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The fierce battle that broke out in history between Russia and Ottoman in 1877-1878 was an attempt to solve the problems faced by the Ottoman administration in the Balkans. This is mainly related to accusations that the Ottoman government cannot protect Christians in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ironically, Russia's victory did not lead to the resolution of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Instead, it negatively impacted Muslims in the Balkans, especially in Bulgaria. This article will analyse the social effects of the war on Bulgaria's Muslim minority. This article uses a qualitative method called content analysis to evaluate British official documents and records collected from the British National Archives and the University of London, specifically from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies. The result shows that the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877 was not intended to give justice to the Christian community under the Ottoman empire; on the contrary, it was a strategy used by Russia and the Bulgarian government to eliminate the Muslim minority in Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article represents a comprehensive understanding of the family system and kinship in normative Muslim scholarship. It introduces the perception and definition of family and kinship relations and presents some of its fundamental features and bases in order to restructure critical, yet scattered opinions of scholars from various religious, legal, and historical Islamic sources. This research also aims to investigate numerous normatively formed perspectives related to family forms, the paradigm of values for family and kinship, and the family systems inspired by normative sources of Islam which have been discussed in broader discourse echelons to show the development of Muslim scholarship, provisions, opinions, and analysis, with regard to family and kin, especially under the umbrella of maqāṣid al-shari’ah. The article follows a qualitative methodology with historical, analytical, and descriptive approaches in a comparative manner when investigating normative accounts of the Muslim family and kinship. This study's contribution to international scholars in the field lies in its comprehensive analysis of maqasid framework for family and kinship in Islam and its divergence among normative scholarship. By shedding light on these normative perspectives, it enriches the existing scholarly discourse on maqasid al-shari’ah and opens up new avenues for further research and exploration in contemporary approaches to family and kinship studies. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for researchers, academics, and practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of maqasid al-shari’ah and its practical applications in contemporary contexts. The article found out that the advent of Islam, as mentioned in normative Muslim scholarship, introduced several religious rudiments into the family and kinship life that morally, structurally, and socially altered and regulated the character, structure, and purposes of the Muslim family to ensure stability and advocate social relations and order.

The term reverted is well known to the multiracial community in Malaysia. They are a minority group that should be given priority in the country's preaching agenda by celebrating all cultural differences and spoken languages. The limited preaching efforts coupled with the careless attitude of the majority of the existing Muslim community, who deliberately underestimate the duty of preaching to the non-Muslim community in particular, is very worrying. Therefore, this study investigates the concept of Ebit Lew's thoughts and struggles in preaching the revert in our country. His prominence in the preaching of the reverted is known for sure and investigated despite the various challenges faced when carrying out preaching. The study employs a qualitative method of analyzing primer and seconder data descriptively. The finding shows that his efforts in preaching are of assistance to religious people and scholars. In a strict sense, his preaching movement towards the revert should be emulated and considered a realistic preaching revolution to be continuously developed in a pluralistic society in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History records that intermarriage between Datu from the Sulu Island with Idahan women has occurred since the 17th century. The result of intermarriage between the two had given birth to heirs known as Kedatuan-Idahan. This paper discusses the history of Kedatuan and intermarriage in Sabah, which contributed to the strengthening of Islamic identity among the people of the east coast of Sabah. This study involves data collection using qualitative methods based on textual content analysis and in-depth interviews with selected key informants in several villages of the Idahan community in Lahad Datu. The study results show that the intermarriage between a Datu from the Sulu Island and an Idahan woman has produced an heir with a kinship relationship with the Sulu sultanate. This kinship relationship strengthens the dominance of the bird's nest economic activity, which is in high demand from Chinese traders. The findings of the study also show that carrying the title of Datu and Dayang at the base of the heir's name to the Kedatuan further strengthens the Islamic identity among the people of the east coast of Sabah. The study also found that the Kedatuan-Idahan intermarriage impacted the