Last week we took a comparative look at the morality police and interpretations of law between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This week, in the second part of his work on Democratic vs. Corrupted Shārīe‘ā, Mohamed ‘Arafa pitches a way forward for Islamic jurisprudence and moral authority.  Undoubtedly, interpretations of “commanding the right and forbidding the ..read more

Cults, spirituality, and new religious movements Submissions are now open for articles which look at one or all of the above. These categories can be open to interpretation and we encourage a critical engagement with each term, particularly when it comes to cults.* Nonetheless, cults are regularly intertwined with spiritual and religious elements, often using ..read more

Cults, spirituality, and new religious movements Submissions are now open for articles which look at one or all of the above. These categories can be open to interpretation and we encourage a critical engagement with each term, particularly when it comes to cults.* Nonetheless, cults are regularly intertwined with spiritual and religious elements, often using ..read more

Osama bin Laden, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar have all issued famous fatwas. So how should we think about different interpretations of morality? In this article, the first of two parts, Mohamed Arafa analyses different sources of moral authority in Islam, illustrating the debate with examples from scholars, historians, and jurists ..read more

As India gets ready for its general elections this spring, attention is drawn to the role of religion and nationalism in campaign politics. This article puts Partha Chatterjee’s critiques in conversation with Benedict Anderson’s theory of imagined communities, with Hindu nationalism as an ideal site of analysis. One of the foremost experts on nationalism, Benedict ..read more

“A powerful tool for reflecting on the role of secular liberal governance in a world increasingly defined by religious diversity” — a review of Governing Religious Diversity in Global Comparative Perspective, edited by Tariq Modood and Thomas Sealy (2024) Routledge. Governing Religious Diversity in Global Comparative Perspective, edited by Tariq Modood and Thomas Sealy, provides a timely and ..read more

Syed Hammaad Mehraj brings a critical lens to international relations, looking at how colonialism affects minds and bodies. In this article, he outlines the arguments against both the secular and Christian foundations of the Enlightenment, and what this says about modern attitudes to violence.  In his thought-provoking book, The Intimate Enemy, the political psychologist Ashis ..read more

Revd Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister and activist. Why do we often detach Martin Luther King Jr’s activist work from his theological roots? In this article, Jon Kuhrt looks at the contemporary tendency to secularise elements of history. Martin Luther King remains a hero to a wide range of people. But alongside the ..read more

Next week we’ll see presidential and parliamentary elections in the world’s largest Muslim nation. In this article, Chris Chaplin and Syarifuddin Jurdi analyse the evolving role of Islamic identities and religious rhetoric in political and community campaigns in Indonesia. This month, Indonesians will head to the polls for the fifth consecutive presidential and sixth consecutive ..read more

Catholics are poor and Protestants keep their toasters in the cupboard? What else can we learn from Derry Girls about polarised identities and the impact of a long history of conflict? Bethany Corbett and Jocelyn Dautel have some answers for us. What can we learn from the hit show, Derry Girls? (If you have not seen ..read more