Halim Rane

Griffith University · School of Humanities Languages and Social Science

This article contributes to the broader debate on interreligious relations and nonviolence in Islam by examining references to the concept of covenant ( ʿahd and mīthāq ) in the Qurʾān and specific covenantal documents attributed to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Covenants include solemn agreements, bonds, pledges and treaties, and are central to...

Islam was an important factor in the decolonisation of Muslim countries from European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries. However, Muslims are among the migrant-settler populations of Australia, Canada, the United States, and other British colonial states that continue to dispossess and disenfranchise Indigenous populations. This arti...

Covenant (‘ahd and mīthāq) occupies a central place in the Qurʾān but has been understudied and underrepresented in discourses about Islam. This article contributes to redressing this lacuna by conducting a content analysis of the Qurʾān, specifically the terms ‘ahd and mīthāq that refer to the concept of covenant. It applies the Maqāṣid Methodolog...

Representations of Muslims in the Australian media have been overwhelmingly negative and stereotypical, affecting the way non-Muslims perceive Islam. Research also suggests anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia tend to conflate the religion of Islam with political Islam, often termed Islamism. This research examines how Australia’s news...

Over the past few decades, interest in and conversion to Islam among non-Muslims in the West has been on the rise. There is a view in the scholarly literature that Western converts to Islam are overrepresented in regard to politicized interpretations of the religion, commonly referred to as political Islam or Islamism, and even militancy or jihadis...

The concept of covenant occupies a central place in the Qurʾān but has been understudied and underrepresented in discourses about Islam. This article contributes to redressing this lacuna by applying the method of content analysis to the Qurʾān, specifically the terms ‘ahd and mīthāq that refer to the concept of covenant. The aim of this article is...

This article explores populist-oriented far right and islamist discourse through a relational lens to examine how the category of ‘the’ people, specifically the ummah, is co-constituted. In focusing on the islamist category of ‘the’ ummah, the article examines how far right and islamist discourses work together to co-construct an antagonistic front...

The historicity of early Islamic diplomatic documents, referred to as the covenants of Prophet Muhammad, has received considerable scholarly attention over the past decade. This article is the first to present a critical examination of the reception of the Prophet’s covenants among interfaith actors. An educative intervention instrument was used to...

This article presents findings from a national survey of 1034 Muslim Australians, examining the relationship between educational qualifications and Islamist-jihadist interpretations of Islam. A minority of respondents identified with indicators of Islamism, while a smaller sub-group identified with those associated with jihadism. Respondents educat...

Numerous researchers in the field of Islamic and Muslim Studies have proposed various typologies to categorize Muslims in relation to their understanding of and identification with Islam. However, to date few studies have conducted the necessary empirical work to determine the numbers of Muslims that identify with the typologies that have been cons...

This article contributes to our understanding of Islamist extremism by examining the relationship between early educational interests and ideas associated with Islamist-jihadist ideology. The article uses data collected through the Islam in Australia survey and specifically compares STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with HSS (...

Over the past several decades, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam in Western societies has received a significant amount of attention, both in academia and in the mass media. Much of this attention has focused on the motives and experiences of female converts, a likely result of suggestions that higher numbers of Western women than men are conve...

This report presents an overview of the discipline of Islamic studies in the Australia’s higher education sector collected in 2017. After a brief exploration of the history of teaching Islam and Islamic studies in modern Western institutions, the report briefly discusses the types of theoretical and methodological issues that concern the contempora...

This article presents the findings of a national survey on Islam in Australia based on responses of 1034 Muslim Australian citizens and permanent residents. Knowing what Muslim Australians think about Islam in relation to Australian society is essential for a more informed understanding about Islam and Muslims needed to address misinformation, Isla...

This chapter explores the question of Islam in diaspora from a time-space context, specifically the interpretations and manifestations of Islam among Muslims who today reside outside of the classical dar al-Islam (abode of Islam) or lands under Muslim rule, in non-Muslim-ruled liberal, democratic, “Western” nation-states. The chapter begins with a...

Over the past 15 years, 47 Muslim Australians have been convicted for terrorism offences. Australian courts have determined that these acts were motivated by the offenders’ “Islamic” religious beliefs and that interpretations of Quranic verses concerning jihad, in relation to shariah, caliphate, will of God and religious duty contributed to the com...

