The Kafala System in the Persian Gulf States – Worker Protection or Slavery in the 21st Century? Outline of the Issues

The human rights protection system in the Middle East, especially in the Persian Gulf states, is often discussed in the literature in the context of women’s rights or the use of torture and the death penalty. An important topic related to human rights in the modern world is the kafala system, which has been operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, i.e., Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Jordan for years. The states have perceived it as a system of foreign worker protection. According to the latest data, it is estimated that 25 million migrants live and work in the GCC countries, 70% of the Gulf Cooperation Council workforce consists of migrant workers, and 49% of the total GCC population are migrants. The kafala system determines the dependence between a foreign employee and an Arab employer, which is often associated with the emergence of various types of violations of employee rights and threats to their lives and health.

A Hijab in Considerations of Qasim Amin and Musa Bigiev

In the Western world, a hijab is seen as a special form of oppression of women who are hidden and fully controlled by men. In this context, it seems to be interesting what Muslim men thought about the veil, how they interpreted Islamic law, its Koranic verses and hadiths that refer to the title issue to justify that it is not necessary to apply it. The article’s purpose is to present the views of two Muslim modernists – the Egyptian: Kasim Amin and Tatar, and Musa Bigijew – on issues related to women’s rights in Islam regarding the obligation to cover up women. The author tries to answer the following questions: is it really possible to consider their thoughts as a manifestation of a kind of struggle for women’s rights and efforts to “liberate” them? To what extent the views on the isolation of women in the Arab-Muslim world have changed in the time between the publishing of both analysed texts; and whether Musa Bigijew considered the socio-political changes that took place in the Middle East in the 1920s?

The Ideas of Jadidism in Contemporary Russia

The development of the Muslim religion in the Russian Federation is undoubtedly a very important and, at the same time, interesting element influencing the contemporary socio-political situation in Russia. One of the most important components of religious revival in this country was the change in the Russian Muslims’ attitude to issues related to religiosity. In the conditions of religious pluralism, Muslims in Russia, scientists, thinkers, and publicists often refer to the intellectual output of Russian Muslim socio-political activists whose activity took place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The article aims to show how the jadidism movement is being received in contemporary Russia. Nowadays, the ideas of jadidism are also the pretext for discussing the nature of Russian Islam and its future.

Religion is perceived by several scholars as a source of conflict, violence, destruction and cruelty, despite all of these, a lot of people still believe in religion, they regard religion as source of peace, harmony, compassion, love and tolerance. So far as role of Islam in peace building and conflict resolution are concerned, Islam is no different from other religions, it also advocates same virtues as other religions do. But academic discourse on the subject largely identifies Islam with violence and conflict. This study is humble effort to illuminate those social capital that Islam has for establishing peace and resolving conflict, in the same time, this paper also examines Islamic approach toward peace building and conflict resolution by contextualizing Islamic texts as major source on the subject.

Hijab Means Choice? The Importance of Women’s Dress in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The debate about the planned Islamic costumes of the countries of the Middle Empire, particularly Iran, have been going on for several decades. A Muslim state, a woman’s visit outfit (in Iran, the hijab) presents itself as a symbol of the religious identity of the state, and from the state’s perspective. Besides, Islamic women wear burqa, chak, niqab, or hijab, which are synonymous with something else. It is a serious mistake because each of the Islamic women’s outfits listed has unique characteristics.

Islam in the Post-Soviet area – Caucasus

Islam is seen as a homogeneous religion. It is a common belief that the synonymous of Muslim is Arab. Meanwhile, according to statistics of 2013, Muslims constitute over a 28% of the world population. The followers are spread all over the globe and can be found in every country. Thus, speaking about homogeneity and identification of all believers with the Arab world is a serious mistake. Islam in the post-Soviet area, has a characteristic dimension. Caucasian republics, initially conquered by Muslim Empires in the majority submitted to Islamisation. The Soviet reign and atheistic propaganda weakened religion, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus and Central Asia experienced the revival of Islam. Today Georgia is a Christian country with a Muslim minority, Dagestan is the most Islamized Caucasian republic with Sunni majority while in Azerbaijan Sunnis are a minority compared with Shiites. Therefore, how much similar and how much different is Islam in Azerbaijan, Dagestan and Georgia?

The article analyzes in the three paragraphs the issue of Muslim minorities in China, focusing on the history of Muslims in China, certain groups who live and cultivate their religion on the Chinese territory and the current situation of main two ethnic groups – Hui and Uygur. In the first paragraph article focuses on the history of the phenomenon of Islam’s development in China. Second paragraph focuses on the actual ethnic groups, concerning Hui, Uygur and other, smaller ethnic Muslim groups in China. The third paragraph shows the political situation of Hui and Uygur groups today.

Ethnic and Religious Problems of Iraq in XXI Century

Iraq is a specific ethno-religious mosaic. By except Arabs and Kurds there are a lot of minorities which since ancient times were present on this territory. Among them are: Yazidis, Mandaneans, Shabaks, Assyrians, Turkmen and Marsh Arabs. After the collapse of Saddam Husein regime the U.S., British and allied troops began to control Iraq. In the face of such a situation many different radical Muslim groups has evolved and started to fight foreign soldiers. In result, Iraq plunged into instability and chaos and many minorities became a main victims of political and military conflict. Such societies like Yazidis, Mandaneans, Shabaks were persecuted, forced to flee and killed. by now Iraqi state has no any capabilities to protect such minorities which still feel insecure in their own country

„Woe to the house where the wife leads the husband...” – A Review of Women’s Rights in Islamic Countries

This article deals with the rights of women in the Muslim world according to the Koran and the principles of Sharia law. In many areas, these rights are not respected, denied, or removed. Many women do not know their rights, believing their fathers and husbands, trusting in the eternal book, the Koran. However, changes in the legal field have been taking place since the 19th century thanks to women activists fighting to improve the lives of other Muslim women.

Al-Mawardi’s theory of the caliphate and its connection to the contemporary Islamism

The article presents the concept of the caliphate of theologian and jurist at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries, Al-Mawardi, based on his work Al-Ahkam as-sultaniyya and the socio-political nature of the period of the Abbasid dynasty, which was the context of its creation. Based on a detailed analysis of Al-Mawardi’s views on political power in Islam (traditional caliphate), the author’s aim was to show the connection of this theory with selected elements of the contemporary ideology of Islamism, and thus attempt to answer the question about the continuity of Muslim political thought. Considering the changes of the caliphate in times of Al-Mawardi, but also in later periods, including the ones that occurred in the Islamic world after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the author argues that views on power in Islam were conditioned by a complex socio-political context, which was influenced by factors internal and external to the world of Islam. Discussed theory of Al-Mawardi’s caliphate constitutes the basis for the search for analogies in the political doctrine of contemporary Islamic reformers and the ideology of Islamism, which in turn allows Al-Mawardi’s views to be considered appropriate also for the contemporary concept of power in Islam.

The Liberalisation of Islam: the Case Studies of Western Europe

The article refers to the issue of inclusive Islam, which is examined from the perspective of European experiences related to the liberalization of religion. The aim of the article is to show the development of Muslim thought in its progressive version. The first part discusses the views of individual scholars of Islam, which point to the possibility of progressive interpretation of the Quran and hadiths. Particular attention is paid to feminist and secular issues, as well as those related to queer cases. In the second part, the author presents two case studies related to the existence of liberal thought in Islam: the activities of the Ibn Rushd & Goethe Mosque in Berlin and NGOs in the United Kingdom that work for queer Muslims.