Islamic Studies

This article traces the emergence of ethical thinking (al-tafkīr al-akhlāqī) in Egypt since the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century and seeks to identify the motives and contexts of the resurgence of the field of ethics. This era is informed by its connection in Arab thought to the nahda, the so-called Arab Awakening, and, equally, its coincidence with the movement for the revival of Arab tradition and its dissemination. A great number of studies have examined the reform movement in the

The Islamic labor market rests on the principles of the free market exchange of Islamic economics. Regrettably, the latter has failed to keep pace with the rapidly growing academic and professional developments of the former. Much of the published work within Islamic economics is idealistic if not radically ideological with little relevance to the Islamic labor market, leaving students of Islamic economics without a coherent body of economic theory to understand the practical objectives of Shariah that gives a sense of direction to the developments in this field.

Islamic Ethics and the Trusteeship Paradigm explores the emerging ethical theory of the trusteeship paradigm as developed by the Moroccan philosopher Taha Abderrahmane (b. 1944). The volume, with contributions in English and Arabic, examines the development of this modern Islamic theory of ethics and how it permeates various disciplines: philosophy, theology, legal theory, Sufism, moral theory, sociology and anthropology, communication, environment and biomedical ethics.

Islamic Ethics and the Genome Question is one of the very first academic works, which examine the field of genomics from an Islamic perspective. This twelve-chapter volume presents the results from a pioneering seminar held in 2017 at the Research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics, College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, in Qatar. The contributors to this volume, coming from different disciplines and specializations, approached the key ethical questions raised by the emerging field of genomics, viz.

The practice of independent legal reasoning (ijtihād) is a core tool for achieving the moral mission of the discipline of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh); it generates juristic rulings that help people become morally committed humans. Without ijtihād, it would be inconceivable that Islamic divine law could achieve its moral mission in every time and every place.

Translated by Dr Asadullah Yate and Dr Sameh Mustafa Asal.

Edited by Dr Dheen Mohamed.

Compiled in the fourteenth century AD by a prominent Syrian scholar al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya is a full examination, in chronological order, of the background, life and mission of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Drawn from the earliest and most reliable Arabic sources, it offers the fullest available account of the historical circumstances and personalities most important in the founding of

Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi was a 11th-century, scholar, diplomat, judge, Qur’anic interpreter who wrote on many subjects, including Qur’anic interpretations, religion, government, public and constitutional law, language and ethics. This is the first English translation of one of his key texts and is an acknowledged classic on the structure and nature of government in the Islamic tradition.

“Al-‘Iqd al-Farid” (“The Unique Necklace”) is one of the classics of Arabic literature. Compiled in several volumes by an Andalusian scholar and poet named Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih (246-328 A.H. / 860-940 C.E.), it remains a mine of information about various elements of Arab culture and letters during the four centuries before his death. Essentially it is a book of adab, a term understood in modern times to specifically mean literature but in earlier times its meaning included all that a well-informed person had to know in order to pass in society as a cultured and refined individual.