This chapter examines the processes by which Muslim migration to the West has occurred since the latter half of the twentieth century and discusses the issue of Muslim identity as new migrants belonging to a minority religious group. In this context, it explores the question of identity change from the majority to minority context. This chapter hig...

This chapter provides an introduction to the history of Islam in the West and an overview of current demographics of Muslim communities in various Western countries. It sets the scene for the subject matter of this book through a discussion of the nature and the socio-historical context of interactions between Arabo-Islamic and Western-Christian ci...

This chapter discusses the issue of female religious authority within Western Muslim communities in light of the growing gender consciousness in the West over the past several decades and the influence of Western liberal democracies and exposure to intellectual feminist currents on Muslim thought. It highlights that Western Muslim communities are b...

In the conclusion, we summarise the main arguments and findings this study has grappled with and provide some reflections concerning the future of Islam and Muslim communities in the West.

This chapter examines the institutionalisation of Islam in the West with a focus on religious, legal, and educational institutions. Islamic institutions tend to represent the public interface of Islam with the state and society and as such their nature, orientation, and activities are a reflection of the faith in society. The chapter traces the evo...

This chapter examines the various scholarly perspectives concerning definitions, manifestations, extent, causes, and critiques of Islamophobia in the West. Since the turn of the century, Islamophobia has been widely discussed in regards to Muslims in the West and has attracted considerable concern from governments in the Muslim World and the West a...

This chapter addresses the scholarly discourse concerning Islamic jurisprudence for Muslim minorities in the West, also known as fiqh al aqalliyyat or minority fiqh for short. It examines the broader context, origins, theory, and criticisms of this juristic discourse, which has gained considerable scholarly attention among Muslims in the West aroun...

This chapter presents an overview of the major contemporary social and discursive orientations among Western Muslims and major transnational Muslim organisations operating in the West. This chapter highlights the diversity of these organisations along with an examination of their ideological underpinnings. While it makes reference to a number of st...

This chapter addresses the topic of immigrant incorporation with a specific focus on multiculturalism. It highlights that although multiculturalism has been a defining characteristic of many Western societies since, at least, the last third of the twentieth century, it has faced considerable opposition over the past couple of decades on account of...

This chapter discusses Western converts to Islam. Particularly since the turn of the century, when so much focus on Islam has been in the context of violence and terrorism, the embracing of Islam by Westerners has become a perplexing phenomenon. On the one hand, segments of Western society express disapproval of converts to Islam, but on the other...

This chapter addresses the relatively recent phenomenon of Islamist militants and home-grown terrorism perpetrated by Muslims in the West. Although Muslims have resided in Western countries for centuries, with large communities having been established since the 1960s and 1970s, home-grown Islamist terrorism is a very new phenomenon that emerged in...

This chapter examines the extent to which and prospects for the emergence of a Western Islam. This chapter draws on the work of a number of scholars, primarily based in Europe, who have discussed the concept of a Western or more precisely “Euro/European-Islam” and/or American Islam, the theoretical underpinnings of the idea of Western Islam, and th...

Islam and Muslims continue to be a focus of media, political and public debate, most often in the context of social relations and national security. Based on the findings of focus groups conducted with young Muslim Australians, and using time-period effects as a theoretical framework, this chapter discusses the perspectives of young Muslim Australi...

This book analyzes the development of Islam and Muslim communities in the West, including influences from abroad, relations with the state and society, and internal community dynamics. The project examines the emergence of Islam in the West in relation to the place of Muslim communities as part of the social fabric of Western societies. It provides...

This study examines Western media’s unwitting complicity in spreading Islamic State (IS) propaganda using the November 2015 Paris attacks as a case study. While numerous studies have examined IS propaganda material, less attention has been devoted to the Western media’s role in disseminating the group’s key narratives, crucial to its ability to rec...

This book analyzes the development of Islam and Muslim communities in the West, including influences from abroad, relations with the state and society, and internal community dynamics. The project examines the emergence of Islam in the West in relation to the place of Muslim communities as part of the social fabric of Western societies. It provides...

Counterterrorism responses in Australia have mirrored trends in other nations with a focus on pre-emption, including the criminalisation of activities defined as preparatory offences. Security-based transnational approaches to combat terrorist activity and propaganda alone are ineffective. Sometimes security measures can actually damage efforts to...

