CONTEXT In order to gain a more detailed insight into the concept of spiritual health, a hybrid model of concept analysis was used to remove some of the ambiguity surrounding the conceptual meaning of spiritual health in Islamic and Iranian contexts. The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning and nature of the spiritual health concept in the context of the practice of Islam among Iran...

SPECIAL ISSUE PAPERS Effective Sparse Dynamic Programming Algorithms for Merged and Block Merged LCS Problems AHM Mahfuzur Rahmana and M. Sohel Rahmana An Efficient and Scalable Approach for Ontology Instance Matching Rudra Pratap Deb Nath, Hanif Seddiqui, and Masaki Aono Longest Common Subsequence Problem for Run-Length-Encoded Strings Shegufta Bakht Ahsan, Syeda Persia Aziz, and M. Sohel Rahm...

This paper focuses on the symbiotic relationship between the media in one respect andthe motion picture industry, educational institutions and policy-makers in perpetuating misrepresentations about Islam. The scope of this paper will be on the representations associated with Islam and Muslims primarily in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.Much news coverage about Islam and Mus...

The Afghan resistance sees its struggle more in terms of a "holy war" (jihad) than as a war of national liberation. In a country in which reference to the "nation" is avery recent phenomenon, where the State is perceived as exterior to society and where allegiance belongs to the local community, Islam remains the sole point of reference for all Afghans. It is only in the southern Pushtun tribal...

As Clifford Geertz remarked in his Islam Observed (1968), the idea of a ‘changing’ religion is a contradiction in terms, as religion is fundamentally concerned with what is permanent and eternal. Still, one way to come to terms with religious change is to consider the many ways that religion is interpreted, by laymen and scholars alike. Social anthropologists like myself have naturally found a ...

This paper examines Hồi giáo, a state-recognized religion translated as “Islam” in Vietnam, and will focus on the Islamic religious practices of the Cham Bani, one of two groups of Muslims in Vietnam. While it is recognized that diverse Islamic religious practices have taken root in various areas, there is a tendency to view religious practices such as the Quran recital, Ramadan, Salat, and so ...

A common phenomenon which has been regretfully associated almost exclusively with Islam is the various forms of female genital cutting, or FGC[1]. Although many of those who are involved in this act attribute to the religion of Islam, the majority of the forms of FGC present in the world today which are acts truly abominable, acts of which the religion of Islam is innocent. In no way does Islam...

This paper explores the ethical and legal pedagogy of the current debates on “reforming” Muslim societies, whether they claim to reform social and legal systems, reform educational institutions, or liberate Muslim women. Since these debates claim to achieve balance in global or domestic conflicts, I address the foundations of these debates by answering three questions: (1) Are the rationales fo...

Muslims in America are an ethnically diverse group, coming from more than sixty nations and representing very different racial, linguistic, tribal, educational, and cultural backgrounds. Yvonne Haddad groups them into three categories: immigrants, converts, and sojourners (Conser, 218-219). This article will focus on those who have converted to Islam in America, with particular attention to the...

Taking the cue from the controversial speech of Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in 2006, this paper explores the connection between the apparently divergent positions taken by the Catholic Church and the European secular establishment on the question of European identity and Islam. The argument is advanced that the proceduralism of the European secular establishment contribute...