"As Muslim individuals, communities, and institutions have been transformed by the digital revolution, a literature has developed that seeks to contribute knowledge about these changes. Pioneering studies in this field suggest that this literature has a focus on digital documents. This scoping liter
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ature review aims to find out whether this focus is still valid. Therefore, we examine all studies on Muslims and social media that can be retrieved from the databases Scopus, Web of Science, Index Islamicus and Atla Religion Database between 2010 and 2022, using the following keywords: Facebook; Twitter (tweets); YouTube; Instagram; TikTok; Snapchat; and Telegram (n = 359). Our findings show that interest in studying Muslims on social media has grown significantly in recent decades and that most studies have focused on non-conflictual use of social media. Most of the studies are corpus studies, i.e. big data, data scraping, or descriptive analysis of websites, Twitter accounts, or Facebook pages (82 percent). Thus, this literature review shows that the study of Islam, Muslims, and Islamic online environments is flourishing in various fields of scholarship. However, the strong focus on descriptive documentary studies should be complemented by more studies that collect new empirical data through interviews, surveys, and mixed methods. It is only by engaging with the users of these services that we can answer when, what, and why individuals do or do not do something on social media." (Abstract)
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"Die Umbrüche in Ägypten 2011 haben gezeigt, dass Medien eine wesentliche Rolle für die Mobilisierung politischer Partizipation spielen. Die Muslimbruderschaft, einer der wichtigsten gesellschaftlichen Akteure Ägyptens, hat seit 2002 gezielt auf Internetmedien gesetzt, um das Regime Mubaraks her
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auszufordern. Unter Rückgriff auf Ansätze aus der Forschung zu sozialen Bewegungen und politischer Transformation ordnet die Autorin zunächst die Medienstrategien der Islamisten in die Strukturen des politischen Systems und des Mediensystems Ägyptens ein. Mittels einer Inhaltsanalyse der Website der Muslimbrüder, ikhwanonline.com, Interviews mit deren Produzenten sowie einer Nutzerbefragung wird überprüft, welches Potenzial islamistische Medien haben, zu einer Demokratisierung Ägyptens beizutragen." (Klappentext)
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"This paper sought to provide an account of the epistemic modes of Muqtada al-Sadr’s charisma production on hybrid media. It did so while engaging in a virtual ethnography of videographic content on Instagram and YouTube from Muqtada and his ostensible fan pages. The affective bond conceptual fram
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ework, derivative of the newly developed emotional entrepreneurism theory, was deployed to understand how his charisma is promoted and interpreted on hybrid media. Utilising the affective bond enabled a condensed and accessible understanding of Muqtada’s charisma that resonated with pre-existing accounts of his image. It did this by presenting al-Sadr as a symbol of legitimacy, hope, and authenticity to his followers. In accordance with the findings of this paper, Muqtada’s legitimacy symbolism was seen as both institutionally-inherited and historically-anchored. The former refers to his followers’ recognition of the legitimacy embedded within the Sadri movement’sreligio-populist ideology, and its founding fathers (Sadr Iand II). The latter connotes Muqtada’s capability to validate his inheritance of such legitimacy as a credible extension of the Sadri legacy. This was regularly demonstrated in hybrid media through the Sadri leader’s acts of reverence towards his father and his teachings, enacting anti-elitist, anti-imperial, and nationalistic policies, and acting, dressing, and speaking similarly to his father. Muqtada’s hope symbolism was understood as a recognition of his capacity to create solutions for the Sadri populus’s problem-sets. Videographic material on hybrid media reflected this through its romanticisation of his ability to challenge corrupt elites and provide structural support for his constituency." (Conclusion, page 24)
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"Nationen basieren auf Ein- und Ausschlussmechanismen, die in öffentlichen Mediendiskursen ausgehandelt werden. Im heutigen Europa sind Referenzen zu Religion und spezifisch zum Islam bei der Verhandlung nationaler Zugehörigkeit zentral. Bisherige Analysen öffentlicher Debatten zum Islam in Europ
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a haben gezeigt, dass Fragen der Geschlechtergleichstellung im Vordergrund stehen und muslimische Frauen häufig Bilder kollektiver Differenz markieren. Mirjam Aeschbach legt anhand einer detaillierten Analyse aktiver Medienbeiträge muslimischer Diskursakteurinnen von 2016 bis 2019 dar, wie diese in der Öffentlichkeit Bilder nationaler Zugehörigkeit aufgreifen und sich aneignen - und wie diese Bilder so potentiell in Frage gestellt werden." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Between 2015 and 2017, the Internet Research Agency (IRA) – a Kremlin-backed “troll farm” based in St. Petersburg – executed a propaganda campaign on Twitter to target US voters. Scholarship has expended relatively little effort to study the role of Islamophobia in the IRA’s propaganda ca
