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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, Islamophobia, and extremism. The findings presented in this article include typologies of Muslims; sources of influence concerning Islam; interpretations of the Qur’an; perspectives on ethical, social, and theological issues; issues of concern; social connections and sense of belonging; views on various Muslim-majority countries; and perspectives concerning political Islam, including jihad, caliphate, and shariah. While respondents’ understandings, interpretations, and expressions of Islam overall align with values and principles of equality, human rights, social cohesion, and social justice, a minority were found to understand and interpret Islam in ways that reflect the influence of late 20th and early 21st century ideas associated with Islamist political ideology, and a smaller sub-group were found to have views that could be considered extreme. This article discusses these findings in relation to the early 21st century time-period factors and the Australian social context.

The aim of this article is to analyze, on the basis of a particular theoretical approach to identity construction, the factors that shape and help delineate various types of (religious) identity constructions among Western-born generations of Muslims. The author argues that a theoretical framework that combines a socio-cultural use of religion in the construction of group identity with that of scriptural interpretation provides the optimal conceptual tool for not only understanding the formation of religious identity among Western-born and/or Western-raised generations of Muslims, but also for delineating between different types of identities being acquired by the Muslims living in the West.

The aim of this article is to trace the development of the Hadith body of literature and the concept of an authentic Hadith as defined by the classical Islamic sciences ('ulum-ul-hadith) during the formative years of Islamic thought as based primarily on Western scholarship sources. The first part of the article will describe the semantico-contextual changes in the meaning of the term Hadith during the period under examination. The second part will present a brief chronological analysis of the development of the canonical Hadith literature and the concept of an authentic Hadith during the first four generations of Muslims. The progress of development of Hadith literature will, in particular, be traced in relation to the development of the concept of an authentic Hadith, as defined by the classical Hadith sciences.