bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Farewell to Mushtaqur Rahman
Authors: Siddiqui Dilnawaz A.
Published: December 2020

Professor Mushtaqur Rahman, a renowned Muslim geographer, who wasborn on July 1,1933 in Agra (India), died of cardiac arrest at Des Moines,Iowa (USA), on November 5, 1999. He had heart problems for severalyears that had slowed down his academic and social service activities butnever deterred him from performing them.In 1947, he migrated to Pakistan, a country he loved dearly and lived toserve throughout his life. Still, his contributions went beyond it in a numberof ways. Having done his B.A. (1953) and M.A. (1955) from theUniversity of Karachi, he taught at Islamiah College, Karachi, and SindhUniversity, Hyderabad for a few years. He earned his Ph.D. degree inCultural Geography, from Louisiana State University in 1960, and didpostdoctoral research at the University of Geisen, Germany in 1966-67. Heserved in the Department of Geography, University of Karachi, Pakistanfrom 1963 to 1969. He was appointed Professor of Geography in theDepartment of Anthropology, Iowa State University (ISU), Ames, Iowa.He served ISU till his retirement in May 1998.Dr.. Rahman’s contribution to the field of Cultural Geography of SouthAsia has been recognized worldwide. In Professor Rahman was combinedan activist and quiet researcher. He was a founding member of the OldStudents’ Association of Karachi University (OSAKU), which he served invarious capacities. Besides carrying out advisory duties for the MuslimStudents Association at ISU, he organized for its students and faculty manystudy tours of Pakistan and brought a number of Pakistani scholars to IowaState.His main scholarly contributions are through his very long, sincere, dedicatedservice to the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) andthrough his many worthy publications in the field of political and culturalgeography. Not only did he serve AMSS as its vice president with one ofits founders, Dr. AbdulHamid AbuSulayman, but he was also elected its ...
Socioeconamic and Political Dynamics in Ibn Khaldun’s Thought
Authors: Chapra M. Umer
Published: December 2020

This article explores Ibn Khaldun’s theories and ideas about the causesthat lead to the rise and decline of civilizations. By emphasizing thedynamic and interdisciplinary character of Ibn Khaldun’s methodology,it systematically shows how moral, social, political, economic, geographical,and cultural factors find their appropriate place in IbnKhaldun’s schemata. Unlike other studies of Ibn Khaldun’s contributions,this article recasts his ideas in contemporary terminology and atonce making Ibn Khaldun’s analysis and prescriptions relevant. Thearticle also examines the central role of welfare, justice, and developmentin statecraft, and provides a lucid model of a contemporaryIslamic welfare state whose muqusid include the material and moralwell-being of its citizens.
Vision of AJISS
Authors: Malkawi Fathi
Published: December 2020

When the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Associationof Muslim Social Scientists decided to launch AJ/SS sixteen years ago, theyhad a shared vision of the condition of the Ummah, the crises facing it, andthe resolution of those crises. These were the three challenges that inspiredthe work of HIT and AMSS the last two decades. As we write the editorialfor the first issue of the seventeenth volume of AJ/SS, we recall those challengesand that vision of Islam and discover that they are still deeply relevanttoday.The first challenge was to understand Islam and then interpret that understanding.Today, more than ever before, Islam is considered a great religion,an egalitarian faith, and a holistic way of life by Muslims and others.More and more people are realizing the extent to which Islamic valuesand the Shari'ah, which are just and universal in character, may contributeto solving the problems of contemporary civilization. They also recognizethat Islamic guidance, which integrates revelation and reason, answers eternalquestions about living righteously on earth and establishing a just andrational 'umriin (civilization).Both HIT and AMSS believe that Muslim scholars and intellectuals willserve Islam and humanity if they articulate a comprehensive worldviewpremised on Islamic ontology, epistemology, and methodology. Thisworldview will enable Muslims to institutionalize and observe Islamicideals and central principles such as tawhid, 'umriin and tazkiyah, enablenon-Muslims to interpret life, nature, and human phenomena, and have sufficientelements shared between them to facilitate a universal discourse thatcan bring the fruits of Islam to all humanity.The second challenge concerned diagnosing the contemporary conditionof the Muslim Ummah. Despite the Islamic values and principles that itpossesses and the human and natural resources it enjoys, the Ummah hasbeen in decline for several centuries. Muslims have been subjected toincomparable defeats and humiliation. In today's global media they are ...
Civil-Military Relations
Authors: Islam Syed Sirajul
Published: December 2020

