New Publication in Global Humanities

Cochrane, L. and Chellan, W. (2015) "We Were Extremely Poor But We Were Pious": Exploring the Interrelationships between Religious Adherence and Economic Status in the Muslim World. Global Humanities 2: 112-128.

Abstract:

• This paper analyzes theological, quantitative and qualitative data regarding the relationships between economic status and religious adherence, with specific reference to Islam and Muslims. At the outset this paper contextualizes poverty as theological and legal concepts, as they are expressed within sacred texts of Islam. Secondly, this paper re-examines existing national data on religious adherence and practice from over thirty countries, using support for Islamic law and engagement of ritual prayer as the main indicators. We compare this data with national levels of economic status from the respective years of data collection. Lastly, this paper provides a qualitative case study of the way in which Muslims view the role of poverty and wealth as affecting religious adherence. The findings of the theological, quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate greater complexity than some suggest and indicate that more emphasis needs to be placed on contextualization and qualitative studies for future research.
  

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