This research critically analysed Muslim approaches to five women with HIV/AIDS in Cape Town focussing particularly on the approach of 'Positive Muslims' - an awareness-raising and support group for Muslims living with HIV/AIDS. The central question of this thesis dealt with the impact of the norms, values and practices of Cape Muslims on the approach of Positive Muslims to women living with HIV/AIDS. It is suggested that while norms and values articulated in religious texts inform the ideological approach of the organisation's AIDS prevention model. This is due to the pragmatic approach adopted by Postive Muslims which recognises that the articulated norms and values do not always conform to the practices of Cape Muslims.

<p>South Africa has the largest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. However, the response against the further spread of HIV/AIDS in the country is being hindered by stigma and discrimination. In order to develop effective intervention programmes to control and reduce the further spread of the disease, it is first important to understand the nature of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and especially how people construct it. In the present study, the social construction of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Muslims was investigated because high levels of stigma were found in this group. This was fuelled partly by the belief that HIV/AIDS was not a serious problem amongst Muslims. Two focus groups were conducted, one among Muslim women only and the second among Muslim men only. The main aim of the study was to examine the perceptions of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Muslims. The transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis to determine the themes that emerged from the research material. The main findings of the study included that Muslims&rsquo / religious identity/positioning was the most salient discourse that informed how they understood, made meaning of, and responded to HIV/AIDS. They engaged in various forms of stigma such as &lsquo / othering&rsquo / , and mediating factors of stigma included religious positioning. Stigma also served as a social barrier to VCT and disclosure of HIV status. However, supportive attitudes and behaviours were also evident. The findings yielded useful insights into possible elements of intervention programmes, both to reduce HIV/AIDS-related stigma, and also to encourage behavioural change in order to control and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in this community.</p>

This thesis is a translation of a chapter that examines the role of Muslim women in politics during the early Islamic period and their engagement with religious and political discourses. This subject raises a combination of provocative challenges for Islamic discourse as Muslim women have had a complex relationship with their religious tradition dating back to the very inception of Islam. Despite Qur’ānic injunctions and Prophetic affirmations of the egalitarian status of Muslim women, social inequality and injustice directed at women remains a persistent problem in Muslim society. In the translated text Abū Shaqqah goes about re-invoking the normative tradition in order to affirm the role of Muslim women in politics. Furthermore the translation is prefaced by a critical introduction outlining the contours of the 20th century landscape, which attempts to describe the struggle of Muslim women in Abū Shaqqah’s time. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Arabic)

The issue of a Muslim woman‟s dress code has been debated for centuries. This is of great importance as it is widely used as a criterion to measure the extent of a woman‟s piety or devotion to Allah. A study of the religious texts on the issue is essential. Therefore, Qur‟anic text, Prophetic Traditions and Qur‟anic exegesis of both classical and modern scholars would have been used in determining the correct dress code for Muslim women. While all research indicates that women dress conservatively, in order not to attract the attention of the opposite sex. The extent to which a woman must be covered has not been agreed upon. Even if what has to be covered is established by scholars, the manner in which this is to be done and the type of colours and fabric to be used needs further clarification. The issue of the female dress code needs to be presented from a female perspective. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Islamic Studies)

Diploma thesis "Some aspects of multiculturalism" deals with religious minority living in the Czech Republic, especially with Czech muslim women. The aim of this thesis is to explore the most frequent prejudices that relate to Islam religion. To achieve that, concept of multiculturalism, concept prejudice, theory of prejudice as a grouped norm and the most frequent prejudices of Islam are characterized. The history of Islam, It is also described - its origin in the Czech Republic, beginning of Muslim community on the Czech territory, Muslims nowadays, their integration and their number in the Czech republic. The short characteristic of Islam religion, fundamental commitments and rights every muslim and the characteristic that deals with rights, commitments and roles of muslim women are described. The second part of diploma thesis is qualitative research. This research is focused on recognition of real situation of Czech muslim women who converted to Islam. The research tries to reflect the perceptiveness of belief of women themselves. Why they converted to Islam, which are the most frequent prejudices they meet and how they react to them and which attitudes they have towards some Islamic commands and prohibitions.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Cristina Zaia.pdf: 792961 bytes, checksum: e8f573e74274c74847be54e19ddff847 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The purpose of the present work is to discuss the relations between religion and immigration, from an intercultural perspective, through the life history of immigrant Muslim women in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, during their acculturation process. In this work, this concept is based upon Intercultural Psychology formulations, as the necessary result of a contact between two cultures, which can lead to the adoption of integration or separation strategies. Through the study of a minority that has been scarcely investigated in Brazil, this work indicates the relevancy that religion can acquire in a migratory context, since it is one of the constituent elements of the ethnic identity / Este trabalho tem por objetivo discutir as relações entre religião e imigração, partir de uma perspectiva intercultural, através do percurso vivido de mulheres muçulmanas imigrantes na cidade de São Paulo, durante seu processo de aculturação. Este conceito é compreendido neste trabalho a partir de formulações da Psicologia Intercultural, como o resultado inevitável de um contato entre duas culturas, que pode resultar em adoção de estratégias de integração ou separação. Através do estudo de uma minoria pouco estudada no Brasil, apresenta-se a relevância que a religião pode adquirir em um contexto migratório, uma vez que é um dos elementos constituintes da identidade étnica

Within the sample of Muslim-majority countries, the links between how explicitly "Islamic" a society is, the status of women, and economic and other societal outcomes is explored. A country is considered more or less "Islamic" depending upon if Islam is the official state religion, if Islamic law forms a basis for the legal system, and the degree to which the country has rejected or maintained traditional Islamic norms such as regarding the acceptance of polygamy and the legal obligation of women to wear the veil in public. It is found that if a country is more "Islamic," it tends to also have worse outcomes along different dimensions, such as degree of authoritarianism and absence of women's rights. However, focusing exclusively on whether the country has Islamic law as a basis of the legal system, these countries tend to be richer. An extremity index is composed, which contains only variables which describe the status of women in Muslim countries, along educational and legal dimensions. It is found in regressions that this extremity index is a statistically significant predictor of economic growth, where higher extremity leads to lower GDP growth rates. Oil is still an extremely important factor in explaining the variation in GDP levels and growth rates in the Muslim world.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-149).

Originally a Ph. D. Thesis--University of London. / Previously published as Rábiʻa [: the life & work of Rábiʻa and other women mystics in Islám] by Oneworld, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-241) and index.

Originally a Ph. D. thesis--University of London. / Previously published as Rábiʻa [: the life & work of Rábiʻa and other women mystics in Islám] by Oneworld, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-241) and index.