Some Western scholars have asserted that the high frequency of militarycoup d‘etats in Muslim countries is rooted in Islam. They claim thatcitizens of the Muslim world easily accept military rule because it doesnot run counter to the spirit of Islam. Is this true? Does Islam reallyallow military intervention into politics or coup d’etat? This articleargues that in some contemporary Muslim countries the coup d’etat ormilitary takeover has nothing to do with the basic spirit of Islam.Rather, in those countries, Western colonial rule laid the foundation forthe subsequent takeover of civilian power by the army. Islam does notallow succession to power through force or coup d‘etat. This articleclarifies the position of Islam on the question of civil-military relations.A systematic study on this issue has yet to be done, therefore, there isroom for controversy. In order to explain the civil-military relations inan Islamic polity, this paper first examines Western perspectives oncivil-military relations then highlights Islamic perspectives. Finally, itoffers a brief explanation of military intervention into the politics ofsome contemporary Muslim countries.
How to Make Sense of ‘Islamic Science’?
Authors: Golshani Mehdi
Published: December 2020

The idea of Islamic Science has been around for at least three decades,and it has generated a lot of controversy. Some people deny that thisidea makes any sense. They argue that science is an objective and universalenterprise, and it does not depend on any creed or ideology. Webelieve that this is a nave interpretation of scientific activity and that‘Islamic Science,’ or for that matter, ‘religious science,’ has relevance attwo levels: the theoretical level and the practical level. At the theoreticallevel, the philosophical and ideological presuppositions of the scientistare very effective in his or her theory-making or choice of theories.As for the practical orientation of science, the cultural traditions ofthe scientist make a difference. Thus, ‘Islamic science’ ascertains therelevance of scientific activities to Islamic worldview, which has implicationsfor both the theoretical and the practical aspects of science.’
Religious Minorities in Iran
Authors: Ghana-Hercock Nazila
Published: December 2020

The author is an associate professor of political science at the University ofSouthern California. Her previous publications include a 1982 Praeger publication,"The Women's Rights Movement in Iran: Mutiny, Appeasement, andRepression from I 900 co Khomeini."Religious Minorities in Iran is of interest to political scientists, particularlythose focused on the Middle East; Iran experts; Islamic studies experts concernedwith modem-day politics and governance; those in the field of religiousstudies or comparative religion; and also lawyers, academics, and those workingin Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the human rights field whoare interested in issues related to minority rights, freedom of religion or belief,and human rights in the Middle East.The book focuses on those identified as the main ethnoreligious componentsof the non-Muslim religious communities in Iran: Armenians, Assyrians,Chaldeans, Jews, Zorascrians, Baha'fs, and Iranian Christian converts. Themain period of study is the first decade of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, 1979to 1989. The author gives three reasons for focusing on this period; she arguesthat this was the most ideologically charged moment of the revolution, that theposition of recognized non-Muslim minorities was largely routinized by thelate 1980s, and because she wants to avoid the nuances that emerge and complicatethe political scene after the end of the cold war and the formation ofpost-Soviet states. Later periods are mainly considered only when they beardirect relevance to the points being made and in the concluding chapter ...
Family and Gender among American Muslims
Authors: Hammer Juliane
Published: December 2020

Family and Gender among American Muslims presents a multitude of theoreticaland empirical discussions about the issues of family and gender in variousAmerican Muslim communities.Divided into three main sections, the first section, "Values, Structure, andVariations in Muslim Families" presents articles based on empirical researchon issues such as the role of women in an Iranian ethnic economy, the selfevaluationof Palestinian women's lives, the issue of mut'a-marriage amongLebanese Shi'as, and the problems of South Asian Muslim families in theUnited States. The second section, "Practical Issues for Families,'' providesinsight into health issues, the work of an Arab-American community center,care for the elderly and problems of second-generation Arabs with marriageand role conflicts. The third section presents an interesting account of fiveMuslim immigrants, as narrated by them.The book is an insightful introduction into some of the problems faced byAmerican Mu Jim immigrants and their children on a daily basis. The questionsof how to preserve an ethnic and religious identity in a society that hasdifferent values and mies is central to the lives of these American Muslims. Itis a recurring theme running throughout most articles and illustrated in differentways. Some of the authors highlight problems and make recommendationsto parents, community leaders, teachers, and social workers on how to solvethese problems.The first article by Yvonne Y. Haddad and Jane I. Smith gives an overviewof the important topics concerning Islamic values and the questions of gender,such as dating, marriage, women and work, birth control, raising of children,and the observation of American holidays. The authors present a realistic ...
Prophet Muhammad and His Western Critics
Authors: Kalin Ibrahim
Published: December 2020