Idahan community's political position in the Darvel Bay area and contributed to the early settlement of the Muslim community on the east coast of Sabah. The role of Kedatuan also explains the importance of their position as Muslim religious leaders in the Lahad Datu district and their involvement in the Cobbold Commission until the formation of Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ḥaḍānah or child custody is an issue that often arises after divorce until today. Various initiatives are carried out by the authorities such as the Syariah High Court, the Syariah Judiciary Department of Malaysia (JKSM) and the Islamic Religious Council for each state in Malaysia to overcome this problem. This is because, this issue involves the welfare of Muslim children, that are affected by divorce as well as the rights of disputing parties, namely mother and father that need to be emphasized. Therefore, this literature review is to identify the issues that arise, the development and solutions provided for haḍānah issues. This study is qualitative by taking a descriptive content analysis approach by evaluating facts and arguments from various primary and secondary sources related to the study. To support the findings of the study, syariah court judge was also interviewed. The results of literature review shows that several issues are arising in the Syariah Court such as the existence of International Convention affecting Islamic Family Law, the limitation of sole custody practice, the absence of specific interpretations for the welfare of Muslim children, the issue of determining children`s religion in ḥaḍānah, the issue of ḥaḍānah is assumed biased towards women. This study also identifies positive developments in the resolution of ḥaḍānah cases in terms of its application, namely the interpretation of the welfare of the children in ḥaḍānah is clarified, the proposal of the concept of maṣlaḥah as a measure of children's welfare, granting joint custody to parents, sulh function in ḥaḍānah, proposed establishment of the Family Court in Malaysia and involvement of experts in related disciplines. However, in general, there are some of these suggestions that have not been implemented and are still at the evaluation stage. Therefore, this study suggests that these aspects need to be discovered and specific guidelines need to be formed and harmonized based on the principles of haḍānah welfare to achieve Maqāṣid Al-Sharī ̒ah which also is in accordance with the demands of the times and social changes in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issues related to halal and haram are very important for the Muslim community in Malaysia because they are related to various social and cultural aspects such as relationships, clothing, food and business. Many people view the issues related to halal and haram as what is allowed and forbidden in Islam, and the views are often associated with food and socialization. Based on the dynamics of these two concepts in daily life, this study aims to investigate the representations of halal and haram in Malaysian parliamentary discourse through corpus-driven analysis to examine how and in what context both concepts are debated in the parliament. This objective is achieved by looking at the trend of frequency and use of halal and haram in the context of the discourse of the Malaysian Parliament and subsequently the semantic evolution of these two terms from legal perspective and later associated with commodity. The data of this study was obtained from the Malaysian Hansard Corpus (MHC) which covers Parliament 1 (1959-1964) to Parliament 13 (2013-2018) and is approximately 157 million words in size. The findings of the study indicate differences in the usage patterns of halal and haram in MHC. Initially, halal was associated with Islamic concepts and laws. However, the use of halal has expanded into several domains such as business, tourism, cosmetics and ecosystems. This clearly indicates the efforts to make halal as the way of life. The use of haram, on the other hand, is often associated with domains such as activities, objects and groups of people. The usage patterns show the function of haram as an adjective that changes the value of a noun from neutral to negative in Malaysia. A closer examination of the words that frequently appear along with halal and haram in the MHC shows a trend of its widespread use and at the same time displays variations of meaning in parliamentary discourse spanning a period of almost 60 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sabah's multi-ethnic population with different backgrounds and cultures encourages them to borrow languages from other ethnicities as a sign of national unity. This language borrowing is not limited to one ethnicity but across religious beliefs. The word astaga is one example of the language-borrowing practices that have been used by various ethnic groups in Sabah regardless of religion; Islam or non-Islam. The expression is considered to be derived from the Arabic abbreviation astaghfirullah which means to ask for forgiveness from Allah. There is a perception among the Muslim community that the use of astaga will affect the faith because the incomplete phrase astaghfirullah or istighfar will affect the true meaning of the expression. Therefore, this study was conducted to explain the perceptions and thoughts of the Muslim community in Sabah about the use of astaga in their daily expressions. This study uses qualitative and quantitative approaches in the form of percentages for the purpose of data analysis, while questionnaires are used for the