Islam

This paper advances a framework for the evaluation of Sharia (Islamic law) with respect to the modern notion of international human rights law. The paper argues that certain universal standards of human rights and freedoms, as understood and formulated in international human rights documents, lack precise equivalents in Islamic law, and some generally-accepted principles of Sharia contradict corresponding principles of international human rights law. Sharia's response to the idea of human rights and traditional interpretation of Islamic law are hard to reconcile with international human rights norms and standards. It is also argued that the application of Sharia, public and criminal law in particular, is problematic and results in deficiencies and hardship in Muslim societies. This paper contributes to the debate on Islamic reformism and human rights in arguing that Sharia's contradiction of universal human rights norms cannot be avoided, and that traditional mechanisms of reform within the framework of Sharia are inadequate for achieving the necessary degree of reform. It is suggested that, based on a cross-cultural dialogue and intellectual debate, an essential and primary reform should define the objective foundations of human rights in reason and human dignity, not on Sharia criteria and qualifications.

Democracy is a much used and abused word. As a possible structure of political organization, democratic concepts are very much under debate in Muslim countries. Democracy in a western sense has become associated with a forceful “democratization” of the Middle East, which in effect has brought war and various forms of foreign domination to crucial areas of this sensitive region. However, up to now democratic structures are an exception in Muslim countries. Due to historical developments during the past centuries, there seems to be a lack of theoretical backing for democracy in the culture of the Middle East. This is surprising, because Islam, from its beginning, has offered the model of shura (consultation), which can and should be developed to serve modern governance. Especially Shi'ism can offer a theological backing through interpretations and explanations conducive to the formation and implementation of an Islamic democracy. In Imam Ali's (a.s.) letter to Malik al-Ashtar, we find a beautiful outline of what today is called “good governance”. Moreover, Shi'ism postulates the Imamate of the Mahdi (a.s.) as a just rule to-come. In the absence of the Imam-e zaman, an Islamic democracy should prevail with full participation of Muslims. But how is it possible to organize a modern Muslim country democratically? In addition to a working government and a majlis or parliament formed on the basis of elections, the expertise of religious scholars is needed – scholars who are capable of Ijtihad, so that they can find answers to the needs of present-day life in the wake of ongoing social change. In an Islamic polity, the period of awaiting al-Mahdi al-muntazar requires active participation of the people, since unless there is widespread readiness to support the good cause, the Mahdi will not appear. This participation is a basic human right and also a duty of men and women. For this purpose, every individual should have the opportunity to develop his/her moral, religious and cultural consciousness and the social and political awareness through education and self-education, so that citizens may fulfil their social and democratic responsibilities within the framework of Islam. 

After the atrocity’s committed during the Second World War, the citizens of the world cried out for a universal code of ethics. On December 10th 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a universal declaration of human rights, thus setting a new standard for all nations to follow. According to Article 18 of that declaration “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance”. People, and women in particular, who are born in different parts of the world have different cultural, as well as religious identities. It is time for education on, and a universal understanding of, the identity differences of Muslim women to be made universally accessible, and understood. Although the ultimate result was the near obliteration of an entire race, and a worldwide war, the groundwork was laid in a much quieter manner. The Nazi party slowly began working their ideals into society. First espousing the sovereignty of the German race and then planting the seeds for the loathing and contempt that would follow for all other races. Near the end of the Second World War Adolph Hitler described Jewish people as “something aggressive” the same words that French president Jacques Chirac recently used when petitioning Parliament to pass a law banning the wearing of hijab in France?