This book by the Pakistani scholar Zafar Ali Qureshi is devoted to animportant aspect of the relationship between Islam and the West.The image of the Prophet Muhammad (pbu) produced by western scholarsof Islam has determined, in many ways, the parameters of the relationshipbetween the two religions and the respective civilizations to which theyhave given rise. The main argument of Qureshi's extremely well-researchedbook is that the western scholarship bred by the centuries-oldChristian prejudices against Islam has tried to undermine the religious andintellectual basis of Islam by undermining the central place and authority ofthe Prophet of Islam. This strategy was in no way accidental, because theChristian conception of religion takes as the basis of the Divine revelationnot the revealed book, i.e., the Qur'an or the Bible, but Jesus Christ. Seenthrough the eyes of Christology, Islam could not be anything other than'Muhammadanism', and any scholarly treatment of it was bound to bebased on the figure of the Prophet of Islam. It was within this frameworkthat a number of historicist and materialist accounts were given to provethat the Prophet Muhammad was not an authentic prophet and that hismotives were basically political, tribal or economic.The number of books produced in this line of spurious scholarship isimmense, and Qureshi has carried out an immense survey of westernliterature on the life and personality of the Prophet. Although the authorspans through hundreds of books produced in the West, he focuses on thework of Rev. Montgomery Watt, the celebrated western scholar of Islam.The reason for this concentration is that Watt's two-volume work on the ...
The Revolution of 1908 in Turkey
Authors: Asutay Mehmet
Published: December 2020

This is a book version of Kansu's doctoral thesis, in which his objective"was to show [the political] transformation [in the beginning of thecentury]-however elusive- by re-telling the political history of modemTurkey in a radically different fashion" (p. ix). He states that this radicalapproach is based on an '"historical' viewpoint [which is) opposed to a'political' one"(p. ix).In order to show his radical re-telling of the political transformation of theOttoman Empire in the beginning of the previous century, the bookcommences with a critical but analytical and enjoyable chapter on Turkishhistoriography by making special emphasis on the interpretation of theRevolution of 1908. In doing so, Kansu summarises the attitudes of theTurkish academics and intellectuals towards the interpretation of recentTurkish history. This in tum is an attempt to clarify his ideological standas regards the Kemalist revolution of 1923 and the Young Turks.The first concept the reader encounters with the first chapter is'Revolution'. For Kansu the year 1908 is the most crucial year in modemTurkish history, "because a new era opens before the Turkish socialformation through a genuine revolutionary movement. 1908 is thebeginning of the establishment -for the first time in modem Turkishhistory- a constitutional monarchical form of government whichlegitimates itself on the presence of a representative parliament to which itis totally responsible" (p. l). It has to be stated that while the "genuinerevolutionary character" of the constitutional movement is open to question,Ottomans had the first parliamentary political structure not in 1908 butin 1876, albeit it lived only a short while due to Abdulhamid H's politicalambitions and, one has to accept, it was not as strong as the 1908experience in its representation. However, Kansu claims that it was the ...
Book Review
Authors: Nyang Sulayman S.
Published: December 2020

Reviewed by: Sulayman S. Nyang, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Government and Public AdministrationHoward University, Washington, D.C. 20059David WESTERLUND, From Socialism to Islam? Notes on Islam as aPolitical Factor in Contemporary Africa .R esearch Report No. 61.(Uppsala, Sweden: Scandinavia Institute of African Studies, 1982),62pp. Bibliography. No Price.This short study on Islam and Politics in Africa is one of a series ofstudies on Africa published by the well-known Swedish Institute ofAfrican Studies. The Center had previously published some excellentmonographs on a wide range of African issues, but this is the first one onan Islamic theme. Written from the perspective of a researcherinterested in knowing the future of the relationship between Islam andPolitics in Africa, David Westerlund divides his essay into three parts:(1) an introduction, (2) a section on the advance of Socialism in Muslimdominatedcountries and (3) a section on the move towards Islam.Westerlund begins his study with a definition of terms and aclarification of concepts. Two terms, Socialism and Islam, dominate hisdiscussion. He identifies socialism in North Africa and in Sub-SaharanAfrica as that brand which has not been based on, but rather opposed to,Marxism or Marxism-Leninism. Though he recognizes certaindifferences between “Arab Socialism” and “African Socialism”, in thecontext of his discussion he stresses the similarities between them.Among the common elements shared by these two variants of Socialismare (1) refutation of the Marxist idea of class struggle, (2) emphasis on aunited front of all classes in the interest of economic developrflent andnation-building, (3) a preference for a mixed economy as opposed to aMarxist economy, (4) partial nationalization, central planning and onepartyrule, and (5) tolerance of private property.After an examination of the differences between Arab/IslamicSocialism and African Socialism on the one hand, and Marxism on theother, Westerlund then discusses the term fundamentalism. Hecorrectly notes that orthodox, non-secularist Muslims who wish for the ...
Shariati and the Reconstruction of Social Sciences
Authors: Yadegari Mohammad
Published: December 2020