purpose of data collection. The study found that expression of astaga does not come from Arabic summarized thus said to undermine the faith, but refers to the expression of Bahasa Melayu Sabah (BMS) that have been used in everyday conversation with a specific function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faraid is a set of rules and principles that regulates the distribution of a Muslim’s property upon his death which is based on the Sharia law. In Malaysia, the Islamic jurisdiction including the management of inheritance is under the administration of the state. However, from what we can see recently, the management of inheritance property still requires improvement and transformation in the perspective of management and administration. The average unclaimed worth of assets by the deceased's family members is valued at around RM 60 billion due to the lack of knowledge regarding the management of inheritance. Lack of knowledge on the role of the inheritance’s agencies among the Muslim society is also the main challenge in assisting them to resolve their disputes in property distribution. Hence, it is suggested that a Faraid One-Stop Centre will assists the Muslim community in settling the issues of inheritance efficiently. The Faraid One-Stop Centre (FOSC) model is a combination of all the inheritance management agencies under one roof or at one place. The model of FOSC consist of five agencies which are Faraid USIM Consultant (FUSACA), Small Estate Division of the Land Office, Amanah Raya Berhad, State's Religious Authority and the proposed Agency of Legal Aid and Advisory Services of Faraid USIM Consultant (FUSACA) is the most important agency in making decisions and giving advise to customers. Meanwhile, Small Estate Division of the Land Office is the agency that compiles all the inheritance cases. The Amanah Raya Berhad manages matters regarding the movable properties and grants the Letter of Declaration or Order. State's Religious Authority or Council will perform the valuation process of the property. Whereas The Agency of Legal Aid and Advisory Services will help in giving legal advise to the customers if needed and represent the clients in the court of law. The Model of FOSC may become a reference and guidance to the related agencies of inheritance to develop FOSC in each state in Malaysia. This model will improve the management and administration of inheritance to the next level, making the process of inheritance division and manangement easier for the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-religious interactions are often overshadowed by a tendency to negative perceptions among multi-ethnic and religious communities. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the perception of religious practice among the Chinese in a residential area at Terengganu. The data obtained through the qualitative method of interviews over the fifteen community members residing in the Padang Midin, Kuala Terengganu. The result showed that information that related to Islamic teaching was found to be obtained through a life dialogue that occurred among non-Muslim Chinese communities with the Malay Muslim community. The results of the study found that the perception for the practice of religious harmony consist of positive and negative perception. The Chinese community gives a positive perception towards the religious practices of the Muslim community, such as Muslim people are honest, helpful, and like to give souvenirs. While, in a negative aspect there a few practices that interrupt the process of religious harmony such as nuisance and the emphasis was done by Malay Muslim teenagers that live in a residential area. Religious harmony can be achieved through dialogue of life because the Chinese community gets a lot of knowledge regarding to Islamic religion at a certain extent of correcting their negative perceptions towards Islam. The results of this study are important to expose the actual challenges faced in ensuring the sustainability of a peaceful life and pillars in the residential area that have various ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the women's fashion generally and Muslim women particularly struck impressively to community in Malaysia. Additionally, the appearance of fashion designers serving a variety of styles, colors, fashion clothes and jewels that attract of the women. In this phenomenon, ethics of Islamic clothing and tabarruj are deliberately or accidentally marginalized by some Muslims because of their passion in pursuing 'up-to-date' fashion. This means that the aspects of Shariah-compliant and tabarruj issues are considered to be quite trivial and less important to the Muslim community. However, this issue should not be limited to the general discussion because it actually related to the Muslim affairs, which not only focuses the aspects of clothing and personality, but also includes the behavior and dignity of women which has a tremendous impact on community values. Therefore, this article attempts to explore the latest phenomenon of Muslim women in Malaysia and tabarruj issues scientifically and critically. In addition, the ethics of Islamic clothing is recommended to the Muslim women. This study uses literature study only by analyzing books, magazines and others. The findings show that the clothing of Muslim women in modern times is no longer a requirement to cover aurat only, but also more on fashion. The fashion and design of Muslimah clothes and jewelry, sometimes putting them to the noncompliance of the Syariat's dressing of ethics and at the same time, they fall