Al-Shajarah Journal of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)
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INTERSEX GENDER DETERMINATION IN CLASSICAL ISLAMIC LAW AND MODERN MEDICINE: AN ANALYSIS FOR INTEGRATION
No full textIntersexuality is a biological fact of human birth. Unlike the normal birth of human species as boys and girls, instances of babies born with ambiguous sexual denomination has been part of human procreation since time immemorial. In the context of Islam, Islamic law contains both regular laws and special provisions dealing with this genre of humans. In the process, the most perplexing issue facing classical jurists was juridical determination of intersexuality in order to decide which set of laws can apply on an intersex. Therefore, they formulated their own juridical criteria and set of indicators mainly dealing with the appearance of genitalia at birth and its function during infancy, otherwise postponing their judgments until the exhibition of secondary characteristic by such individuals. Modern medical science changed the landscape by examining not only the external genitalia but also internal sexual system and chromosomal formula to assign a particular gender to an intersex. This study after delineating the position in both fiqh and medicine argue for regulated integration between the two
THE EFFECTS OF ATTITUDES TOWARDS STATISTICS, PERCEIVED ABILITY, LEARNING PRACTICES AND TEACHING PRACTICES ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN STATISTICS: A REVIEW
No full textThis paper reviews the literature related to the teaching and learning of statistics and highlights the following variables affecting students’ performance in statistics: students’ attitudes towards statistics, students’ perceived ability in statistics, instructors’ teaching practices and students’ learning practices. These variables have been chosen as these variables come from the self (student and teacher) where if self is well directed, teaching and learning becomes less complex and understanding will easily be established. Seeking knowledge has been greatly emphasized in Islam. The teaching and learning of statistics is becoming an increasingly important issue in statistical education. One pressing issue is how to continuously improve the teaching and learning of statistics at the tertiary level. Given its importance for the development of statistical literacy, statistical education researchers have attempted to investigate factors that relate to students’ learning outcomes in statistics and these researches have shown that a number of factors are indeed associated with student performance in statistics. The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) said: “The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim”.2 And the civilization of Muslims has been based on lslam's emphasis on teaching and learning
MUSLIM STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF WESTERN VALUES AS PRESENTED IN ENGLISH TEXT BOOKS: INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC SCHOOL MALAYSIA (SECONDARY) AS A CASE STUDY
No full textThis paper examines the perception of Muslim teachers and students of the values embedded in the English textbooks at the Secondary level of the International Islamic School Malaysia (IISMS). The effect of these values on the students’ vision of an Islamic identity are also analyzed. IISMS offers IGCSE curriculum and uses textbooks written and published in the United Kingdom. It is quite impossible to learn English without delving in its culture. This issue becomes more serious when the textbooks used to teach this language are written in a completely different social and cultural context, alien to the students’ social milieu. Interviews with a number of selected students and teachers were conducted; as well as classroom observations to observe how values are disseminated to students in order to enrich the obtained data. The analysis of the data showed that the Western values embedded in the English textbooks were explicitly and implicitly manifested. The study also showed that there was considerable contradiction between these values and those values propagated in other textbooks used by the same students for other subjects, as well as with values propagated by teachers and parents.It was concluded that Muslim students’ perception of Western values varied between acceptance and rejection
JURISTIC METHODS OF PURIFYING HARAM INCOMES: AN ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF ISLAMIC BANKS IN MALAYSIA
No full textThis study attempts to articulate juristic mechanisms by whichIslamic banks in Malaysia can purge the unlawful income from theirassets. An Islamic bank being a modern corporate entity whendealing with people of diverse cultures and conventional businessentities, at times, feels the pressure of not being able to stay awayfrom transactions tainted with haram. Islamic banks as a matter ofprinciple should not involve themselves in any unlawful businessactivities in the process of which they can procure unlawful incomes.A question of how Islamic banks in Malaysia should treat suchincomes, both classical and contemporary jurists have proposed theirown set of juristic methods. This study recommends the Islamic banksto address the importance of undertaking the purification process ofharam income according to Shari’ah
