Articles
Why Were My Malaysia and Indonesia Visits Different?
Ahmet T. Kuru || 1 May 2024 I have been studying Islam and democracy for two decades as a professor in the United States. My initial research focused on the Middle East, especially Turkey, where I was born. Since the […]
The Iranian Response And Its Implications For The Middle East
Osman Softic || 17 April 2024 Iran unleashed several hundred kamikaze drones and cruise and ballistic missiles on April 13, 2024 in its military operation dubbed ‘truthful promise,’ striking at various military targets in Israel. The Iranians claim this first […]
Did Istanbul Elect Turkey’s New Leader?
Ahmet T. Kuru || April 4, 2024 The reelection of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 31 means much more than a municipal win. It has consolidated Imamoglu’s reputation as the only politician able to defeat President Recep Tayyip […]
Ibn Khallikan: Shaping Islamic History through the Lens of a Kurdish Scholar
Zhilwan Tahir || 18 March 2024 In the realm of Islamic history, several individuals emerge as notable for their significant influence and valuable achievements. Ibn Khallikan, a prominent Kurdish historian, stands out as a noteworthy character whose writings have had […]
The Philosophical Sufism of Harun Nasution: A Phenomenological-Historical Investigation of the Influence of Neo-Mu’tazilism – Part IV
Ahmad Farouk Musa & Piet Hizbullah Khaidir || 13 March 2024 Islamic Reformism via Neo-Mu’tazilism Indeed, the main challenge confronting us today is the same one the past reformists faced: intellectual stagnation. As a result of the decline in rationalism […]
The Philosophical Sufism of Harun Nasution: A Phenomenological-Historical Investigation of the Influence of Neo-Mu’tazilism – Part III
Ahmad Farouk Musa & Piet Hizbullah Khaidir || 11 March 2024 Harun Nasution’s Sufism Does the rationality of Nasution’s Islamic thought prevent him from practicing sufism? When we examine the book Philosophy and Mysticism in Islam, sufi practices (also known […]
The Philosophical Sufism of Harun Nasution: A Phenomenological-Historical Investigation of the Influence of Neo-Mu’tazilism – Part II
Ahmad Farouk Musa & Piet Hizbullah Khaidir || 5 March 2024 Islamic Rationality and the Rational Thought of Harun Nasution Nasution believed that the dominance of fatalism, especially in Ash’arite theology—the predominant position of the Malay Muslims of the […]
My Malaysia ordeal shows how religion can fuse with populist nationalism to silence dissent
Ahmet T. Kuru || March 1, 2024 I hadn’t expected my book tour in Malaysia to end with a confrontation with men who identified themselves as police in a Kuala Lumpur airport. I arrived in the Muslim-majority country in early […]
The Philosophical Sufism of Harun Nasution: A Phenomenological-Historical Investigation of the Influence of Neo-Mu’tazilism – Part I
Ahmad Farouk Musa & Piet Hizbullah Khaidir || 1 March 2024 Abstract Sufism is the mystical form of Islam that emphasizes spirituality which is commonly seen as irrational. Conversely, rationalism (mu’tazilism) stresses the rational dimension of Islam. Is philosophical or […]
On the Islamisation of Knowledge and Critical Muslim Studies: A Brief Analysis
Ehsan Shahwahid || 27 February 2024 Intellectuals and scholars have discussed the problematics of colonization, modernity and knowledge production, which led to several initiatives undertaken to disentangle these legacies of the West still prevailing towards Islam, Muslims, and more broadly […]
