Between Extremes: Navigating Purpose & Responsibility
Interpreting faith in the world today, discussing gender, identity, culture, politics and contemporary issues in the world today The Global Influence of Culture I don’t think it makes much difference on these issues that Muslims are living as minorities or as...
Al-Jami al-Muin By Dr Akram Nadwi
كتاب الجامع المعين في طبقات الشيوخ المتقنين والمجيزين المسندين د. محمد أكرم الندوي، أوكسفورد صدر لي أخيرا كتاب (الجامع المعين في طبقات الشيوخ المتقنين والمجيزين المسندين (ألف ترجمة أو أكثر في سبعة مجلدات) بطباعة دار الكتب العلمية ببيروت سنة 2023م، فسألني بعض إخواني أن...
Reading the Qur’an During Menstruation
There are two predominant scholarly opinions regarding this issue. In the following response, I will outline these opinions in detail and then offer my reflections and some practical guidance that Muslim women might consider adopting.
The Qur’an should not be valued as merely a sacred object
1. The Qur’an as Self-Consistent and Coherent Guidance (1) Allah says in the Qur’an about the Qur’an, that it is a self-consistent, coherent message from the Creator to the most favoured among His creatures. He also says of it that it is the final revelation of His...
Muqaddimah of ibn al-Salah
Kitab Ma’rifat anwa’ Ilm al-Hadith, better known as the Muqaddimah of Ibn al-Salah, is a well-known intermediate level text on the science of Usul al-hadith. For students familiar with the Arabic language and have covered beginners texts in hadith methodology, this...
Modern science seeks power, not wisdom
Narrow Focus on Causes and Effects Modern science is dedicated to explaining events and processes in the natural world, most of the time by means of some degree of mastery of the chain of the causes and effects that lead to specific events and processes. The problem...
Balancing General Principles and Specific Rulings in Islamic Law
Over-Defining a Concept Through Inference Many scholars infer from instances of Qur’anic or Prophetic ruling what they think is the common or universal principle which governs these rulings. For example, the notion that ‘the state of woman is covering’ is derived from...
Reflections on How Muslims Disagree, Dispute, and Divide
Having a debate with someone you disagree with and having a conversation with them are not the same thing. People perhaps think that a debate is just the same as a conversation with the addition of a few rules and procedures. For example, whereas