Ali Shariati was a Muslim reformer who laid much of the intellectualgroundwork for the Iranian revolution of 1979. His inspiring speechesand written works aroused the people, particularly the students, to thestate, where they were easily mobilized by Khomeini and his co-workers.Killed by the Shah’s agents in London in 1977, he is still remembered as agreat martyr to their cause. His ideas on the nature of Islam are ofinterest to us today.Ali Shariati was born in 1933 in the village of Mazinan near Sabzawarin Khurasan, Iran. He came from a family whose members were knownfor their scholarship, knowledge, and righteousness. He attended theTeacher’s Training School, and taught in high school for some yearsbefore pursuing graduate work in Europe. He was also active in hisfather’s Center for the Propagation of Islamic Truth.Shariati’s views were greatly influenced by his learned father who wasfortunate enough to acquire a personal library of nearly two thousandbooks. He was also influenced by the political events in Iran, especiallyduring Dr. Muhammad Mosaddeq’s premiership, and by the variousunderground movements after the fall of Mossadeq in 1953.Particularly important was the Muslim Socialist Movement founded inthe early 1940’s in Tehran. This group believed in Islamic ideals butemphasized the socialistic tendencies of its economic system. In themanner of Amir Ali, the author of Spirit of Islam, Shariati wanted toemulate the lives and ideas of early Muslims whom he admired. He oftenreferred to Prophet Muhammad, Abu Dhar al-Ghaffari, Ali, Husayn,and others as men who ought to be followed as examples.In his formative years, he was influenced by many people includingFrantz Fanon, al-Afghani, Taleqani, and Muhammad Iqbal. In myopinion, Shariati was more influenced by Iqbal than any other’ scholar,whether in the East or the West. I have pointed out this influence in mybook, Ideological Revolution in the Muslim World ...
Are Checking Accounts in American Banks Permissible Under Islamic Laws?
Authors: Darrat Ail F.
Published: December 2020

The purpose of this note is to stimulate the thought of Muslim scholarsabout a neglected aspect of American banking business. namely thepayment of interest on demand deposits (checking accounts).Demand deposits represent funds that commercial banks use toextend loans to the public and purchase interest-bearing securities. Therevenues from these activities are a major source of income forcommercial banks. Consequently, fierce competition exists amongbanks to attract such funds: However, competition for these fonds. untilrecently, could not take the form of an explicit interest rate because theAmerican banking laws prohibit the payments of explicit interest rateson demand deposits .. Existing laws have relaxed this prohibition forsome forms of demand deposits (e.g. Negotiable Orders of WitndrawalsNOW accounts), though the prohibition still holds in the case of what iscommonly called in the banking jargon regular checking accounts, i.e ..checking accounts that do not explicitly yield interest to the holders.Because of the intensity of competition among commercial banks toattract public deposits. and  in the presense of the legal prohibitionagainst explicit interest payments on regular checking accounts bankshave devised alternative outlets to compete for the checking accountsfunds. Perhaps the most obvious alternative is for a bank to reduce (orremit) charges to depositors for the use of bank payments services belowthe cost to the bank of providing those services. Others take the form offor example, providing a wide range of cash management services atvery nominal fees and occasional gifts. In economic literature these arecalled implicit interest rates, and many recent empirical studies haveestablished the fact that commercial hanks in the U.S. do in fact pay highimplicit interest rates on non-interest bearing demand deposits ofapproximately equal value to the rate which would be explicitly paid inthe abscence of the legal prohibition ...
Muhammad and the Christian
Authors: Perry Glenn E.
Published: December 2020

Muslim-Christian dialogue is an area in which Muslim interest and involvement has increased as greater numbers of Muslims have come to the West and settled and interacted with local populations. From the Muslim point of view the early dialogues with Christian missionaries in the colonial period largely consisted of apologetic reactions and defences against attacks on Islamic beliefs and practices. Today dialogue, at least in some areas, allows a sharing by participants of their respective ideals and world views in search of a common ground for peaceful co-existence and mutual respect. Since Islamic theology incorporates a position on the status of other religions which is based on the Qur'an, it is both more easy and in some ways more difficult for Muslims to dialogue with their neighbors. The broad themes of salvation and righteousness are clearly articulated, and it is the more specific issues which may remain points of contention. Those interested in Christian-Muslim dialogue may wish to examine a recent work Muhammad and the Christian by Kenneth Cragg, an Anglican Bishop who knows Arabic and is the author of a number of books on Islam. In this work, speaking as a Christian, Cragg attempts to formulate an appropriate "positive" Christian response to Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an. In nine chapters. the major topics of which are usefully summarized in the table of contents, the author addresses themes such as: the role of Prophet Muhammad in history, the Islamic understanding of Muhammad, the role of the Sunna, and the contents of the Qur'an. The author focuses primarily on Islamic understandings of God and the Prophet rather than on traditional fields of Muslim/Christian controversy such as the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, the crucifixion, and so on. It is a work for those already knowledgeable about each religion since many complex points of faith are raised and discussed, occasionally with a subtlety verging on abstruseness. On the positive side, although the book is primarily addressed to the Christian reader, the Muslim who reads Cragg's reflections will at certain points be moved to reflect more deeply on the existential ...
Health and Healing In The Qur’an
Authors: Elkadi Ahmed
Published: December 2020

“We reveal from the Qur’an that which is healing and a mercy for the believers” Qur’an 17:82

