Al-Shajarah Journal of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC)

THE AIMS AND ETHICS OF SCHOLARLY WRITING: REFLECTIONS FROM IBN KHALDŪN’S MUQADDIMAH (VI:33)

Azenita Abdullah — 2025-12-24

This essay provides a critical analysis of Ibn Khaldūn’s perspectives on the aims and purposes of scholarly composition as articulated in the Muqaddimah. For Ibn Khaldūn, writing transcended mere technical execution; it represented the highest form of scholarly communication, preserving knowledge across generations and ensuring that science and learning benefit those “who are absent and live at a later time.” Accordingly, he delineated seven legitimate aims of composition, from the creation of new sciences to the judicious abridgement of extensive works. These aims, he contended, protect scholarship from distortion, plagiarism, and superficial repetition, while affirming its status as a trust (amānah) to be fulfilled with integrity in the service of truth and future generations. This essay contextualises these reflections within the intellectual milieu of the fourteenth century, characterised by the proliferation of commentaries and indiscriminate abridgements. It demonstrates how Ibn Khaldūn’s critique addressed the risks of stagnation in scholarship. It highlights the continued relevance of his insights to contemporary academic discourse, including the pressures of “publish or perish” and issues of academic integrity. In this way, the essay affirms Ibn Khaldūn’s enduring contribution to authentic scholarship and to an ethical conception of authorship, which remains essential to both the Islamic intellectual tradition and the broader endeavour of civilisation-building.

BOOK REVIEW: CARL SHARIF EL TOBGUI. IBN TAYMIYYA ON REASON AND REVELATION: A STUDY OF DARʾ TAʿĀRUḌ AL-ʿAQL WA-L-NAQL. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2020. 444 pp. ISBN 9789004412866.

Akeem Olayinka Kazeem — 2025-12-24

DISCOVERIES FROM A CHARMING MINIATURE MANUSCRIPT: A 16TH CENTURY VOLUME OF HAFEZ’S GHAZALS

Amir H. Zekrgoo — 2025-12-24

The Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Library (SMNAL) at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC, IIUM) houses a remarkable collection of Hafez’s ghazals, compiled in a charming miniature-sized manuscript from 16th-century Safavid Iran. Its exquisite lacquer binding, adorned with colorful floral motifs; the creatively developed page layouts that, while maintaining overall visual unity, vary to meet the aesthetic demands of each page; and the consistently excellent quality of Nastaʿlīq calligraphy throughout the volume make this manuscript truly exceptional. The absence of rekābeh (catchwords), the fact that each page contains a carefully selected five or six self-contained couplets—complete in itself—and that the two illuminated opening folios along with four miniature paintings in the Isfahani style are later additions, all suggest that the pages may have originally been intended for a muraqqaʿ (album). This essay is divided into seven distinct sections. “About the Manuscript” provides essential information on the volume. Its aesthetic and codicological features are examined under “Binding,” “Illuminations,” “Layout,” and “Illustrations.” Additional markings on the manuscript reveal traces of two former owners prior to its acquisition by ISTAC in the 1990s; these are discussed under “Barker’s Remarks” and “Seals.” Finally, “Physical Condition” offers an account of the volume’s deterioration and subsequent restorations. The essay is accompanied by twenty-two images, selected and photographed by the author.

THE POTENTIAL OF ULU MANUSCRIPTS IN BENGKULU PROVINCE: A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ULU WRITING TRADITION AND THE ULU ORAL TRADITION IN BENGKULU CITY