INSTITUTIONALIZING EDUCATION AND THE CULTURE OF LEARNING IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM: THE AYYŪBIDS (569/966 AH) (1174/1263 AD) LEARNING PRACTICES IN EGYPT AS A CASE STUDY
No full textBecause of the political weakening of the central Abbasid caliphatein Baghdad, and the fragmentation of its vast dominions intosultanates and emirates, it was customary for those emerging Muslimsultanates in medieval Islam, both Sunni and Shii’, to manageandpatronizethe intellectual activities, including institutions oflearning, curriculum, human capitals (scholars, and students) in aflexible manner. The intellectual life was not run by one particularoffice, though the educational policies in each of those sultanateswere largely politicized like in the case of the Seljūks, Fatimids andthe Ayyūbids. Some researchers in the history of Islamic educationattributed the involvement of the state into different educationalactivities to another political and cultural factor that is theemergence of dogmatic, philosophical and legal debates andsubsequently sectarianism. These factors have had a negative effecton the independent culture of learning which dominated the liberalcharacter of Islamic education for many decades. This paperhighlights the process of institutionalizing education and its effect onthe culture of learning during the rule of the Ayyūbid sultanate. Itaims to unveil the effect of the measures taken by the Ayyūbids informalizing education and show the visible dominance of militaryand political elites on the intellectual life, an influence whichheralded the death of the customary Muslim conventional and liberalstyle of learning. The results of this research show that despite thesuccess of the Ayyūbids in their endeavor to restore Sunnism inEgypt, the autonomy that Sunni ‘ulama maintained in early Islam up to the military Seljūks deteriorated further under the Ayyūbid militarypatronage. However, the official formal institutions of education neverreplaced persons as the focus of intellectual life. Informal and formalinstruction was available for pupils in their own homes or in theprivacy of learned scholars and wealthy individuals
MEDIEVAL MUSLIM SCHOLARS: TEACHERS, MISSIONARIES AND THEORETICIANS, QĀDI AL-NU'MĀN AS A CASE STUDY
No full textOne distinct character of education in medieval Islam is the fact thatteaching and learning activities were not regarded by both theshuyūkh (master scholars) and talaba or tullāb (students) as awaẓīfah (job) for the former and potential source of income aftergraduation for the latter. On the contrary, both segments tookteaching and learning as a noble mission in life, which promisedsocial veneration in this life and God’s reward in the other. Apartfrom the religious drive, the dedication and zeal of both, the shuyūkhand their tullāb was somtimes stimulated by sectarian motives. Thetruth is that in those ages, it was customary for Muslim states,whether from the Sunni mainstream or from the minority Shī’atomanage and supervise intellectual activities, including institutions oflearning, curriculum, human capitals (scholars, and students) in aflexible way. For instance, intellectual life was not run by oneparticular office, although educational policies were largelypoliticized in the case of the Fatimids. Due to such dynamicintellectual ambiance, many prominent scholastic figures emergedduring this period and played a crucial role in the dissemination ofknowledge, religious propaganda and sectarian dogmatic debate.This paper highlights the role and the contribution of medievalscholars through the case of qādī al-Nu'mān, one of the mostinfluential and notable medieval Ismā’īli scholars who served underthe reign of the Fatimids. It also aims to analyze the complicated roleof thisscholar and his influence on the Intellectual life. The results ofthis study showedthat al-Nu'māndevotedly served the Ismā’īlimazhab with the heart of a candid believer and the mind of a sholar. He used his intellect and pen to defend the Ismā’īlī cause on manyfronts
SHARῙ’AH ISSUES IN GOLD TRADING AND GOLD RELATED SCAM SCHEMES
