Islamic Revival

Introduction Since the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate, the Muslim community has faced the unique situation of the absence of a clearly defined political entity that represents the political unity of the Muslims and has an Islamic foundation in international relations. Alien forms of statehood were imposed from outside, creating secular nation-states where the basis of citizenship was allegiance to the nation, normally through ethnicity. Many questions were raised in the aftermath of this political earthquake, and many previously accepted orthodoxies questioned, particularly in relation to Islamic political theory. Among the issues questioned has been the traditional Islamic theory of international relations which viewed the world as divided into two spheres – the abode of Islam and the abode of disbelief/ war, or dar al-Islam and dar al-kufr/ harb. This issue has been discussed by Muslims in the West as well as internally, including academics and scholars, generally f

Amidst some recent discussions relating to the traditions upon   Ṭā’un   (plague, contagion), there is one that raises a niche question regarding the   isnād   – or channel of transmission.  Out of the six commonly known books of   ḥadith , only Ibn Mājah cites this in his collection of   Sunan , with ‘Aṭā ibn Abi Rabāḥ narrating upon the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar: حدثنا محمود بن خالد الدمشقي حدثنا سليمان بن عبد الرحمن أبو أيوب عن ابن أبي مالك عن أبيه عن عطاء بن أبي رباح عن عبد الله بن عمر، قال أقبل علينا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال  يا معشر المهاجرين خمس إذا ابتليتم بهن وأعوذ بالله أن تدركوهن لم تظهر الفاحشة في قوم قط حتى يعلنوا بها إلا فشا فيهم الطاعون والأوجاع التي لم تكن مضت في أسلافهم الذين مضوا.‏ ولم ينقصوا المكيال والميزان إلا أخذوا بالسنين وشدة المؤنة وجور السلطان عليهم.‏ ولم يمنعوا زكاة أموالهم إلا منعوا القطر من السماء ولولا البهائم لم يمطروا ولم ينقضوا عهد الله وعهد رسوله إلا سلط الله عليهم عدوا من غيرهم فأخذوا بعض ما في أيديهم ‏.‏ وما لم تحكم أئمتهم بكتاب الله وي

‘May you live in interesting times’ S upposedly originating as a curse in Chinese, though used more colloquially as an expression in English – ‘May you live in interesting times,’ appears to be quite an apt descriptive phrase to chart the course of current events.  Perhaps more so than usual, it carries with it an even bitter sense of irony. Globally, the Coronavirus, or rather the specific strain called Covid-19, has in the face of a very short space of time, not only dominated pretty much all discourse, but resulted in severe restrictive measures being imposed on a sizeable portion of humanity at large.  Outside of major international conflict, the restrictive measures that have been swiftly imposed upon populations are unprecedented in modern times.  Media outlets report death tolls across continents by the hour; politicians reinforce their policy adoptions by the force of security agencies, and an international billionaire with a messiah-like complex, positions to think of himself