About the Journal

Journal ISSN: 1877-6671

Editorial Foreword
All praise is due to Allah. This issue contains ten articles from researchers with various academic backgrounds. We thank
them all for their contrubutions.
The first article attempts to give the reader a sense of the Qur’anic and the
Prophetic model of peaceful co‐existence. The paper also sheds some light on the
Qur’anic vision of a just and social order as exemplified in the life of the Prophet
of Islam.
This second article emphasises in brief some terminologies and methods that have been used by some prominent Orientalists in their analyses of religious texts.
The third article looks at the constitutional provisions that justified Shari'ah
implementation in Muslim majority states and how the three tiers of government were engaged in the Shari'ah project. This paper looks into the Kano State that substantially avoided violence in its effort to implement Shari'ah by adhering strictly to the constitutional provisions and employing the services of other democratic institutions.
The fourth article examines verses related to male authority and wife beating as
reinterpreted by feminist scholars, with particular reference to Amina Wadud. The aim of the paper is to analyse to what extent Wadud’s perception of gender equality shaped her reading of the Quran.
The fifth article discusses Muslim women and their involvement in politics and the
divergent views within the Islamic theology.
In the sixth article the author eleborates on the thoughts of Bediuzzaman
Said Nursi’s and his Risale‐i‐Nur collection. Nursi was a great Muslim thinker and
theologian of the 20th century who inspired the spiritually dead society of Turkey
and led the revivalism of Muslims during his life.
The seventh article is about the Abbasid period. A period of economic
prosperity and of great intellectual awakening. The Abbasid Caliphate provided
the most congenial atmosphere for the advancement of learning and education.
The present paper is an attempt to give a detailed contribution of Muslims to
science with special reference to medicine. It is in this context the present paper
has been analyzed.
The eight article attempts to describe the history and philosophical underpinnings of the contemporary Islamization of knowledge debate. The author argues that Muslim intellectuals engaged in the Islamization of knowledge advocate one of the three 6 The Journal of Rotterdam Islamic and Social Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2015 distinct philosophical positions.
The nineth paper discusses the practice of Islam among the people of Ekiti State to show their faith in Allah and their way of worship. The discussion is conducted in three stages: the period before 1940, the period between 1940 to1996 and the period after 1996 until the present.
The tenth paper explores the problems of comprehension that can result due to the inappropriate English translation of a majāz occurring in the Holy Quran in Arabic Language. The study focuses on eight eminent translations that include four translations from Muslim scholars, three from converts, and one of an Orientalist. It is intended to investigate what translations have attained the highest degree of accuracy while translating a majāz occurring in the Holy Quran.
One of the most difficult things in Islamic texts is the problem of transliteration
because of the many Arabic, Persian, and Turkish words and phrases. Our policy is that all texts should be transliterated according the table given below:
ث th ط ṭ, Ṭ
ج J, J ظ ẓ, Ẓ
ح ḥ, Ḥ ع ʻ
خ ḫ, Ḫ غ gh
ذ ḏ, Ḏ ق q
ش sh و w
ص ṣ, Ṣ ض ḍ, Ḍ
Nevertheless, we have also respected the authors’ choices and have not interfered with them.
As we stated at the beginning of this foreword, we have attempted to combine and integrate Islamic subjects with social and technical discussions. I hope we have been successful.
We believe that the sixth volume of JRISS will again be the axis of cultural and
religious dialogue, tolerance, and mutual understanding and will hopefully create a bridge between the Islamic and Western civilizations.