bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
IRAQ
Authors: Ahmad Mumtaz
Published: December 2020

At the end of 1979 when the fall of the Shah of Iran was imminent, all eyeswere set on Iraq. Iraq was then seen as the new giant of the Gulf. It had remainedcompletely aloof from all the major inter-Arab disputes and contnwersiesfor almost a decade and had exclusively focused its attention on its ownsocio-economic development. Its development performance during the 1970shad been phenomenal. Iraqi economic planning was rated by internationaldevelopment experts as the most prudent, rational and well-implemented inthe entire Middle East. Notwithstanding-or perhaps because of- its oppressivepolitical apparatus, the Ba'thist state had imposed a code of strict, puritanicalfinancial ethics on its international economic transactions. Iraqi developmentexperience was thus regarded as unique in the Third World in that it was theleast hog-tied by malpractices, pay-offs and personal empire-building by theleadership.Iraq in 1979 was thus a nation with great promise. The size of its oil reservesand potential oil revenues, its capacity for sustained economic developmentbased on a non-oil economy, and its vast water resources that offered thepossibility of an expanded economic base in both agriculture and industry,were some of the major advantages Iraq enjoyed over other Arab oil-producingstates. Its geographical position bordering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan,Turkey, and Iran placed it in an area of great geostrategic concern forboth regional and global ewers. Its pivotal position between Israel to thewest and the Gulf to the east, where it forms what Christine Moss Helmshas called "the eastern flank of the Arab World" was regarded as unique inthe Middle East.But then, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took the greatest gamble of hislife-and lost. He misjudged the vulnerability of the newly installed IslamicRepublic of Iran under the leadership of Ayatullah Khomeini and, believingin his own rhetoric about the invincibility of the Iraqi armed forces, decidedto invade Iran on some filmsy pretexts. Five and a half years after the war ...
The Shari'ah and its Implications for Islamic Financial Analysis
Authors: Tomkins Cyril , 'Abdul Karim Rif'at Ahmed
Published: December 2020

I. Relevance of the IssueBy far the majority of articles in the world's leading accounting journalstake as given the culture and religions of the Western world. Articles appearfrom time to time that make distinctions among accounting practices indifferent Western or ex-Commonwealth countries, but in so doing there isusually no need to re-examine whether the basic building blocks of accountingand finance are consistent with the cultures of those countries; that is taken asself-evident. A few authors have pressed further to show that it is inappropriateto impose unmodified Western accounting practices on developingcountries, while many others have illustrated the difficulties in harmonizinginternational accounting standards when they have to be applied to countrieswith different environmental business and social foundations.This line of development is followed in these pages to examine the situationin countries adhering to strict Islamic principles where the culturalbackground to business, and in particular the influence of religious law, arequite different from that in Western countries. It will be shown that differencesbetween the Islamic and Christian religions imply different societal rules ofbusiness behaviour, which further imply differences in operating financialorganisations, as well as in accounting for them and conducting financialanalysis. In fact, the impact of religious principles are so different in these ...
Orientalism in Moby Dick
Authors: Al Disuqi Rasha
Published: December 2020

This article aims to correct some of the basic errors in Melvillian Islamiccriticism. One of the classics of Western literature is Herman Melville’s MobyDick. the allegorical story of one man’s pursuit of a great white whale.4 Likeall great novelists, Melville was struggling with the great moral issues thattranscend individuals and even civilizations. This contrasts with most ofmodem literature, which exhibits journalistic habits of mind and tends to dealin superficial analysis rather than with the reflective process that gives contentto meditation and thought.Modem literary criticism exhibits the same shallowness. George Orwellexplained the problem perhaps when he observed that applying the same standardsto such novelists as Dickens and Dostoyevsky and to most contemporarywriters is like weighing a flea on a spring-balance intended forelephants.” Critics, he added, don’t do this, because it would mean having tothrow out most of the books they get for review.The value of Melville’s work is that it is possessed of the moral imperativeand is designed to lead the forces of wisdom and balance against the spiritualbankruptcy and anarchy of the encroaching materialism in modem Westerncivilization.The tragedy of Melville’s work is the superficiality of its reliance onIslamic sources, which Melville had read but only in Orientalist distortion.This tragedy has been compounded by later generations of Orientalists whohave used the distortions of Melville to generate their own. Perhaps the mostinsidious of these latter-day Orientalists is Dorothy Finklestein, author ofMelville’s Oriendu, who we shall refer to simply as “the critic."Her study of Melville’s Islamic references devotes a complete section to“Muhammad and the Arabs” in the chapter on “Prophets and Conquerers.”Following this, she presents an exhaustive analysis of “Islamic Characters andSymbols.” She harshly rejects Melville’s immature resort to secondary Islamicsources; namely Carlyle’s Hero, Heroworship, and Heroic History, Goethe’s ...
Islamic Justice In A Monetary System
Authors: Anwar Muhammad
Published: December 2020

