on their works on Islam and its compatibility with liberal and Western values. Mohammed Amin is the Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, Azhar Aslam is a…
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Author: Bugra Kalkan* Religious liberty emerges and survives only in the countries where the rule of law is institutionalized. And to build rule of law in a country requires a neutral government that protects rights of members of political society. Well, this is the central claim and also the central problem of classical liberalism. Why…
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Author: Syed Kamall* If you are poor in Britain today, you will find it hard to borrow money for a new venture. Not surprisingly, you also have a lower chance of becoming an entrepreneur. In every country of the UK, the most deprived 2030 per cent are far less likely to be self-employed. For…
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Author: Bugra Kalkan* Is religious persecution a unique phenomenon in Muslim-majority countries? Of course, not! Christian-majority countries and other-majority countries have also serious religion related violence issues. But this does not mean that there is no problem concerning Muslim-majority countries. As a matter of fact, Brian Grim and Roger Finke show that “religious persecution is…
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Mustafa Akyol* At first glance, classical liberalism and Islam may seem not just incompatible, but in complete opposition. Classical liberalism is a political philosophy that aims at maximizing individual freedom. Islam, on the other hand, is a religion that stresses “submission” and “obedience.” Moreover, today’s predominantly Muslim societies are not beacons of liberty — to…
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Author: Bugra Kalkan* Even in pluralistic Western Europe countries governments cannot resist to regulate religious affairs. The obvious result of these regulations is the monopolization of the religions. In developed liberal democracies, such as Western Europe, religious pluralism is under surveillance in highly regulated religious markets. Especially the dominant religion in these countries is monopolized…
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* This interview is originally published in My Salaam website. Postdoctoral scholar Ali Aslan Gumusay’s work involves organization theory, entrepreneurship, business ethics and leadership. Here, he explains entrepreneurship from an Islamic perspective. 1. What are you currently working on? At the heart of my research are issues around people, organizations and societal values, guided by…
Details* This presentation is delivered by Hakan Sahin in a meeting of Istanbul Network for Liberty at Sarajevo on October 29th, 2016.
* You can watch the whole session by clicking here.
Author Buğra Kalkan* Last week, I made an introduction to the religious markets theory. In brief, religious markets theory focuses on the supply side of the religious affairs instead of questioning the source of the religious beliefs. Why focusing on the supply side of the religious affairs matters? Because supply side is largely the determinant…
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Author: Wan Saiful Wan Jan Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel is an Imam at the Jamae Chulia Mosque in Singapore. Last week on 3 April he was fined SGD4,000 by a Singapore court for committing an act deemed inconsistent with the maintenance of harmony between religious groups. Nalla committed the offence on 6 January 2017, when…
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