"Fast alle Medien des weit gefassten islamistischen Spektrums sind mit Ausnahme einiger weniger kommerzieller TV-Sender und Publikationen komplett von der Finanzierung ihrer "Mutterorganisationen" oder ihnen wohlgesinnter, oftmals ausländischer Staaten abhängig und werden somit zu politischen Inst
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rumenten degradiert. Die Vertreter aller islamistischen Strömungen - politischer Islam, Salafisten und schließlich die Jihadisten - werden weiterhin versuchen, ihre Medienpräsenz auszubauen und dabei alle ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Technologien ausnutzen." (Fazit, Seite 127)
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"The emergence of Islam and Muslim public spheres in cyberspace has progressed along with the development of Information and Communication Technologies. Just like believers of other faiths, Muslim individuals are enthusiastic in sharing their faith, beliefs, and values at the click of a mouse. Based
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on an online survey conducted on 525 respondents, this study seeks further understanding on the factors that influence engagement in online religious activities among Muslims. Through the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior, results from the study revealed five important predictors of online religious engagement, namely attitude–Internet perception, the subjective norms of the Muslim community, the Internet self-efficacy, level of religiosity among Muslims, and offline media usage for religious purposes." (Abstract)
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"The impact of media industrialization on mediated religious expression all over the world has been substantial, and this study tries to understand the Indonesian case by looking at the intersections between commerce and Islamic expression. Focusing on Indonesian Islamic sinetron (soap operas), we s
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hall see that contrasting ideological motivations among producers have resulted in particular narratives within their content. Despite these peculiarities, all narratives use Islamic teachings to address societal issues experienced by middle-class Indonesian Muslims. This, in turn, projects an image of Indonesian Islam that blurs existing political divisions in Indonesian society. This article argues that the sinetron plots are inherently a commercialization of da'wah (proselytizing of Islam)." (Abstract)
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"Im Mittelpunkt dieses Bandes steht die Thematisierung des Islam im zeitgenössischen Spielfilm: konkret das Aufeinanderprallen von islamischer und westlicher Kultur, sowohl im arabischen Raum, in der Türkei oder im Nahen Osten als auch in Westeuropa. Im Zentrum steht damit auch das Spannungsfeld z
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wischen Islam und Moderne beziehungsweise die Frage nach der Artikulation muslimischer Identität im europäischen Kontext. Wie wird der Islam im Film thematisiert und wie kommen Muslime heute im Kino vor? Welcher Blick bestimmt die filmische Auseinandersetzung mit dieser Weltreligion? Welche Bilder sind überhaupt angemessen? Wie werden die tatsächlichen Konflikte angesprochen? Welche Rolle spielt dabei die Religion? Und was bedeutet das für die Beziehungen des Islam zu den anderen Religionen, insbesondere zum Christentum? Die jeweiligen Fragen werden sowohl aus kultur- beziehungsweise religionswissenschaftlicher als auch aus theologischer Sicht bearbeitet." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Today the relations between Arab audiences and Arab media are characterised by pluralism and fragmentation. More than a thousand Arab satellite TV channels alongside other new media platforms are offering all kinds of programming. Religion has also found a vital place as a topic in mainstream media
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or in one of the approximately 135 religious satellite channels that broadcast guidance and entertainment with an Islamic frame of reference. How do Arab audiences make use of mediated religion in negotiations of identity and belonging? The empirical based case studies in this interdisciplinary volume explore audience-media relations with a focus on religious identity in different countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, and the United States." (Publisher description)
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"The study examined various sampled media content and interviewed key informants to understand professional and ethical considerations informing media coverage of terror, religious extremism and radicalisation. From the findings, it is evident that the media somehow contributes to the propagation of
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the dominant narratives that: People of Somali origin are potential terrorists; all Muslims are potential terrorists because most suspects arrested are Muslims; and that Islam preaches and supports radicalisation and extremism, among other narratives. The study reveals that journalists now face serious security risks especially in the coastal region following perceived media biases. In fact, some have been attacked or threatened. The media does not strictly adhere to professional tenets and code of conduct. Some of the noted violations include use of bloody pictures and abhorrent scenes, inability to separate fact from commentary; and use of single news sources which creates impressions of biased reporting. Journalists should equally be careful about words and phrases they use when reporting terrorism and associated issues. They should promote diversity, and have different voices and perspectives on terrorism, religious and radicalisation issues. Consequently, promotion of inter-religious dialogue through the media is important in ensuring a cohesive society. The media should also go beyond superficial reporting and critically interrogate social, economic and political issues and provide a platform for better understanding of the problems that face society." (Executive summary)
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"This paper analyzes the dissemination of ‘Hijaber’ style through different forms of cyber media (blogs and social network sites) in order to determine how young, computer savvy Muslim Indonesians explore their gender and religious identities while working in the ‘creative economy’ through c
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yberspace. This article shows the plurality and flexibility of the Hijaber trend—compared to more conventional forms—and explores its significance for urban Indonesian youth." (Abstract)
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"The civil war in Syria is the most important propaganda topic for Islamists in Germany at the moment. Even German youngsters have already followed the calls, left their homes to join the fight and have been killed. When recruiting new followers, the jihadists use videos as a central element for spr
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eading their Islamistic ideas and inciting to the armed struggle against 'non-believers'.