Nyayu Soraya — 2025-12-24

This study examines the cultural potential of Ulu manuscripts in Bengkulu Province, with particular emphasis on the relationship between the Ulu writing tradition and the oral tradition in Bengkulu City. Employing codicological, palaeographical, and textual analyses, the research documents manuscripts inscribed on bamboo, bark, and paper, encompassing a wide range of contents, including customary law, prayers, medicinal knowledge, oral poetry, and genealogical narratives. These materials reflect not only the intellectual and cultural richness of the local community but also the dynamic interaction between orality and literacy. The findings indicate that Ulu manuscripts functioned as repositories of knowledge, instruments of ritual and religious practice, and markers of cultural identity. Oral tradition animated and sustained the texts, while the manuscripts preserved and institutionalised oral knowledge, demonstrating a continuous interplay between spoken and written culture. Nevertheless, the preservation of these manuscripts faces significant challenges, including material deterioration, inadequate cataloguing, and limited public awareness. As a preliminary investigation, this study underscores the scholarly importance of Ulu manuscripts within the context of Malay–Islamic heritage and calls for further interdisciplinary research, systematic digitisation, and their integration into broader studies of Islamic civilisation and regional identity.

THE ROLE OF ISLAMIC MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN SHAPING SOCIAL MINDSETS FOR CLIMATE CRISIS MITIGATION

Muhammet Caner Ilgaroglu — 2025-12-24

Modern industrial practices and consumer-driven economies have disrupted the balance between humanity and nature, undermining the harmony that once characterised their interdependence. This anthropocentric worldview has generated profound ecological imbalances and accelerated the dynamics of climate change. Considering the severe implications of this crisis of humankind, raising awareness and aligning consumption with ecological parameters has become an urgent prerequisite for a sustainable future. Within this context, the insights of Islamic philosophers—particularly on nature, humanity, and economic ethics—remain highly relevant. This study employs content analysis to three major works of Islamic moral philosophy—Ibn Miskawayh’s Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq, Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī, and Kınalızāde ʿAlī’s Akhlāq-i ʿAlāʾī—to examine how Islamic virtue ethics can inform and reshape individual and collective attitudes toward the climate emergency. The findings demonstrate that Islamic moral philosophy offers vital guidance for harmonising environmental behaviour with ethical values, demonstrating that this integration can meaningfully address the global climate crisis. Rooted in the core virtues of justice (ʿadl), contentment (qanāʿah), and compassion (raḥmah), it provides a strong ethical foundation for sustainable environmental practice. Integrating these virtues into contemporary climate strategies can enhance community engagement and strengthen broader efforts to mitigate the climate crisis.

FUNDAMENTAL THINKING TERMS IN THE QUR’ĀN: A CONNOTATIVE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ISLAMIC EPISTEMOLOGY

Jamal Ahmed Bashier Badi — 2025-12-24

This study addresses a significant scholarly gap concerning a lack of a comprehensive framework for systematically examining the connotative dimensions of fundamental Qurʾānic terms related to thinking (tafakkur, taʿaqqul, tadabbur, tafaqquh) and knowledge (ʿilm, maʿrifah). While the presence and importance of these terms in Qurʾān are widely acknowledged, existing scholarship has tended to prioritise their denotative or literal meanings, often focusing on a restricted subset of these terms, particularly those associated with Qurʾānic epistemological discussions. As a result, insufficient attention has been given to the contextual and connotative significance of these terms and to how their deeper semantic layers articulate the Qurʾān’s holistic worldview of thinking and knowledge. Consequently, this study proposes an innovative connotative analytical framework that categorises Qurʾānic thinking terms into four distinct semantic dimensions. It employs a qualitative method of textual analysis, drawing upon classical and contemporary Qurʾānic tafsīr literature, alongside studies on Qur’anic terminology (muṣṭalaḥāt Qurʾāniyyah), as its primary sources of data. The study demonstrates that a connotative and contextual interpretation of these terms reveals the dynamic, multi-layered, and holistic system of thought that characterises the Qurʾānic approach to human cognition and epistemology. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of these terms as foundational building blocks of an Islamic holistic epistemological framework of thinking and knowledge.

