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Showing posts from March, 2012

Whither the Nation-States?

Sharique Naeem  The Law of a land governs the relationship of individuals within that Society; therefore, the law is central to any society as it is the yardstick for decisions. In the west, the secular law has found general acceptance as the premises for governing the society, and while there are debates on reforms, ethical values, and policies, etc. every now and then, the undertone is set within the context of the secular law. In the Muslim societies, however, this general acceptance never materialized. And it is for this reason that the very notion of validity of secular law is contested so often.  In fact, a close scrutiny of many of the Political trends in the Muslim world show that the underlying challenge is of identifying and accepting the source of law; for example, whether it is to be derived from Faith or Secular premises. With the advent of the Islamic awakening, labeled as the Arab Spring , this debate has become even more prominent. While the model of Na

How the Issue of al-Qadaa’ wa ‘l-Qadar Emerged

The following is the draft English translation of a chapter from the masterpiece ,  'Shaksiya Islamiya' (The Islamic Personality) volume 1 by Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani.   For exact meanings please refer to the original Arabic. With the exception of the issue of the perpetrator of a kabīrah [major sin], over which Wāsil Ibn ‘ Atā’, the head of the Mu’tazilah , withdrew from the circle of al-Hasan al-Basrī, we scarcely find any issue from the issues of ‘Ilm al-Kalam which had not originated from an issue that was discussed by the Greek philosophers. The issue of al-qadā’ wa ‘l-qadar by this name and with the referent which they discussed had been discussed by Greek philosophers, and they had differed in it. This issue is referred to as the issue of al-qadā’ wa ‘l-qadar and as al-jabr wa ‘l-ikhtiyār , and as hurriyat al-irādah , a ll of which have the same referent, namely: the actions that man does, is he free to do them or not, or is he compelled? It never occurred