Dr. M. Umer Chapra. Towards a Just Monetary System. Leicester:The Islamic Foundation. 1985. 292p.Extensive literature on the institutional aspects of monetary economics includespioneering studies by Muhammad Uzair, Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi,Ziauddin Ahmed, Anwar Iqbal Qureshi, Afzalur Rahman, and theCouncil of Islamic Ideology in Pakistan among many others. Scores ofresearch papers have elaborated the functioning of Islamic banking in theoryand practice. A fresh study on Islamic banking in Iran and Pakistan by ZubairIqbal and Abbass Mirakhor has been released by the International MonetaryFund. In the voluminous literature on issues dealing with money and bankingin Islam, Towards Q Just Monetary System is outstanding in many respects.The study is tightly knit, thoroughly documented, and the ideas are carekllyanalyzed. These qualities are lacking in most works on Islamic economics.Competence in ecnomics and command of Arabic for access to originalsources in Islam is essential for a scholarly integration of shari'ah and modemeconomic analysis in order to address ContempOrary economic problems.There is no doubt that Dr. Umer Chapra, Economic Adviser to the Saudi ArabianMonetary Agency, has all the necessary background.Towards a Just Monetary System introduces a perspective on the interestbearingsystem before outlining various socio-economic goals and strategiesin chapter one. Islamic views on the nature of riba are discussed in chaptertwo supported by a comprehensive appendix based on the Qur'an, Ahadith,and Fiqh literature on riba. Equity-based financing as an alternative tointerest-based financing is proposed in chapter three, for which necessaryreforms are outlined in chapter four. A vigorous comparison is drawn inchapter five between interest-bearing and interest-free systems in terms ofallocation of resources, saving and capital formation, stability, economicgrowth, and fulfilment of various types of credit needs. Some necessary ...
Maitasine
Authors: Doi Abdul Rahman I.
Published: December 2020

There have been errorneous statements made by some writers that the"Izalah Muslim sect, which is officially recognized, has a doctrine similar tothose of Muhammadu Marwa Maitatsine". This was the interpretation ofWest Africa Magazine and also that of Dr. M. A. Ojo whose article on TheMaitatsine Revolution in Nigeria appeared in the American Journal IslamicSocial Sciences.The actual name of Izalah Movement is Izalat al-Bid'ah Wa Iqamat al-Sunnah, the movement that aims at removing devilic innovations (al-Bid'ahal-Shaytaniyyah) and establishing Sunnah in the life of Muslims on the samepattern as that of the great Nigerian Mujahid and Mujaddid Shaikh 'UthmanDanfodio. The person who started this reform movement is no other thanShaikh Abubakar Mahud Gumi who has been recently recognized and awardedKing Faysal Award for his meritorious services to the cause of Islam inAfrica.The question is then, who was Maitatsine or who are the Maitatsinefollowers who made their very strange appearance in Nigeria at dijerenttimes? I have read all the writings about Maitatsine by various scholars and Ihave closely tried to study this mischievous anti-Islamic and destructivemovement, but as time goes on I have become more and more perplexed likemany of my friends about the real identity of Maitatsine and his followers.The recent write-up by the columnist Candido in New Nigerian Newspaperentitled, "The Maitatine Scare", on Wednesday April 8,1987 is an alarmingdisclosure: ...
Community, Justice, and Jihad
Authors: Abul-Fadl Mona
Published: December 2020

The CommunityIslam is more than a Faith in the heart of every Muslim. It is also a sourceof identity. The fundamental rites and devotions constituting its 'Pillars'simultaneously confirm the faith of the individual and affirm the bonds ofCommunity. It is this symbiosis of Faith and Community that over time gaverise to a Muslim historical consciousness. From it too stems the predilectionfor an active social and political involvement on the part of Muslims as groupsand individuals.The elements of this consciousness emanate from an Islamic world-viewand they have interacted in various situations and contexts to condition theresponses of Muslims throughout history. To explore these elements it isessential to examine three basic concepts: Umma, 'Adl, and Jihad or respectively,Community, Justice and the Just Striving. All three concepts areembedded in the matrix of Tawhid and are interwoven and integrally related toone another. In their context a Muslim group consciousness has been forgedfor over a millenium. As such, they justly provide the parameters forunderstanding Muslim history and forecasting the future of Islam in theworld.Cornmunity/al'Umma: Legacy of Prophethood andVehicle of Muslim ConsciousnessThe Community in Islam is a purposeful entity composed of a group, or ajamah whose members, by virtue of a common faith, way of life and sense of ...
Ghazali’s Juristic Treatment of the Shari‘ah Rules in al-Mustasfa
Authors: Hammad Ahmad Zaki
Published: December 2020

