The notion of maqāṣid ash-sharīʿa (“purposes of the Sharia”) has given rise to various debates since its inception relating to Islamic legal questions. Today, many scholars and Muftis still resort to these objectives for their legal opinions (fatāwā sg. fatwā). However, due to unprecedented modern living circumstances, some broadened the traditional inherited understanding of maqāṣid,...Read More

Islam has a dissonant relationship with modernity in that it agrees with central aspects of this epochal phenomenon and parts ways with others. This is the key to understanding how Islam engages with the two main components of modernity, namely its intellectual discourse and its political project. A thorough study of Islam’s intellectual tradition reveals,...Read More

In this paper, we examine the notion of material consumption culture in Islamic societies. We differentiate between institutionalised religion and religion as culture. We contest the Orientalist portrayal of Islam as a fanatic ideology opposed to Western Modernity’s features of secularism, individualism, and pluralism. With reference to the Qur’anic text, we discuss that such qualities...Read More

The Qur’an, the Holy Book, the guidance for Muslims’ lives, was revealed in Arabic. It is believed that Arabic was chosen as the language of the Qur’an, because of its compatibility with and capability of representing the meanings of God’s message. As the Qur’an was sent down to the Earth in context, interpreters from time...Read More