Research

By: Sherman Jackson “At the most basic level, Shari‘ah is the Muslim universe of ideals. It is the result of their collective effort to understand and apply the Quran and supplementary teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (called Sunna) in order to earn God’s pleasure and secure human welfare in this life and attain human salvation in the life […]

By: Asifa Quraishi-Landes “For Muslims, Shari‘ah is the way they believe God wants us to live in the world. One would look to a particular source of understanding of what God wants us to do and would follow that way. Shari‘ah literally means “way” or “street.” Shari‘ah would be the way or the path a Muslim would want

By: Ahsan Pervez Daredia “We all know the stereotype; a Muslim on an airplane follows an explosion. I know, I know, it’s over-exaggerated, but that’s what we’ve come to know and think in the post 9/11 era. I’ve been on numerous flights in, out, and within Pakistan, but I cannot explain the genuine terror that

By: Samena Premjee “Being a Muslim today is a constant struggle for many. Being asked to choose between being American and being Muslim is an insult and is not fair. The very foundation that this country was built on is the very same basic principles and foundation that being Muslim has guaranteed for thousands of years. This country

By: Engy Abdelkader, Esq. “In 2000, Layla and Ahmed were married in an Islamic religious ceremony in Egypt. Layla recently filed for divorce in New Jersey and her husband moved to throw out her complaint alleging that they were never legally married. The New Jersey judge must determine whether there is merit to the husband’s claim. To do

By: Celene Ayat Lizzio “A September 2011 resolution of the Fiqh Council of North America, a body of esteemed American Muslim religious scholars, takes just this stance. In their statement entitled: “On Being Faithful Muslims and Loyal Americans,” the members of the council strongly affirm that Islamic values and modern, Western, secular, democratic values both

By: Qasim Rashid “Since Oklahoma became the first state in the nation to pass anti-Shari‘ah legislation in July 2010, at least 20 more states passed, or attempted to pass, legislation banning Shari‘ah. Those trying to ban Shari‘ah consistently lack an understanding of exactly what is being banned. This paper demonstrates that these legislations violate fundamental Muslim-American civil liberties, and

By: Sophia Rose Arjana “I begin my reflections on the rise of Islamophobia in America over the past decade by pointing out an often-neglected fact: the fear and hatred directed against Muslims we have seen since 9/11 is nothing new. Anxiety surrounding Islam in the New World dates to the conquest of the Americas by

By: Azizah al-Hibri, Esq. “Capital punishment is imposed in the United States for a limited number of reasons, such as treason and murder. Recently, all executions have been related to crimes of intentional murder, the most notable example being the approaching execution of Timothy McVeigh who caused the death of hundreds of Americans in Oklahoma

By: Azizah al-Hibri, Esq. “Recently, Reverend Franklin Graham frankly expressed his views on Islam on Fox and PBS. He said that Islam was an evil and violent religion, and that the Qur’an itself calls for violence against non-Muslims. He also asserted his belief that the God of Islam is not the God of Christianity because