Ramadan as a holy month has special rituals performed throughout its full 29-30 days, fasting from sunup to sundown, and extra communal prayers in the nights. Apart from these, it also has a... Show moreRamadan as a holy month has special rituals performed throughout its full 29-30 days, fasting from sunup to sundown, and extra communal prayers in the nights. Apart from these, it also has a special night which is specified as the pinnacle of sacred time, Laylat al-Qadr, the night of decree. If praying in a mosque is better than praying at home, so is praying in Mecca as a sacred space even better compared to praying in a general mosque. Similarly, is praying during Laylat al-Qadr better compared to praying in the other nights of Ramadan. So, knowing the exact timing of Laylat al-Qadr becomes vital it would seem. Multiple traditions state it is on the uneven nights of Ramadan, but there are also traditions stating it is on the 19th or 21st, or on the 23rd as preferred in the Shīʿī tradition, or the 27th as preferred in the Sunnī tradition. There are even more diverse timings stated in other traditions. So, what to make of these diverse and seemingly contradictory statements? Show less
There are multiple ways the Other has been constructed within human history, and this othering has affected different forms and levels of social relations and polity. Charles K. Bellinger's... Show moreThere are multiple ways the Other has been constructed within human history, and this othering has affected different forms and levels of social relations and polity. Charles K. Bellinger's discussion consists of an introduction and four chapters which provides an analysis of the term othering as a technical term, its application in contemporary academic discourse, and intellectual thought expressing processes of (anti-)othering from the angles of anthropology, political history, human rights, and theology. Show less
“Māturīdīsm, with its unique approaches to epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy, provides an important source for the remapping of Islamic intellectual history, but also as an important... Show more“Māturīdīsm, with its unique approaches to epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy, provides an important source for the remapping of Islamic intellectual history, but also as an important voice for the insightful and contributing perspectives which Kalāmic anthropology can bring to the modern world.” Show less
The discourse of Islam’s relation to evolution has been steadily developing over the past few decades. Still, the field is lacking sufficient academic maturity. There are critical intradisciplinary... Show moreThe discourse of Islam’s relation to evolution has been steadily developing over the past few decades. Still, the field is lacking sufficient academic maturity. There are critical intradisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary perspectives that need attention in this complex conversation. To help fill this lacuna, this online conference aims to widen the number of Islamic perspectives on the matter, and further the resolution on issues that stimulate Muslim thinkers with evolution. The following are the themes of interest for this conference. The conference will address key themes in Science and Religion, Evolutionary Biology, and Islamic theology and philosophy. Show less
After World War II the United Nations developed new international law constructs in cooperation with the majority of the world’s nations, which were mainly based on a Western hermeneutic of rights.... Show moreAfter World War II the United Nations developed new international law constructs in cooperation with the majority of the world’s nations, which were mainly based on a Western hermeneutic of rights. This international humanistic project provided new anthropological constructs which were seen as compatible or non-compatible, by Muslims or non-Muslims, with Islam. When analyzing these discussions on Islam and human rights discourse into a typology they can provide insights where compatibility and non-compatibility lies, and where possible reinterpretation is needed. Within the typology, two forms of discourses can be discerned: Islamic human rights discourse as the internal Muslim discourse on human rights and the external ‘Islam and human rights’ discourse which emerged together with the modern human rights regimes. By analyzing the different elements of what constitutes Islam and human rights discourse we can derive new understandings and strategies in how to engage a modern Islamic human rights discourse and constitute an Islamic science of human rights (ʿilm al-ḥuqūq) which provides a hermeneutics of continuity between Islam and modern human rights and overcomes both apologetics and othering.Keywords: Islam and human rights; ḥuqūq Allāh wa-ḥuqūq al-ʿibād; Islamic reform; Islamic jurisprudence; Islam and modernityShow less
Among the trends of Islamic modernism is the propagation of the compatibility or similarity of the meaning of verses of the Qurʾān with modern scientific theories and observations of nature and the... Show moreAmong the trends of Islamic modernism is the propagation of the compatibility or similarity of the meaning of verses of the Qurʾān with modern scientific theories and observations of nature and the cosmos. Although this idea of compatibility is also advocated by several classical scholars in their exegesis of the Qurʾān, it never had so many proponents and such wide popularity among the general Muslim population as it has since the 20th century. Many proponents of scientific exegesis (tafsīr al-ʿilmī) claim that the Qurʾān contains descriptions of nature that are scientifically accurate, and which can only be understood correctly with current scientific knowledge, i.e. the true meaning of the these verses was not available to Muslims before the appearance of modern science. We will test this claim by comparing one such modern proponent's exegesis, Abdul Wadud (d. 2001), with that of a classical scholar, ʿAbd Allāh al-Baydāwī (d. 1286). Through this we can see if the modern 'scientific miracle' exegesis of the Qurʾān truly provides new or even better insights of these verses compared to classical rational exegesis. This article tries not to analyze the veracity of modern or classical exegesis, but their concept of the purpose of revelation, epistemology and worldview concerning nature, and how this is applied in their proposed exegesis of certain verses. In this comparative analysis of the scientific exegesis of Wadud and al-Bayḍāwī we will show that both their approaches to the Qurʾānic text is rational, focused on the inimitability of the Qu'ran (ʿijāz al-Qurʾān), and incorporate their contemporary natural philosophy into their exegesis, thereby linking revelation and nature. Show less
One of the main trends in Islamic modernism is the pursuit of rational exegesis of the Qur'ān. As a response to this trend many of these Sunni Islamic modernists have been accused of being neo... Show moreOne of the main trends in Islamic modernism is the pursuit of rational exegesis of the Qur'ān. As a response to this trend many of these Sunni Islamic modernists have been accused of being neo-Muʿtazilites because of their use of independent reason, the historicizing of the Qurʾān, the emphasis on metaphorical interpretation of verses with supernaturalistic contents, the de-emphasizing of tradition, and the use of non-Islamic sources and thought. The similarities between modernists and classical rationalistic schools are seen in their exegeses on verse 113:4 wherein the dominant traditional interpretation of supernatural sorcery is denied. This paper tries to show that the reason why many forms of Islamic modernism are labelled as modern versions of Muʿtazilism is not because modernists consciously or unconsciously adopt Muʿtazilism, but because they have similarities in the way they view nature. It is from this shared view on nature from which spring similar consequences in the acceptance of objective ethics, de-emphasizing supernaturalism, and emphasizing the rationality and superiority of the Qur'ān compared to other sources within the Islamic tradition. Show less