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mpaign. Following critical disinformation research, this article demonstrates that Islamophobia, affect, and white identity played a crucial role in the IRA’s targeting of rightwing US voters. With an official release of tweets and associated visual content from Twitter, we use topic modeling and visual analysis to explore both how, and to what extent, the IRA used Islamophobia in its propaganda. To do so, we develop a multimodal distant reading technique to study how the IRA aligned users with contemporary far right social movements by deploying racial and emotional appeals that center on narrating a transnational white identity under threat from Islam and Muslims." (Abstract)
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"This paper delves into the intricate relationship between religious populism and the legitimization of digital authoritarianism in Turkey. Specifically, it investigates how the ruling party, AKP, has strategically linked Islamist values to state policies as a means of justifying its repressive cont
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rol over digital technology. Through an examination of internet governance at multiple levels—full network-level governance, sub-network or website-level governance, proxy or corporation-level governance, and network–node or individual-level governance—the study reveals the instrumentalization of religious populism to consolidate support and validate the government’s autocratic agenda. Furthermore, it sheds light on the role of state-controlled religious institutions, traditional media, social media outlets, as well as religious leaders and organizations in shaping public opinion, enabling the government to exert greater control over the dissemination of information. By dissecting the religious populist justification of digital authoritarianism in Turkey, this research provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics at play in the realm of online governance." (Abstract)
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"Digital Religion refers to the contemporary practice and understanding that religion takes place in both online and offline contexts, and how these contexts intersect with each other. Scholars in this growing field of Digital Religion studies recognize that religion has been influenced by its engag
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ement with computer-mediated digital spaces, including not only the Internet, but other emerging technologies, such as mobile phones, digital wearables, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Religion provides a comprehensive overview of religion as seen and performed through various platforms and cultural spaces created by digital technology. The text covers religious interaction with a wide range of digital media forms (including social media, websites, gaming environments, virtual and augmented realities, and artificial intelligence) and highlights examples of technological engagement and negotiation within the major world religions (i.e., Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism). Additional sections cover the global manifestations of religious community, identity, ethics, and authority, with a final group of chapters addressing emerging technologies and the future of the field." (Publisher description)
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"Die grausamen Handlungen dschihadistischer Gruppierungen wie der „Al-Qaida“ oder des „Islamischen Staates“ schockieren und verbreiten Angst. Immer wieder scheinen neue Attentäter nachzurücken, ein Phänomen, das Asiem El Difraoui mit den stets nachwachsenden Köpfen einer Hydra vergleicht
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. Um sie zu bezwingen, müssten das Wesen des Dschihadismus und die Bedingungen seiner Verbreitung besser verstanden werden. El Difraoui versteht die Bewegung mit ihren Heilsversprechungen als Sekte, die ihre islamischen Ursprünge verzerre und missbrauche. Im Kampf gegen sie müssten die vielen Ursachen für das Wachstum dschihadistischer Gruppierungen angegangen werden: klandestine Netzwerke müssten enttarnt, die Propaganda eingedämmt sowie Prävention und Deradikalisierung weitergedacht werden. Zudem müssten westliche Staaten selbstkritischer mit den Folgen ihrer kolonialen Vergangenheit, den Diskriminierungserfahrungen von Minderheiten und den destabilisierenden Wirkungen ihrer militärischen Einsätze umgehen. El Difraoui fordert, weltweit soziale Gerechtigkeit, wirtschaftliche Perspektiven und funktionierende Zivilgesellschaften zu unterstützen. So würden junge, nach Sinn suchende Menschen resilienter gegen radikale Verführungen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"In this ground-breaking volume, the authors explore two sides of religion: the ways in which it contributes to violence against women and girls (VAWG) and the ways it counters it. Recognising the very real impact of religion on the lives of women and girls, it prioritises experiences and learnings
