History

All That We Lost: The Colonized Mind and the Decline of the Islamic Education System

Introduction In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful In a 2009 CNN documentary entitled Generation Islam, a segment dedicated to Islamic education in Pakistan stated: “Many madrassas teach a...

Faisal Malik

“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 Physical Miracles of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: Proofs of Prophethood Series

To download the new e-book, The Final Prophet: Proofs for the Prophethood of Muhammad, click here. In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy Muslims believe that the Prophet...

Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy and Dr. Nazir Khan

Is it Cultural or Religious? The Role of Culture in Islam

We’re anti-evil, anti-oppression, anti-lynching. You can’t be anti- those things unless you’re also anti- the oppressor and the lyncher. You can’t be anti-slavery and pro-slavemaster; you can’t be anti-crime and pro...

Dr. Muhammad Khalifa, Dr. Omar Suleiman, Dr. James Wright and Dr. Nimo M. Abdi

How Islam Spread Throughout the World

Abstract Historians have widely discredited the narrative that the prevalence of Islam in the world today can be explained as a result of forced conversions. Without denying that there may have been some exceptional...

Hassam Munir

The Age of Aisha (ra): Rejecting Historical Revisionism and Modernist Presumptions

Are the claims that Aisha married while she was in her teens accurate? Are they strong enough to make us discard ʿĀʾisha’s ḥadīth? Why is this an issue now when it was not an issue at the time that the marriage took...

Anonymous Guest Contributor

Aisha (ra): The Case for an Older Age in Sunni Hadith Scholarship

Abstract A famous ḥadīth states that ʿĀisha was 9 years old when her marriage with the Prophet ﷺ was consummated. However, in the science of ḥadīth verification (muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth), there...

Arnold Yasin Mol

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Why Did Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Marry Aisha? Dismantling the Controversy of Aisha’s Age

The controversy surrounding Aisha’s age at marriage Why would the Prophet ﷺ marry a child? That is the question many want answered, but before we begin to address it, we have to admit it is more than a...

Nuriddeen Knight

Understanding Aisha’s Age: An Interdisciplinary Approach

This publication was supervised by Jonathan A. C. Brown. Abstract In recent years, few criticisms of Islam have taken the spotlight as much as condemnations of the Prophet’s marriage to Aisha. Muslims are accused of...

Asadullah Ali Al-Andalusi and Dr. Jonathan Brown

“Be Brothers”—Case Studies of Muslim Receptions of Refugees in History

Abstract In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, Muslims provided protection to asylum-seekers and the Ansar of Medina treated the Muhajirs, who were essentially refugees, like brothers. During the...

Abdul Rahman Latif

Did Islam Spread by the Sword? A Critical Look at Forced Conversions

Abstract The question of forced conversions to Islam in history is a cornerstone of the centuries-old “spread-by-the-sword” narrative that has been (and continues to be) used to demonize Islam and Muslims. However, many...