By Abdur Rab on
8/15/2010 4:12 PM
Muslims, as do the adherents of other religions, generally realize that a religion has to come to grips with the changing of times. One of the functions of the mujtahid is precisely to fulfill this role: dealing with matters that are new to the Muslim umma, and have not been dealt with previously. In today’s world, it would seem that for all its youthfulness, compared to the other Abrahamic religions, Islam is characterized by the most retrogressive medievalist notions of faith and praxis. [...] [Dr.] Abdur Rab’s “Exploring Islam in a New Light” is a welcome attempt by a Muslim to divest Islam of medievalism and show its relevance in the modern world.
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By AY Mol on
23-7-2010 14:14
This is one of my current projects in The Netherlands, where of course the debate about Islam has become very negative. Together with several other Muslim theolgians and writers, have we created a new website where we can combine the voices in Holland, to create a critical and selfreflecting debate about muslimcultures, interpretation of Islam etc.
See here the newsarticle:
A group of Islamic 'contemporary thinkers' launched a new website today in order to develop 'critical (self)-reflection' in the Muslim communities in the Netherlands.
The Nieuwemoskee site [New Mosque] wants to break down rigid ideas about Islam and add depth to the fierce, but mostly oversimplified, Islam debate.
Reflections about the difficulty of Islam to nestle in Western society are often due to simplicity, according to the founders. In...
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By Farouk Peru on
7/6/2010 7:52 PM
It is indeed a misfortune for our great nation when the Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia lends its name to this article penned by its fellow, Md Asham Ahmed in the Star. The sheer haughtiness and arrogance displayed by Asham is embarrassing at the very least. At the most, it speaks of Islamofascist tendencies. I am not putting Md Asham in the same camp as Osama Bin Ladin but the seeds of the same kind of fascism are there. A simple ‘you are wrong, we are right, we are great’ set of tendencies. A point by point refutation of Asham’s article follows below:
1. Asham begins by saying ‘Many Muslim thinkers and leaders today, being educated in the West and severed from their religious intellectual tradition, do subscribe to the idea that all religions are the same, subject to development and changes.
If Asham is claiming that Islam has not been subject to ‘development and changes’, then one must wonder where...
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By AY Mol on
10-6-2010 8:23
The Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders hasn't won the elections in Holland, but gained 15 more seats in the Dutch parlement, having now 24 seats of the 150 parlement seats.
There is a good chance he will form the main government together with the Dutch version of the Liberal party (VVD) and the christian democrats (CDA). 1.5 million voted for Wilders.
Many people in Holland are shocked. Because of WWII, to vote for a known-racist party was always a big taboo in Holland as any discrimination is immediately linked to the Nazi's. It is interesting that in the polls before the elections it was predicted Wilders would get 18 seats, but as many are ashamed to tell their real vote, everybody knew he would get more. And even today on Dutch television, people are reluctant to admit they voted for Wilders, as they still experience it as a taboo.
Wilders' Freedom Party doesn't have a democratic structure where people can become member and be involved in the party policies or candidates. It has only one member, Wilders himself, and he chooses the candidates and the policies. And no other candidate is allowed to talk to the press except himself or a chosen person who has been instructed by Wilders what to say. So it isn't just his policies what scare people, it is also the way he runs his party; undemocratic and as a dictator. His party is the only party of the 17 parties, and the only in Dutch history even, that is structured as such.
...
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By AY Mol on
8-6-2010 11:32
Als moslims horen wij constant verschillende geluiden van verschillende moslim groeperingen en allochtonen instanties om wel of niet te gaan stemmen. Is het nou haram of halal, voor wie doe ik het, wat helpt het mij, helpt het de moslims? Al dit soort vragen en meningen circuleren door de media en het internet en veroorzaken een verwarring onder vele moslim jongeren. Ik zeg hier jongeren, omdat de meeste moslim ouderen er niet aan twijfelen dat stemmen niet alleen mag, maar zelfs moet vanuit hun denken. De lage opkomst van moslims ouderen bij het stemmen, hebben dan ook eerder te maken met onwetendheid over het systeem van stemmen en de verwarring op wie zij zullen stemmen. Bij de jongeren is er geen sprake van verwarring over het systeem of onwetendheid over partijen, maar over betrokkenheid. En de kwestie van betrokkenheid kan zowel door verschillende religieuze ideeën als identiteit bepaald worden.
