Indonesia runs the world’s largest network of madrasas (Islamic schools). They have contributed significantly to girls’ enrolment, and can serve as a model for the Taliban government.
(ANTARA FOTO/Sahrul Manda Tikupadang)
Indonesia can serve as an important model for the Taliban of how Muslim nations and faith-based organisations can play a big role in expanding girls’ education.
Harsh punishments: the Taliban have announced they will reinstate execution and amputations.
EPA-EFE/stringer
Day 6 of our Understanding Islam series. Sharia constitutes a broad set of rules that guide Muslims on how to lead an ethical life. The way Sharia is interpreted depends on who is using it and why.
In early 2021, some Taliban fighters surrendered their weapons to support peace talks with the Afghan government. Today the Islamic extremist group is battling government forces to control the country.
Xinhua/Emran Waak via Getty Images
Two decades have passed since the US invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban’s Islamic extremist regime. Despite efforts to update its image, the group still holds hard-line views.
This term ‘jihad’ can include various forms of nonviolent struggles: for instance, the struggle to become a better person.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Violent radicals are often described as jihadists. A scholar explains what the word means and why those using the word to justify terrorism are often misrepresenting their sources.
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has long been known as a party boy. Now, he’s imposing strict Islamic religious rule on the people of Brunei.
Reuters/Ahim Rani
Brunei’s new anti-gay Sharia laws are the harshest in the world. Yet few countries have publicly condemned them, and an international boycott could backfire.
Conservative lawmakers in dozens of U.S. states have raised fears that Islamic fundamentalists want to impose Sharia on Americans.
Reuters/David Ryder
There is no inherent tension between Islam and democratic values. Like any use of religion in politics, the application of Sharia as law depends on who is using it – and why.
Australian Muslims are divided on whether women will get a fair deal under Islamic dispute resolution if it is implemented here.
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Islamic dispute resolution is a way of avoiding court but resolving disputes under Islamic law. Other countries use this approach. But is it right for Australia?
Parts of Mozambique are under attack from an Islamist militia that wants to uphold sharia law.
EPA/ANDRE CATUEIRA
Food plays an integral role during the 30-day period of Ramadan. This Speed Read explains how Muslims determine what foods are ‘halal,’ an Arabic word that means ‘permissible.’
The 1979 Iranian revolution wasn’t purely Islamic but the clerics, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, made it so to consolidate their power.
BockoPix/Flickr
Reformists are calling for the emancipation of religion from a state that’s seen to exploit Islam for purposes of political power. This remains the most formidable challenge to Iran’s ruling clergy.
Activists protesting against the recently banned triple divorce.
AP Photo/Altaf Qadri
Muslim women in India struggle with a host of challenges, such as widespread poverty and lack of access to education. Arbitrary divorce was only one of many injustices.
Since Islam is predicated on law, variations in the interpretation of that law – along with geography and distinct legal schools – have all contributed to differences in the religion.
A struggle is underway for the heart and soul of Islam. Moderate Muslims need to engage in the contest to ensure their view of Islam is the one that prevails.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as self-declared caliph, seeks to exploit the historical resonance of the caliphate for a brutal present-day cause.
EPA/Furqan Media
The Caliphate has inspired disputes among Muslims for centuries, but attempts at revival in modern times are unlikely to succeed. Most of the world’s Muslims would not accept its authority over them.
Will the dollar prove a draw for Islamic investors?
Reuters
Financial assets compliant with sharia are growing at a much faster pace than the conventional kind, yet North American banks are still stuck on the sidelines.
Praying before an IS banner in a Mosul Mosque.
EPA/STR
In the late summer of 2014, the international community watched helplessly as Islamic State (IS) unleashed widespread human rights abuses against civilians across Syria and Iraq, with little standing in…