The right of women to no-fault divorce in Islam and its application by British Muslims

One of the forms of divorce mentioned in the original sources of Islam, the Qur'an and the Sunna, is no-fault divorce initiated by women, called in Arabic khul^c . This article discusses its validity in Islamic law, the degree of entitlement women have to it and its effects in dissolving the marriage. The discussion will include the attitudes towards khul^c in the modern reforms in the family laws of Muslim countries. Most of this modern legislation has been associated with furious debates and objections from both traditionalists and liberals. The article will attempt to assess the social impact of these new regulations of khul^c . It then turns to discuss the application of no-fault divorce among Muslim minorities in the West with special reference to British Muslims. It seems to be widely used unofficially to ease the problem of ‘limping marriage’ experienced by Muslim women as a result of subjection to two jurisdictions, i.e. English and Islamic laws.     

Negotiating Muslim–Christian Relations in Kenya through Waqfs, 1900–2010

Waqfs provided socio-economic security for the progeny of endowers and for other social welfare causes. Being thus guaranteed socio-economic well-being, these beneficiaries were antithetical to ruling elites in Muslim dynasties and Christian colonial powers, which led to the establishment of policies and institutions to control waqfs and check their growing influence. This development was not only counter to normative precepts but also set minority Muslims in predominantly Christian societies at odds with non-Muslim states. To what extent did civil policies and judgements influence waqfs? How did Muslims negotiate the secular state constructs vis-à-vis waqf practices? How did secular state control of waqfs influence the dynamics of Christian–Muslim relations? This discussion, based on ethnographic research in Kenyan coastal areas, employs two theoretical frameworks – Asad's ‘Islam as a discursive tradition’ and Scott’s concept of ‘symbolic (ideological) resistance’. The article draws mainly on the perspective of the Muslim minority in Kenya and argues that state control of waqfs in Kenya did not only interfere with normative practices but also partly laid the ground for the present-day economic and political marginalization and exclusion of Muslims, leading to suspicion and ambiguous relations with their Christian compatriots.     

From religious emotions to affects: historical and theoretical reflections on injury to feeling,self and religion

ABSTRACT

Images of angry Muslims have become a common sight in repeated controversies problematising the compatibility of Islam and freedom of speech. To explain such outrage, it is often put forward that Muslims reacted to the disrespect and violation of their ‘religious feelings’. In this paper, we challenge the trope of hurt religious feelings in the explanation of unrest. Referring to the writings of Schleiermacher, James and Taylor, the discussion traces how religion and feeling have become inextricably intertwined, located within the individual self and institutionalised as a dominant interpretation of religion. We introduce affect as a conceptual alternative to such understandings, which allows us to analyse the emphasis on Muslim emotionality as a relationship between Muslim and secular bodies, hence no longer reduced to the interiority of Muslim subjects. We will illustrate the potential of an affect-based approach discussing Muslim feelings’ vital role in the construction of European democracies.     

IS THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS? Tension Between Minimalism and Comprehensiveness in the Shariah

The comprehensiveness of Islamic law has been questioned seriously in the modern period by Muslim reformists like Rashīd Ri?ā. Such reformists have used as evidence Qur'anic verses and Prophetic reports that seem to state clearly that the strictures of Islamic law are few and limited and that Muslims should not extend them to all areas of life. How could the Shariah have developed as a holistic and exhaustive body of law in light of such evidence? Looking back at earlier Muslim scholars from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries, however, we see that these Qur'anic verses and Prophetic edicts were never understood in this way. They were either diffused with various hermeneutic strategies or understood as applying to debates unrelated to the comprehensiveness or minimalism of the Shariah.     

Tafsir and Istifsar in the Qur'an

The more emphatic the authority of a sacred Scripture the more crucial the exegesis it receives. Yet no text is able to rise from the page and say: ‘I have been misread’. Hence the basic power of the interpreter. Tafsir or ‘interpretation’, has always been a vital task vis‐à‐vis the Qur'an. Urgent questions attend on it—who is qualified? By what skills? What range of questions will they admit? Are these circumscribed to, for example, grammar? Earlier margins? Are there excluded concerns? How far will contemporary ones be admissible? All these might be said to constitute istifsar or ‘Asking tafsir’ to be comprehensively pursued. After examining traditional techniques the article reviews ‘contextuality’, ‘abrogation’, metaphor, tadabbur (or ‘reflection') and finally, some profound implications of the Qur'an's own self‐division into Meccan and Medinan elements and how this might bear on a de‐politicization of Islamic religion in response to contemporary necessities, as faced by Islam in minority situations in many countries.     

