Conviction

When Our Worlds Are Shaken: Finding Strength in ‘Beautiful Patience’

Introduction In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful Hardship is an inevitable experience in life. Each one of us will encounter pain, loss, fear, anxiety, sadness, and grief at some point in our journey to the...

Anonymous Guest Author

Finding Truth in the Age of Fake News: Information Literacy in Islam

Abstract Information literacy is the set of skills needed in the modern age to discover, evaluate, interpret, and use information properly and truthfully. With the worldwide proliferation of misinformation on the...

Anonymous Guest Author

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The Meaning of Allah’s Name as-Samad: The Eternal, The Absolute

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy. Prelude Each of us will encounter moments in our lives that remind us how inherently vulnerable we are as human beings. They may be moments of feeling...

Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy

Give It a Second Thought: Dealing with Apparently Problematic Hadiths

Abstract The surge of criticism in recent times of supposedly problematic ḥadīths generally rests on the claim that such ḥadīths are absurd, unscientific, impossible, or contradictory. Every ḥadīth whose content is seen...

Mufti Muntasir Zaman

The Origins of the Variant Readings of the Qur’an

Note This article has been updated on June 2nd, 2023. Introduction The Qur’an is the literal word of God, the sacred scripture of the Islamic faith, and God’s final revelation to humanity. This single text produced the...

Ammar Khatib and Dr. Nazir Khan

Women in Islamic Law: Examining Five Prevalent Myths

Abstract Concerns are often raised about the status of women in Islamic law. Often, misrepresentations and misconceptions about how women are treated by sharīʿah are used to advance the notion that Islam is...

Dr. Nazir Khan, Dr. Tesneem Alkiek and Safiah Chowdhury

“We Used to Have No Regard for Women”: Gender Equity & the Advent of Islam

Introduction The status and rights of women are contentious issues within and across cultures. Opinions diverge for the most subjective of reasons, due to fluctuations in personal biases that are susceptible to changes...

Roohi Tahir, Dr. Omar Suleiman, Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy and Maryam Al-Dabbagh

The Importance of Conscious Parenting in Raising Confident Muslims

Introduction Is there a connection between parent behavior that contradicts their professed religious beliefs and the eventual outcome of atheism in their children? This question was the subject of a recent study...

Roohi Tahir

Faith & Certainty | In Pursuit of Conviction

Abstract Muslims trying to hold on to their faith in environments hostile to Islam—or to religion in general—often find themselves struggling to achieve a calming sense of certainty for the beliefs they hold...

Dr. Zohair Abdul-Rahman

Shari’ah: From Diverse Legal Discourse to Colonial Misrepresentation

Introduction Just over a century after the Prophet’s passing, Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, the well-known Persian secretary and vizier to the second Abbasid caliph al-Manṣūr, penned his famous Risāla fī al-Ṣaḥāba (Epistle...

Dr. Tesneem Alkiek

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“Why Do Bad Things Always Happen to Me?” Breaking the Cycles of Negativity

We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them. -Albert Einstein Case Study Muadh is a 52-year-old man who is very well respected in his local Muslim community. On the outside...

Najwa Awad and Sarah Sultan

Blind Spots: The Origins of the Western Method of Critiquing Hadith

Author’s Introduction A few years ago I was involved in a debate on the radio with a prominent British historian who had recently written a sensationalist book on the origins of Islam. He claimed, in a distinctly...

Dr. Jonathan Brown