Al-Shajarah Journal of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)
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BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY AND TEMPORAL POWER: IBN KHALDUN’S VIEWS ON SUFISM
Get PDFIn the 9th/15th century the jurist and historian ‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1406) became involved in a dispute that broke out in Andalusia about whether one needed a shaykh to tread the sufi path or whether books sufficed. The dispute was a very heated one and generated much discussion about the nature of sufism and spiritual realization. The response of Ibn Khaldun, as well as the other key figures who issued rulings (fatwas) on this question, are analyzed and Ibn Khaldun’s view is further examined in the light of a much neglected fatwa of his in addition to relevant passages from the Muqaddiama and Shifa’ī -sa’il. It is argued that that Ibn Khaldun favored a sober pursuit of the spiritual path based on rigorous adherence to the Qur’an and Sunna while rejecting the monistic doctrines of Ibn al-‘Arabi and others whom he condemned in the strongest possible terms. Moreover, this condemnation was the result of what Ibn Khaldun perceived to be the dangers inherent in Ibn al-‘ Arabi’s doctrine of the Perfect Man since it allowed for the possibility of individual saintly apotheosis that he further saw as an even more dangerous coinciding of spiritual authority and temporal power
THE TAWḤĪDĪ PARADIGM AND THE “MORAL MARKET” FROM NURSI’S PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFThe paper argues that crises of capitalism are rooted in its secularparadigm. Therefore, it is not possible to overcome social, economic,moral, environmental crises of modern societies through somemodification of free market capitalism. We need an alternative modelbased on a new paradigm. The paper presents “moral market” as analternative economic model to free market capitalism. This is takenfrom the writings of Said Nursi. It argues that the moral marketdiffers from free market capitalism because while the former relieson the Tawḥīdī paradigm, the latter on secular paradigm withcorresponding ontology, epistemology, anthropology, and teleology.The paper provides extensive discussion of the Tawḥīdī paradigmfrom Nursi’s perspective. It also attempts to redefine maqāsid-i sharīaand maqāsid-i iqtisād based on the Tawḥīdī paradigm. It concludeswith a comparison of the moral market and free market capitalism interms of their guiding principles, which are derived from theircorresponding paradigm
ABANDONED HOUSING PROJECTS, LEGAL RISKS AND ISLAMIC FINANCE LEGAL DOCUMENTATION
Get PDFThis paper examines the role of effective legal documentation in mitigating the legal risks associated with abandoned housing projects in Malaysia. Specific attention is given to aspects relating to financial consumer protection, construction and interpretation of default clauses, and dispute management strategies, which seek to protect the interest of parties to the bundled agreements. Through conceptual analysis of relevant literature, legal documentary analysis, and unstructured interviews, this study adopts a qualitative legal research method to achieve its objective of ensuring legal risks associated with Islamic home financing are mitigated and financial consumers are adequately protected. Available legal remedies for thepurchasers in the event of an abandoned housing project must be clearly included in the clauses relating to default in the Master agreement and financial guarantees, and effective dispute management processes should be considered to mitigate the triad of risks associated with abandoned housing projects – shariʿah, legal and reputational risks. This study provides a starting-point for further research on legal risks associated with abandoned housing projects, which seek to provide some minimum requirements for legal documentation in Islamic home financing. Legal documentation remains the bedrock of commercial dealings, and as such, it must be well crafted to avoid future disputes on contractual terms. Though previous studies have focused on the prevalence and the economic and financial impacts of abandoned housing projects, this is one of the earliest attempts to explore the legal risks associated with such projects with particular reference to legal documentation
HUKM SHAR‘Ī AND THE RECIPROCAL IDENTIFICATION BETWEEN ITS DEFINITION AND SUBJECT MATTER: THE MISSING LINK
Get PDFWhen the nature of a particular notion is sought to be known, one often resorts to look for its definition, and that definition, by its nature, often identifies the subject matter. Conversely, the definition sought for identifying the subject matter could not have been articulated before investigating the nature of the notion and designating its subject matter. This logical link of reciprocal identification between the definition of ḥukm and its subject matter is assumed missing. In order for it to be recovered, this paper investigates the nature of ḥukm shar‘ī from both the perspective of its definition and that of its subject matter. From both perspectives, that is, that of the definition of ḥukm and its subject matter, the nature of ḥukm will be investigated through the presentation of the different views of the subject matter of dispute. This is to be followed by a critical analysis of that which searches for the truly distinctive character that provides the subject matter of dispute with its significance so that it can be used in selecting the appropriate view of the disputing views or, if not, searching for it elsewhere. The distinctive character of ḥukm is thought to be embedded in legitimacy to which bindingness is tied, and therefore the definition suggested by theologians which identifies ḥukm with the communication of the ḥukm-giver is thought to be the appropriate definition. The definitio
REPLICATION OF SHORT SELLING IN ISLAMIC FINANCE