This statement is a statement of fact, declared in the Qur’an and confirmedby the sayings and practices of Prophet Muhammad, (SAAS) The healing effectof the Qur’an is not limited to the ills of the society and the world. Itextends to the human being and contributes to his physical and mental healthand well-being. This question is: How does the Qur’an heal? and how doesit promote health and well-being?The Qur’an achieves its healing and health promoting effect by utilizingthree different approaches: the legal approach, the guiding approach, and thedirect healing approach. The legal approach is through the provision of legislationprohibiting matters which are hazardous to health and enjoining matterswhich promote health. This legislation has a direct impact on the health ofthe individual. The guiding approach is through the provision of general rulesand regulations which guide the individual in the conduct of his or her dailyaffairs. This guidance has an indirect positive effect on the health and wellbeingof the individual. The third approach is through the direct healing effectof the Qur’an on the various organs of the human body.The first two approaches, the legislation and guidance have been very muchknown and well understood for years, although some new discoveries haveadded an exciting twist in our understanding in these areas. The third approach,however, or the direct healing effect of the Qur‘an on the organs ofthe human body is a completely new field of discovery where many new excitingfacts are just beginning to emerge and come closer to the level of ourunderstanding. Let us review these three approaches in some detail:I Legislation:A few examples of health promoting legislation will be given just to make ...
The Maitatsine Revolution in Nigeria
Authors: Ojo M. Adeleye
Published: December 2020

The Maitatsine ‘Revolution’ in NigeriaThe spate of disturbances which had the appearance of Islamic fundamentalismin Nigeria in the early eighties can be viewed as a passing phase ofunderdevelopment. This symbolizes the realities of the Third World countriesespecially the African continent, where subsequent inefficient administrationshave created a people at odds with itself, hampered by theunderdevelopment of its economy, and socio-political lives, large turn-overof regimes and governments, all of which are engaged in governmentalmismanagement, military autocracies, and democratic dictatorship. Such disturbances,if not promptly nipped in the bud, can lead to a more serious disturbancereminiscent of the war in Chad and Ogaden desert or the revolts in Shaba.Of interest here is the series of riots which took place in some states ofNorthern Nigeria spanning specifically from Kano (1980), Bulumkutu (1982)and Jimeta Yola (1984). There were scares in 1982 of the same riots in majortowns in the North including Bauchi, Jos, Zaria and Sokoto. There were alsoclashes with the police in Kaduna, the headquarters of the former NorthernRegion, where an Assistant Police Commissioner was captured by the riotersand killed!Since then, there has been an avalanche of comments by the general public,many of them trying to find the cause(s) of the unrest. These various commentsassumed such a divergent outlook that it is not easy to group them neatlyunder any general heading(s). They range from the trivial and grotesque tothe most serious; from the possible and plausible to the absurd. While somedubbed the riots as sheer religious fantacism, others thought that it was politicallymotivated; and yet athers believe that the disturbances were caused byfaceless illegal aliens; while there are also those who think they were causedby outside interests like Mossad or Al-Mafisa ...
New Horizons in Muslim Education
Authors: Ahmed Akbar S.
Published: December 2020

New Horizons in Muslim EducationS. A. AshrafThe Concept of an Islamic UniversityH. H. Bilgrami and S. A. AshrafIslamic Sociology: An IntroductionI. Ba-Yunus and F Ahmad

The three small -average 100 pages -introductory books under review forma piece and are the first volley from the Islamic Academy at Cambridge. TheAcademy’s Islamic Monograph Series is attractively produced and easy to read.The guiding genius of the Academy is Professor S. A. Ashraf. He was alsoone of the key figures, as organizing secretary, of the First World Conferenceon Muslim Education in Makkah in 1977. That Conference greatly acceleratedthe present trend in Islamic scholarship. Today we hear of Islamic Economics,Islamic Sociology and so on as one result (see my Towards Islamic Anthropology:definition, dogma and directions published by the InternationalInstitute of Islamic Thought and Defining Islamic Anthropology in the RoyalAnthropological Institute News, London.)The two books on education are linked by the authorship and ideas of ProfessorAshraf. In the one on education he clearly plans out an Islamic syllabi,training courses (for both students and teachers) and conferences.Islamic scholarship rests on the following assumptions: “Firstly, the Islamicconcept of Man has the width and range no other concept of Man has. AsMan can become Khalifatullah by cultivating or realizing within himself theattributes of God [strictly at the human level] and as these attributes havea limitless dimension, Man’s moral, spiritual and intellectual progress is potentiallylimitless. Secondly, as knowledge is the source of this progress anddevelopment, Islam does not put any bar to the acquisition of knowledge.Thirdly, the range of this acquisition must be all by acquiring intellectual expertisebecause in isolation a person cannot maintain a baland growth. Fourthly,the spiritual, moral, intellectual, imaginative, emotional and physicalaspects of man’s personality are kept in view in establishing the interrelationshipamong the disciplines., Fifthly, the development of personality is seenin the context of Man’s relationship with God, Man and Nature. Thereforethe organization of disciplines and arrangement of subjects are planned withreference to Man as an individual, Man as a social being and Man as a beingwho has to live in harmony with Nature.” (Ashraf, page 5) ...
The Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan
Authors: Rahman Mushtaqur
Published: December 2020