FROM VIRTUOUS CITY TO VIRTUOUS MARKETS: AL- FĀRĀBĪ’S LEGACY IN ISLAMIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

Burhan Uluyol — 2025-12-24

This study examines al-Fārābī’s ethical and political philosophy and its relevance to contemporary Islamic economics and finance. It argues that Islamic finance must move beyond a narrow focus on Sharīʿah-compliant contractual forms and be grounded instead in a comprehensive ethical framework that promotes justice, virtue, and collective well-being. Drawing upon al-Fārābī’s concept of the virtuous city (al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah), the study highlights the centrality of moral education and the role of the state in cultivating ethical economic behaviour. A comparative analysis with modern capitalist and neoliberal paradigms reveals fundamental differences: whereas the latter prioritise market efficiency and profit maximisation, al-Fārābī’s framework foregrounds spiritual development, distributive justice, and morally guided governance. The study also examines contemporary challenges in Islamic finance—particularly the predominance of debt-based instruments—and argues that these shortcomings may be addressed through a renewed emphasis on risk-sharing and moral values. It concludes that integrating al-Fārābī’s ethical-political insights can contribute to the development of a more just, value-oriented Islamic financial system and offer a meaningful alternative to prevailing economic paradigms.

PROCRASTINATION, COMPENSATION, AND MORAL ECONOMY: A CIVILISATIONAL ANALYSIS OF TAʿWĪḌ IN ISLAMIC FINANCE

Issa Khan — 2025-12-24

This study critically examines classical and contemporary Muslim scholarly perspectives on compensation (taʿwīḍ) for procrastination in Islamic financing arrangements, with particular reference to its application in Islamic financial institutions. It aims to identify a Sharīʿah-compliant and ethically coherent approach that minimises juristic contention while preserving the moral foundations of Islamic finance. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study draws upon classical fiqh sources, contemporary academic literature, juristic resolutions, regulatory documents, and conference proceedings, analysed through a comparative and analytical framework.
The study finds that classical jurists of the Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, and Ḥanbalī schools unanimously rejected the imposition of additional financial penalties on debtors for payment delays. In contrast, contemporary scholarship is divided into three main positions: those who permit compensation, those who prohibit it entirely, and those who allow compensation on the condition that the proceeds are channelled to charitable purposes rather than retained as income by financial institutions. Building upon this third position, the study proposes the establishment of a tabarruʿ (donation) fund as a practical and ethically grounded mechanism. Under this model, a capable debtor who delays payment would contribute a voluntary donation to the fund upon settlement, while Islamic banks may recover demonstrable actual losses from the same fund.
The proposed framework seeks to reconcile Sharīʿah compliance with moral accountability, preserve the principle of risk-sharing, and prevent the commercialisation of penalties in Islamic finance. By situating taʿwīḍ within a broader moral-economic and civilisational perspective, the study contributes to ongoing debates on ethical governance and reform in contemporary Islamic financial practice.

INTERSUBJECTIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE AND DIVINE FOUNDATIONS IN INDONESIA: A CIVILISATIONAL READING OF IBN KHALDŪN AND KUNTOWIJOYO

Waryani Fajar Riyanto — 2025-12-24

Muslim civilisational consciousness has historically evolved through three interrelated phases: the theological (Islamic), the political (Islamdom), and the socio-historical (Islamicate). These phases represent distinct yet interconnected modes of reasoning through which Muslims have understood religion, power, and historical experience. From sociological and historical perspectives, these cycles of civilisational reason were critically examined by Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406) and, in the Indonesian context, by Kuntowijoyo (1943–2005). This study addresses two central questions: how do Ibn Khaldūn’s and Kuntowijoyo’s conceptions of civilisational cycles compare, and what implications do their ideas hold for contemporary Indonesian society? Employing a qualitative document-based methodology, the study analyses primary texts—al-Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldūn and Kuntowijoyo’s writings on the historical periodisation of Indonesian Muslims—using a comparative–evolutive analytical framework. Comparative analysis identifies convergences and divergences in their civilisational reasoning, while evolutive analysis traces the transformation of historical consciousness within Indonesian Muslim society. The study advances the concept of intersubjective social science with a divine foundation, a framework that integrates spiritual consciousness, ethical self-reflection grounded in prophetic ethics, and divine guidance as constitutive elements of social analysis. This approach challenges positivist and secular paradigms in the social sciences by repositioning revelation, morality, and inner ethical awareness as legitimate epistemic sources. By synthesising Ibn Khaldūn’s theory of social cohesion and civilisational decline with Kuntowijoyo’s prophetic social science, the paper contributes to the development of a civilisationally grounded social science relevant to Indonesia’s intellectual and socio-religious context.