The group known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has demonstrated remarkable appeal and ability to recruit Muslims from around the world, including the West. ISIS has effectively used Islamist narratives and selectively appropriated aspects of Islam to recruit to its cause in pursuit of its political goals, which raises important questions...

This article examines the impact of Muslim immigration on Muslim communities in Australia, based on the lived experiences of early Muslim Australians. Much of the literature on Muslim migration to Australia concerns Muslims as migrant communities. To date there has been a marked lack of research on the impact of Muslim immigration on Muslim communi...

Media Framing of the Muslim World examines and explains how news about Islam and the Muslim world is produced and consumed, and how it impacts on relations between Islam and the West. The authors cover key issues in this relationship including the reporting on war and conflict, terrorism, asylum seekers and the Arab Spring. © Halim Rane, Jacqui Ewa...

Is there a clash of civilizations? Is conflict between Islam and the West inevitable? A quick scan of history would suggest that this is the case. Since the advent of Islam in the 7th century, Christian writers in the Near East and Europe have regarded the conquering Muslim empires as an enemy, a civilizational rival sent by God as punishment. In t...

As discussed throughout this book, the events of 9/11 have had a profound impact on Islam-West relations in terms of both intercommunity relations in Western countries and international relations in the global context. In the international realm, we have witnessed war and conflict between Muslim and largely Western forces. Within Western countries,...

Since the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, the world has witnessed popular uprisings against long-standing regimes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. To date these uprisings have resulted in the toppling of the Tunisian president Ben Ali, the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and the Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. Other regi...

From the Western media perspective, the Muslim world looks monolithic, static, different and oppositional. We wrote in Chapter 1 that Muslims will soon comprise one-quarter of the world’s population, with approximately 60 per cent residing in the Asia-Pacific region, while only 20 per cent live in the Middle East. These figures contradict the popul...

Largely as a consequence of intense media coverage since 9/11, Islam has been brought to the attention of people across the globe. However, most Westerners know little about the faith and its adherents. This chapter begins with a basic overview of Islam’s main teachings and looks at the prevalence of Islamic beliefs and practices among Muslims arou...

There is a long tradition of armed struggle in Islam that dates back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. At its advent, Muslims fought numerous battles with the polytheists of Arabia for the preservation of Islam and for the establishment of the Islamic social order across the Peninsula. Like Islam’s spiritual struggle in respect to prayer and cha...

Given the extent of pejorative political, media and public discourse on asylum seekers, particularly where Muslims are concerned, it is ironic that migration and particularly asylum seeking have a special place in the Islamic tradition. At the advent of Islam in 610, many of the early converts to the new monotheistic faith were severely persecuted...

Much of what is known about Islam and Muslims in Western societies is derived from the mass media. Studies have shown that over three-quarters of people in Western societies rely on the mass media, mainly television, as their primary source of information about Islam and Muslims (Rane, 2010b). The scholarly consensus is that, in the aftermath of th...

This chapter documents the realities of being a Western journalist covering the war in Iraq during the pivotal years of the conflict from 2004 onwards as the security situation further deteriorated. The Iraq war was immensely divisive in the Middle East; it was looked upon as an exercise in US imperialism and a thinly veiled grab for resources just...

Previous research on the 9th and 10th anniversary coverage of 9/11 has found that sections of the Australian news media have focused less on blame and those responsible for the attacks and focused more on the victims and reconciliation. If the media has “moved on” from 9/11, have audiences followed? In order to answer this question, we conducted a...

The role of Islam in the politics of Muslim-majority countries has attracted a plethora of scholarly research over the past two decades that generally refers to this phenomenon as political Islam. Much of the focus of this body of literature is concerned with the reconciliation of Islam and democracy. In recent years, the leading scholarship in thi...

This article analyses Australian television news programmes' framing of the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11. Our findings build on and reaffirm the earlier work we did in this area—showing that television news programmes in Australia have moved away from conflating terrorism with Muslims and Islam. We found that the tenth anniversary covera...

This chapter will first discuss the inconsistency between Western policy on the issue of Palestine, as typified by Australian foreign policy, not only with the sentiments of increasingly large portions of these societies, but also the inconsistency between such policy formation and current research and trends within the field of conflict resolution...

