Drawing in Islam: Why the Children's Books on Our Shelves Have No Faces
The authentic evidence on making images of animate beings, the line Ibn Abbas drew at the soul, the concession for children's toys — and why the children's books on our shelves are illustrated with...
Is Music Haram in Islam? What the Evidence Actually Says
What the Qur'an and authentic Sunnah actually say about musical instruments — the hadith of Abu Malik al-Ash'ari, the objection to its chain answered, the verse of Surah Luqman, and the genuine exc...
Riba (Interest) and Modern Banking: Why Islam Prohibits It
Interest — in Arabic, riba — sits at the very center of the modern economy: mortgages, credit cards, savings accounts, national debt. Islam prohibits it in some of the clearest and sternest languag...
Who Is Allah? The One True God in Islam
Allah is the one true God — the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists, the only One who deserves to be worshipped. The word Allah is simply the Arabic word for God: the same God that Adam, Nuh, ...
Apostasy (Riddah) in Islamic Law: Definition, Conditions, and Rulings
Few subjects in Islamic law are as widely discussed — and as frequently misunderstood — as apostasy, known in Arabic as riddah. It is a topic the scholars treat with great care and precision, hedge...
The Status of Jesus (Isa) in Islam
Few figures reveal how much Islam and Christianity share — and where they part — as clearly as Jesus. In Islam he is Isa, the son of Mary, and he holds one of the highest stations a human being can...
Is the Qur'an Preserved? Answering the Claim of Corruption
One of the most common claims made about the Qur'an is that it has been altered over the centuries, corrupted like the scriptures that came before it. It is a serious charge, and Islam meets it wit...
The Hijab: Modesty, Not Oppression
Few symbols of Islam draw as much debate as the hijab. To its critics it is a mark of oppression, a cloth imposed on women against their will. Read from its actual sources — the Qur'an and the prac...
The Rights of Non-Muslims in an Islamic Society
How does Islam treat those who are not Muslims — particularly non-Muslims living under Muslim authority? The caricature imagines oppressed second-class subjects stripped of dignity. The reality, dr...
What Is Jihad in Islam? Meaning, Conditions, and Misconceptions
Of all the words associated with Islam, “jihad” may be the most misunderstood. Extremists invoke it to justify atrocities; critics cite it to indict the entire religion. Neither reflects what the w...
There Is No Compulsion in Religion: Freedom of Belief in Islam
Few verses of the Qur'an are quoted as often — or misunderstood as often — as the words “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” Some read it as a claim that all beliefs are equally valid. Other...
Women's Rights in Islam: Dignity, Not Oppression
Few objections to Islam are repeated as often as the claim that it oppresses women. It surfaces in headlines, classrooms, and everyday conversation almost as settled fact. Yet when the question is ...
Islam and Slavery: Answering a Modern Objection
Among the objections raised against Islam, few are deployed as confidently as this one: that Islam “permitted slavery.” It is offered as a conversation-ending gotcha, as though the mere fact settle...
Human Rights in Islam: A Framework Rooted in Revelation, Not Consensus
The language of human rights has become one of the most powerful frameworks of our time. It is invoked in the United Nations, in courtrooms, and in newspaper columns — and, increasingly, as a measu...