Soetsu Yanagi: ‘The Beauty of Everyday Things’

“The Beauty of Everyday Things,” is a compilation of writings by Soetsu Yanagi (1889 – 1961), an art historian and philosopher of religion, who founded the Mingei (民芸) movement of Japanese folk art, inspired by the beautifully hand-crafted objects created by ordinary and often unknown artisans for everyday use. [1] Influenced by John Ruskin and William Morris, his writings on Mingei integrate aesthetics, metaphysics, nationalism and material production. Alongside supporting the efforts of artisans to preserve traditional techniques, Yanagi also founded the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in 1936, which is still open and active today. Continue reading Soetsu Yanagi: ‘The Beauty of Everyday Things’

The Ibn ‘Arabī Connection: How Akbarian Metaphysics Shaped South Asian Sufism      

To those that, like me, spent their lockdown evenings watching Diliriş: Ertuğrul, Ibn ʿArabī will be a familiar name. Draped in the robes of a dervish, Ozman Sirgood’s character wanders the landscapes of medieval Anatolia, dispensing scriptural wisdom and delivering spiritual guidance to the eponymous protagonist and his plucky tribespeople. Continue reading The Ibn ‘Arabī Connection: How Akbarian Metaphysics Shaped South Asian Sufism      

علماء المسلمين في اليابان: التفكر في الإسلام في مجتمع غير مسلم

ما يلي مقتبس من محاضرة الدكتور قييم ناوكي ياماموتو ، العلماء المسلمون في اليابان: التفكير في الإسلام في مجتمع غير مسلم. وهو جزء من سلسلة محاضرات من ثلاثة أجزاء بعنوان “شرق آسيا والإسلام: الحاضر والماضي والمستقبل” في مركز الدراسات الآسيوية والشرق أوسطية (CAMES). تم اختصار النص وتحريره للتدفق مع بعض التعليقات الإضافية من قبل الدكتور ياماموتو. أظن أن معظم الناس ليسوا على دراية بالتاريخ الإسلامي … Continue reading علماء المسلمين في اليابان: التفكر في الإسلام في مجتمع غير مسلم

From Principles to Patients: Darul Qasim College’s Approach to Islamic Bioethics

What is the ‘Muslim’ response to June 24th, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to develop their own standards for abortion laws? How can shifāʾ — the all-encompassing cure mentioned in the Quran — inform the modern drug development pipeline? Where can Muslim physicians draw on their desire for ihsān (excellence) to improve care for patients, be they Muslim or not? Muslim physicians likely account for at least 4.5% of all practicing physicians in America, but beyond our strength in numbers, what else can we offer to the broader society that is informed by our Islam? Continue reading From Principles to Patients: Darul Qasim College’s Approach to Islamic Bioethics

Transgender Ideology: A Book Review of Ryan T. Anderson’s “When Harry Became Sally”

In under 300 pages, Anderson discusses the wide range of affected areas: political development, specifically civil rights strides under the Obama administration; medicine; philosophical incoherence of the movement; the experiences of individuals regretting undergoing sex-reassignment procedures (“detransitioners”); reforms in education to indoctrinate children; coercion to align with the latest evolution of the ideology; cultural and media forces; the encroachment into single-sex spaces and the harm to women especially. Continue reading Transgender Ideology: A Book Review of Ryan T. Anderson’s “When Harry Became Sally”

Towards An Islamic Theory of Culture Part III: It Starts and Ends With Tawḥīd

The theocentricity of Islam is distinguished from other faith traditions through the principle of tawḥīd (absolute monotheism). Faruqi argues that tawḥīd is not merely a tenet of creed, but also a philosophical foundation. All matters of a Muslim’s life, his belief, spiritual and social obligations, are all in service of tawḥīd. When taking Islam as an entire system of thought rather than a set of customs and superstitions, tawḥīd is the philosophical foundation upon which it stands. All endeavors, be they personal, social, political, intellectual, scientific or artistic, must be in service of this sublime divinity.  Continue reading Towards An Islamic Theory of Culture Part III: It Starts and Ends With Tawḥīd

Sports as Sacred and Secular Activities

The modern world is witness to how sports have transformed from merely physical (and at times mental) exercises to economic, cultural, and even political forces to be reckoned with… [however] H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad  argues that despite its despiritualized and industrialized form today, the popular pastime of sports turns out to have sacred origin and importance. Continue reading Sports as Sacred and Secular Activities

Exhale

Breathe.  Gather the winds and make them plead,  Bring cirrus, stratus, and nimbus into thee,  Breathe.  Until thy lungs are ruptured and sore,  Stoke the fire in thy belly, make it roar,  Breathe.  And leave no room for doubt,  Breathe with certainty inside and out,  And bring the heavens to a halt in one clean shout,  Breathe.  With the word that freed the Habashi,  That … Continue reading Exhale

Muslim Scholars in Japan: Contemplating Islam in a Non-Muslim Society

I suspect most people are not familiar with Islamic history in East Asia, despite the region being home to one of the world’s oldest masjids, built in 7th or 8th century China. More recently, in 20th century Japan, the Kobe Masjid was built and mostly supported by foreign Tatar, Turkish, and South Asian Muslims. (You can see a South Asian influence in its architecture.) Japan has one of the youngest Muslim communities in history, making East Asia home to both the oldest Islamic traditions established by a non-Arab and the youngest. Continue reading Muslim Scholars in Japan: Contemplating Islam in a Non-Muslim Society

Towards An Islamic Theory of Culture Part II: On Islamicates and Third Ways

The modern history of the Balkans region presents a great analogy for the West’s anxieties towards the Islamic world, an uncanny image of an Islamic heritage which the heirs of Christendom wished to forget. From the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s, through to the rise and fall of Yugoslavia such an image would remain. During the Bosnian civil war of the 1990s, Serbian nationalist propaganda would evoke this Islamic past in order to alienate the Bosnian Muslim population, pejoratively referred to as “Turks,” to illustrate their supposed foreignness and therefore lack of belonging to the region. [5] In this light, Bosnia finds itself in geographical and cultural limbo. Such was the world which Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003) was born into, and such was the world molded him. Continue reading Towards An Islamic Theory of Culture Part II: On Islamicates and Third Ways