Theological Approach in Islamic Studies

Bu çalışmanın amacı öğrencilerin manevi sağlık ve hayata yönelimi belirlemeye yönelik geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı ortaya koymaktır. Bu amaçla Fisher’ın (2010) geliştirdiği Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM) envanteri Türkçe’ye uyarlanmıştır. Uyarlama çalışması Ankara ve Muş illerinde öğrenim gören üç çalışma grubu kapsamındaki 1591 lise öğrencisi üzerinde yürütülmüştür. Özgün formu dört boyut ve yirmi maddeden oluşan ve dili İngilizce olan envanter, Türkçeye çevrilmiş ve örneklem verileri üzerinde faktör analizleri ve geçerlik ile güvenirlik çalışması uygulanmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda Türkçeye uyarlanan envanter, özgün formu ile benzerlik gösteren dört boyuttan (kişisel, toplumsal, çevresel ve aşkın) oluşmaktadır. Ayrıca envanter boyutlarının iç tutarlık katsayılarının özgün envanter ile mükemmel uyumda olduğu ve ölçeğin amacına hizmet ettiği anlaşılmıştır. Bu sonuçlar dikkate alındığında, öğrencilerinin ruh sağlığı ve hayata yönelimlerinin ölçülmesinde Türkçeye uyarlanan Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, psikoloji, eğitim bilimleri ve sosyal bilimlerin farklı disiplinlerinde kullanılabileceği anlaşılmaktadır. Özet: Toplumsal alanın önemli bir dinamiği ve taşıyıcısı olan din kavramı, 18. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren ikili bir ayrıma gitmiş; din kavramı içerisinden, maneviyat kavramı rafine edilmeye başlanmıştır. Din ve maneviyat kavramlarını tanımlamak çok zordur; din, ideoloji ve inanç kurallarına odaklanırken; maneviyat, din ötesine uzanan bireysel deneyim ve karşılıklı ilişkileri merkeze almaktadır. Bu nedenle, farklı maneviyat ve din tanımları farklı bakış açılarından yapılmış ve bu çerçevede geliştirilen ölçeklerle maneviyatı ölçmek amaçlanmıştır. Bununla birlikte, farklı maneviyat ölçekleri ile yapılan çalışmalardan elde edilen sonuçlar birbirinden önemli ölçüde farklı olmuştur; bu ise maneviyatın kullanılan ölçeğe bağlı olarak tanımlandığı ve kavramsallaştırıldığı anlamına gelir. Maneviyat üzerine yapılan erken dönem çalışmalarda çoğunlukla din, sağlık, psikoloji ve çalışma hayatı üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Bu çalışmalarda, maneviyat kavramı tanımlandıktan sonra; kavramın sağlık, din, psikoloji ve iş hayatı ile ilişkisi veya insan hayatı için gerekliliği tartışılmaktadır. Batı'da, 1950'lere kadar, din ve maneviyat kavramları birbirleri ile ilişkili biçimde kullanılmıştır. Ancak bugün bu iki kavram neredeyse tamamen birbirinden ayrılmıştır. Literatürde, maneviyatı ölçmek için çok sayıda envanter geliştirme çalışması bulunmaktadır. Envanterin farklı kavramsal temellere dayanarak çalışması gerçeği, ruh sağlığı ve yaşam yönelimi hakkında genel, anlamlı ve tutarlı bir sonuç çıkarmayı zorlaştırır. Ayrıca, maneviyat ölçümlerinin yabancı bir kültürün dinini ve değerlerini yansıttığı gerçeğinden hareketle kapsamlı veya evrensel ölçüm söz konusu olamaz. Bu noktada, Fisher, maneviyatı ölçmek amacıyla geliştirilen ölçme araçlarını "din ile maneviyatı karıştırdıkları", "değerler dünyasına bağlı olmak", "kültürel farklılıkları hesaba katmamak", "ve sadece mistik / manevi tecrübe " noktasında eleştirir. Sonuç olarak, Batı'nın kavramsal yapısında geliştirilen hiçbir ölçümün kültürel esnekliği hesaba katmadığı ve manevi değerlerini evrensel ya da yaygın olarak kabul etmediği söylenebilir.Bu çalışma ile Türk kültürüne adapte edilmesi planlanan, Fisher tarafından geliştirilen SHALOM envanteri, kişilerarası ilişki dünyasını oluşturan dört temel (bireysel, sosyal, çevresel ve aşkın) alana dayanan modele dayanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Fisher'ın çalışmalarında olduğu gibi, maneviyat