ISLAM is as natural to the people of Afghanistan as the air they breathe.Any system repugnant to Islam or the introduction of alien forces to introducea new social order has always been resisted by the Afghans. The presentAfghan-Soviet war is one such story.The war is a matter of vital importance because its outcome will immenselyaffect Pakistan, Iran, and the rest of the Muslim world. It will also upset thebalance of power between the West and the Soviets, and might change thedirection of oil flow. It is curious that the war is not given the support orattention it deserves, in spite of its global ramifications. The West perhapsignores the war as Afghanistan is far removed from the Western mainstream,and its impact is not generally understood because the Afghan Mujahideenlack a sophisticated network of information. Moreover, the Soviets continuemisleading the world by claiming the war is only a law and order problembetween the Afghan government and a handful of “bandits” encouraged fromoutside.The war is neither a law and order matter nor its impact hard to realize.Afghan Mujahideen are fighting the Soviets to force them out of Afghanistan,and the Soviets are trying to hold on using biological, chemical, and othersophisticated weapons. In spite of enormous destruction and genocide, theAfghan Mujahideen are determined to fight to the last, and so apparently arethe Soviets to consolidate their occupation of Afghanistan. This paper presentsan analysis of the war and its impact on Pakistan, the Muslim world, andthe West from a geopolitical standpoint. A brief discussion of Afghanistanexplains the former status of Afghanistan as a buffer state first between theRussians and the British and later between the Soviets and Pakistan.Modern Afghanistan dates back to 1747 when Ahmad Shah Durrani tookover reins of that country. More or less during the same time, the British ...
The Challenge of Islamic Economics
Authors: Anwar Muhammad
Published: December 2020

Muhammad Akram Khan, the well-known Islamic economist, is presentlyDirector-General in the Audit and Accounts Services of the government ofPakistan. He is a prolific writer and scholar with Islamic inspiration and astrong grip on the subject. He has written dozens of articles and books onIslamic economics since 1965 in English and Urdu. His works have beenpublished by organizations and journals of national and international repute.Two of his very important works are “Economic Teachings of ProphetMuhammad (PBUH)” and “Islamic Economics: Annotated Sources in Englishand Urdu.” The first book is a classified compilation of ahadith relating toIslamic economics and is being published by the Islamic Research Academy,Lahore. It is a monumental work that may turn out to be an indispensablereference on Islamic economics. The second book contains 1,300 abstractsclassified into approximately forty headings. It is the first annotatedbibliography on Islamic economics.“The Challenge of Islamic Economics,” the book under review, is madeup of three papers written, respectively, for the “Journal of Research in IslamicEconomics” in 1983, “the Third International Seminar on Islamic Thought,”held under the auspices of the International Institute of Islamic Thought inKuala Lumpur in July 1984, and the “International Seminar on IslamicEconomics” held at Sokoto in February 1985. They make up chapters one,two, and three respectively.The book is addressed to the teachers and researchers in Islamiceconomics. It informs its readers of the nature, scope, and methodology ofthis discipline. It points out some of the strengths and weaknesses in theliteratme dealing with this subject and advances an approach for teachingIslamic economics. This book, like most of the author‘s writings, is logical,consistent, and thought--provoking ...
Editoral
Authors: Nyang Sulayman S.
Published: December 2020

This issue of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences completesthe Symposium on Political Governance, begun by Muhammad Salahuddin’sijtihiid in the last issue. The lead article in this issue is a summary of Islamicpolitical principles by Hasan Turabi, long-time head of the MuslimBrotherhood in The Sudan.Following this is an article by Sister Mona Abul Fadl, a ResearchAssociate at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, taken from hernew book, Alternative Perspective: Introducing Islam From Within, to bepublished by the World Muslim League in Makkah. She explores the coreIslamic concepts of community, justice, and jihad, and concludes that theclimax of Islamization is Istish had or martyrdom in submission to Allah.In the third article of the symposium, Fadel Abdallah uses ‘ijtihad to explorethe textual and historical evidence showing both the absolute condemnationof slavery in Islam and Islam’s use of an indirect strategy to abolish itwithout unduly risking the destruction of the Muslim Ummah. This mayhighlight the symposium’s introductory suggestion by Muhammad Salahuddinthat, within limits, even in extreme cases, balance and patience can be virtues.The second section of this issue presents two papers comparing theIslamization of knowledge with the process of building a new paradigm ofthought and reality, which process many historians now believe is the precursorof all great advances in human knowledge and culture. The concept ofparadigms is simply explained in the second article by Hasan Langgulung asapplied to revolutionary change in the discipline of psychology. In the first article,Muhammad ‘Arif discusses the scholarly battle of the past two decadeson the nature of paradigms. He concludes that, whatever criteria one uses, theIslamization of Knowledge as proposed by Shaheed Isma’il Faruqi introducesa true paradigmatic revolution in human history, compamble to the revolutionthat destroyed the decadent world of 1400 years ago when the originalparadigm of Tawhid was revealed in Qur’an al karim.The Research Notes contain a scholarly piece by Professor Theodore P.Wright, Jr., identifying ten ways in which Jews as a group have influenced thedevelopment of thought and action in America and ten characteristics that explainwhy Jews have been able to exert this influence and Muslims have not.The concluding research note, The Shari‘ah and its Implications forIslamic Financial Analysis: An Opportunity to Study Interactions Among ...
The Seminar on Islamic Economics
Authors: Anwar Muhammad
Published: December 2020