A twelfth‐century Muslim biography of Jesus

The biography of Jesus as it appears in Ibn ‘Asakir's Tarikh madinat dimashq comprises material which originated from the Qur'an and from the Bible (the Old and the New Testaments). It also comprises material that is neither qur'anic nor biblical: material reflecting an image of Jesus whom the Sūfi order in the medieval period was using as the prophetic authority for its ascetic teachings, and whose purpose was to make him a prototype of the ascetic (al_zahid). Furthermore, Ibn ‘Asakir, writing at the time of the Crusades, believed in the imminent qiyama of Jesus to lead the Muslims to victory and to defeat the invaders. Ibn ‘Asakir's biography of Jesus reflects the extent to which literature about the earthly career of Jesus had developed in Muslim lore by his time.     

Ramadan in Iceland: A Tale of Two Mosques

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are required to fast from dawn to the beginning of the night. During summers in Nordic states, this means daily fasts of more than 18 hours. Two religio-juristic opinions have emerged regarding this challenge: one requires strict adherence to the commands of the Qur'an so long as night and day are distinguishable; the other encourages fasting the same number of hours as in Mecca and Medina or a nearby country where the duration of the day is moderate. This article offers an overview of these opinions, their development and how they resist common distinctions between ‘pragmatic' and ‘strict' juristic panels. On the basis of a field study conducted during 2015 in two mosques in Reykjavik, it also explores the division among Iceland's tiny minority of devout Muslims over this issue, and the contesting justifications given by leaders and attendees of the two mosques for their respective views. The discussion demonstrates the conflation of transnational and local influences (including satellite television channels) that contribute to the diffusion of fatwās in Europe, and the limited utility of the labels wasa?ī and salafī in predicting the actual practices of individuals and communities.     

Forms of gnosis in Sulamī's Sufi exegesis of the Fāti&art1;a

This paper will look at the Sufi interpretations of Sūrat al-fāti&art1;a found in the early mystical Qur'an commentary known as the &art2;aqā'iq al-tafsīr by the well known Sufi, Abū ^c Abd al-Ra&art1;mān al-Sulamī (d. 1021). The Sufi tafsīr of this sūra will be read not only as a compilation of early mystical interpretations of the Qur'an, but also as a unique work by Sulamī himself. A close reading of the various Sufi authors' interpretations set out by Sulamī will show how his own positions concerning the fundamental Sufi concept of ma^crifa come about.     

ISLAM AND SCIENCE: CONTRADICTION OR CONCORDANCE

Abstract. Many question whether Islam and science can be compatible. In the first six hundred years of Islam, Muslims addressed all fields of knowledge available to them with unprecedented zeal and contributed immensely to the knowledge that became the precursor of the Renaissance in Europe. The Tatar invasion in the thirteenth century and the total destruction of Baghdad, the Muslim capital of knowledge and science, followed by the crusades, the ensuing hostility between East and West, and Western colonialism of Muslim countries led to a distrust of all knowledge emanating from the West. Such distrust closed the doors to ijtihad, a dynamic method in Islamic jurisprudence for addressing change, new demands, and new acquired knowledge, even though the Qur'an challenges Muslims to think, contemplate, understand, comprehend, and examine everything around them—tasks that bring humankind closer to God as they find methods to apply God's laws of justice and equity to the benefit of all humankind. Islam is the religion of yusr (ease) and not ‘usr (hardship). The creation of the world was for human benefit and use. Innovation for such beneficial use and application is a must.     