kavramı, dinden bağımsız ve dinlerin üzerinde olduğu düşünülen farklı yoğunluktaki kavramlarla etkileşimini vurgulamaktadır. Bu bağlamda, maneviyat kavramı, kişinin kişisel alanı, sosyal konumu, doğası ve aşkın gücü ile iletişim içindedir. Bu uyarlama çalışması, öğrencilerin ruhsal sağlık düzeyleri hakkında faydalı bilgiler ve yorumlar sağlayacaktır. Ayrıca kültürel esnekliğe sahip olduğu vurgulanan ve farklı dillere de uyarlanan SHALOM envanterinin Türk kültürüne uyarlanması ile din psikolojisi literatürüne yeni ve farklı bir ölçme aracı sunularak maneviyat kavramının doğasının anlaşılması çalışmaları kolaylaşacaktır.Bu araştırma, öğrenciler için geliştirilen ruhsal sağlık ve yaşam yönelimi ölçeğinin envanterini Türk kültürüne uyarlamak için yapılmıştır. Bu envanter uyarlama çalışması Ankara ve Muş illerindeki üç çalışma grubundan ve 1591 lise öğrencisinden toplanan verilerle yapılmıştır. İlk çalışma grubu 414, ikinci çalışma grubu 788, üçüncü grup ise 389 lise öğrencisinden oluşmuştur. 414 öğrenciden toplanan veriler Açıklayıcı Faktör Analizi (AFA) analizi için, 788 öğrenciden toplanan veriler Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) için kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca, envanterin ölçüt geçerliliğini belirlemek için 389 öğrenci kullanılmıştır. Türkçe'ye uyarlanması amaçlanan SHALOM envanterinin asıl dili İngilizce'dir ve çeviri çalışmaları, her iki dilin de dilbilgisi ve anlamsal özelliklerini bilen üç dil uzmanı tarafından ayrı ayrı yürütülmüştür. Çeviri çalışmalarından sonra ölçek örnekleme grubuna uygulanmış ve örneklem veriler üzerinde AFA uygulanmıştır. AFA sonuçları değerlendirildiğinde, orijinal envantere benzeyen bir faktör çatısının oluştuğu tespit edilmiştir. Belirleyici faktörlere, SHALOM'un orijinal formundaki teorik ve boyut isimleri dikkate alınarak uygun isimler (kişisel, çevresel, sosyal ve aşkın) verilmiştir. Yapı geçerliği Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) ile teyit edilmiş ve DFA'nın bir sonucu olarak, X2/sd (1.72) oranı ve IFI (0.96) uyum göstergesinin test edilen modele uygun olduğu belirlenmiştir.Sonuç olarak, Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, orijinal envanterde olduğu gibi dört boyuttan oluştuğu, envanter boyutlarının iç tutarlılık katsayılarının asıl envanterle mükemmel uyum içinde olduğu ve ölçeğin amacına hizmet ettiği anlaşılmaktadır. Bu sonuçlar göz önüne alındığında, Türkçe'ye uyarlanmış olan Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, din psikolojisi, eğitim bilimleri ve sosyal bilimlerin farklı disiplinlerinde kullanılabileceği anlaşılmaktadır. Maneviyat, sadece Batılı kuramlar çerçevesinde tanımlanmamalı, İslamın öngördüğü maneviyatın niteliği ve olabilirliği tartışılmalıdır. Dahası İslam maneviyatının tipleri ve boyutları, İslami bir karakterde kültürel öznellik dikkate alınarak belirlenmelidir. Maneviyatı ölçme çalışmalarında, modernitenin evrensel olarak sunduğu insan modeli tek hakikat olarak kabul edilmemelidir. İslam kültür ve tarihi içerisinden süzülerek gelen, bize özgü ve bizi tanımlayan insan modelleri geliştirilmeye çalışılmalıdır. Bu husus, sadece ruh sağlığı/din çalışmalarında değil, genel anlamda din psikolojisi calışmalarında dikkate alınmalıdır. Bunun yanında kültüre özgülük önemsenmeli, Türk medeniyetinin İslam doktrini ile geliştirdiği kültürel birikimden edinilen tecrübeyle maneviyat çalışmalarına yön verilmelidir. Bu açıdan, bu çalışma farklı bir kültüre ait değer ve manevi yönelimi, Türk kültürüne uyarlama amacını gütse de kavramın Batı değerleri ile kurgulanması sorunludur. Ayrıca Batı değerlerinin, İslam değer ve ilkeleri ile benzeşmesine rağmen, uygulamada maneviyat kavramını tam olarak ölçmekte zorlanabileceği öngörülmektedir.

