A hinterland in the old world of Islam, the early history of diffusion of Islamic civilization in Bengal is shrouded with mystery. Though the maritime and trade contacts between Arab world and Bengal can be traced during the early period of Islam, the religious and cultural interaction between these two far-fetched lands started growing only after the Muslim conquest of the region in the early ...

Muslims living in the Indonesian archipelago have long placed considerable importance on their travels to and communications with what they saw as intellectual centers for the study of Islam. I trace some of the effects of these “intellectual pilgrimages” to Mecca, Cairo, and elsewhere on Indonesian deliberations about Islam, particularly concerning Islamic law. I argue that these references to...

Muslims in America are an ethnically diverse group, coming from more than sixty nations and representing very different racial, linguistic, tribal, educational, and cultural backgrounds. Yvonne Haddad groups them into three categories: immigrants, converts, and sojourners (Conser, 218-219). This article will focus on those who have converted to Islam in America, with particular attention to the...

Islam is a comprehensive religion guiding the lives of its followers through sets of rules governing the personal, social, and public aspects through the verses of the Holy Qur'an and Hadiths, the compilation of the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), the two main documents that serve as guidelines. Islam is explicit with regard to using animals for human purposes and there is a rich traditi...

the proscription of illustration and painting in islam is a topic often discussed by researchers and art-ists. most orientalists have suggested that islam generally opposed art, especially painting and illustra-tion, thus resulting in a number of limitations. a survey of different prophetic sayings on this subject (hadith singular, hadis plural), verses of the qur'an, and artworks in the era of...

The controversies and theological debates between different religions have always been an interesting topic for the scholars of religion. These debates were usually carried out in two ways: orally, in a meeting dedicated to these debates, or in writing. One of the religious traditions criticized since its emergence and against which many refutations were written in the early Islamic centu...

Islamic bioethics derives from a combination of principles, duties and rights, and, to a certain extent, a call to virtue. In Islam, bioethical decision-making is carried out within a framework of values derived from revelation and tradition. It is intimately linked to the broad ethical teachings of the Qur'an and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammed, and thus to the interpretation of Islamic ...