IntroductionGhazali's approach to usul al-fiqh, as articulated in his last and greatestwork of Law, al-Mustasfa is based on the premise that, in essence, this scienceis knowledge of how to extract ahkam (rules) from the Shari'ah sources.(As for the science of fiqh, it concerns itself particularly with the Shari'ahrules themselves which have been established in order to qualify the acts ofthe locus of obligation, man.) Accordingly, Ghazali views it as imperativethat any discourse on usul focus on three essentail elements: the ahkam; theadilla (sources); and the means by which rules are extracted from these sources,which ultimately includes examination of the qualifications of the extractor,namely, the mujtahid. This paper lays out Ghazali's treatment in al-Mustasfaof the first of these elements, the ahkam.Hukm (The Shari’ah Address)Linguistically, hukm is the verbal noun of hakama, which signifies “withholding,restraint, prevention; and judgment, jurisdiction, rule, dominion,authority, or governinglq The technical meaning, however, varies accordingto its usages in the terminologies of philosophy, Arabic grammar, usul, and fiqh.Ghazali defines hukm as the Shan‘irh address ( khitab al-Shar’) in relationto the acts of the loci of obligation, the address being Allah’s revelationto His Messenger. It is divided into two categories: revelation for recitation(wahi matluww), that is, the Qur”an; and revelation not for recitation (wahighayr lww matu), namely, the Sunnah.
Human Resources Development
Authors: Siddiqui Dilnawaz A.
Published: December 2020

IntroductionThis paper seeks to define human resources development (HRD) as anecessary, if not a sufficient, tool for bringing about societal change in lessdeveloped countries (LDC‘s), and reflects upon different concepts of ”development,” including the Islamic view of it. Then, it reviews the status of educationin the Muslim World and moves on to describe the TALIM model ofHRD. In the end, a few salient features of the mechanism of this model aresuggested. Also, an HRD policy plan that needs to be implemented by theMuslim Ummah is included as an appendix.Human Resources Development (HRD)It can be easily argued that HRD has been an established tradition sincetime immemorial, as it is difficult to determine when individual apprenticeshipstarted. The well-developed ancient civilizations of China, India, Mesopotamiaand Egypt would have been impossible without an established tradition ofapprenticeship. In the West, however, HRD as an organized activity does nothave a long history. Here they have only recently begun to realize itssignificance. The West has now started to move from the stage of treatinglabor as a disposable element of production to a position where “human factor”is considered significant as both the planner and the beneficiary of thefruits of production.According to Knowles (1960) and Nadler (1970), HRD is a strategy ofdeveloping skilled manpower. Nadler (1mO) defines HRD as a series of organizedactivities, conducted within a specified time, and designed to producebehavioral change. According to him, it has four components: (1) employeetraining, (2) employee education, (3) employee development, and (4) nonemployeedevelopment ...
EDITORIAL
Authors: Rahman Mushtaqur
Published: December 2020

This issue is unprecedented in a variety of ways. It has five papers withextremely interesting materials, four Research Notes, four Book Reviews,eight conference/seminar reports, and one letter to the Editor. Its lead articlehas been written by one of our top intellectuals displacing many conventionalnotions to assert that Islamization is a force of global renewal. It is rare thatone reads such a nicely worded, well-argued, and refreshing article.This issue begins with a selection from the Holy Qur'an and commentaryby the AMSS President, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman. These selections alwaysinspire the readers and provide the best framework for conceptualization.The lead article by Mona Abul Fadl of the International Institute of IslamicThought contends, and rightly so, that Tmhidi Episteme is as relevant tomodernity as anything else could be. Following her article are two papersgermane to Islamic thought. In the first, Husain Kassim presents Sarakhsi'sDoctrine of Istihsan as an approach towards Ahkam al-Dunya. In the secondpaper Hakim Rashid deals with the socialization of Muslim children inAmerica. Discounting the dichotomy within and across societies betweenideal and actual behavior in the West, he asserts that acquisition of knowledge,skills and socialization among Muslim children must conform to the Qur'anand Sunnah.The third section on Islamization of Disciplines also presents two papers.In the first one, Mohammad Siddiqui describes an Islamic framework forthe study of interpersonal communication. The other paper, by A. al Tayob,is a review of the religious, political, and social transformation of the Arabsafter the advent of Islam. He compares pre-Islamic Arab societies with MuslimArab societies and states that religio-cultural-political transformation in themwas the expression of the holism of the Qur'an which was capable of underhungthe meaningfulness of the past, thus bridging the gap between past and present.The following section has four Research Notes. Rizwan Malik organizeshis note in two parts. In the first, he discusses the role of the 'Ulama inthe political development of late 19th and early 20th century India. In thesecond, he raises an interesting question concerning whether the role of 'Ulamawas based on Islamic issues or was shaped by its response to British power.In the following note, Marwan Obeidat examines Royal Tyler's Algerine Captive(1797), affirming that such novels and others like them, includmg the accountsof early travellers and missionaries gave a fragmentary and grossly inaccurate ...
North African Conferences on Islamic Themes
Authors: Irving T. B.
Published: December 2020