The article is devoted to a philosophical study of the religious dimension in HAMAS ideology and the influence of a religious factor on the development of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The article provides a valuable and functional analysis of the main programmatic ideological text of HAMAS: those abstracts from this text that directly relate to religious issues are highlighted, a broad involvement of religion in the ideological foundations of HAMAS is demonstrated. The article also analyzes the place of HAMAS in the events during the First Intifada and the role of the movement at the beginning of the Second Intifada. The purpose of the study is to broaden the involvement of the role of religion in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the consideration of Ukrainian philosophy, religious studies and humanities in general, with a view to further utilizing Middle Eastern experience in the study, prevention and resolution of religious conflicts in Ukraine. Iryna Zvyagelska particularly emphasizes the great role of social programs (such as fundraising for low-income Palestinians, organizing youth education, etc.), which she conducts among Hamas Palestinians in the context of expanding the organization's influence. This helped Hamas gain the support of the Palestinians and channel some of the conflict into a religious dimension. Irina Zvyagelska notes that if the settlement of the conflict was accompanied by an improvement in the welfare of Palestinians, the chances of Hamas influence would be significantly reduced. The question of whether the Hamas programming document and its postulate correlates with the real attitude of ordinary Hamas members or leaders to, for example, Jews living outside Israel is undoubtedly important. The question is whether the creation of Hamas influenced the Palestinians, making the religious factor more important and visible in protest circles, or vice versa - Hamas appeared because there was already a certain social demand for the emergence of such a movement. There is a version that, at the very beginning of Hamas's existence, Israeli intelligence services, while underestimating the newly-born structure, were interested in strengthening it to use Hamas in its fight against ORP, seeing it as a more serious threat. During the Second Hamad Intifada, a large number of Palestinian youth were mobilized under flags with radical religious slogans that called for an uncompromising struggle against Israel as occupier, with settlers in the Gaza Strip and with Israeli military, as well as with Israeli soldiers. A brief analysis of some of the HAMAS Charter abstracts and the movement's activities shows a very high level of involvement of the religious component in the Arab-Israeli conflict. HAMAS plays an extremely important role in the Gaza Strip and in the region as a whole. Investigating not only their political activism but also their ideological base is a crucial point for understanding the situation not only among Palestinians and Israelis, but throughout the Middle East. The HAMAS example also shows that the involvement of a religious factor in social conflict significantly increases the risk of exacerbation of the conflict and its transition to a protracted phase with uncertain prospects for peace negotiations. However, the activities of HAMAS show that it is focused on achieving not only purely religious but also specific political, economic, educational and other social and cultural goals. Therefore, in our opinion, it is also possible to rely on these other aspects of HAMAS's efforts to seek peace or at least start peace talks. This should be the subject of a separate future study. Keywords: religious conflict, HAMAS, Islam, Judaism, Arab-Israeli conflict, Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Il contributo, sottoposto a valutazione, e destinato alla pubblicazione nel volume, a cura di R. Scarciglia, Islamic Symbols in European Courts,Quaderni giuridici del Dipartimento di Scienze politiche e sociali, Cedam – Kluwer, Trieste, 2014 SUMMARY: 1. Preliminary Remarks - 2. The veil before the European Court of Human Rights – 3. Religious Symbols in Article 9 ECHR case law and women’s religious freedom in Europe – 4. Islamic Symbols and European Institutions. Indirect Discrimination? – 5. Conclusive Remarks. Abstract Religious freedom within Europe and the place of Islam within Europe are of particular contemporary interest. The focus of recent case law developed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has been on national laws which proscribe the wearing of religious symbols in certain aspects of the public sphere, and on the claims more generally to religious and cultural freedom of Muslim minorities in European states. Stepping back from these cases, this Article aims at a theoretical analysis of the subject, involving the contrast between value pluralism as a basis for religious freedom in international law, and other fundamental rights, i.e. women’s or children’s rights. By recognizing the intrinsic connection between individual rights and communal goods, value pluralism opens new pathways for enforcing human rights.

SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. The meaning of State neutrality: some conceptual clarifications - 3. State’s neutrality vis-a-vis religious organizations: neutrality as absence of interference - 4. State’s neutrality vis-a-vis public education: neutrality as objectivity - 5. State neutrality vis-a-vis religious symbols in the public sphere: neutrality as exclusion of religion - 6. ‘Reversed’ patters of neutrality: the disruptive effect of Lautsi v. Italy - 7. Concluding remarks: decoding the patterns of State neutrality in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR. ABSTRACT: This contribution discusses the notion of State neutrality in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. State neutrality has become increasingly relevant in the rulings of the ECtHR concerning religious freedom, with the Court explicitly resorting to the idea that States should act as neutral and impartial organizers of religious life within their community. Yet, the conception of State neutrality developed by the Court is inconsistent and often gives rise to criticism. By exploring the Court’s main jurisprudence in the context of religious disputes, religious education in public education, and the display of religious symbols in public spaces, this contribution seeks to disentangle the different understandings of neutrality employed by the Court and to critically engage with them.

In historical records, philosophical principles and Islamic concepts do not always compatible. The characteristics of philosophy which always question the truth of everything and Islamic principles that hold fast to the truth of revelation as the ultimate truth often lead to conflict. Along with the development of science, Muslim scientists found that philosophy as a scientific methodology can coexist with religious knowledge without contradicting the truth values that have been established in Islam. This study aims to examine more deeply the concept of Philosophy theoretically as a scientific approach as well as the implementation steps in Islamic studies. This study uses qualitative descriptive method with the type of library research. The data analysis technique consists of several steps: 1) data reduction, 2) data presentation, and 3) drawing conclusions. The results show that the philosophical approach in Islamic studies can be implemented using several techniques, including through relativism, realism, contextualism, and historical perspectives, within the scope of ontology, epistemology, or axiology. Examples of the implementation of philosophical-based Islamic studies that have been carried out include conceptual studies of Islamic education in the socio-cultural perspective, comparative studies of Islamic and Western perspective education, and applicative studies of the reconstruction of learning epistemology.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduction - 2. Religious education in Italian public schools: general framework - 3. Religious education in public schools: the situation of Islam - 3.1. Some data about the Islamic presence in Italy - 3.2. Religious education and Islam - 4. The religious education in plural Italy: challenges and gaps - 5 - Muslims at school and Religious Education: which solutions? - 5.1 Alternative 1: private schools - 5.2 Alternative 1-bis: Homeschooling - 5.3 Alternative 2: introduction of lessons about religion - 5.4 Alternative 3: Muslim pupils and their participation in the Catholic religion lessons - 6. Conclusions: challenges, problems and future perspectives.

The article deals with a problem of using the theory of a speech act in analysis of Christian sacraments in religious studies. Author finds the concept useful for many reasons. Mostly, religious studies are free of problem of truth, because the theory tells only about felicity of creating beliefs or not. According to S. Tambiah, it lets us analyse the scale of magic in religious rituals, also Christian, like sacramental practice. In the article different sacramental theologies, like Catholicism, Orthodox and different Protestant religions (Calvinism, Lutheranism) are looked at in terms of illocutionary power of words used during rituals and their effectiveness. It lets us illustrate the historical process of decreasing of the magical element in interpretation of basic Christian rituals.

Spending in the way of Allah (Infaq fi Sabilillah) is an important institution of Islam. Allah the Almighty stressed on such kind of spending in many places of the Holy Quran. Moreover, Prophet Muhammad [P.B.U.H] companions always practiced the teaching about such spending through their sayings and actions. In order to investigate about such sort of spending in the lives of richest Companions, an archival research methodology is used, which is a widely used research approach in Islamic studies and Islamic theology. The study reviewed the available prominent and established literature, to investigate the consciousness of richest Prophet Muhammad’s Companions [RA] toward Infaq fi Sabilillah. The study concluded that the lives of the Companions are full of scarifications, and both mandatory and voluntary spending in the name of Allah. The total sum of such spending by the top four richest Companions is far greater than the total wealth of present wealthy people globally. After all such huge spending, their wealth increased day after day and never got decreased. This is the Divine law of spending which says that spending in the way of Allah leads to increase in Wealth.