This article studies the 2011 Arab uprisings as social movements for political reform and regime change. Social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, are perceived to be playing a central role in these events, which have even been described as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter revolutions’. Using diffusion theory, this article examines the role of social...

This article uses a framing perspective to analyse the Australian press coverage of Muslim Australians with regard to the issue of their integration into Australian society. Taking a qualitative approach, this study is based on analysis of articles published in The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Courier-Mail in alternate yea...

The political and economic success of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) has generated extensive discussion about the extent to which Turkey provides a model for other Muslim, especially Arab, countries. The notion of a Turkish model has received intense focus since the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region began in...

This article examines the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy making in Australia by turning to the findings of a national survey of Australian public opinion on the Israel–Palestine conflict. The survey findings suggest that the Australian government's policy on the Israel–Palestine conflict is inconsistent with public opinion,...

This article examines the relationship between Australian press coverage of, and public opinion on, the Israel-Palestine conflict using a framing perspective. The first part of the study involves analysis of almost 10,000 articles published in The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald between 2000 and 2010. The second part of the study is based...

Over the past decade, issues concerning Islam and Muslims have featured prominently in public and media discourse. Much of this discourse is stereotypical, anecdotal and often unsubstantiated. Indeed, relative to the extent of comment on Islam and Muslims, few factual data exist on what Muslims really think. This article presents the views and opin...

This article investigates how five Australian television stations reported and framed the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. In Australia, Eid, the Muslim festival held to celebrate the end of Ramadan, coincided with the ninth anniversary of the events of 9/11. This provided an opportunity to examin...

The successful implementation of modern standards of human rights in the Muslim world depends on the extent to which they are regarded as not a product of the West but genuinely possessing Islamic legitimacy and authenticity. This chapter contends that the challenge is not simply to demonstrate Islam’s ability to adopt what are widely regarded as “...

For all the impressive contributions Islamic civilisation has made to humanity, particularly in terms of science and knowledge, democracy is almost never associated with Islam. From the Western perspective, at the heart of the alleged divergence between Islam and the West is a predominant view that Islam is antithetical to democracy. This has been...

Islam and Contemporary Civilisation examines the most complex debates within Islam today and dilemmas in its relations with Western civilisation. The book provides a concise but comprehensive introduction to the Islamic religion and modern developments in Muslim thought. It proceeds to tackle questions of Islamic law, human rights, democracy, jihad...

This incisive collection brings together the research and insights of academics, editors and journalists on the representation of Islam and its impact on social relations, the newsworthiness of Muslim issues and the complexities of covering Islam. Importantly, Islam and the Australian News Media also explores how Muslim communities in Australia are...

Over the past several decades, the study of international relations has taken a keen interest in developments in the Muslim world and their implications for Islam-West relations. Much of the focus has been on the resurgence of Islam as a social and political force in the Muslim world and particularly the rise of Islamic political parties. Infused w...

This paper draws on almost two decades of US foreign policy documents on political Islam and relations with the Muslim world as well as interviews conducted with key representatives of Turkey's AKP, Malaysia's PKR, and Indonesia's PKS. It argues that both political Islam and US foreign policy have matured over time. The Obama administration has ado...

This book addresses: - the origins and history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the failure of the peace process, and how to achieve a just peace based on international law; - the influence of norms and identity factors on international relations; - the Quran’s verses concerning war and peace, conflict and coexistence, and the historic evolution...

This book examines the Israel-Palestine conflict from a constructivist perspective of international relations. It explores the impact of competing international norms in the process of conflict resolution and in so doing, integrates theory, methods and research from the fields of international relations and Islamic studies. The book systematically...

A central factor in the failure to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict is the direct competition that exists between its two most central international norms: 'self determination', the fundamental claim of the Palestinians, and 'self-defence', the overriding concern of Israelis. Particularly since 9/11, Palestinian violence has been a liability f...

Understanding, theory, and knowledge are the product of human experience (Habermas, 1978), derived from a particular social and political context (Cox, 1986). A central function of theory is to recognize and respond to changing social and political realities by reforming or rejecting old concepts and developing new ones (Cox, 1986). This chapter ex...

Any attempt to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict must proceed from a thorough understanding of its historical context, particularly the state of historical Palestine, the origin of the conflict, and the issues surrounding the United Nations (UN) recommendation to partition Palestine in 1947. Debate on the conflict is punctuated by myths and pro...