This paper compares the thought of Miff and Mutahhari, particuiar/y their vie1vs of moral education, higher sentiments, and their common values. Itfurthermore argues that Miff and Mutahhari both provide a strong basis for a critique of the consumerivation of culture, ivhich often happens in a giobaiized econ

While we want to assess whether a person is suitable to lead a country, usually we will think about an important keyword—the ability of governance. However, it is an irrational expectation if we are asking a national leader to be self-disciplined and accountable to the people and the country. On the other hand, the people always got the same question, why a lot of leaders performed better at first but they usually faced with negative comments or the trials at last, or even being imprisoned for a long time? The major character in this article is Omar Al-Bashir, he is a former president of Sudan, he has been overthrown by the people’s force in 2019—a so-called successful “revolution” in Sudan. The overthrown of Omar Al-Bashir showed an example of unsuccessful governance in causing to this successful revolution. The article aims to show the governance weaknesses of Omar Al-Bashir in Sudan, and discuss how these weaknesses caused the revolution.      .

The European countries have adopted a particular policy and manner to conflict with Muslims in their countries. These policies are classified into three behavioral patterns of British, German, and French. The British model is cultural pluralism, the German is Muslims’ integration in German society, and the French are melting melt pot. In their belief, Muslims must be dissolved in French culture and eliminated their religious identity. Other European countries follow one of these three models. The present study aimed to answer the following questions: ‘What effect have these strategies and patterns had on the living conditions of Muslims and the whole society of that country?’ ‘Were the approaches a plan or practical?’ ‘Which policies have been more successful quickly or strictly in confronting Islamic extremism (Takfiri terrorism) and Secular extremism (European terrorism)?’ ‘What was the practical result of these approaches in the Western European countries' social and security conditions?’

The aim of the present study is to compare and critique the moral principles of Albert Ellis's theory (REBT) in the light of Islamic ethics. The method of the present study is analytical-descriptive and the sampling Method in this study is goal-oriented. Necessary information was collected in a library manner by studying sources and books. The method of analysis has been content analysis. The results showed that Ellis's ethical principles are: ethical non-realism, pleasure-seeking, individualism, sensuality and no standard for good and bad behavior. However, all these are not acceptable from the point of view of Islam, as Islam believes the standard for the right and wrong is clear and distinct; pleasure is not the only standard of right and wrong behavior, pleasures are not merely worldly, and the ultimate goal of life and creation is to reach the nearness of God. All human behaviors are ethical if done with the intention and purpose of the nearness of God.

The Qur’anic and Hadith materials of medicine are crude propositions that without their systematization cannot be entitled as the science of “Islamic medicine”. Looking into the general position of medicine in the Qur’an, this article draws a thematic outline of medicine in the narrations through thematic classification. After identifying the materials, a process should be done in seven steps to reach the title of the Islamic medicine. According to these steps, after ensuring the authenticity of the hadiths, it is necessary to make sure that the narrations were recorded correctly by the authors of the narrative books. Then, through examining possible harms inflicted on the narrations, being in three stages of issuing, quoting, and understanding, it will be possible to know that the narrations have been protected or are amendable. Afterwards, we need to provide a proper translation, identify similar and conflicting hadiths, investigate the connected and separate evidence, and gather the opinions of scholars and commentators to have a fair understanding of hadiths. In the final step, the interdisciplinary interaction between the experts in the two fields of hadith and medicine should be established in a mutual, step-by-step and joint way.

Islam is regarded to pay attention to the characteristics of urban life which can be practiced on the urban settings. Not surprisingly, Islam has made a great focus on the form and design of cities and prescribed detailed and elaborate regulations for individual and communal life. Seen from other way round, the penetration of Islam into various regions such as Iran, Europe, and Africa had an undeniable impact on life style, urban design and social interactions. As an ancient civilization with a rich set of knowledge, culture, art and unification beliefs, Iran became the host of Islamic ideology, relying on the propagation of its achievements while keeping its principle and value criteria independent of time and place. Architecture has two dimensions; material and spiritual and its body consists of structure, construction and different materials while its spirit and meaning of architecture is derived from history, memory and long lasting national and native values of a homeland which ascribes a specific meaning to architecture and produces a mental image in the minds. In this paper, we are seeking for criterion to assess Islamic architecture and evaluate it. Architecture is of different dimensions, each has its own value criteria but determining the Islamic architecture and Islamic city of architecture let alone stating whether architecture in this period is Islamic or not demands a great effort while it is worth mentioning that Islam is not limited to a specific age and place and can meet the needs of human being in different period.

