This review offers a comprehensive analysis of Dār al-Islām Revisited: Territoriality in Contemporary Islamic Legal Discourse on Muslims in the West by Sarah Albrecht, a study that explores the evolving interpretations of classical Islamic territorial concepts such as dār al-Islām and dār al-ḥarb in the context of postcolonial Muslim migration to the West. Based on her doctoral dissertation, Albrecht’s work bridges historical jurisprudence and contemporary discourse to examine how these concepts have been reappropriated by Muslim scholars, activists, and institutions to address issues of identity, authority, and legal belonging in a globalized world. The book is structured around a typology of four interpretive trends, ranging from strict traditionalists to reformist voices who seek to transcend geo-religious boundaries altogether. Through detailed historical analysis and contemporary case studies, Albrecht demonstrates how territoriality has shifted from a rigid legal category to a flexible and contested discursive tool. The review highlights the book’s central argument that the reconceptualization of territorial distinctions is not merely a doctrinal exercise but a vital response to the lived realities of Muslims in the West. It also underscores the implications of these debates for the discipline of fiqh, especially in light of the democratization of Islamic knowledge and the decentralization of legal authority beyond the traditional scholarly elite.

Despite increasing Muslim migration to Mexico, little is known about how these immigrants navigate ḥalāl food practices in a predominantly non-Muslim setting. This study applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence dietary choices. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with 43 Muslim immigrants in Mexico City, the study reveals that most participants adopt a positively inclined yet contextually flexible stance – motivated by religious belief but shaped by access issues, fiqh-based allowances (e.g., meat of the animals slaughtered by the “People of the Book”), and a desire to engage with local food culture. A smaller group strictly adheres to ḥalāl consumption, driven by strong religious commitment and parental responsibility. Social pressure to conform is generally low but is influenced by internalized family expectations, intercultural household negotiations, and transnational monitoring through digital platforms. Barriers such as high costs, the limited availability of ḥalāl products, and persistent food cravings further affect behavioral control. These findings highlight how Muslim immigrants balance religious commitments with the practical and cultural realities of life within a numerically negligible Muslim minority setting such as Mexico.

The simulation hypothesis is shaped by a combination of philosophical questions, scientific advances, and cultural influences. This concept has been prevalent in philosophical thought since ancient times. However, in the modern era, with the development of computer and virtual reality technologies, this topic has been increasingly discussed. In his article on the “simulation hypothesis”, Nick Bostrom argued that our universe and everything in it could be part of some type of computer simulation. This concept has led to speculation and debates among scientists and philosophers. Support for this hypothesis has attracted increased attention. In this study, we attempt to critique this hypothesis, which is continuously on the agenda, by applying an understanding of the existence and knowledge of theology. Since theologians base the reality of knowledge on the ontic structure of existence, they have adopted the principle of “the reality of things is fixed”. However, simulation theory challenges this understanding of existence and knowledge, which forms a paradigm of the reality of knowledge. Although theologians accept that reality is objective, simulation theory contradicts this view. When these two ideas are considered from a neurobiological perspective, objects do not need to correspond to ontic reality for knowledge to be real. Therefore, the simulation hypothesis led us to question the meaning of the world in which we live, along with the concepts of reality and knowledge. In this context, we discuss the possibility that the universe is a simulation, as well as the creator of the simulation, the divine qualities of the simulation, and its theological implications. This study addresses other important issues of how simulation affects the meaning of human life and how it can be viewed as a test of free will. When we consider simulation theory from a theological perspective, we conclude that it poses no problem in terms of concepts such as the existence of God, creativity, heaven, or hell.

Raëlism is a controversial new religious movement that originated in France in the 1970s and has since spread around the world. The movement’s core tenets are rooted in science, technology, and freedom and can be summarized as a blend of science and spirituality, millenarianism, revelation, story, pseudoscience, and reinterpretation. Raëlians believe in the extraterrestrial origin of humanity and promote the pursuit of higher consciousness, inner peace, individual empowerment, and peace-building. To this end, the movement offers a series of seminars that aim to provide a transformative experience for participants and leads various social initiatives and projects at a global level. Although Raëlism has gained popularity among some individuals, it has also been the subject of substantial criticism and controversy, particularly because of its unconventional views on sexuality and its alleged support for human cloning and genetic engineering. Nonetheless, the movement continues to be a subject of interest and scrutiny for scholars, journalists, and the curious. This article provides an overview of the history, ideology, and practices of the Raëlian Movement and its relationship with transhumanism.

There are apparent similarities between the parables contained in the Gospels and those found in the Qurʾān, which provide their audiences with illustrations of complex religious concepts and moral teachings through the imagery of everyday life. Based on the form-critical analysis of the Gospel Parable of the Sower and some Qurʾānic parables, this article aims to detect defining similarities and differences between the Gospels and Sūrat al-Baqarah and illuminate details about the historical and geographic context in which the two texts originated. Based on the findings of the comparison, this article will argue that the Qurʾānic text represents a genuine continuation of the biblical text.