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from empirical research and of practitioners, and their activities at grassroots-level, to better understand the nature and root causes of VAWG. Drawing on research done in Christian and Muslim communities in various fragile settings with high religiosity, this book avoids simplistically assigning blame to any one religion, instead engaging with the commonalities of how religion and religious actors influence norms and behaviours that impact VAWG. If the sustainable development goal of ending all forms of VAWG is to be achieved, how should actors in the international development sector engage with religion and religious actors? This book unpacks the nature of religion and religious actors in relation to VAWG, with the aim of giving greater clarity on how to (and how not to) engage with this crucial issue." (Publisher description)
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"The entanglement of Jihad, Political Violence, and Media has determined the lives of Muslims in Europe and the US over the past 20 years. This book unravels the nexus of these elements, to critically examine how their conjunction is perpetuated, reproduced, or disputed. In 16 case studies, the cont
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ributors critically reflect on the identification of jihad with political violence, address the academic, legal, political and broader public production of knowledge on this topic, examine the aesthetic formations involved in the mediation and reaffirmation of this narrow understanding, explore the experiential worlds of people whose ideas and actions are labelled as and affected by notions of violent jihad, and illuminate the institutional and media contexts (e.g. of archives) in which an entanglement of jihad and political violence takes effect, with profound consequences." (Publisher description)
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"This study investigates how Islamic fundamentalists groups in Indonesia use Twitter to communicate with their stakeholders to achieve organizational goals. Based on previous work, three main functions of the use of social media by organizations were examined: spreading information, building and mai
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ntaining communities, and mobilizing for action. Based on an analysis of 2000 coded tweets from 20 Islamic fundamentalist accounts in Indonesia, the results showed that using Twitter for spreading information is by far the most frequently used function for Islamic fundamentalist groups in Indonesia, followed by community building and mobilizing for action. Our analysis of the effect of the different uses of Twitter shows that in terms of reach (i.e. retweets), there is an advantage in using Twitter to spread information compared to calling for action in terms of retweeting and – to a lesser extent – to building a community." (Abstract)
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"Die Islamwissenschaftlerin Sabine Damir-Geilsdorf liefert in ihrer fundierten und allgemeinverständlichen Einführung Hintergrundwissen für alle, die sich einen Überblick über historische und aktuelle Entwicklungen im Themenfeld Islamismus verschaffen möchten oder beruflich und ehrenamtlich mi
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t radikalisierungsgefährdeten Personen konfrontiert sind. Zudem zeigt sie Wechselwirkungen zwischen antimuslimischem Rassismus und religiös motiviertem Extremismus auf. Neben Begriffsklärungen, ideengeschichtlichen Betrachtungen und einer kurzen Geschichte des Islamismus in Deutschland werden auch das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Demokratie und Islamismus sowie Radikalisierungsprozesse und Ansätze der Prävention beleuchtet." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel was immersed in the language and culture of Italy, Somalia's former colonizer. Yet when she moved to Italy as a young mother in the 1970s, she discovered a country where immigrants and Muslims were viewed with a mixture of curiosity and suspi
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cion–where, even today, she and her children must seemingly prove they are Italian. In Islam and Me, Fazel tells her story and shares the experiences of other Muslim women living in Italy, revealing the wide variety of Muslim identities and the common prejudices they encounter. Looking at Italian school textbooks, newspapers, and TV programs, she invites us to change the way Muslim immigrants, and especially women, are depicted in both news reports and scholarly research. Islam and Me is a meditation on our multireligious, multiethnic, and multilingual reality, as well as an exploration of how we might reimagine national culture and identity so that they become more diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist." (Publisher description)
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"This book explores how digital authoritarianism operates in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and how religion can be used to legitimize digital authoritarianism within democracies. In doing so, it explains how digital authoritarianism operates at various technological levels includ
