23. January 2019
Salaam Alaikum Sheikh. I wonder if you can help me with an issue I have inshAllah. Recently my husband spoke to me about possibly entering into a muttah marriage with another woman. I feel very strongly that polygamy wouldn't work for us no matter what way he does it. It has left me anxious and find myself constantly worrying about what his plans are. Is muttah marriage permissible? Can he do it without me knowing? It feels so wrong to me on so many levels. Any advice would be greatly...
17. July 2018
Law And Ethics in the Islamic Normative Tradition The Encyclopedia of Islamic Bioethics, Oxford University Online by Khaled Abou El Fadl Introduction There is a wide range of jurisprudential and ethical prescriptions, under the broad rubric of Sharīʿah that apply to ever expanding issues raised by the field of bioethics. The Sharīʿah consists of ethical and legal normative duties and obligations binding to each Muslim individually and to Muslims collectively. The Islamic classical legal...
14. August 2017
The question of how the law becomes known has occupied the minds of Muslim scholars for a long time. In the early centuries, the heated debates, and at times even hostilities, centered around the place and role of ethical principles and reason in the development of the religious tradition. Numerous reports in the Islamic tradition described the very mission of the Prophet Muhammad as part and parcel of an ethical project—a project that builds upon and develops people’s natural ethical...
01. December 2016
Asalamu Aleykum, I wonder if you can guide me on a personal matter. I have written my will and alhumdullilah have advised my executors to seek guidance from a knowledged sheikh in order to ensure inheritance is distributed according to sharia law. Inshallah it will be. However there is a matter, which I want to include in my will. I remarried recently and as my husband, he will be entitled to a share of the inheritance, as yet we have no children and it may not be possible. Upon marriage my...
01. November 2014
By Khaled Abou El Fadl Years ago, purely out of curiosity, I bought a group of cassettes that would change my life. Normally, whatever money I had, or even did not have, was spent on books. My whole childhood could be summed up by an endless quest for books, and the never-ending chase for money that could be spent on books. For reasons that never became clear to me, this one time I managed to save some money but did not feel like buying more books, and instead, on an impulse bought a set of...
01. June 2005
By Khaled Abou El Fadl [FNa1] I. Introduction The purpose of this essay is to answer the following question: Is there a moral duty to obey an Islamic law in an Islamic state? Such an inquiry demands that we define what qualifies as an Islamic law. Furthermore, we will have to attempt a simple definition of an Islamic state, and examine the interrelationship between an Islamic state and Islamic law. Once this is accomplished, we move to identifying the nature of morality under Islam. More...
01. March 2002
BY KHALED ABOU EL FADL Several years ago, I remember seeing a picture of Osama bin Laden that ominously foretold the tragedy that would come on 11 September. The picture showed bin Laden, with his typical slothful and even indifferent look, sitting while gripping his Kalashnikov with neatly organised and impressive looking books filling the background. What caught my attention in this picture were the titles of these books. With the help of a magnifying glass, I was able to figure out the...
01. June 1996
Khaled Abou El Fadl* Islam embodies a comprehensive view for the Herein and Hereafter. It is often stated that Islamic theology and law regulates every aspect of a Muslim's life.[1] Islamic law is comprehensive and sacred; yet, it is not irrational. Islamic law was not created through an irrational process of divine revelation; rather, it was deduced from principles and moral rules extracted from texts believed to be divine. The process seeks to discover the will of God in this life and the...