This past spring has seen two important conferences on Islamic topicswhich merit observation.In mid March CEROMDI, or the Study and Research Centre on Ottomanand Morisco Documentation and Information (Centre d'Etudes et deRecherches Ottomanes, Morisques, de Documentation et d'Information) heldthe Fourth International Symposium on Morisco Studies in Zaghwan,approximately 80 km south of Tunis, and in the capital of Tunis itself, inthe Hotel du Lac. This meeting lasted from March 15-19, 1989.The conference was made possible largely due to the enthusiasm ofProfessor Abdeljalil Temimi, of Morisco descent himself, and was inauguratedin the CEROMDI library which Prof. Temimi has built with his own fundsin the Morisco city of Zaghwan. The ceremony was attended by membersof the government and diplomatic corps as well as professors from all overthe Western Mediterranean area. The topics of the symposium covered theart and handicrafts of the Moriscos who were exiled from Spain in 1610,their religious life and the rich legacy they have left in Morocco, Algeriaand Tunisia, as well as in several libraries in Spain itself and elsewhere,such as Paris and Cambridge.Participants came from France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt,Saudi Arabia, the Unjted States and Puerto Rico. Their papers covered manyfields, such as interpretation of their documents and description of theirheritage. The Spanish delegation was led by the dean of Morisco studiesin that country, Professor Alvaro Oalmes de Fuentes, formerly of the Universityof Oviedo in Asturias and now from the Central University in Madrid: andMikel de Epalza from Alicante. Others were Professor Consuelo LopezMorillasfrom Indiana University, and Maria Teresa Narvaez from theUniversity of Puerto Rico in Ro Piedras. The latter spoke on Mancebo deArevalo, an important yet somewhat mysterious intellectual leader of thepersecuted Muslims of Castile in central Spain in the 1520s and 1530s, almostthe same time as the picaro Lazarillo de Tonnes. Communications were inFrench, Arabic, English and Spanish ...
Workshop on lslamization of Knowledge
Authors: Zain al-Abedin Tayyib
Published: December 2020

The Workshop on Islarnization of Knowledge was held Shaban 20-22,1409/March 27-29, 1989 at Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, Nigeria.It was jointly sponsored by the University's Center for Islamic Studies, theIslamic Education Trust of Nigeria, the Muslim World League, and theInternational Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). The Center for Islamic Studiesis headed by Dr. Omar Bellu, a specialist in Arab Islamic Studies who servesas the University's Vice-President, and as Secretary of the Nigerian Councilof Scholars. The Islamic Education Trust is headed by Al-Hajj Ahmad Lemu,the Supreme Judge in Niger State and a prorrtlnent leader of the IslamicMovement in Nigeria who has established a number of Arabic Islamic Schoolsconsidered among the best for teaching Islamic and secular sciences.Objectives:The objective of the Workshop was to determine the means through whichUsmanu Danfodiyo University, in cooperation with the Islamic EducationTrust and other Islamic organizations could devise a program of action forthe Islamization of general and higher education in Nigeria. It also aimedat revising curricula for various academic disciplines to accommodate Islamicperspectives and to meet Islamic norms; developing and producing teachingand reading materials for various disciplines; and developing staff to servicethe revised curricula along Islamic lines.The Workshop's attendance was restricted to the professors and teachingstaff at Othman Dan Fodio University, and a number of youths from outsidethe university. On average, about eighty persons, including three or fourwomen, attended each session. The participants paid special tribute to themartyr Isma'il al-Faruqi for his pioneering role in the Islarnization ofKnowledge.The Seminar's Discussions:The first working session, chaired by Professor 'Abdul-Karirm Hussain, ...
Siyasah Shar'iyah or the Policies of Islamic Government
Authors: Kamali Mohamad Hashim
Published: December 2020

IntroductionSiyasah shar'iyah is a broad doctrine of Islamic law which authorizesthe ruler to determine the manner in which the Shari'ah should be administered.The ruler may accordingly take discretionary measures, enact rules and initiatepolicies as he deems are in the interest of good government, providedthat no substantive principle of the Shari'ah is violated thereby. The discretionarypowers of the ruler under siyasah shar'iyah are particularly extensivein the field of criminal law. The head of state and those who are incharge of public affairs, the 'ulu al amr, may thus decide on rules and proceduresas they deem appropriate in order to discover truth and to determineguilt. With regard to the substantive law of crimes, too, the 'ulu al amr havepowers to determine what behavior constitutes an offense and what punishmentis to be applied in each case.Many observers have expressed concern over the wide discretionarypowers that rulers and judges enjoy under siyasah shar'iyah. It is suggestedthat siyasah, as such, defies effective control, and it is open to abuse, whichwould ultimately undermine the ideals of justice under the rule of law. Oneobserver has thus considered siyasah as "direct negation of what may be regardedas the second essential implication of the idea of the rule of law in asecular system- namely, the principle that the sovereign must not possessany arbitrary power over the subject."According to another critic, siyasah has enabled the Islamic ruler to enactlegislation, especially in the field of criminal law, under the guise of "administrativeregulations." But in effect, the ruler enacted independent legislationin such areas as taxation, police matters, and the administration of justice,in general, which often interferred with, or severely circumscribed, theShari'ah.Penalties imposed at the discretion of the ruler or the judge are knownas ra'z'irat. As a branch of siyasah, ta'zir (lit. deterence) must differ accordingto the nature of the offense and the particular circumstances of the offender.The judge may thus determine the punishment of ta'zir in each caseaccording to his own observations and personal ijtihad. It has been suggestedthat the individual in such a system is exposed to official abuse against whichhe has no effective means of protecting himself ...
Paradigms in Political Science Revisited
Authors: Abul Fadl Mona
Published: December 2020