This paper compares Islamic teachings regarding Jihad with Gandhi’s Satyagraha or non-violent resistance. Abdul Ghaffar Khan, one of Gandhi’s Muslim followers, has argued that not only was Islam compatible with non-violent methods, but that Prophet Muhammad had taught his followers non-violent resistance hundreds of years earlier than Gandhi had. Scholars such as Eknath Easwaran have also reiterated this argument (Easwaran, 1999, 34). This paper on the other hand argues that Islamic teachings regarding non-violence are more complicated than what Khan proclaimed. The verses of the Quran regarding Jihad or struggle can be divided between the revelations in Mecca, during the first thirteen years of the Prophet’s campaign, and the final ten years of his life, after he and his followers immigrated to the city of Medina. In the first thirteen years, Prophet Muhammad preached non-violent resistance even though Muslims were under severe pressure and prosecution. During this period Islamic teaching are quite compatible with Gandhi’s Satyagraha. However, after the new Muslim community immigrated to Medina and formed an Islamic government it came under the threat of annihilation by a foreign invading army, at which time Islam and its Prophet permitted defensive wars, unlike Gandhi’s teachings and Khan’s assertions. The paper concludes that Ahimsa may work only in the route towards power, whereas when the position of power achieved and an independent political community and its leadership formed, according to Islam, means of legitimate and justified violence could not be avoided altogether.

Overviewing the current literature on Western and Islamic orientations to English language education and illuminating the advantages and challenges of each orientation, this study endeavored to critically examine English language teaching in the context of Iran. In effect, this study elaborated on modernist, postmodernist, and Islamic orientations to language teaching. In tandem, this critical examination initiated from the modernist orientation because this orientation constituted the basis of contemporary academic disciplines. The findings revealed that there exists a strong similarity between postmodernist and Islamic orientations, when Islam is studied as an educational paradigm rather than a political issue. Moreover, the critical examination of the relevant studies on the context of Iran showed the prevalence of the native speaker ideology, systematicity, and standardisation as manifestations of the modernist orientation leading to unequal Englishes. In reality, unequal Englishes can be considered as a colonial enterprise illegitimizing non-native speakers and downplaying local varieties. Analyzing the concept of unequal Englishes, we have also argued that there is a real need to establish a dialogue across postmodernist and Islamic orientations to challenge power relations and foreground knowing as an act of identity. Accordingly, we called for an ontological turn in English language education in Iran, which revolves around super-diversity and perceives language as a practice situated in a social-cultural-historical context.

A couple of decades before 9/11, after the collapse of USSR, Islam started to be culturally represented as the major “Other” in the West. 9/11 attacks accelerated the movement with the “culture talk” project positioning Islam as the backward culture against which the West and secularism are portrayed as the epitome of progressive liberal civilization/culture. Muslims, however, wrote back to the project. Literature, especially fiction, was found an appropriate media through which Muslims’ voice could be expressed. Robin Yassin Kassab’s The Road from Damascus is a true writing back attempt in order to respond to the hegemonic “othering” of Islam in the West. The narrative actualizes the purpose upending the constructed bifurcation of “the West” versus “Islam”. Being approached from a new perspective, both terms/signs are deconstructed in the novel so that the center/periphery opposition is reversed. In this new structure each term/sign is given new significances challenging the mainstream “imagined identities” of Muslims in the West.