One of the interesting studies in Islam is the existence of women. Along with the increasing discussion about women in the last decade, contemporary Islamic discourse directly or indirectly certainly touches on this actual problem. Throughout history, issues surrounding women have been discussed repeatedly, both by secular thinkers and religious scholars. The debate about gender has become a big industry for the world of education, especially in Islamic studies and is very interesting to discuss. Because of this, the term feminism emerged, the issue of which was the emergence of this understanding in the form of fighting for equal gender rights and demanding women's access to public life. This research uses normative research because the research uses library materials as the main data for analyzing cases. This research specifically examines feminist approaches in Islamic studies. Feminism is a movement of feminists who hold the view that women are discriminatory, treated unfairly, therefore it is not in accordance with the principles of justice and the basic principles of Islam. The feminist approach in the study of religion is nothing but a critical transformation of existing theoretical reviews using gender as the main analytical category. The basics of feminist thinking are that the door to ijtihad remains open, freeing oneself from attachment to the past, changing times can give birth to changes in teachings, the superiority of reason over revelation, and justice as the basis of benefit.

This article is due to be published in Proceedings of the International Conference on Imams in Western Europe. Authority, Training, and Institutional Challenges , held in Rome at the LUISS “Guido Carli” and John Cabot University, November 5-7, 2014. SUMMARY: 1. Introduction – 2. The Relationship State-Confessions and Religious Ministers – 2.1. The “Common” Legislation of intese and the 1929 Act – 2.2. State’s Law and Religious Ministers – 3. Imam in Italy. Is that a Religious Minister? – 3.1. The Connection State-Islamic Organizations – 3.2. Islamic Groups as Religious Denominations – 3.3. The Bilateral Legislation – 3.4. A Possible Collaboration – 4. Conclusion. Abstract : In Italy imams are more than 800 members. As imams, they are almost all self-taught people. As citizens, most of the times they have a precarious job. During the week, they normally take care of things other than religion. They perform religious functions in their spare time. Moreover, to see them working as imams, you have to go down in some underground parking or in apartments converted into mosques, where sometimes you see minaret and other Islamic symbols, but only in either the picture or in the paintings hanging on the wall. In the end of the day, we know little or almost nothing about imams. Besides, the Italian law normally do not recognise them as religious authorities. Nevertheless, as imams they play a very important role in local Muslim communities that, under the pressing process of immigration, hold nowadays more than two millions persons. The paper will analyse the status of Islamic imams in Italy, comparing them with the status of other religious authorities (priests, rabbis, pastors ecc.). In particular, this comparative perspective will be focused on both angles: on the one hand, the research will compare the role of imams with those of religious authorities within their respective community; on the other, we will compare imams with considered the different way through which Italian law treats both imams and other religious authority. This perspective will give us a possibility to underline how both the social context and the Italian legal framework (regulating the State-religions connexions) manage religious claims.

The curriculum is an important thing in the world of education, without an educational curriculum will run unbalanced. Competency-based curriculum is an effort in improving the quality of education quality, this is what causes a problem and adjustment of PAI Teachers in teaching and learning process. in the application of Curriculum-Based Competence Islamic Religion Teachers are always preparing in advance to be given to students, be it related to the syllabus, learning tools, media, material mastery, notebook (personal) even performent a Master is also important, in addition to Master always use various methods learning which is interspersed with fun things to be unsaturated, all efforts to maximize the application of Competency Based Curriculum conducted by Islamic Religious Education Teachers so that students are more independent and not dependent on Teachers, and students are more creative looking for problem solving or material materials that exist out of school. The existence of the optimal application is done by Islamic Religious Education Teachers by seeking various preparations, methods and other efforts as mentioned above, as well as cooperation among teachers, both Islamic Religious Education Teachers and Counseling Guidance and general teachers. Therefore, efforts are made more on the increase again that the madrasah especially Islamic Religious Education Teachers improve again its cooperation with parents and more students execute themselves with other teachers, especially Teacher Counseling to monitor the problems and development of students.