The International Institute of Islamic Thought sponsored a major seminaron “Islamic Economics” in North America on March 28-29, 1987 at itsWashington D.C. area headquatters in Herndon, Virginia. The seminar wascoordinated by Dr. Muhammad Anwar, secretary of the Economic DisciplineCouncil of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. Although there wasgreat interest expressed by numerous professors and graduate students ofeconomics, the registration was limited to seventy participants due to sometemporary physical constraints.The program began with recitations of the Qur‘an followed by addresses ofDr. Taha Jabir Al-‘Alwani, President of the International Institute of IslamicThought; Dr. ‘AbdulHamid ’Abu Sulayman, President of the Association ofMuslim Social Scientists; and Dr. Raquibuz Zaman, Chairman of theEconomic Discipline Council. A total of nine sessions, including a businesssession and a special session for Ph.D. candidates from various universities inthe United States, were held during the two-day seminar which concludedwith a farewell dinner on the final day. Among the highlights were sessions onMethodology of Islamic Economics, Islamization of Knowledge, ModelingMacroeconomics, Micmconomics, and Financial Accounting and ComparativeEconomics. Eighteen speakers delivered their research papers.First session on Methodology of Islamic Economics was chaired by Dr.Abbas Mirakhor of the International Monetary Fund. Dr. Anwar, also of theInternational Institute of Islamic Thought, Dr. Salim Rashid of the Universityof Illinois, and the famous Islamic economist Dr. Mahmud Abu Sauddelivered their papers on “Methodology of Islamic Economics,” IslamicEconomics: An Historic-Inductive Approach,” and “Research Methodologyfor Islamic Economics”, respectively during the session.Lectures on Islamization of Knowledge were delivered by Dr. Al-‘Alwani,Dr. ’AbuSulayman, and Dr. Jamal Baninji in the second session.The third session on Modeling Macroeconomics was chaired by Dr.Mohsin Khan of the International Monetary Fund. In this session, Dr. Syed ...
Editorial Note
Authors: Rahman Mushtaqur
Published: December 2020

The complex and bewildering variety of issues and problems facing thepresent-day Muslims have made them singularly hard pressed to develop rationalstrategies and efficient policies. The intensity and multiplicity of demandshave increased to such an extent that in recent years efforts to Islamizeknowledge or recreate a Muslim way of life needs congruent thinking andprudent planning.In thinking about this question, at least two issues of adaptability and sustainabilitytake the front stage. Adaptability would mean that Islamic socialsciences and cultural habits should be sought out and adopted. This way wouldnot be an imposition of alien models or values, but a reversion to the Qur'anand Sunnah for knowledge and guidance. Once adopted, either from traditionalor modem Islamized social science, it ought to be maintained againstall odds.The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences has been trying for thelast four years to initiate such changes in the social and individual behavior,and Islamize the knowledge with the assistance of the International Instituteof Islamic Thought and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. Mypredecesssor, Sulayman Nyang, left such a strong record of service that wouldbe difficult for anyone to meet. I was conscious of this challenge when I wasasked and accepted to succeed him. I knew of course that I could always counton his support to maintain the Journal at the same standard, if not higher.This issue has three sections. Section one includes two papers on mattersconcerning the Islamic Thought. The first paper by Ahmad Zaki Hammadpresents Ghazali's approach to usul-al-Jiqh, divided into three elements: (i)ahkam, (ii) adilla (source), and (iii) mujtahid.. . .Of these three, the paperprovides broader explanation only of ahkams, leaving the other two for subsequentpresentations. The second paper by Bogdan Meckowski compares IbnKhaldun with Adam Smith, and other modern economists, giving Ibn Khaldunthe prominent place he deserves. With remarkable skill, Mieckowski establishesthat Ibn Khaldun favored laissez-faire, and opposed a socialized or monopolisticproduction. Accordq to Mieckowski, most modern economists borrow heavilyfrom Ibn Khaldun without acknowledging or crediting him in their works ...
The ‘Ulama and the Religio-Political Developments in Modern India
Authors: Malik Rizwan
Published: December 2020