The preceding discussion lends itself to an analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict from a critical theory perspective. Indeed, economic and material interests play a significant role in its perpetuation. However, global norms and identity factors have a critical, yet underrecognized, role in conflict resolution. Independent of strategic and mate...

Issues concerning the Muslim world, including conflict resolution, need to be addressed within the Islamic tradition if they are to be viewed by Muslims as legitimate and accepted. This cannot be achieved by a simple return to the shariah, however, at least not until what is referred to as shariah is realigned with contemporary realities and condit...

The question of Palestine and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict have been before the UN for the past sixty years—almost as long as the UN has been in existence. While the Israel-Palestine conflict dates back to the end of World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, of which Palestine was a part, it was not until early 1947 when Britai...

The Israel-Palestine conflict has continued for almost a century. Over time, the conflict has not become more manageable but rather, more intractable. During the years of the British mandate over Palestine, numerous commissions identified the central causes of the conflict, but whether due to a lack of will or ability, the British failed to meaning...

The events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent war on terror are widely regarded as having a catalytic impact on international relations, specifically in terms of security. As a consequence, Palestinians have fewer acceptable options in terms of resisting the Israeli occupation, particularly given the increasing prominence that the norm of se...

This book explores the emerging challenges to foreign policymaking in liberal democracies and the adequacy of the 'marketplace of ideas' in responding to the challenges. Looking at foreign policy challenges as diverse as democratisation, globalisation, climate change and the role of values in environmental debate to the Iraq invasion and the war on...

Book Review of: Islamic Radicalism and Global Jihad by Devin Springer, James Regens and David Edger. Published by Georgetown University Press, Washington, USA, 2009. ISBN 978 1 5890 1252 3. No Yes

For the vast majority of Australians, the mass media are a primary source of information about Islam and Muslims. The results of a telephone survey conducted with a sample of 500 people in Queensland indicate that the media have not facilitated a better understanding of Islam or its adherents. Rather, for many people reliant on the media for inform...

Although the question of Palestine continues to be of deep concern to the Muslim world, a systematic and viable Islamic response has been lacking. The case is but one that highlights the shortcomings of the classical methodology of interpretation in terms of effectively responding to contemporary conditions and realities. Using the Israel-Palestine...

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict remains unresolved largely due to a failure to redress its asymmetry and the fact that the 'peace process' is not based on international law, specifically the resolutions of the United Nations. The mounting religious dimension is also perpetuating the conflict's intractability. The classical Islamic siyar 1 with the...

Yes Yes

Stage One of the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s (ABA’s) Sources of News and Current Affairs project, conducted by Bond University’s Centre for New Media Research and Education, develops for the ABA a so-called ‘map’ of the organisation and structure of the news and current affairs production industry. Its industry analysis covers the definitio...

No Yes

US policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict continues to negatively impact on relations between the Muslim world and the West. Improvement of relations depends on a profound shift in policy. This paper argues that norms and identity factors have the potential to reshape the interests and policies of even the world's most powerful states. It is conce...

A comprehensive analysis of the UNSC resolutions on the question of Palestine provides a normative framework for a just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. There is a perception that this approach has been tried and has failed. However, to the detriment of the peace process, there has been an almost complete absence of reference to interna...

This chapter takes the issue of media representation to its logical conclusion and explores the relationship between media coverage of Islam and relations between Muslims and the wider Australian society. Based on the findings of a survey on the public's media use, knowledge of Islam, interactions with Muslims and attitudes towards Muslims, this ch...

This paper explores the relationship between the Australian media coverage of Islam and relations between Muslims and the wider Australian society. It is based on the findings a telephone survey that was conducted with a sample of 500 people randomly selected from the Brisbane-metropolitan region. The survey examined the public's media use and sour...

Although the question of Palestine continues to be of deep concern to the Muslim world, a systematic, realistic, and viable Islamic response has been lacking. In the case of Palestine, the concept of jihad has generally been interpreted and defined in terms of armed struggle, which has resulted in only minimal success and has become increasingly de...

No Yes

There is change on the landscape of political Islam. What I term as 2G or second generation Islamist political parties has emerged, including Turkey's AKP, Malaysia's PKR, and Indonesia's PKS, which are Islamic in orientation and identity but base their political programs on principles of democracy, pluralism, and human rights, rather than crude ap...