into tabarruj way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ahmadiyyah Idrisiyyah is a well-known tariqa in the Muslim World. It is been associated to Sayyid Abu al-Abbas Ahmad b. Idris al-Hasani al-Araishi Al-Fasi (1757-1837). This article aims to expose the emergence of the tariqa and its influence in Malaysia. To achieve the objectives, this article employs a qualitative research method. Data collection is done by two methods, namely library research and document analysis. The obtained data were then analysed using historical analysis. The result of this study shows that Tariqa Ahmadiyyah Idrisiyyah was originally a spiritual base reform movement. After the demise of Sayyid Ahmad B. Idris, his teachings have been spread through the medium of various tariqa instituitions by his students. The Tariqa Ahmadiyyah Idrisiyyah in Malaysia has been introduced into Malaysia around the middle of the 19th century from Mecca through the followers of Sayyid Ahmad B. Idris' students. Since its introduction to Malaysia, it has become an influence tariqa in several states of Malaysia especially in Negeri Sembilan and Kelantan. Recent development of the Tariqa Ahmadiyya Idrisiyya shows the role and dominance of role of the Sayyid Ahmad B. Idris descendents from Sudan in spreading the tariqa influence within the Muslim community in Malaysia. After nearly two centuries, the practiced of the Tariqa in Malaysia has been sustained through the chain of teacher-student relationship at the international level using the tariqa institutional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did The Straits Times make an effort to give wide coverage about the Natrah tragedy in 1950? Why did this newspaper deploy a strategy to publish letters from readers about Natrah within the specific period of time? What benefit is gained by this newspaper publishing comments and opinions from readers about Natrah? The answer lies in the fact that they were trying to maintain a support from the readers through the report of the Natrah report within the specific period of time. It is known this newspaper managed to spur its own polemic when the publication triggered the Natrah riots and causing casualties among the Muslims. Behind the publication, nevertheless, how reader’s reaction about Natrah? So, in the light of this issue, this article attempts to present how the report about Natrah of The Straits Times managed to influence the thinking and interest of the readers, particulary within the specific period of time. The strength of this article lays on its historical approach applied to interpret the intention and action in the History subject of the Natrah tragedy. This study contributes new findings and novel in its approach which situated from the reaction and thinking of the newspaper’s readers about Natrah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles played by the women in the conflict resolution involving the Muslim community in the Southern Philippines was not given the spotlight it deserved in the series of peace talks between the republic and the separatist groups. The roles of women were as if they were insignificant and of a passive manner while women were undeniably the important “stakeholder” beside the fact that the conflict that erupted affected this group the most amongst the population there. They are also capable to contribute to a new paradigm in conflict resolution. Realizing this, the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) passed Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security as a democratizing mechanism towards the encouragement of women in conflict resolution, protection amidst conflict, and peacemaking. In line with the introduction of this Resolution 1325, The Republic of Philippines also introduced the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAPWPS) and the National Action Plan (NAP) as a sign of support to UNSCR in order to widen the roles of women in peace talks and peacemaking programs. The main focus of this research is to look at the development of women empowerment in peace talks and peacemaking programs during President Benigno Aquino III’s administration, as well as the response of the Philippines towards Resolution 1325 especially in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), under microscopic lenses. This research utilized the qualitative approach by conducting thorough analysis on primary and secondary sources like official documents from the Philippine government, treaties, the constitution, books, theses, and journals. This research shows that the roles of women in peace talks were active and inspiring under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III especially through the establishment of Regional Commission on Bangsamoro Women (RCBW) and the role of Miriam Coronel-Ferrer as the world’s first woman to be appointed the peacemaker in the peace talks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The approach to non-Muslims among the da'wah movement in Malaysia has brought different approaches especially in relation to political relations with non-Muslims. This matter has implications in the selection and understanding by the dakwah movement of the hadiths that deal with non-Muslim approaches. This article discusses the hadiths relating to non-Muslims approach to the Dakwah Movement in Malaysia. The da'wah movement which is the focus of the study in looking at these hadiths is the two NGOs in Malaysia namely the Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) and the Ikram Malaysia Organization (IKRAM). The studied Hadiths include the aspects