Sport in Islam and in Muslim Communities

As Islam’s visibility in global society increases, Muslim populations grow, and Muslim countries compete to take up positions at the heart of global sport, the interplay between sport and Islam becomes ever more illuminating. Sport in Islam and in Muslim Communities is the first book to analyse this relationship through a pluralist lens, exploring the questions it raises about contemporary Islam, globalisation, and the challenges faced by (in particular young) Muslims in negotiating their place in global society.

With contributions from Muslim and non-Muslim authors, the book approaches an array of contemporary issues, from the role of sport in gender, youth and political identities in Islam and Muslim societies to sport policy in Muslim countries, sport’s role among Muslim minorities and sport marketing’s relationship to Muslim cultures.

Drawing on sociology, anthropology, political science, Islamic studies and sport studies, Sport in Islam and in Muslim Communities not only examines the significance of sport in Islam, but helps to draw wider conclusions on religious identity in sporting settings and the interplay between sport, gender, political ideology and consumer culture.

Alberto Testa is a senior lecturer in criminology at the Ealing Law School, University of West London, UK. He has an academic background in sociology and is a certified sociological practitioner who has gained international recognition as an applied sociologist. Alberto’s research interests focus on the application of social behaviourism to make sense of deviance and crime. Within this theoretical framework, his particular areas of expertise are fourfold: football crowd behaviour and disorder; policing and civil liberties; European neo-fascism and neo-Nazism; and radicalisation and Islamophobia. His current research is on Italian Muslim youth, marginalisation and Islamophobia

Mahfoud Amara is Assistant Professor in Sport Management and Policy at the College of Arts and Sciences (Sport Science Program), Qatar University. Before joining Qatar University he was Lecturer in Sport Policy and Management and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health
Sciences, Loughborough University. Dr Amara has a specific interest in sport business, culture, and politics in Arab and Muslim contexts. He has published material on the politics of the Pan-Arab Games, sport in colonial and post-colonial Algeria, sport and the business of media broadcasting in the Arab world, the sport and modernisation debate in the Gulf
region; sport development and development through sport in the Arab World. His other research interest is sport, multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue.