Muhammad and The Transformation of Mankind

Today, 12 Rabi’ul awwal (the third month of the Islamic calendar), majority Muslims celebrate ‘mawlidur rasul‘, a kind of a religious festival commemorating the birth of Muhammad (s.a.w.), the Prophet of Islam. Simply put, ‘mawlid‘ means ‘birthday’ and ‘al-rasul‘ or ‘al-nabi’ means ‘prophet’ or ‘mesengger’. Muhammad b. Abdullah was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in August…

A Virtuous, Spiritual Journey

The month of Ramadhan holds immense importance for Muslims. Highly venerated in Islam, it is distinguished from other months of the Islamic calendar by a number of characteristics, privileges and virtues. Fasting is made compulsory throughout Ramadhan on all Muslims who have attained the age of puberty and of sound mind. While fasting, Muslims are…

Child Marriage In Islam: A Myth?

Islam has always been an obvious easy target of misperception, misunderstanding. In a never-ending challenge against it, another opportunity for Islamophobes around the globe to maim the religion lurks wide open yet again when the issue of child marriage resurfaced recently. They claim that child marriage is sanctioned, and thus common in the teachings of…

The Allah Controversy Rearticulated

The Allah controversy seems to enter into a more tranquil domain with the ruling of the High Court (December 2009), allowing the Christians to use the term Allah in their scripture and other ecclesiastical materials. Of course this judgment pleases one group and dissatisfies another. The latter has appealed against the decision and the case…

No Compulsion in Religion Revisited

Verse 256 of Chapter 2 (al-Baqarah) in the Noble Quran states that “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” This verse establishes a very fundamental principle that nobody can be coerced to accept or embrace Islam. According to Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a modern Muslim Quranic commentator, compulsion is incompatible with religion. He reasons that religion…

Reorienting The Muslim Minds

In conjunction with the 20th anniversary of IKIM, the Institute organized an international conference on “Reorienting the Muslim Mind: Charting the Future” on 10 – 11 July 2012. The conference’s objectives include to identify the real problem(s) besetting the Muslim community today, how to deal with the problems, and to offer explanation or answers to…

Form And Substance In Muamalat

In Islamic transactions (muamalat), one of the prerequisites determining the validity of a variety of contracts is the spoken offer and acceptance (aqd) between the two parties involved. Certain quarters, however, are putting excessive emphasis on this to the effect that if aqd is missing or not properly carried out in any given transaction, the…

It’s a Syariah Transformation

Various parties have applauded the proposed abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Banishment Act and the lift of all three emergency proclamations as declared by our Premier recently. Some other laws would also be reviewed. Among the noble objectives made known by the premier in his historic address were: to spearhead the country’s…

LET WISDOM AND REASON PREVAIL

I have observe with angst the reactions and ensuing repercussions of the recent ‘raid’ by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) on a thanksgiving dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC). Riddles from this latest incident may turn into waves of hatred that travel beyond racial borders, and thus threaten our unity. This renders…