A CONVOCATIONIt is time for Muslim political scientists to come together to debate thestate of the art in their field and to define the grounds and terms for its prospectiveevolution or transformation in the light of alternative perspectives.The underlying assumptions which provide the parameters and the key conceptswhich they currently apply in the course of their normal practice shouldno longer be assumed but should be questioned. To do so, they will needto be made explicit and examined in a new light. The developments of thepast decade make this imminent in more than one way. ln the West the souJsearchingamong social scientists bas intensified and contributed to shakingthe profession out of its complacency. The resulting meta-critique has heightenedcritical awareness.The decade has also coincided with a dawning epistemic consciousnessamong Muslims. Conscientious scholars and intellectuals have staked theirclaims to autonomy on the grounds of a critical disaffection with their field. Perceived disjunctures bred that kind of essential tension which prompteda review of foundational dimensions of consciousness and being. They identifiedtheir source in dissonant cultural forces and processes comprising education,socialization and the reproduction of knowledge, values, and symbolsas underlying the continuities and discontinuities in the fabric of the Ummah.This constituted the diagnosed malaise. In this process of critical introspection,the idea of the Islamization of knowledge was conceived. Itsnatural focus was the state of modem knowledge and its modes of diffusionand transmission along the educational and cultural arteries in the Ummah.It contested the myth of modem sciences as value-free, a myth that was particularlydominant within Muslim societies themselves. Claims to valueneutralitywere not only questionable as empirical reality, but they were evenmore dubious and questionable as a moral ideals ...
Studies in Qur’an and Hadith
Authors: Mas’ud Muhammad Khalid
Published: December 2020

David S. Powers’ book, originally a doctoral dissertation submitted toPrinceton University, is a welcome addition to the already growing corpusof studies revising Joseph Schacht’s thesis that Islamic law did not exist duringthe lifetime of the Prophet. This is, however, not the central theme ofthe book. Powers contends that the Islamic law of inheritance is not identicalto the system of inheritance revealed to Prophet Muhammad and that theMuslim community is not in possession of the original reading and understandingof several Qur’anic verses and Prophetic hadith.The thesis presented in this book can be summarized as follows:Islamic law began to develop with Qur‘anic legislation which was moreclear and systematic on the subject of inheritance. In pre-Islamic Arabia theintergenemtional transmission of property was by seniority rather than by directdescent. The Qur’an introduced a new system of inheritance which reflecteda transition from tribalism to individualism, with more emphasis on the rightsof women to property. The author sees two systems of the law of inheritancein Islam:1) The proto-Islamic law of inheritance which existed only during2) Islamic law of inheritance, which exists as ‘ilm al-farii‘id.the lifetime of the Prophet; and,Powers contends that the proto-Islamic system was mainly testatory andthe property was distributed according to fixed shares only in the absenceof a will. Husband and wife, not being blood relatives, inherited as testatoryheirs.The author divides his dissertation into two parts. In the first part he dealswith the proto-Islamic, in the second with the Islamic system of inheritance.The first part proceeds by looking at the practice of bequest and testation inMakkah and Madinah in early Islam, giving special attention to the inheritancebetween husbands and wives, and the Qur’anic law of testation and intestacy.The second part proceeds by looking at socio-economic developmentsin the early period and contends that people in power manipulated the Qur‘anic ...
Mobilization Of Resources For Development
Authors: Sadeq A. H. M.
Published: December 2020

IntroductionThe employment of resources is important for any aspect of the spectrumof overall development, be it economic or non-economic, spiritual or material.Although spiritual matters seem to be noneconomic in nature, their inculcationand development involve the use of resources. Hence, Allah (SWT) instructsmankind to invest in the development of spiritual values. The spread andestablishment of Islam require travelling, dissemination of knowledge,education, publication of literatw~u, se of media, protecton of Islamic societiesfrom non-Islamic forces (i.e. internal and external defense), administrationof institutions intended for the implementation of Islamic obligations andnorms, and the like. Each of these functions requires tremendous amountsof material and human resources.Economic development comprises two essential components: economicgrowth and equity in the distribution of income and wealth. Economic growthrequires investable resources for producing capital goods, hiring workers andmanagers, acquiring raw materials, improving technology, and organizingthe production process. In particular, capital formation and technologicalchange have been considered as key factors in economic development; theavailability of adequate investable resources is a prerequisite for the smoothsupply and use of these factors.The Islamic code of life provides enormous incentives for mobilizingresources, both material and human, and an institutional framework conduciveto efficient use of resources for development. This paper, which concentrateson mobilizing resources for development, discusses natural, human andfinancial resources, as well as the role of government and internal and externalinstitutions in the development process ...
Guiding Light
Authors: AbuSulayman 'AbdulHamid A.
Published: December 2020

