Governments may also use religious soft power in pursuit of national interests and objectives. This article focuses on the role of religious soft power in the foreign policy of three states – the United States of America, India and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The main concern is to assess religious actors’ contribution to the foreign policy environment and agenda in each country. The idea of ...

Mumtaz Ahmad is professor in Hampton University’s Department of Political Science. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ “Fundamentalism Project,” Dr. Ahmad has been a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Fellow of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies and the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a Fulbright Professor in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and a Vis...

G. R. Jahanshahloo , F. Hossienzadeh Lotfi , N. Shoja , G. Tohidi , S. Razavyan d a Department of Mathematics, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran-Iran b Department of Mathematics, Islamic Azad University, Firuozkooh Branch, Firuozkooh-Iran c Department of Mathematics, Islamic Azad University, Tehran-Center Branch, Tehran-Iran, P.O. Box: 14515-459, [email protected] d De...

The paper serves as background material for the review of debated issues and standpoints in the theory and application of Islamic economics, IE; and for discussion of fruitful research avenues in application of IE to modern economies. The focus is on six areas: (1) theory: links between IE and mainstream economics; while topics (2) to (6) treat applications of the given directives in Islamic ec...

While ideologies and elites change, patronage politics remains the preferred strategy of Central Asia’s autocrats. Aspiring presidents-for-life distribute wealth to handpicked appointees who reciprocate by implementing, to varying degrees, executive policy. Shared strategies of rule, however, do not translate into shared state capacity. The trains do not always run on time, and in many places i...

Bangladesh is a moderate Islamic country. There are six full pledged Islamic banks providing services to wide range of customers. This study is designed to examine the impact of demographic disparities on the bank selection criteria applied by diversified customers of domestic Islamic banks in Bangladesh. We have run regression analysis after controlling for four demographic groupings such as G...

the paper, first, reviews the development of social welfare issue and then investigates how primary welfare policy and social insurance has been formulated and accepted in europe. it is argued that social events which caused by industrialization and urbanization led to formation of social welfare and welfare state. eleven resources, in iran, have been known as welfare approaches and produced sp...

This paper presents a case series with preliminary data regarding the neurophysiological effects of specific prayer practices associated with the Islamic religion. Such practices, like other prayer practices, are likely associated with several coordinated cognitive activities and a complex pattern of brain physiology. However, there may also be changes specific to the goals of Islamic prayer wh...