Society Archives - Page 2 of 14

The Ansar and Us

THE NAME OF Anṣâr never fails to evoke undertones of sacrifice, submission, and love of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ and warm sentiments of appreciation in our hearts. There is much for us to learn from their lives. Is there something common…

Deconstructing Riba

DEEP DOWN INSIDE, we all want something for nothing. We love delicious fruits and vegetables, but don’t want to have to grow and pick them ourselves. We want a nice house, but don’t want to have to sweat for it. We want…

Qur’anic Interpretation | Part 2 | Tadabbur and the Need for Scholarly Explanation

IN PART ONE of this series, we addressed the basic misconceptions that cause Muslims to be deprived of the real message and infinite wisdom of the Quran. On the one hand, many self-proclaimed interpreters, denying the need for recourse to any classical…

A Postpartum Look
at Stewardship of the Earth

“SAY HELLO TO your new master,” my aunt told me. I looked down at him, laying peacefully in my arms, his big brown eyes staring innocently back at me. I could not help but laugh at the irony of it. But she…

Searching for Fatawa | Part 2

Permissible Taqleed This last form is the one that is usually discussed by scholars who had differed on its interpretation. This is also the form of raqleed that is of concern to us here in the West. Further classification and discussion is…

Searching for Fatawa | Part 1

In order to follow the ruling of Allah, the first step a Muslim must undertake is to become knowledgeable of that ruling. There are two ways by which this can be achieved. First, a Muslim can do one’s best to derive the…

How Abraham Initiated Globalization

Social scientists, historians, and economists have been running something of a competition to theorize the origins of the two hallmarks of our time: The catalyst that occasioned the modern era, and the event-onset of globalization. They’ve mostly spun sightlessly from speculation to…

Misunderstanding Transgender (1)

WITH EVERY PASSING year – indeed, with every passing month – Muslims are faced with new intellectual and societal challenges to their faith. Whether it’s atheism, scientific claims about evolution, or social matters related to gender and sexuality, many Muslims (especially in the West)…

Shurah and Democracy: A Conceptual Analysis

What is Shurah? Shurah comes from an Arabic word shara whose original meaning, according to classical Arabic dictionaries was to extract honey from hives. The word then acquired secondary meanings all of which are related to that original one. One of these…

OSTENTATION: Plain & Simple, but a Deadly Disease – 1

Things that harm humans both in this world and in the next are due to their personal vices; the essence of one’s spiritual loss is in his continuance of uncorrected vices. The remedy for avoiding harm in this world and the next…