TranslationIn the name of Allah, Most Gracious,Most Merciful.1. Now the ‘Ad behavdArrogantly through the land,Against (all) truth and reason,And said: Who is superiorTo us in strength? What!Did they not see thatGod, Who created them,Was superior to themIn strength? But theyContinued to reject Our Signs!Surah Fussilat (41:15)2. Against them make readyYour strength to the utmostof your power, includingSteeds of war, to strike terrorInto (the hearts of) the enemies,Of God and your enemiesAnd others besides, whomYe may not know, but whomGod doth knowwhateverYe shall spend in the CauseOf God, shall be repaidUnto you, and ye shall notBe treated unjustly.Surah Al Anfal (8:20)3. He said: “(The power) in whichMy Lord has established meIs better (than tribute):Help me therefore with strength(And labour): I willErect a strong barrierBetween you and them: ...
Political Science in the Legacy of Classical Islamic Literature
Authors: Al Alwani Taha J.
Published: December 2020

In my own limited knowledge I know of no specialized studies in ourclassical legacy which could be described today as political thought, or astreatises on political systems, international relations, systems of government,the history of diplomacy, political development, methods of political analysis,political theory, political planning, or any of the other categories currentlystudied as a part of contemporary knowledge.Nonetheless, many of the issues discussed on these subjects were treatedin the classical legacy through the medium of fiqh (laws of Islam), whichin its long history touched upon many of the subjects studied today in thesocial sciences. Likewise, many of the questions dealt with in the field ofpolitical science were addressed by the early scholars of Islam within theframework of their writings on classical Fiqh of al Ahkam al Sultaniyah (thePrecepts of Power). Perhaps the book written by Shaykh Ibn Taymiyah, alSiyasah al Shar’iyah, was one of the most distinctive efforts in this directionas well as the book by al Khatib al Iskafi, Lutf al Tadbir, which also dealtwith certain issues which remain relevant today. Similar to such works areSuluk al Malik Fi Tadbir al Mamalik, Bada’i al-Silk, and others.These works show that the meaning of politics to the Muslim mind, andas envisioned by Islam, involves making arrangements for mankind inaccordance with the values prescribed by Allah (SWT) for the realizationof His purposes in creation, and in fulfillment of the trust of vicegerency,the duties of civilization, and the responsibility of the Ummah to act as awitness unto all mankind in its capacity as the “Middlemost Nation.”“Making arrangements” includes reading the past and learning its lessonsas well as interpreting, understanding, and analyzing the present in the lightof those lessons. Other elements included in “making arrangements” areplanning for the future and benefiting from all scientific knowledge that clarifies ...
The Case for Muslim Constitutional Interpretive Activity
Authors: Moore Kathleen
Published: December 2020

Muslim Involvement: The Court Record 1.Prisoners' RightsCan we rely upon the courts to protect Islam and Muslims from discriminatory treatment? Have the courts considered Islam to be a 'religion' worthy of constitutional protection? The issue of First Amendment protection of Muslim beliefs and practices has arisen most often in cases brought by African-American Muslims who are incarcerated. In fact, the area of law to which Muslims have made their most substantial contribution to date is the area of prisoners' rights litigation. African-American Muslim inmates have been responsible for establishing prisoners' constitutional rights to worship. Cases brought by Muslims have established that prisoners have the right to assemble for religious services; to consult a cleric of their faith; to possess religious publications and to subscribe to religious literature; to wear unobstrusive religious symbols such as medallions; to have prepared a special diet required by their religion; and to correspond with their spiritual leaders. The court record demonstrates that Muslim inmates' religious liberty claims, challenging prison regulations that impinge on the free exercise of the Islamic faith, have been accepted only under certain circumstances. In brief, the responsiveness of the courts to Muslim inmates' claims has turned on a number of factors including: (1) the issue of equality of treatment of all religious groups in prison; (2) the courts' reticence to reverse the decisions of prison officials; (3) the degree to which the inmates' challenges would undermine the fundamental interests of the state (e.g. in prison security and administrative efficiency); and (4) the showing that Islam is parallel in significant ways to the conventional Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths.Constitutional protection of Islamic practices in prison and elsewhere, however, has not been automatic. Many Muslim organizations, the Nation of Islam in particular, have been treated as cults, or suspect and dangerous groups, due in part to the perception that Muslims teach racial hatred, and have not been regarded in the same respect as 'mainline' religious groups. It has been argued before the courts that Muslim doctrine contains political aspirations and economic goals as well as racial prejudice and should be suppressed in the interest of society. The gist of this argument is that certain Muslim groups are primarily political and not religious associations and thus ...
Political Science in the Legacy of Classical Islamic Literature
Authors: Al 'Alwani Taha J.
Published: December 2020