Platforms like Facebook and YouTube, very popular among young people, make these videos widely accessible even outside of the spectrum of Islamist movements. This in-creases the risk for children and youngsters of stumbling across Islamist's ideas, hatred and depictions of extreme violence. [...] Many videos rely on an emotionalizing effect with images of children suffering or dying. The use of close-ups of faces contorted by pain, serious injuries or even severed limbs is very common. The producers of these clips emotionally ap-peal to the empathy, sense of justice and protective instinct of the recipients. Very often, Islamists directly approach young men with slogans like 'Where are the lions? Where are the men? Where are you?' and try to make more young Muslims shoulder responsibility for 'their brothers and sis-ters' and support them in their fight.
The drastic images make the Muslim audience feel guilty: If they do not actively help in this crisis situation how should they stand trial before Allah? As the minimum form of sup-port, Islamists demand from them to become aware of their Muslim identity and to comply with the rules of the funda-mentalist groups." (Page 1)
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"Overall, the evaluators found that the project’s approach was quite relevant in promoting religious freedom and preventing religious radicalization. The project targeted pesantrens affiliated to the traditional Islam Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and at the same time, it empowered the mainstream moderate
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Islam that has been seen as ‘silent majority’. Subsequently, it provided a countermeasure against the ‘vocal minority’ extremists in the country. In this regard, a similar attempt could have been done among the modernist Islam Muhammadiyah educational institutions, which have older roots in Indonesian society. Radio programs have been attractively designed, especially for the young audience, and encouraged them to be agents of change among the Muslim community. The progressive Islamic study programs clearly provided theological basis for religious freedom and against religious violence. Meanwhile, the video documentary provided the students a reality check, a chance to deal with the real world’s cultural and religious diversity. Both activities were sufficient and complemented each other, in rising their critical awareness on the issues of tolerance and radicalization. The pesantren based radio broadcasting service has been seen as a spiritual oasis by its surrounding community, and facilitated them to digest the moderate Islamic knowledge. Otherwise, they would fulfill their spiritual hunger with another kind of religiousity which is radical and extremist in nature. However, not all of the radio stations pay equal attention to both targets: the young students and the community members. Due to some considerations, some pesantrens prefer to focus on serving the external beneficiaries (community), while ignoring the internal ones (young students). Some pesantrens
unexpectedly did the contrary. In this case, regular monitoring is necessary to ensure and remind stakeholders to meet their actual objectives." (Executive summary)
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"The role of religious leaders in countries with very large Muslim populations such as Indonesia continues to attract world attention. However, mainstream media often focus on fundamentalist Muslim clerics. What seems to be missing from these narratives is efforts by moderate Muslim leaders to thwar
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t fundamentalism by improving their communication style and their use of media and technology in order to reach young people as well as the wider community. This article explores the communication approaches and methods favored by Indonesian Islamic leaders—including use of both conventional and cutting-edge technology—to communicate with their followers. Interviews with 10 Muslim leaders were conducted in order to better understand their rich experiences. Findings suggest that Islamic preachers have embraced new technology and new media to communicate with their followers and attract a younger audience." (Abstract)
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"The following stories come from ten pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in Indonesia that participated in Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia’s project to promote peace and tolerance in pesantren across Indonesia [...] Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia implemented this two-year pro
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ject from September 2011 to February 2014, in partnership with The Wahid Institute and Perhimpunan Pengembangan Pesantren dan Masyarakat (P3M). With a total number of 18,000 schools across Indonesia, pesantren are the oldest basis of Islamic education in the country and highly influential in spreading tolerance and peace. Through the production of radio and short films by pesantren students or santri, SFCG Indonesia sought to encourage male and female pesantren leaders, teachers and students to be critical in dealing with problems of intolerance and radicalism, while also disseminating the values of tolerance and peace in their communities. The stories documented in this book serve as a future reference of the project’s successes. The book records the significant changes experienced by the santri and their teachers, when these changes occurred and the important lessons learned from this project. Out of the ten pesantren that participated in the project, SFCG selected five pesantren to provide stories that illustrate the changes mentioned above. This book summarizes seven stories from the perspectives of pesantren students, leaders and teachers." (Foreword)
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"In this chaper, Hamid Mowlana elucidates four cardinal concepts of the Islamic worldview that may serve as the fundamental principles of ethical communication in Muslim societies: (1) tawhid (unity, coherence, and harmony of all in the universe), (2) amr bi al-ma'ruf wa nahy'an al munkar (commandin
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g to the right and prohibiting from the wrong), (3) ummah (community), and (4) taqwa (piety). It is his thesis that, in contrast to the ethical foundation of the modern West with its emphasis on the secular, ethics in the Islamic world are predicated on the inseparability of the religious and the social. Throughout Islamic history, he asseverates, information has been not a commodity but a moral imperative." (Page 237)
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