Researches indicate that tourism, and specifically religious tourism, has an ancient history. This issue which is one of the significant foundations of the global economy in the twenty first century is now apparent among the nations of the globe, especially for Muslim nations, more than ever due to travel incentives and invention of various means of transportation. Since the old times, people traveled around the globe for several purposes including food, touring, trade, pilgrimage to holy places, entertainment, a variety of sports, which is continued with an increasing trend. Nowadays, one of the most common types of tourism is the religious and pilgrimage tourism which is flourished and prospered, in the light of Islamic laws and regulations, after formation of stable Islamic governments and as security is maintained. An special attention has been paid to touring and journeys in Islam religion, specifically in the word of God almighty in the Holy Quran, touring is emphasized and repeated as examples for the servants in more than tens of verses so that people act intelligently as they see the relics of the past, and in fact, these are a guiding light for those who are trying to provide themselves with spirituality and free themselves from the darkness and to bring peace and comfort besides safety for themselves. The Islamic country of Iran, has a high potential of religious tourism, and with the holy shrine of his Holiness Imam Reza (PBUH) and the holy shrine of her Holiness Fatemeh Masoumeh (PBUH) and also over 3400 known Pantheons which many of them is the shrine of great martyrs, also 8919 holy religious places, can be the vanguard of religious and pilgrimage tourism in the world and thus to benefit from its economic and spiritual effects, which we address here in this paper.

India is home to a remarkable variety of religions, and a major challenge that the country faces today is that of conflict between various religious communities. This has taken on menacing forms in recent decades. Incidents of violence between Hindus and Muslims, in which often agencies of the state play a central role in directing anti-Muslim violence, have now become endemic in some parts of the country. This form of communal violence, generally instigated by right-wing Hindu forces, is sought to be given religious sanction and is also projected as a crusade to save the Indian “nation”, which is described and portrayed in Hindu terms. Communal violence and anti-Muslim pogroms in various parts of the country have resulted in mounting human rights violations, particularly of marginalised communities such as the country’s Muslims, who number more than 150 million.

The main Purpose of this study is to explore the Nature of piety from an anthropological perspective by reflecting on the Qur'an and comparing piety construct with self-control. Methodologically, conceptual analysis was used. Verses from the Holy Quran that share the root of taqwa were taken into consideration. Based on anthropological foundations of piety in holy Quran , the process of piety entails a goal-oriented valuing of options and making preferences at the moment of selection. The selection can be based on instinctive, intellectual or religious criteria but it contains all three phases of diagnosis, preference, and practical commitment to preferred option. This structure of piety is comparable with self-control. Overlap of Islamic and psychologic perspectives in explaining the basic structure of piety and self-control is very impressive. Although Piety as a monotheistic life concept will ultimately separate from self-control but overlapping of anthropological elements of these two concepts are essential

Islam's stance against inhuman traditions, such as slavery, was indirect and distinctive. It drew on strategies for adjusting attitudes, behaviors and emotions against slavery. Therefore, the claim that Islam has endorsed and legalized slavery is unfounded. It is because the laws stipulated in the Qur’an are not about slaves but about captives and their related rulings. It appears that Islam has not directly prohibited slavery due to the ineffectiveness of the coercive method, attempting to phase out this tradition progressively. In addition, other societies welcomed the indirect style more due to its lack of violence and compulsion.

“Reason” and “Rationality” have been the most controversial subjects in human thinking. Question of reason is faced not only with questions about the capacity of reason to discover truth, the possibility of choice, and the decisive role of reason in epistemology, but also it deals with questions about thought, freedom, and the nature of thought. Reason is a common point among all human beings; therefore, there is no difference between people in the amount of intellect, but the differences are due to the dominant epistemological paradigm in each period and the impact of historical, social and cultural conditions on the interpreting of that paradigm of intellect. In the last few centuries, the concept of reason and rationality has encountered major challenges. Western epistemological approaches such as post structuralism and methodological approaches such as genealogy, seek to find gaps of this concept in the historical process. On the other hand, the concept of reason in Islamic thought and its relationship with religion has always been controversial. Some contemporary Muslim thinkers, by giving originality to reason and respecting Western modernity, have a critical approach to traditional society and the way to achieve an ideal society with new outlook such as pluralism, critical religious rationality and democracy in a religious society based on rationality. Some other Muslim thinkers, by proposing views such as the theory of rationality and spirituality, go beyond the modernist approach to religion, seeking a way to avoid religious intellectual contradictions. This article tries to examine both Western and Islamic perspectives on reason and rationality.

