Islamic law from historical foundations to contemporary practice

Notre Dame, Indianaxii, 178 hlm.: bibl., index; 23 c

The depth of Islamic conservation on the environment

The purpose of this article is to examine the concept of Islamic conservation on environment. Nowadays, the scholars suggest that the religions should have an impact on preserving the environment. Martin Palmer point out that Islam probably has the best worked out ‘system of environmental checks and balances’. This paper attempts to bring the readers to understand the Islamic concept that underlines the relations between God, human and non-human. An effort will be to contrast the concept of ‘deep ecology’ in both the Islamic and Western View. Finally, the researchers will outline the Islamic Principles for the Conservation of Natural Environment (IPCNE), which respects an important addition to the collective world efforts for conservatio

Is the British weather anti-Islamic? Prayer times, the ulama and application of the shari’a

In the absence of clear-cut guidance from the primary sources of the shari‘a, how do Muslim scholars derive a workable religious praxis in changing circumstances and which authorities do they invoke in the process? This article explores possible answers to these questions by conducting a detailed analysis of a debate between two groups of Deobandi scholars in Britain over establishing the correct time for the commencement of morning (Fajr) and the onset of fasting for Ramadan. I argue that besides the primary sources, these Deobandi scholars invoke alternate forms of extra-scriptural authority such as the weight of precedence deriving from the akabir (elders) of the Deobandi tradition, as also their reliance on modern scientific knowledge. The article highlights the complex interplay of factors which determines the way that Muslims in Britain negotiate the practice of their religion in new socio-cultural milieu and the way they attempt to incorporate these changes within the parameters of an established religious discourse