Get PDFThis paper discusses short-selling and its implication in Islamic capital markets as this has always been a subject of debate. The practice of short-selling in capital markets is considered a tool for providing liquidity and better price discovery to the traders. The use of short-selling in Islamic capital markets is objectionable. The factors that make short-selling non-Shari’ah compliant are: (i) speculation that mostly verges on gambling, (ii) interest, and (iii) its contraven maslahah (public interest), that is, it may result in market manipulation and could potentially wreak havoc on the market. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to review the structure of short-selling from the Shari’ah perspective. There are mainly six Shari’ah contracts discussed in this paper that can conveniently be used for structuring Shari’ah compliant short-selling. These Shari’ah contracts are: urbun, wa’ad, wakalah, mudharabah, bai’ salam and musharakah
GREEN FINANCING AND BANK PROFITABILITY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE BANKING SECTOR IN BANGLADESH
Get PDFGreen financing is a relatively new phenomenon in Bangladesh’s banking sector following its introduction in 2011 by the Central Bank of Bangladesh. All 56 schedule banks in Bangladesh are required to adopt the green financing policies as part of the effort to promote environmentally friendly practices in their banking operations. The majority of these banks showed eagerness to set up their own green banking guidelines and green unit on time, although the seriousness to implement all the sections of the policy vary, indicating further motivation is needed to ensure actual implementation by all banks. Being a commercial entity motivated by profit, it would be interesting to investigate the relationship between green financing andprofitability of the commercial banks. This paper aims to investigate the relation between profitability and green financing based on the experience of 30 sample banks in Bangladesh. Several profitability ratios, namely ROE, ROA, AU and ROD have been used to find the relation with green financing utilized funds for three years 2012, 2013 and 2014. The study finds that there are significant relationships among different banks of Bangladesh such as conventional commercial banks, Islamic commercial banks, state-owned commercial banks and foreign commercial banks in terms of profitability ratios. In particular, the ROA, ROD and AU have significant positive relationships with green financing of the banks, while the ROE showed no significant relationship with green financing of the banks
PROBLEMS OF EUROCENTRIC VIEWS OF HISTORY: AN EXAMINATION OF CERTAIN ELEMENTARY VIEWS ABOUT COLONIALISM IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
Get PDFThe 2011 Arab uprisings have taken observers by surprise. Many expressed similar bewilderment over three decades ago when a revolutionary wave had shaken Iran. Why are the “pundits” of international politics so confused about the Muslim world? A student of history must ask why “experts” trained in social sciences and humanities have failed to envisage these events. In our opinion this has happened because of the Eurocentric view of history, particularly due to the misreading of the history of colonialism in the Muslim world. This paper examines the European historiography on the subject and explains the root cause of the problem. It concentrates on two issues: the question of economic exploitation and dependence of the Muslim world on colonial powers and the question of Muslim commitment to identity and loyalty in the modern world. On the first question we would argue that Muslim world was made subservient to Europe by coercion and on the second, we would demonstrate that unlike Europe, Muslims never abandoned their ummah identity consciousness during and after their struggles for nationhood
ARGUMENT ON THE ONTOLOGY REQUIRED BY NATURAL DESIRES: FINDING THE WATER OF LIFE WHERE OTHERS DROWN
Get PDFNatural desires are among the most fundamental features of mankind. In this article six natural and fundamental desires will be covered: will to live, to be free of fear, to be happy, to have purpose, to acquire knowledge to be free of doubt, and to be treated well by others. The fulfilment of all these natural and fundamental desires requires a God-centred ontology. The best explanation for the reason why these fundamental desires that are independent from each other, all require the same ontology is that they are planted by God. In addition, the desires will be evaluated in their relation to the attributes of God, the Hereafter and religions
‘ABD AL-JABBAR’S DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE
Get PDFThis article will analyze ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s view on the definition of knowledge. It will show that not only are ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s definitions of knowledge influenced by his theology, but that they were developed throughout his intellectual development. Some views of the late Mu‘tazilites on ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s definitions of knowledge will be highlighted
A LIBERAL APPROACH TO THE ISLAMIC SYSTEM OF DHIMMAH
No full textThe system of dhimmah has been used to deal with diversity and conflict within Islamic societies. Will Kymlicka, a comtemporary liberal thinker, states that since the system of dhimmah has failed to foster individual autonomy, it should be discarded in the contemporary world. However, some liberals disagree with Kymlicka’s position. Chandran Kukathas, another prominent contemporary liberal thinker, opines that not autonomy, but freedom of conscience is the fundamental value each and every individual must possess. In this paper, we present the Islamic system of dhimmah and then turn to critically discuss two different liberal approaches of dealing with the differences. Finally, in the conclusion, it is argued that instead of discarding this approach, the system of dhimmah can be developed along liberal lines that can take freedom of conscience as the basis