AMERICAN PURITAN ENCOUNTERS WITH ISLAM: FAITH, CIVILISATION, AND EARLY AMERICAN REFLECTIONS

Rachid Mehdi — 2025-12-24

The melodramatic tone of Barbary captivity narratives enabled influential Puritan ministers such as Cotton Mather and John Cotton to consolidate a distinct Christian identity in deliberate contrast to a perceived Muslim Other. This article examines how such Puritan portrayals of Islam were shaped by theological anxieties and moral self-definition rather than sustained engagement with Islamic intellectual traditions. It further interrogates whether Puritan assumptions about Islam were grounded in objective knowledge or primarily reflected subjective projections. To situate these portrayals within a broader civilisational and ethical context, the study introduces the works of Aḥmad Bābā al-Timbuktī, Muḥammad al-Maghīlī, Ḥusayn Efendi, al-Ghazālī, and Ibn ʿArabī—figures who articulated sophisticated moral, legal, and metaphysical conceptions within the Islamic tradition. Their reflections on justice, moral order, spiritual unity, reason, and love reveal a markedly different ethical landscape from the one constructed in Puritan discourse. Through a comparative reading of Puritan texts and Islamic thought, the article argues that early modern encounters with Islam were characterised by a complex interplay of subjective distortion and ethical projection, in which each tradition interpreted the Other through its own moral and spiritual categories.

CONSTRUCTING THE MUSLIM SCHOLAR'S ETHOS: A FRAMEWORK OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY BASED ON THE ISLAMIC INTELLECTUAL TRADITION

Wan Mohd Khairul Firdaus Wan Khairuldin — 2025-12-24

Academic integrity constitutes a foundational pillar in the advancement of knowledge and the moral sustainability of civilisation. Within the Muslim intellectual tradition, ethical scholarship has historically been understood not merely as procedural compliance but as the cultivation of a scholarly ethos grounded in moral and spiritual responsibility. This article seeks to formulate a conceptual model of academic integrity rooted in the Islamic intellectual tradition by articulating the ethical foundations of the Muslim scholar’s ethos. Employing qualitative content analysis, the study examines primary sources—the Qurʾān and Sunnah—alongside selected works of classical and contemporary Muslim scholars. The analysis identifies key ethical dispositions central to scholarly integrity, including ikhlāṣ (sincere intention), amānah (trustworthiness and responsibility), ṣidq (truthfulness), ʿadl (justice), ijtihād (intellectual diligence), tawāḍuʿ (humility), taʿẓīm al-ʿilm (reverence for knowledge), and taqwā (God-consciousness). These virtues are shown to remain critically relevant in addressing contemporary challenges to academic integrity, including authorship misconduct, instrumentalisation of knowledge, and ethical erosion in research cultures. On this basis, the article proposes a conceptual model that integrates Islamic ethical values into scholarly practices of research, writing, and knowledge dissemination. It argues that the pursuit of knowledge in Islam is fundamentally an act of ʿibādah, requiring moral excellence alongside intellectual rigour. The study concludes that revitalising the Muslim scholar’s ethos through the Islamic intellectual tradition offers a constructive civilisational framework for strengthening academic integrity and nurturing an ethically grounded knowledge-based society.