In my own limited knowledge I know of no specialized studies in ourclassical legacy which could be described today as political thought, or astreatises on political systems, international relations, systems of government,the history of diplomacy, political development, methods of political analysis,political theory, political planning, or any of the other categories currentlystudied as a part of contemporary knowledge.Nonetheless, many of the issues discussed on these subjects were treatedin the classical legacy through the medium of fiqh (laws of Islam), whichin its long history touched upon many of the subjects studied today in thesocial sciences. Likewise, many of the questions dealt with in the field ofpolitical science were addressed by the early scholars of Islam within theframework of their writings on classical Fiqh of al Ahkam al Sultaniyah (thePrecepts of Power). Perhaps the book written by Shaykh Ibn Taym-yah, alSiyasah al Shar’iyah, was one of the most distinctive efforts in this directionas well as the book by al Khatib al Iskafi, Lutf al Tadbir, which also dealtwith certain issues which remain relevant today. Similar to such works areSuluk al Malik Fi Tadbir al Mamalik, Bada’i al-Silk, and others.These works show that the meaning of politics to the Muslim mind, andas envisioned by Islam, involves making arrangements for mankind inaccordance with the values prescribed by Allah (SWT) for the realizationof His purposes in creation, and in fulfillment of the trust of vicegerency,the duties of civilization, and the responsibility of the Ummah to act as awitness unto all mankind in its capacity as the “Middlemost Nation.”“Making arrangements” includes reading the past and learning its lessonsas well as interpreting, understanding, and analyzing the present in the lightof those lessons. Other elements included in “making arrangements” areplanning for the future and benefiting from all scientific knowledge that clarifies ...
Towards Understanding the Qur'an Translation of Mawdudi's Tafhim al-Qur'an
Authors: Mir Mustansir
Published: December 2020

Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi's multi-volume Tafhim al-Quran is a majorQur'an commentary of the twentieth century. Written over a period of aboutthirty years, the work runs the gamut of Qur'anic-and Islamic-thought anddoctrine, and is the magnum opus of a writer called by Wilfred CantwellSmith "the most systematic thinker of modern Islam." As such, Tafhim isan important work. An English translation exists, but clearly there was aneed for a new translation, and that is what Zafar Ishaq Ansari attemptsto provide in Towards Understanding the Qur'an, of which two volumes,covering the first six surahs of the Qur'an, have so far been published.Ansari's translation may be called "authorized" in that it was the author'swish that Ansari render Tafhim into English. The translation reads quite well.Being intimately familiar with Mawdiidi's style, and being a writer of reputein his own right, Ansari has done a good job of rendering Tafhim into English.Besides possessing a high degree of readability, the work has other notablefeatures. The translator has furnished complete documentation for thequotations in the original work, including all ahadith, and, while retainingand translating the highly useful subject index of the Urdu original, has addeda glossary of terms, biographical notes, a bibliography, and a general index.On occasions, alternative interpretations, offered by other scholars, are noted(e.g. of the object pronoun in ya'rifanahu in the Qur'an, 2:146 [TowardsUnderstanding the Quran, 1:125), or of alladh'ina yakhafana in 5:23 [ibid.,2:151, n. 451), the reasons for the use of certain Islamic terms by Mawdudi(e.g. "caliphate" for pre-Islamic kingships, etc. [2:153]) are given, and termsand expressions which an Urdu reader would understand because of hisparticular cultural background are explained for the English reader. The amountof such notes and explanations seems to increase in Volume 2.A few problems may be noted. Here and there certain portions of theoriginal text are not translated. From the author's Preface and Introductionespecially, several paragraphs have been left out. While every attempt is madeto convey the general meaning of the parts omitted, the omissions in somecases are not indicated. Unlike the Biographical Notes, the Glossary of Terms,found in each volume, is not meant to be cumulative. There are, however,some repetitions in the Glossary of Vol. 2 (e.g. Ahl al-Dhimmah, Din, Hadith, ...
Religion and Political Power
Authors: Ali Sheikh R.
Published: December 2020

The upheaval in contemporary world politics reveals a renewed interestin religion; similarly, the current anarchy in rehgious thought and institutionsoften demonstrates a not-so-subtle interest in politics. Hence, for politicalscientists, among others, new studies of religion and politics are alwayswelcome. Except for two essays in this volume, all were presented in 1986at a seminar on “Religion and Nationalism: held under the auspices of theNational Endowment for the Humanities at the University of California, SantaBarbara. The two essays mentioned, those of Alexandre Benningsen andStephen Feuchtwang (who did not attend the seminar) were commissionedseparately.The editors of this collection are Gustavo Benavides, a lecturer in theDepartment of Religious Studies at Villanova University; and M. W. Daly,an assistant professor in the Department of History at Memphis StateUniversity.The broad-ranging seminar explored the role played by religion in theemergence of the political life of modem states. From India and Sri Lankato the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the resurgence of religious fundamentaismin the United States and its persistence in Israel, the participants discussedthe many forms that the tension between religion and the modem state assumes.However, the thematic thread running through most of the discussions provedto be something more general than the state itself, although it is the statein which it is now manifested. That theme is the exercise of political power;more precisely, the exercise of political power in a context that mobilizesreligious representations.This volume, then, examines the interaction between two of the mostcharged topics in the modem world: religion and politics. It shows theinextricable connection between religious attitudes and responsibilities andpolitical activities.Following an introductory chapter which explores the religiousarticuiations of politid power, the authors examine the role played by religionin the current political situation in several countries. Approaching these casesas anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists, the authorsmake visible the dialectical relationship between religion and the pursuit ofpolitical power. On the one hand, they demonstrate the political significance ...
Western Evolutionism in the Muslim World
Authors: Danner Victor
Published: December 2020