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By Dr.Lubna Almenoar on
7-6-2010 5:36
Selected verses from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s English language translation of the Quran were used as a literary text to teach both descriptive and figurative imagery. Several steps were taken for the preparation of this case study.
1. The selected verses can be obtained through websites under the list of topics of the Quranic verses. A teacher can choose from a wide range of suitable topics for students. For this case study, the selected verses were Surah (37) As-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks), verses 62-68, 74. Verses 62-68 are verses about Hell and verse 74 is a verse about Heaven.
2. The source of these verses was The Holy Quran, the English Language Translation of the Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The exemplary verses were found to be suitable in content for the teaching of both descriptive and figurative imagery. The presence of literary devices such as similes, metaphors...
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By Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer on
7-6-2010 3:40
After the fatwa from Deoband (some of the Deobandis deny that fatwa was ever issued) that Muslim women cannot work with strangers from amongst the men and that in that case her earnings will be haram (prohibited) to her family, a debate is raging on the need for ijtihad (creative reinterpretation of law) and it is often suggested that gates of ijtihad were closed after sack of Baghdad in 1258 and that these gates be reopened.
First of all we would like to point out that there is no church in Islam and no single authority and hence no one can issue a dictat to close the gates of ijtihad. Or re-open it. When Ibn Taymiyyah issued the fatwa on jihad after sack of Baghdad he went against the authority of his own Hanbali School and gave fatwa on his own authority. Hanbali school requires submission to the ruling authority.
Before we proceed further we would like to point out that ijtihad has been the very part of process of law making in Islam. The root meaning of ijtihad...
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By AY Mol on
1-6-2010 13:58
Er zijn jammer genoeg sommige Moslims die denken dat Democratie tegenstrijdig is aan de Islam, en dat stemmen in landen als Nederland verboden is. Dat dit een belachelijk idee is kan al bewezen worden door naar de kernwaarden van de Quran te wijzen. De Quran wil vrede (10:25) en rechtvaardigheid (16:90) op aarde creeren, maar geeft tegelijkertijd aan dat niet iedereen Moslim zal worden (5:48, 49:13) en dat iedereen ook de vrijheid heeft om te kiezen (2:256). Daarom zegt de Quran ook dat Moslims samen met niet-Moslims tot een gezamelijke overeenstemming moeten komen (kalimatin sawa'in, 3:64), en moeten samenwerken in het streven naar het goede voor alle mensen (istabiqu al-Khayrat, 5:48, 2:148) en om goede relaties te hebben met niet-Moslims (60:8-9). Moslims worden zelfs verplicht om kerken, synagogen en tempels te beschermen (22:39-40)!
In verzen 42:38-43, die in de vroege periode van de Islam waren geopenbaard (in Mekka), wordt democratie (Shura, letterlijk overleg, consultatie) en het opkomen van mensenrechten...
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By Dr. Murtaza Bulutay on
5/8/2010 7:59 AM
Speech delivered by the author during the Round Table meeting with Special Representative of the Department of State of the U.S.A. to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, held in the U.S. Embassy in Almaty on 13 October 2009.
Dear Guests and Participants,
I am grateful to the U.S. Embassy for giving us this unique opportunity to meet with Special Representative Farah Pandith and share with her our thoughts and suggestions in regard to the progress we would like to see take place in the relationships of the U.S. with the Muslim World in general and Kazakhstan in particular.
There is no doubt that the religion factor is getting more importance in international politics and we witness new initiatives by global organizations and actors to build dialogue among religions, civilizations, and cultures.
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By Farouk Peru on
5/6/2010 7:40 AM
Indonesia took a regressive step from democracy this week with the implementation of it’s new blasphemy laws. I always looked to Indonesia as the better example of religious democracy in South East Asia. It was certainly miles ahead of Malaysia in terms of religious freedom. According to this news however, Indonesia will now uphold the ‘1965 law, which allows for criminal penalties and bans on people or groups that “distort” the central tenets of six officially recognized religions, was in line with the constitution and was vital to religious harmony.
This law , in my opinion, is a mockery of the religious freedom promised by Indonesia and worse still, an obstacle against the process of democratisation in the country. What is worse however is the logic involved in formulating such a law which utterly obfuscates the processual nature of religion itself.
Minister of Religious...
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Blogs by DRC researchers
DRC's own researchers discussing and posting on diverse subjects on the Qur'an, the world, human society, interpretation, Muslim world, history, science, philosophy etc.
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