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Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours have generally reacted pragmatically to the Taliban's seizure of power there. For the autocratically ruled, secular states on the periphery of the former Soviet empire, economic cooperation and the stabilisation of humanitarian and political conditions in Afghanistan are at the forefront of their interests in maintaining relations with their southern neighbour. According to offi­cial discourse, Central Asia's entrenched secularism is not challenged by the Taliban's Islamism. On social media in Central Asia, however, the Islamic emirate of the Taliban is portrayed as a political counter-model; one which is more positively received in coun­tries with greater discursive freedom and under governments whose policies more openly confront the Taliban. This reveals a trend towards Islamist-inspired iden­tity formation that will be difficult to stop through censorship and repression. (author's abstract)

The aim of this article is to analyse the views of a public critic of Islam, namely the Swedish Somali-born former Muslim Mona Walter (b. 1973). She has been selected because she has been very active in online media, social media and more 'traditional' forms of media such as print, radio and broadcasting. In my analysis I will discuss whether her thoughts can be viewed as Islamophobic, and if so to what extent. To decide on this matter, I have compared her statements about Islam with how the Runnymede Trust and the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (brå) define Islamophobia. The empirical data consist of an online interview with Mona Walter for the Swedish podcast rlm. This particular interview has been chosen for analysis because this program has been associated with anti-Muslim views and is renowned for its strong criticism of Sweden's migration policies and its multicultural society. The interview with Walter is analysed with the help of a content analysis.

Examines the situation of non-Muslims living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa during the current period of rapid Islamization. It is argued that the decrease in the proportion of non-Muslims is largely the result of intermarriage & international migration, indicating a receptive attitude within non-Muslim communities to the Muslim environment, as well as openness to the outside world within these nations. The history of religious minorities living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa is traced from pre-Islamic & colonial times to the present, noting various stages of Islamization, factors that interrupted them, & ways in which nation-states provided an institutional & ideological framework that allowed Islamization to resume. Key reasons for emigration to other countries by members of religious minorities are discussed, along with the impact of intermarriage, & the positive but "silent" forces of differing birth/death rates on the religious composition of populations. Future demographic prospects for non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa are assessed. 1 Table. J. Lindroth

Examines the situation of non-Muslims living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa during the current period of rapid Islamization. It is argued that the decrease in the proportion of non-Muslims is largely the result of intermarriage & international migration, indicating a receptive attitude within non-Muslim communities to the Muslim environment, as well as openness to the outside world within these nations. The history of religious minorities living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa is traced from pre-Islamic & colonial times to the present, noting various stages of Islamization, factors that interrupted them, & ways in which nation-states provided an institutional & ideological framework that allowed Islamization to resume. Key reasons for emigration to other countries by members of religious minorities are discussed, along with the impact of intermarriage, & the positive but "silent" forces of differing birth/death rates on the religious composition of populations. Future demographic prospects for non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa are assessed. 1 Table. J. Lindroth

Abstract
In this article, I draw on critical investigations of gendered, racialised and sexualised discourses on Islam and Muslim minorities in Western Europe to explore two recent instances of Muslim female intellectuals and artists responding to what has been dubbed "the Muslim question". I shall show that Muslim women's counter-voices are multilayered, conveyed through various means, and context-dependent, as well as dependent on intersectional marginalised positionalities. My goal is to theoretically rethink the feminist methodology of 'talking back' on the basis of the complex ways in which Muslim women establish modes of critique.

Tensions between Muslim communities and host societies and governments; some emphasis on Great Britain.

Ausgehend von einem Rückblick auf die zeitgeschichtliche Entwicklung des Verhältnisses zwischen Staat/Partei und Muslimen in Jugoslawien (Ustasa-Staat, sozialistische Förderation) setzt sich die Autorin mit den Konsequenzen des starken Anstiegs des muslimischen Bevölkerungsanteils auseinander. Im Zentrum ihrer Untersuchung steht das aus dem wachsenden nationalen Selbstbewußtsein der jugoslawischen Muslime sich ergebende politisch-ideologische und kulturelle Konfliktpotential. (BIOst-Hml)