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ing sub-network level, proxy level, and user level, and elaborates on how governments seek to control cyberspace and social media. In each of these states, governments, in an effort to prolong – or even make permanent – their rule, seek to eliminate freedom of expression on the internet, punish dissidents, and spread pro-state propaganda. At the same time, they instrumentalize religion to justify and legitimize digital authoritarianism. Governments in these five countries, to varying degrees and at times using different methods, censor the internet, but also use digital technology to generate public support for their policies, key political figures, and at times their worldview or ideology. They also, and again to varying degrees, use digital technology to demonize religious and ethnic minorities, opposition parties, and political dissidents." (Publisher description)
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"Moving beyond a common visual concern within Religious Studies with art, aesthetic value, and perceptions of beauty or coherence, this volume shows how, when, and why images dare, shock, terrorize, confront, challenge, mock, shame, taunt, or offend, either intentionally or unintentionally, and as s
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uch lead to both confrontation and affective religious engagement. Exploring and experimenting with the relationship between text and image, the contributions draw attention simultaneously to the messiness of everyday life and to highly targeted, disruptive interventions that mark religious contestation in an era of escalating mobility and digital multiplicity. The volume thus illuminates an insight that has received little attention so far: provocation is among religion’s most significant mediations." (Publisher description)
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"This study aims to examine how active users of social media in relation to their religious values and commitments evaluate the construction and byproducts of religion online. The results show that there are three main repertoires related to the use of social media and religiosity in Turkey: religio
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sity as religious duties, religiosity as interpreting Islam and religiosity for managing impressions. The results can be evaluated together with the secularization theory, that is, discourses about being religious ‘warn’ individuals about the negative consequences of social media use, while offering an alternative to the positive ones." (Publisher description)
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"This article discusses the emergence of Turkish serial dramas as a site for contestation over the impact of Islamic modernity on Malay women in contemporary Malaysia. Despite its popularity among Malay women, Turkish serial drama has been criticized for misleading and confusing the audience about I
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slamic history, faith, culture and civilization. The controversy over this television genre raises the question of how Malay women, constrained within their position of being female subjects of the state, manage to circumvent the authorities and watch this Turkish serial drama. They are not supposed to challenge social norms, moral propriety, cultural identity and the state vision of modernity. Therefore, this article argues that although Malay women exhibit excitement towards this television genre, they consistently use Islamic knowledge to develop watching skills and become more sceptical as well as competent in interpreting popular Islamic texts. The findings also show that Islam in the Malay world is culturally diverse, progressive and flexible." (Abstract)
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"Covering the polarizing and fragmented opinions over Islam and the rights of women, for example, requires context, attachment to core ethical values, and stylish truth-telling. Without professional expertise, a good understanding of the issues in play and a commitment to diversity in their approach
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media and journalists can do damage. They can incite hatred. They can perpetuate stereotypes. They can create ignorance and misunderstanding. These guidelines aim to help editors and reporters to avoid these pitfalls, to better understand the issues and to shape their stories in ethical ways. It is not easy in an aggressive and competitive media landscape where journalism can become trapped in a world of sensational headlines and sound bites. News media are often vehicles for Islamophobia, sometimes inadvertently, through the rushed reporting of intemperate political discourse. Often there is a lack of fact-based analysis and a lack of clarity over changes in policy that may impinge upon basic freedoms, such as free speech, religious freedom and equality for women. These guidelines are not instructions to journalists on how to do their work. They provide tips and suggestions on the ways media can avoid reproducing biased discourse that does harm through reporting that will provide the European public, policymakers and civil society groups with truthful information on the threats posed by anti-Muslim racism, particularly as it affects to women." (Introdcution, page 7)
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