This paper provides an insight into the lives of Muslim female students in Malaysia, a country currently undergoing multiple developments entailing continuous societal pluralisation and diversification with concomitant retention of the centrality of religious values. Accordingly, young people in Malaysia are exposed to a range of different worldviews and value systems, while frequently growing up in families which place emphasis on religious norms. On the basis of in-depth interviews with Muslim female students, the paper explores the interrelationships between the diversity categories of gender, religion and academic ability, and demonstrates that ability and religion serve as resources enabling the interviewees to simultaneously pursue autonomy and maintain ties to their families. In a broader context, the paper provides a critical analysis of the frequently one-dimensional discourse on Muslim women by giving voice to the diversity of their perspectives and experiences. Keywords: diversity, education, gender, Islam, Malaysia.

Religious studies is an interdisciplinary field of study defined by its object of study: religion. The question of object and study are not easily separable. Recent historical and philosophical work has shown how the idea of a transhistorical, cross-cultural phenomenon called “religion” was created in part through the study of religion and how this process was intertwined with European colonialism (see Religious studies). Disciplines, on the other hand, are most often organized around method of study. As the concept literally implies, a discipline is knowledge created by controlling and adjudicating the processes by which that knowledge is sought. Historians must meet standards of empirical evidence, sociologists must gather data through recognized quantitative and/or qualitative methods, and philosophers must submit to logic and argument.

In Australia, attitudes towards Islam cannot be separated from the history of migration, the social and ethnic composition of Muslim communities, and the politics of global confl ict. In this context, racism, particularly in the form of cultural racism, joins and is voiced as disapproval of morality. Such negative views are widespread in media, academic, and government texts (Goodall and Jakubowicz 1994; Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2004). Internationally, negative stereotyping of Islam and Muslims has been linked to the fi rst Gulf War, the war in Iraq, September 11, and other terrorist attacks. Poynting notes the increase in assaults on people of “Middle Eastern appearance,” women wearing the hijab and men wearing “Islamic garb” after the outbreak of the fi rst Gulf War (Poynting 2002). Women and girls emerged as the most frequent targets. At the same time there was an increase in arson, vandalism and threats of assault directed towards the newly discovered “enemy within.” Poynting points to the role of tabloid media, in particular talk-back radio, in whipping up racist sentiments at this time, and in a similar way after September 11 (with a similar increase in racist incidents). A discourse joining Arab-Muslim-Terrorist worked to join the terms Gang-Rapist-Arab-Muslim by the same means, particularly in Sydney, following a series of sexual assaults in Bankstown (Poynting 2002, 44). Concern about Middle Eastern asylum seekers, particularly in the course of the 2001 Federal election campaign contributed to distrust, fear, and the emergence of racist discourses. In these instances politicians joined with powerful talkback personalities and columnists to create a sense of moral panic. This process highlights the fact that the media is primary source of information on Islam (not the Koran or direct contact) and what it stands for (Brasted 2001). The economic, historical and religious diversity of some sixty Muslim countries are rarely represented in media accounts. © H je lm , T itu s, M ay 1 1, 2 01 1, R el ig io n an d So ci al P ro bl em s

Islam is a growing religion in the UK, however it is also highly politicised and marginalised, as highlighted by the increasing Islamophobia in social and political discourses seen in the West. Discrimination and social inequalities affect Muslim groups in the UK, both of which are shown to have a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing. However, access to inclusive, culturally and religiously sensitive mental health care appears to limit Muslim populations from receiving appropriate mental health support. Some research has importantly considered Muslim service users’ experiences of mental health services and found that mainstream mental health care may not respond appropriately to their religious or cultural needs. Furthermore, experiences of stereotyping and discrimination from professionals were noted. However, ideas about stigma or other ‘cultural’ barriers to accessing help appear to dominate professional ideas about low access rates. This research sought to explore the way that mental health professionals construct Islam and whether these go on to impact professionals’ judgements and clinical decisions in their contact with Muslim service users. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 mental health professionals based in the UK. These findings highlighted the way that religious and cultural unfamiliarity with Islam and the prevailing Islamophobic and Orientalist discourses available in the West may affect professionals’ perceptions about Muslim service users and lead to decisions about care which exclude or overlook their needs. The implicit prioritisation of Western mental health frameworks was also seen to lead to the discrediting or problematising of different cultural or religious understandings of distress. However, examples of practice which attempted to reduce this epistemic inequality and adapt interventions to be more in line with Muslim service users’ frameworks were highlighted as having fostered improved relationships with Muslim service users, families and communities. The implications of these findings are discussed.