As a general system of thought, evolutionism is the most powerful ideologyin modem Western secularist civilization. It arose in the West over a centuryago and spread there first, gradually reducing the Christian culture of theWest until it became a residual influence. Because Western nations such asEngland, France, and the Soviet Union imposed themselves on Muslim landsin the form of colonialist regimes, we should not be surprised to find withinthe Muslim world the echoes of evolutionary thdang in many of the modernist,or Westernized, Muslims, and even amongst their opponents, the Muslimfundamentalists. This was perhaps inevitable, given that the educational systemof the Muslim world has been patterned on that of the West.In the West, evolutionary modes of thought have gradually created asecularized world devoid of religious attachments. In the Muslim world, itis only natural that modernist Muslims, the so-called Westernized Muslimswho take their bearings from Western as opposed to Islamic thinking, shouldhave sought to create within Islam a similarly secularized culture, likewisecut off from its religious mots. Such Muslims have been the dominant influencein the Muslim world from the nineteenth century up to the Second WorldWar, ample time in which to realize their ambitions. In this fashion,evolutionism, an ideology that arose in the West and succeeded in utterlyde-Christianizing the West, has now penetrated into the Muslim world likea Trojan horse.That being so, we would do well to examine the origins of evolutionarythinking in the West to discern both its nature and to see how it displacedChristian beliefs and institutions. The secularist civilization it produced isnow sweeping the entire globe and threatening to destroy the lingering elementsof traditional Islamic civilization. By first examining what happened in theChristian world, we are in a better position to grasp what has been goingon within the domains of Islam in the recent past. That understanding shouldhave a direct bearing on the question of whether the traditional culture ofIslam can be preserved. Indeed, the world of Islam may very well be the ...
Assimilation in American Life
Authors: Hashem Mazen
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe influx of Muslim immigrants into America has become steady inthe last decade, a development which raises the need for a theoretical outlookdelineating a model of an Islamic-controlled process of assimilation.Using Gordon’s model of assimilation, the paper suggests an Islamicposition regarding each of his seven types and stages of assimilation.In respect to cultural assimilation, the paper advocates an interactiveprocess of assimilation on the level of extrinsic cultural traits. Such a processutilizes six filtration procedures regarding different kinds of American culturalartifacts. But on the level of intrinsic cultural traits, the paper suggests acounterassimilation position, and considers it a cornerstone in keeping theoriginality of Islam.As to identificational assimilation, the paper defines Islamic boundariesrelevant to each of its three components: ethnic, national, and racial.The paper discusses behavior-receptional and attitude-receptional typesof assimilation in light of patterns of behavior that affect such reciprocity.The paper argues that civic assimilation is a crucial area where much ofthe Muslim community’s efforts could be invested.Finally, the paper briefly discusses marital assimilation and structuralassimilation.IntroductionAssimilation is an important subject that deserves careful considerationfrom minorities, marginal groups, and immigrants. The position of a groupon assimilation has far-reaching effects on its present and future, as well ...
A Dynamic Investment Model with Profit-Sharing in an Interest-Free Economy
Authors: Sattar Zaidi
Published: December 2020

The present paper is a contribution to the building blocks of an investmentmodel within the framework of an integrated macroeconomic model of anIslamic economy. Investment behavior in the model is guided by an Islamicethicalvalue system and profit-sharing financial contracts. The typical firm’sinvestment decision is believed to emerge from a dynamic inter-temporalmaximization exercise within an infinite time horizon. The method of Calculusof Variations is applied to arrive at the optimal investment and employmentcriteria for the firm. The result is then incorporated into a macroeconomicmodel to study the behavior of key endogenous variables like national incomeand the rate of profit-share. Comparative statics exercised within a generalequilibrium framework reveal the potency of monetary policy but the neutralityof fiscal policy with respect to output and employment.IntroductionThe past decade has witnessed a tremendous outpouring of interest aswell as effort in the formalization of economic models based on profit-sharingfinancial arrangements as an Islamic alternative to the conventional interestbasedeconomic system. Several macroeconomic models for interest-freeeconomies have been proposed (Anwar 1987; Habibi 1987; Metwally 1981& 1983). The rigor of an integrated approach to such macroeconomic modelhgdepends on the rigor of the component models, namely, the consumption,investment, monetary, and fiscal relationships. Economists have writtenextensively on different aspects of consumer behavior in Islamic societies.Kahf (1978) and Khan (1984), among others, have contributed to the conceptualand analytical formulation of the consumption function under ...