"Human rights" as a fundamental issue in the present century has been a major parts of legal researches as well as one of the main features of democratic governments. Although it was theoretically first raised in the West but provoked various reactions from Islamic countries. In Iran, after the Constitutional Revolution, these issues were addressed. In a division, Shiite political thought can be divided into four sub-categories: political philosophy, political mysticism, political literature, and political jurisprudence. Because in Iran, Shiite jurists have always played a decisive role in various political, social, economic and cultural issues, it is necessary to refer to their opinion in this issue as well. Shiite jurists have also viewed Western human rights from three perspectives: denial, proof, and modification. Among Shiite jurists, the views of Allameh Jafari are interesting due to their special focus on this issue and the coherence of the issues raised by them. The main question pursues in this research is what is Allameh Jafari's view on human rights? This paper hypothesis is that Allameh Jafari, like most modern Shiite jurists, while accepting human rights issues, tries to adjust them according to religious sources and texts.

Today, one of the most serious threats have engulfed a large portion of the Middle East is the emergence of the Sunni Muslim extremist group, known as ISIS (Daesh). After capturing a sizeable territory in Iraq and Syria, the group changed its name to Islamic State (IS). This text is geared towards discussing or describing the identification of ISIS in the age of globalization. ISIS at a limited national and regional level (compared to global level of Al-Qaeda) tries to build its identity via radical Islamic ideology, in a globalized world and identity crisis era. The weakening and in some cases breakdown of the political infrastructures such as Iraq and Syria often leads to a narrowing of identity and social solidarity away from national and towards sectarian, ethnic, and kin-based(however fictive) relations. In such a situation the dynamics of identity construction shift away from "project" towards "resistance" identities . If we take to account fundamentalist as a response to the identity crisis and also a solution to save its believers against the unsatisfied conditions of modern age, ISIS extended its ideology well through the region via protest against the unsatisfied conditions of the region. Findings of the research show that beside the similarities between ISIS and other Islamic extremist groups such as emphasizing on salafi ideology, work for founding Islamic Emirate or Caliphate based on Sharia law, extremist interpretations of Islamic religion, Jihadist and Takfiri vision, and believing in suicide tactics and dying for victory, ISIS's main goal is Jihad against Shiites (Near Enemy) and this may be the main difference between them that causes different kinds of behaviors. Other differences are different ideological roots, emphasizing on Jihad or Takfir by Al-Qaeda and ISIS respectively, giving priority to far enemy by Al-Qaeda and to near enemy by ISIS.

Imam Khomeini said that the aims of the Iranian Revolution include national independence and Economic Justice.  But he also said that Economic Justice cannot be found in today’s “incorrect system of economy prevalent in the world of Islam,” The incorrect system, therefore, must be replaced. How can that be done?  Only a change of paradigm (on the scale of the Copernican Revolution) is capable of overthrowing both the incorrect system and the failing Western one. To that end an amazing fifty nine assumptions underlying conventional Islamic and Western Finance/Economics have been identified and shown to be false. Even more amazing is that each false assumption has a reversal or opposite (or near-opposite) which is obviously true or at least truer than the conventional false one. Most amazing of all, after only two or three reversals, a completely new paradigm – and the possibility of a new world truly implementing the aims of the Revolution – begins to be seen. In that new world (unlike today’s Western and Islamic Economics which continually narrow ownership) the real economy and real income are spread to every person in society; rich-poor division is ended; Riba is greatly dimished; and solutions to intractable environmental problems become available. Most important of all, the new paradigm enables Iran to give the world a hugely positive, and sorely needed, lead.