Islamic Education

Truly turning Iran, long-term, into a functioning member of the global community, not just with its benefits but with its responsibilities and obligations, might be the only real plan that allows the Iranian people, long-studied and long-documented as perhaps the most democratically-knowledgeable and democratically-aspiring people within the Muslim world, to finally reconstruct its own society in a manner that fundamentally changes the nature and the dynamic of the region. That possibility has only an inkling of a chance if the present deal is not actively undermined, if the powers on the stage that crafted it work in the coming years to turn what was initially a temporary band-aid into a full-on permanent brace. And that, quite frankly, won’t happen if the two most important countries that did not have their flags on the dais today in front of the cameras work hard to ensure this temporary solution becomes simply a confirmation of everyone’s worst assumptions about Iran. Perhaps, in the end, that is exactly what Israel and Saudi Arabia want the most. They don’t want change. They want affirmation. Sometimes status quo has its seduction.

The Caspian Project is a weekly digital magazine organized by the online analytical resource, Modern Diplomacy. Dr. Matthew Crosston is the Senior Editor of the project, which aims to acquaint people with this critically undervalued region of the world. The analyses go far beyond the standard issue of energy and encapsulates economics, politics, culture, religion, global affairs, conflict and peace.

In this number you will learn about future trajectories for Iran, power balancing by Azerbaijan, and some under-discussed aspects to the new-old rivalry between the United States and Russia.

International Day of al-Quds is an annual event, supporting a just peace for Palestine, and opposing Apartheid Israel’s control of Jerusalem (al-Quds in Arabic: ُﻘﻟا ـ سْﺪ ), the international city that stands as a powerful symbol to three of the world’s great religious traditions. Pro-justice and anti-Zionist Apartheid demonstrations are held on this day in most Muslim and Arab countries and by Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the world, including the United States. It is held each year on the last Friday of the Muslim month of Ramadhan.

After the prophet'sPBUH immigration to Medina, a portion of the immigrants did not enjoy enough support. One of the problems was the housing. The preliminary assistance of the people of Medina to the immigrants was almost enough; however, because of the increase of the number of the immigrants and their tendency to have more relationship with the prophet PBUH, the Mosque of the Prophet was built in the second year after Hijrah. These immigrants were housed in a part which came to be known as Suffah. Since the inhabitants of Suffah could not bring their properties along with themselves, they have been constantly considered as poor people of that age; however this article intends to study the Suffah and its inhabitants from the viewpoint of civilization.
Therefore, the study of the construction of Suffah, as a part of the mosque, teaching of the inhabitants of Suffah and their moral training are the main parts of this article. It seems that Suffah was a sunshade behind the place where the people prayed and its fame as a bench or veranda has no historical precedent. Furthermore, there is abundant evidence about the initiation of instruction among the immigrants in Suffah. The moral and theosophical instructions at Suffah are considerable, although not all of the inhabitants of Suffah were interested in such instructions.

This is the matin or main text of the `Umdat’l-`Ulama (the Support of the Scholars) of Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye` in Arabic and English. This work was considered by the scholars of the Sokoto polity to be one of the key works which established the Shehu as the mujaddid (Islamic reformer) of the 12th century hijra (19th century). The work comprises no more than a register of the Qur`anic verses and prophetic traditions that establish the sciences of Iman, Islam and Ihsan. As my shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam Kariàngha cited that at first glance this work seems insignificant, however when this concise work is examined from the perspective of its exegesis (tafsir) and commentary (sharh), it is then that the genius of the work becomes apparent. It is for this reason that the Shehu named it ‘the support of the scholars’ and declared that: “Whoever understands all that has been evidenced to him in every chapter from these chapters with its verses and traditions and learns them by heart, he will subsequently be a scholar (`alim). Everything that has been evidenced to him from the chapters from these chapters will be sufficient, if Allah wills, for him whose insight has been illumined by Allah in order for him to arrive at everything he needs in the Deen from its verses and traditions.” It was based upon this challenge and in response to a request by the amir of our jama`at in the US, that I began composing a commentary upon this work which I called: `Uddat’l-Fuqara `Ala Tareeq’l-Asfiya fee Sharh `Ala `Umdat’l-`Ulama (The Groundwork of the Impoverished Upon the Path of the Purified Regarding a Commentary Upon the Support of the Scholars). The first chapter of this commentary has been completed with the help of Allah best of His assistance.
The Shehu rahimahu Allah arranged this work into seven chapters along with a brief introduction and conclusion:
Chapter One An Explanation of the Deen of Islam and the Division of Its Sciences.
Chapter Two An Explanation of the Verses of the Foundations of the Deen.
Chapter Three An Explanation of the Traditions of the Foundations of the Deen.
Chapter Four An Explanation of the Verses of the Outward Branches of the Deen.
Chapter Five An Explanation of the Traditions of the Outward Branches of the Deen.
Chapter Six An Explanation of the Verses of the Inward Branches of the Deen.
Chapter Seven An Explanation of the Traditions of the Inward Branches of the Deen.

Applying sociological perspectives into an academic research is not as easy as we might think. Some researches, especially in religious field, that were claimed using sociological perspective, in fact, did not have any sense of sociological analysis at all, or at least, they usually limited their sociological analysis only on the function of religion in society by utilizing the perspective of functionalism. This article tries to intoduce an alternative perspective within sociology, namely symbolic interactionism and the way how this perspective can be applied broadly to explore religious phenomena. By utilizing this perspective, many religious phenomena, especially their symbolic aspects and the picture of everyday life situation would be better explained because the basic premises of this perspective in viewing the nature of society are more humane and dynamic. Besides, this perspective offers an interesting methodology to understand religious phenomena through the adoption and diffusion of field methods, ethnography and qualitative sociology.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the appropriateness of using imported quality standards to assess the quality of education in an Islamic context and whether the resulting education contributes to the achievement of national goals. Using dialectical inquiry and fitness of purpose analysis, this paper compares the purposes and outcomes of education as defined by Western and Islamic standards and suggests quality benchmarking considerations that ensure the sustainability and integrity of education in Muslim countries. The central argument is that overall, the imported quality frameworks do not prevent the implementation of Islamically-based educational systems, but the quality rhetoric needs to be interpreted and applied in an Islamic manner. Suggested best practices include implementing mutual consultation, mastering core concepts, and ensuring that the professors understand the context of Islam. These Islamically-based best practices represent easily accessible and customizable benchmarking guides for universities in the Islamic world that concerned practitioners can adopt when constructing or modifying home grown and foreign institutions of higher education.

The Caspian Project is a weekly digital magazine organized by the online analytical resource, Modern Diplomacy. Dr. Matthew Crosston is the Senior Editor of the project, which aims to acquaint people with this critically undervalued region of the world. The analyses go far beyond the standard issue of energy and encapsulates economics, politics, culture, religion, global affairs, conflict and peace.

Highlights from this number focus on the First Lady of Azerbaijan, political myths and gamesmanship revolving around Vladimir Putin, and opportunities for a Russia-Greece alliance in the face of EU austerity.

    Kozmonotlar Psiho-Hazırlama Merkezin başkanı, araştırmalar sürecinde 2580 kere çekimsizlikte oldu. 1973 yıldan beri SSCB. Bilimler Akademisi Psikoloji alanında çalıştı. 1993 yıldan beri Rusya Kültür Enstitüsünde çalışıyor. Çeçenistan’daki savaşan rus askerlerin ve çeçenistanlı askerlerin (mücahitlerin) stresle ilgili önemli araştırmalar yapmış. 300 bilimsel yayınlama, 7 monografi, 12 icat ve çok sayıda sosyopolitik konulu konuşmaları varmaktadır.

Menurut mayoritas ulama, i’tikaf disyari’atkan di semua masjid karena keumuman firman Allah di atas (yang artinya) “Sedang kamu beri’tikaf dalam masjid”.
Imam Bukhari membawakan Bab dalam kitab Shahihnya, “I’tikaf pada 10 hari terakhir bulan Ramdhan dan i’tikaf di seluruh masjid.” Ibnu Hajar menyatakan, “Ayat tersebut (surat Al Baqarah ayat 187) menyebutkan disyaratkannya masjid, tanpa dikhususkan masjid tertentu”