In essence, Muslims should not clamour for the Hudud just to fuel identity politics. Likewise, Muslim spokesmen should stop feeding the political passions of their religious constituents. Islam needs people of vision, not apologists....

“Ahok’s is the biggest blasphemy case in the history of Indonesia. He is the governor of Indonesia’s largest city, an ally of the president. If he can be sent to jail, what could happen to others?” he said. Harsono said more than 100 Indonesians had been convicted of blasphemy in the past decade, with acquittals in such cases extremely rare...

Is Qadri really a hero? Is this right to declare a person your ‘hero’ who has unlawfully killed a man? Usually people do not like to indulge themselves in debates that have some religious aspects, being afraid of unexpected consequences, but today I want to highlight where we are headed when it comes to the question of religion. There is no Surah or Hadith which says that the convict of blasphemy should be sentenced to death....

Ibrahim B. Syed, New Age Islam

In the Qur'an, Nikah is described as Misaqan Ghaliza, i.e., strong bond and has explained how and with whom one can enter into this strong bond and this strong bond cannot be dissolved without proper reason and method.  It certainly cannot be dissolved whimsically.  A man has to pass through different stages to bring about reconciliation either by persuading his wife to behave properly, or by appointing arbitrators as per Qur'anic injunctions (4:35).  ...

Hassan Naqvi

The Qisas and Diyat law has become a powerful means for criminals to kill and get off scot free, especially in cases of honour killings. A woman is killed by her brother in the name of honour and the case is settled with the father or the rest of the family....

S. Amjad Hussain

The Shariah practiced by the so-called Islamic State or ISIS is anathema to even al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The logical question is whether these Shariah are accepted by a majority of Muslims. The answer is an emphatic no....

Khalid Zaheer

We know that one of the conditions of a valid Nikah in Islam is that both the bride and the bridegroom must agree to it voluntarily. We also know that a six-year-old child is not mentally mature enough to take rational decisions of far-reaching consequences. How could an arrangement which does not satisfy an important condition then have been promoted in religion?....

Caryle Murphy

But many traditionalists in this conservative country believe early marriage protects their daughters from premarital relationships, pointing to active support from senior clerics such as Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti. “If a girl exceeds 10 or 12 then she is eligible for marriage, and whoever thinks she is too young, then he or she is wrong and has done her an injustice,’’ Sheikh Abdul Aziz told an audience in Riyadh University last year......

Asghar Ali Engineer

Reports indicate that in Iran, more than 75 female children under age 10 were recently forced to marry much older men. It is indeed very strange how child marriage can be deemed Islamic in any sense of the word. How can it be un-Islamic not to permit child marriage at the immature age of eight? This is probably more cultural than religious. After all, any law bears footprints of culture and cannot completely get rid of cultural influences....

A. Faizur Rahman

It is well known that insofar as its legality is concerned, marriage in Islam is a written covenant between two individuals and as such both have to be adults to understand the responsibilities and intricacies of such an agreement. This prescript that strikes at the root of the concept of child marriage is supported by verse 4:6 of the Quran which equates the age of marriage (balaghun nikah) with the age of intellectual maturity (rushd), a stage that comes after the age of puberty....