No full textGold trading is very common and prestigious in most of the societies.Recently, many packages or schemes that are related to gold haveappeared and developed in Malaysia, but they are subjected toquestions and disputes, as most of them are not free from riba. Ribahas been discussed extensively by Muslim scholars in thecontemporary issues of Islamic Banking and Finance area. Althoughsome types of riba are not explained clearly in the Quran, there areenormous compilations of hadith that detail out the occurrence ofriba in the trading of the ribawi items, including gold. This paperwill discuss the issues of riba, which arise from gold trading as wellas gold related scam schemes. The research method used in thispaper is by explaining how riba takes place in gold trading withdeferment (riba al-nasi’ah), arguments to allow the deferment andrefutations and some models of gold scam schemes. The majoroutcomes of the paper is to expose to the public the permissible wayof gold trading, tricks used by gold scammers, the models of theprogram, riba issue and other related Shari’ah issue
TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHARĪ‘AH COMPLIANT HIGH QUALITY LIQUID ASSETS FOR ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
No full textIslamic banks are required to be able to access and hold sufficientlevels of High Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA) as part of Basel IIIrequirements. Such HQLA are specifically meant to allow theIslamic banks to raise funds in money markets in the event ofliquidity shortage or in some cases for the funding of new profitableinvestments. Against this backdrop, this study examines existingefforts in developing Sharī’ah-compliant HQLA and the challengesIslamic financial institutions are facing in assessing such liquidinstruments. Beside the laudable efforts of a policy-drivensupranational institution in developing Sharī’ah-compliant HQLA,there has not been much effort in the global Islamic finance industryto develop more HQLAs. As a matter of fact, it is the overarchingdearth of such Sharī’ah compliant HQLA for liquidity managementthat led the Bank of England to commence work on the feasibility ofintroducing central bank liquidity facilities such as the proposedSharī’ah compliant fund based deposit in 2015 which is expected tobe ready for implementation by Spring 2018. This study also findsthat experts have considered the potential of gold as HQLA forbank’s liquidity management
THE ANTI-ISLAMIST DISCOURSE: THE CASE OF AL-BUTI
No full textThis paper explores al-Būṭī’s critical view on contemporary Islamists who, according to al-Būṭī, have misapplied the Islamic law and sacrificed da‘wah in favour of political gains. Among their dogmatic beliefs is the ruthless and hasty call for the establishment of the Islamic state, the takfīr of rulers, arbitrary application of the question of tatarrus, etc. Having presented and evaluated al-Būṭī’s views pertaining to Islamists’ position on the above issues, the paper further attempts to examine whether they are applicable to contemporary movements or not. This was done through consulting the literature of the most eminent Islamist movements (Ḥizb al-Taḥrīr, the Muslim Brotherhood, jihadists, the AKP, and Ḥizb al-Nahḍa). The paper followed textual analysis aspiring towards providing a more comprehensive approach to the study of al-Būṭī’s views. Accordingly, seven important issues were selected and used to assess the position of movements according to al-Būṭī’s approach. It concludes, that al- Būṭī’s anti-Islamist discourse deserves to be taken as a yardstick against which a clear distinction is made between extreme and moderate Islamist movements. The paper also suggested several measures to further enhance research in this important area of study.  
ISSUES FACING ISLAMIC MICROFINANCE AND THEIR POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM AMANAH IKHTIAR MALAYSIA
Get PDFMicrofinance has become a widely accepted tool for povertyalleviation and being included in the national development agenda inmany countries throughout the globe. It has served as an effectivemethod to improve financial inclusion by increasing the access tofinance to specific groups of the society who are often beingmarginalized by the mainstream finance, especially womenmicro-entrepreneurs and the poor. Despite this, microfinancecontinues to face various issues and challenges that hinder itseffective functioning, resulting in many microfinance institutions(MFIs) to operate at sub-optimal level, thus fail to achieve theirobjectives. This study attempts to discern the issues and challengesfacing the Islamic MFIs by focusing on the experience of AmanahIkhtiar Malaysia (AIM), one of the world’s largest Islamic MFIs, andsubsequently propose possible solutions to address those issues. Inmethodology, the study conducts a survey questionnaire regardingpotential issues and challenges of Islamic microfinance on 402women micro-entrepreneurs who are currently clients of several AIMcentres in Hulu Selangor. In efforts to get enriching insights, wefurther relate those issues with the demographic profile of the clients.Findings of this study provide new insights into the issues andchallenges facing the women micro-entrepreneurs based on theirdirect experiences, and consequently relevant suggestions can beprovided in addressing these issues facing the clients of the Islamicmicrofinance industry