Beginner
Introductory materials for those new to Islamic practices or exploring the faith. Includes simplified guides, basic terminology, and accessible explanations of beliefs and rituals.
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A Historical Overview of Islāmic Legal Maxims
Unlike conventional legal texts, Islamic legal maxims were not formulated at once. The conceptual underpinnings of these maxims and their definitions developed gradually when jurisprudence blossomed at the hands of leading jurists from the rank of derivative opinion-making (takhrīj) and rule-determination (tarjīḥ) as deduced from the indications of general legislative scriptural texts, the fundamentals of…
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Insights on the Usage of Computer Programs to Locate and Grade Hadīth
Insights on the Usage of Computer Programs to Locate and Grade Hadīth By Muftī ‘Abd al-Mālik al-Kumillā’ī [Translator’s Preface: The following is an excerpt from Muftī ‘Abd al-Mālik’s book “al-Madkhal ilā ‘Ulūm al-Hadīth al-Sharīf”[1] on the use of computer programs to locate and grade hadīths. In this excerpt, Muftī ‘Abd al-Malik, seeing the abuse of these programs, sets…
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From Trinity to Unity: A Roman Catholic’s Journey to Islam
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم The spiritual journey of Nuh Ha Mim Keller, born in the farm country of the northwestern United States in 1954, is a profound testament to the quest for ultimate meaning in the modern West. Raised in a devout Roman Catholic household where the spiritual world felt more real than the physical,…
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An Ottoman Scholar’s Ten-Point Proposal for Reforming Al-Azhar’s Hadith Curriculum
The intellectual life of Islamic scholarship in the mid-twentieth century saw a significant effort to revitalize traditional learning, notably at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. A crucial document in this effort was a letter penned by Shaykh Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī (d. 1952), the last deputy of the Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam. Having fled Ataturk’s Republican militias, Kawtharī…