The possibility of having knowledge of al‐wujūd al‐mahd ’sheer being’ according to ibn carabi's Kitab al‐jalal wa‐al‐jamal

Mysticism in general makes a distinction between ‘God‐for‐us’ and ‘God‐in‐him‐self. This paper attests that the Muslim mystic‐philosopher, Ibn ‘Arabi's concepts of ‘Sheer Possibility’ and ‘Sheer Being'; ‘Beauty’ and ‘Absolute Majesty’ parallel God‐for‐us and God‐in‐himself. The paper also attempts to examine the extent of possible human knowledge of God beyond the level ‘God‐for‐us'/'Beauty'/'sheer possibility’ and the relation of such developmental knowledge to the Qur'an, according to Ibn ^cArabi. The paper ends with a statement on the need to examine the hermeneutical mechanism supporting this sort of linking of human knowledge with the Qur'an and a need to discuss the possible motives behind traditionalization of developmental knowledge inputs.     

Nearest in amity: Christians in the Qur'an and contemporary exegetical tradition

This essay seeks to argue the following points: first, tafsir is an important means of understanding not only the Qur'an but also the social situation of the Muslim community in our own time. Second, the Qur'an presents a clearly pluralistic view of religion and culture which allows for religious diversity within the framework of faith in God and the last day and the performance of righteous deeds. Third, the Qur'anic verses discussed in this article illustrate this view; yet Qur'an commentators considered in this essay generally reject this Qur'anic worldview in favour of a much more rigid approach to other religions.     

Reconsidering ‘holy war’ (jihād) in Islam

‘Holy War’ does not exhaust, and often fails to explain, the semantic range of jihād in Arabic/Islamic contexts. A more fruitful approach to the culturally encoded nuances of jihād requires the prior delineation of ideology from religion. Only a few scholars, e.g., Michael Gilsenan, Hamid Enayat, Pierre Bourdieu and Bassam Tibi, have considered the value‐neutral use of ideology in the analysis of Islamic evidence. None has addressed jihād, none has reverted, or tried to revert, contemporary stereotypes derived from an essentialist notion of Islam and Muslims, power and piety clustered around the univocal reading of jihād as ‘holy war’. This essay suggests other interpretive options that merit consideration by all serious students of religion in the modern world.     

The Hindu‐Muslim problem — A cooperative approach

This document, widely circulated in India, argues that the Hindu‐Muslim problem has political, socio‐economic and religious aspects. Here the emphasis is on the Muslim component. It was political hostility which assumed the form of religious hostility. The rise of religio‐cultural separatism and Islamization must be viewed not simply as a facet of ‘Muslim fanaticism’ but rather as a sociological process which resulted from the political struggles between the élites of the two communities and of a heightened political consciousness. But the identity of the Muslims of India remains. Their ‘Muslimness’ cannot completely submerge their ‘Indianness’. Whereas Hindus are asked to show respect for the Muslim minority's cultural‐religious sensibilities, Muslims should opt for a progressive and not a regressive indentity.     

Anglicans and Islam in East Africa: The Diocese of Zanzibar and the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (1923–63)

This article examines the legacy of Godfrey Dale, who in 1923 published a Qur'an in Swahili, with the intention of letting people “know what the Qur?ān does say.” The work of his successors is explored. It discusses the proposals for work amongst Muslims submitted by lay and ordained members of the Diocese of Zanzibar for consideration at the 1944 Diocesan Conference, as the Diocese prepared for the situation after World War II. Finally, it examines the role of the Diocese with particular reference to Christian–Muslim relations as Tanganyika and Zanzibar prepared for Independence.     

Political implications of the Islamic notion of ‘supersession’ as reflected in Islamic jurisprudence

The paper undertakes to investigate the ways in which the dominant Muslim community regulated legal‐ethical relations with its non‐Muslim minorities. The ideological underpinnings of the Islamic legal tradition in the area of jihad provided legitimacy for the Muslim political domination of the lands and peoples beyond the original boundaries of Islam. The central argument of the paper is that Muslim jurists were involved in the routinization of the qur'anic message about ‘Islam being the only true religion with God’ (Q. 3:19) in the context of the social and political position of the community. The interaction between the idea of Islam being the universal faith for all humankind and the existing predominance of Muslim political power created the specific legal language that provided the justification to extend the notion of jihad beyond its strictly defensive meaning in the Qur'an to its being an offensive instrument for Muslim creation of a dominant political order.