A persistent theme in the Qur’an commands Muslims ‘to establish a political order on earth for the sake of creating an egalitarian and just moral-social order’. According to Fazlur Rahman this is one of key intellectual messages of the Qur’an. Ernest Gellner in his seminal book Muslim Society boldly asserts that by various obvious criteria-universalism...

This volume offers a fascinating case study of the Sayyid community of Cikoang in South Sulawesi – in particular, an examination of the role of the descendants of Sayyid Jalaluddin al-‘Aidid, a Hadhrami merchant-teacher of great authority and charisma who is said to have initially settled in Gowa in the 17th century. It is of...

Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria finds that residents, in particular Australian Muslim mothers and daughters, are distressed by high levels of discrimination from local residents in the streets where they live, in parks and shopping centres and on roads with vehicles. At the same time negative attitudes from local residents towards women and their children...

Islamisation of laws in Pakistan has been severally explained as a revival of Islam, as the implementation of the vision of Pakistan formulated as Objective Resolution in 1949 passed by the Constituent Assembly soon after its independence in 1949. It is justified as a requirement of Sovereignty of God and Supremacy of Sharia as principles...

Pakistan is a country much in focus today. This is not just because of the myriad challenges it confronts. It is also because of its immense potential. A nuclear armed nation, with an overwhelming Muslim majority population, it is often in the news, but, alas, almost always for the wrong reasons. With an area of...