The aim of the present study was to examine the roles of religiosity, economic status, environmental concern, perceived behavioral effectiveness, and environmental dominance in purchasing environmentally friendly products. The study also examined the role of gender in relation to religiosity, environmental concern, environmental dominance, and the inclination to buy green products. This study was conducted among Turkish Muslims. The sample included 618 respondents who ranged in age from 18 to 84 years, with a mean age of 28 years (SD=10.1). An online questionnaire technique was used through Google Drive. The following scales were applied: a Personal Information Form, Environmental Orientation of Possessions Scale, Questions about Environmental Awareness, Religiosity Scale, and Purification of Environmental Products. The findings indicated that religiosity, economic status, environmental concern, and perceived behavioral effectiveness had positive effects on the purchase of environmentally friendly products. In addition, the research findings demonstrate that gender influences individuals’ religiosity, environmental concerns, stance in relation to nature, and perceived behavioral effectiveness in buying green products. The consequences of these findings and recommendations for forthcoming research are discussed.

It can be argued that the notion of aesthetics occupies a central place in Islam’s revealed text. Discussing the qualities that characterize the notion of aesthetics has attracted the attention of scholarly tradition. In the Qurʾānic discourse, various qualities can be discerned to characterize aesthetics. To gain a better understanding and to construct a comprehensive image of the Qurʾānic perspective of aesthetic characteristics, the Qurʾān must be taken in its entirety. However, this study is based on the thematic exegesis genre, which aims to present a holistic view of the theme as discussed throughout the entire Qurʾānic text considering selected modern Qurʾānic exegeses, where more attention is given to a number of exegetical aspects considered in thematic exegesis.

Al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390), a well-known theorist/theologian of the post-classical era of Islamic thought, not only elucidated the statements of Ṣadr al-sharīʿah in his ḥāshiyah (super-commentary), titled al-Talwīḥ, which he wrote on al-Tawḍīḥ, but also introduced several criticisms against his arguments. Al-Taftāzānī’s work, al- Talwīḥ, was received with great interest by Ottoman scholars, who then composed many ḥāshiyahs on it in the fifteenth century. Although the number of ḥāshiyahs significantly diminished, the practice of ḥāshiyah writing on al-Talwīḥ continued in the sixteenth century. Surūrī Chalabī (d. 969/1562) was one of the scholars who penned a ḥāshiyah on al-Talwīḥ during this period. The literary works of Surūrī Chalabī have recently been the subject of numerous academic studies, yet his legacy in Islamic sciences has not received the same interest. This article, aiming to fill this gap in the literature,scrutinizes synchronically and diachronically the place of Surūrī’s Ḥāshiyah on al-Talwīḥ within the tradition of Ottoman ḥāshiyah writing on al-Talwīḥ and eventually demonstrates that Surūrī primarily dealt with the arguments and comments of Ḥasan Chalabī, a previous ḥāshiyah author who commented on al-Talwīḥ and criticized them in his argument-based ḥāshiyah thus endeavors to position himself within the tradition of ḥāshiyah writing of the previous century through Ḥasan Chalabī’s work.

First Paragraph: My first encounter with Khalīfah ibn Khayyāṭ (d.240AH/854CE) was during my undergraduate study, where in one of the courses I was assigned to review the development of the genre of ṭabaqāt (prosopography arranged by affiliation or generation) in early Islam. It was then that I learned that Khalīfah has gained his reputation as a distinguished scholar of history, particularly among the sunnī scholars of post canonization of ḥadīth scholarship, by virtue of his two works Ṭabaqāt and Tārīkh. The scholar marks the emergence of a distinct genre of ḥadīth-influenced historical writing in Muslim tradition as illustrated by Akram al-ʿUmarī who studied the methods and sources of Khalīfah in his edition of Tārīkh. Recently, al-ʿUmarī’s treatment proves to be a useful source for both Ḥusayn ʿĀṣī in his Arabic survey of Khalīfah’s method in Ṭabaqāt and Tārīkh, and Tobias Andersson, the author of the present work in review. Furthermore, Khalīfah’s Tārīkh, as identified by its first reviewer in the West, Josef Schacht in 1969, as well as Andersson himself in the present work, is the oldest Islamic chronicle that ever survived. Coincidentally, Khalīfah’s Ṭabaqāt is also one of the oldest preserved biographical dictionaries of ḥadīth transmitters, besides the famous Ṭabaqāt of Muḥammad ibn Ṣaʿd (d. 230AH/845CE). The effort of Andersson to “reassess and reappraise Khalīfah’s Tārīkh by means of a detailed analysis of both the text and the context of its compilation,” therefore, is a welcomed contribution to not only our apprehension of Islamic historiography, but also to the field of ṭabaqāt and ḥadīth studies.