A Quran Belt is a region where Islamic Values are strong. It is most commonly associated with an area where Islam has historically been influential in northwest China (Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai) along the borders of central Asia, Tibet and Mongolia.[1][2]

Other parts of the world where Islam is or has historically been highly influential have also been referred to as the Quran Belt, such as Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan,[3] central Saudi Arabia,[4] Southeastern Anatolia,[5] Iran's Qom, Iraq's Karbala, Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, Lakshadweep islands, and Barak Valley region of Assam state.[6]

In South East Asia, Aceh and Cirebon in Indonesia, and Kelantan and Terengganu in Malaysia are frequently referred to as Quran Belts because the governments of these localities impose a puritanical version of Islam which is not imposed in the rest of the country.

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References edit

  1. ^ Gladney, Dru C. (1993-01-01). "Hui Urban Entrepreneurialism in Beijing: State Policy, Ethnoreligious Identity and the Chinese City". In Guldin, Gregory; Southall, Aidan (eds.). Urban Anthropology in China. BRILL. p. 282. ISBN 9789004096202.
  2. ^ Atwill, David G. (2005). The Chinese Sultanate: Islam, Ethnicity, and the Panthay Rebellion in Southwest China, 1856-1873. Stanford University Press. p. 34.
  3. ^ Williams, Brian Glyn (September 22, 2011). Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America's Longest War. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780812206159.
  4. ^ Ajami, Fouad (1992). The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice since 1967. Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ Jenkins, John Philip (2009). The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-and How It Died. HarperOne. p. 163.
  6. ^ Knudsen, Are J. (2002). Political Islam in South Asia. Chr. Michelsen Institute, Development Studies and Human Rights. p. 4. ISBN 9788280620262.