وَٱعْتَصِمُوا۟ بِحَبْلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا۟ ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَآءًۭ فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِۦٓ إِخْوَٰنًۭا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.
3:103
Welcome to The Qarawiyyin Newsletter!
This March marked 100 Hijri years since one of the biggest events in Islamic history, the abolishment of the caliphate. An institution that was established from the time of our Beloved Rasool, one which undergirded the lives of Muslims all over the world. Although a key event in understanding the situation of the Muslim world today, for many Khilafah remains a foreign concept. So we decided it’s time to bring our audience into the conversation, and dedicated this month’s podcast episode and book list to understanding the concept of the khilafah, highlight its significance and the modern challenges we face today.
This month we also witnessed the tragic deaths of Indonesian scholar Shaykha Dr. Habiba Junaydi al-Azhari and Shaykh Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni of Syria, may Allah have mercy on their souls and accept their monumental efforts.
We wanted to share a final reminder to submit feedback before the form closes this Friday. Let us know what you would like to see more of from The Qarawiyyin Project.
The women of Tuggurt in their houses: Framings of women’s liberation in Algeria - Sabrina Amrane
While Western feminism is the dominant paradigm through which women’s rights in the Muslim world is discussed, Sabrina Amrane explores how the quest for women’s liberation is not one dimensional nor homogeneous. In the context of Algeria, she notes the varying impact of colonialism in two separate regions of the country to understand the different conceptions of women’s liberation in the Muslim world. She brings to the forefront the women of Tuggurt, who rallied under a banner that read “For the Emancipation of Women Under Islamic Principles” - a vastly different approach to their more widely acknowledged contemporaries in Algiers.
Economics of the individual: Unpacking homo economicus and islamicus - Amal Essayem
Economic forecasts have frequently proven to be wildly wrong, wrecking unforseen havoc on entire populations. Amal Essayem explores how economic models are fundamentally flawed due to their foundational conception of the economic human - homo economicus. She contrasts this with homo Islamicus, the efforts of Muslim economists to integrate Islamic teachings into our understanding of human behaviour. She stresses the need for Muslims to engage in these critical conversations in order to envision an alternative to the current capitalist hegemony.
Podcast Ep. 14: Back to the Future | Khilafa & Islamic Governance
In Episode 14, the TQP team sits down for a conversation on the concept of Khilafa, laying out the fundamentals for the less informed but also delving deeper into the political model for those better acquainted with Islamic Political theory, to reflect on the challenges of envisioning Islamic governance in the modern period.
Book list: Conceptualising the Caliphate
Following our podcast we turn to the topic of Islamic governance in this edition of our bimonthly book recommendations. These works span the fields of history, theory, and practice, providing various angles from which to consider Islamic politics today.
As well as periodically updating our resource bank, here we share some other insightful contributions from prominent Muslim figures and organisations.
Podcast: Socio-Political Realities, Postmodernism & Hizb ut-Tahrir | Dr. Yassir Morsi, Boys in The Cave On their latest podcast episode, Boys in the Cave hosts Dr. Yassir Morsi for a discussion on political thought, complex modern realities, colonisation, regressive politics, culture wars and more.
Website: Menstrual Matters, Whitethread An indispensable resource for Muslim women, the Menstrual Matters Project is the latest initiative to emerge from Whitethread with the objective of educating women on menstruation and post-natal bleeding, as well as other related subjects. This knowledge serves as a means to execute our sacred devotions in accordance with the shari‘ah.
Article: Can European Muslims Resist Assimilation? Traversing Traditon As European Muslims are faced with demands to assimilate into their local culture and abandon their Islamic values, guest writer Imran asks if a state can tolerate pluralism without feeling fundamentally threatened?
Video: Law and Politics Under the Abbasids by Sohaira Siddiqui, Islamicate Book Reviews As part of a regular series, Usaama al-Azami interviews Omar Anchassi about books in Islamic studies. This episode discusses Sohaira Siddiqui's important monograph, Law and Politics under the Abbasids: An Intellectual Portrait of al-Juwayni, in which she explores al-Juwayni's political writing while witnessing unique developments in the khilafa.
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Until next time, Assalaamu Alaykum.