This paper is not an exercise in or a contribution to the ongoing debatein the Muslim world about the nature of the relationship between Islamicprinciples and Western statecraft, or the inseparability of spiritual and profanein a Muslim state. While all these issues are in one way or another relevantto the subject under discussion here, they do not form its core. This paperhas two major objectives. The first is to attempt to analyze how the ’ulamaviewed political developments in the late 19th and early 20th century in India.The second, equally important but only indirectly touched on in this paper(and the two are interrelated), is an investigation into whether it was Islamicreligious issues or the presence of the British that engrossed the attentionof the ‘ulama.This is essential if one is to understand the nature of the ‘ulama’sparticipation in the formative phase of religio-political developments in 19thand 20th century Indian Islam, and in particular, its impact in later yearson the interaction between the ’ulama and the Muslim League. It is in relationto both these objectives that a great deal of analysis-both from objectiveand polemical points of view-regarding the nature and content of the roleof the ‘ulama in politics suffers from a great degree of biases and confusion.Before discussing the political role of the Indian ‘ulama, it is necessaryto observe that it would be wrong to think of the ‘ulama in terms of an “estate”within the Muslim community or to assume that the ‘ulama were, as a body,capable of generating a joint political will. The reason for ‘ulama to takeso long to appear on the political horizon of India was one of principle andexpediency, that stopped the ’ulama from hurling futiiwa of condemnationat the East India Company when it eventually superseded Mughal power inIndia. Until 1790, penal justice in Bengal continued to be dispensed underthe revised Shari’ah forms of Aurengzeb’s time. In the sphere of civil law, ...
Toward Islamic Anthropology
Authors: Young William C.
Published: December 2020

In his short book, Toward Islamic Anthropology, Akbar Ahmed addresses two scholarly communities: anthropologists, whose training is based, as he says, on the study of classic sociological works by Western Europeans, and educated Muslim readers whose view of society is based on their study of the Qur'an and classic works in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy. Being a member of both communities himself, Professor Ahmed is sensitive to the issues that they face. He makes a sincere plea for dialogue between these two communities and puts forward some intriguing recommendations for resolving the disputes that divide them.

Ahmed begins with a discussion of "the science of anthropology." This serves as an exposition of his views on the subject and as a general introduction to anthropology for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. His epistemological position, that anthropology is "a branch of empirical, observational science" (p. 14) which seeks "regularities or general laws" (p. 15) is both sensible and in harmony with the rational Islamic philosophical traditions. In fact, Ahmed argues that "If anthropology is a science . . . using ... data collected, for value-neutral, dispassionate analysis ... then [the Muslim scholar] al Biruni [973-1048 A.C.] is indeed an anthropologist." (p. 56) The philosophical realism of both earlier Muslim scholarship and Ahmed's book, which affirms that the social and cultural facts under study have an objective reality, contrasts with the position adopted by "postmodern" ethnologists. Such writers seem to believe that "the ethnographer, like the native, constructs reality" and cast doubt in a nihilistic way on "the reality of ethnography's project altogether." Ahmed's position, then, is not only acceptable to Muslims but is also a much-needed reaffirmation of the scientific ...
Third International Islamic Geographical Conference Kuala Lumpur
Authors: Din Abdul Kadir Haji
Published: December 2020

Development and the MuslimsThe Department of Geography, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, hostedthe Third International Islamic Geographic Conference at Institute AminuddinBaki, Genting Highland, Malaysia Muharram 16-21, 1409/August28-September 2, 1988, to discuss the effects of development on Muslimcommunities. Sponsorship for the meeting was jointly provided by theInternational Islamic Geographical Society, the International Institute of IslamicThought, the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of the United Statesand Canada, the Malaysian Institute of Policy Research, and the UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia.Altogether twenty-four papers were presented during eight sessions tosome seventy participants from nine countries, including thirteen attendeesfrom outside Malaysia. The first session on “Muslims and Development”included three presentations. Mansur Ahmad Saman led the discussion byexploring the generic meanings of “Islam” and “development” in his paper“Islam and Development: the Region Within.” Mansur argued that becauseIslam sanctions peaceful living, it is a necessary condition for development,although the state of peace itself may not be a sufficient condition of thesame end. In the second paper, “Muslims and Economic Development,’’ A.H.MSadeq observes that although Islam provides all the incentives for economicdevelopment, and despite the fact that Muslim countries as a whole are wellendowedwith natural resources, they have continued to lag behind in economicdevelopment. Sadeq was hopeful that the future is bright for Muslim countries,if only there were more efforts towards economic cooperation among them.S. Parvez Manuror concluded the session with a deliberation an “Ideologyof Development: An Islamic Critique.” In this lengthy discourse on the conceptof “development,” the author asserted that the “The modern theory ofdevebpment aims .at the realization of certain societal values within a politicalframework, At worst, perpetuates the view of man and the universe which ...