of reconstruction and understanding of the approach to Non-Muslims among the Da'wah Movement. The findings show that the hadiths used by both da'wah movements have become similar and differentiated in the understanding of the approach towards non-Muslims in Malaysia. Equality is related to the understanding of the issue of al-Insaniah or the virtues of humanity towards non- Muslims. While the issue of difference is the aspect of political relations with non-Muslims where ISMA looks at the political situation in Malaysia with a view to disagree with the approaches in non-Muslim co-political (tahaluf siyasi) arrangements besides bringing the traditions that lead to the ban. While IKRAM is more concerned with building a non-Muslim political relationship and looking at good governance in government as well as the opportunity to convey dakwah and Islamic voices to non-Muslims. The implications of this study provide an understanding that the discussion of these hadiths is ijtihadi by both da'wah movements and each view has its own justification and argument in an effort to safeguard the welfare of Islam in Malaysia and the continuity of da'wah in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the absence of the father, the obligation to support an orphan financially was charged upon the heirs of the orphan's father according to fiqh and Islamic Family Law in Malaysia. However, Muslims in Malaysia may not clearly understand this as cases reported and filed on heirs in bearing orphans is quite rare and uncommon. This study identifies obligation of heirs in financing the orphan according to fiqh as well as Islamic Family Law in Malaysia, and to analyse the level of understanding and practices among Malaysians relating to this obligation. This study adopts a mixed mode design which consists of content analysis, careful surveys, and in-depth interviews with selected judges and orphanage managers in Klang Valley. For surveys, 400 respondents were randomly selected to represent Muslim society in Klang Valley and the findings were subject to descriptive statistics. The results found that society's level of understanding concerning the obligation of heirs in supporting the orphan is high in terms of fiqh or Islamic Family Law. Despite of this, in practice, the support received by orphans from their heirs after being orphanage is exceedingly discouraging. Meanwhile, cases filed on the heirs regarding their obligation to supporting and bearing the orphan are rarely reported. This study suggests the need for a body that can act to advise and assist the mother and guardian of orphans to file claim for the maintenance of orphans to heirs. Public awareness campaigns, particularly implication of negligence by the assignee from the perspective of the law and penalties that may be imposed by the authorities should be disseminated to the Muslim community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of contemporary Salafi school in the mainstream Muslims is intended to make the Ahl al-Salaf as the primary models of faith and to return the related problems of faith according to the path taken by the companions and tabi'in, which had been quoted only from the al-Quran and al-Sunnah. These stances left great influences on their method of interpretations upon the Quranic verses including the Ayat al-Sifat (verses on Divine Attributes) and condemning others out of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. Therefore this research is intended to identify responses of Muslim figures and scholars against the Contemporary Salafi School's stances and their method of interpretations on Ayat al-Sifat. In addition, this research is also intended to explain the views of the majority of scholars on the conceptual and methods of interpretation of Ayat al-Sifat adopted by the Ahl al- Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. The paper is produced with the synthesization of content analysis that focuses on published works by selected Contemporary Salafi school figures and other muslim scholars and also relevant contemporary researchers in relation to these issues of Ayat al-Sifat and its methods of interpretations. The results of this research found that most scholars do not accept the method of literal interpretations on Ayat al-Sifat proclaimed by Contemporary Salafi School due to the existence of two catogeries of the Quranic verses, which are known as Wadih Jalli and Khafi Mutashabih or Mutashabih al-Sifat. In certain cases, the method of 'ta'wil' is highly needed to clarify the meaning of Ayat al-Sifat so easily understood by human intellect and at the same time to purify Allah the almighty from signs of weaknesses and resemblance. The extreme acts from Contemporary Salafi School in defending their methods of interpretations make them an 'exclusive' school which separated themselves from other muslims, and limit the diversity of the methods of interpretations enabled by the majority of mufassirin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Man cannot depend solely on science and technology to solve environmental problems. In fact, scholars and environmentalists have observed that some of the causes of environmental deterioration are rooted in science and technology. It is clear that environmental problems need ethical solution. However, environmentally ethical behaviour (EEB) is often overlooked in the life of a Muslim. This behaviour is important, particularly, to ensure the future of civilization of the Islamic world and, generally, civilization as a whole. Given the fact that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are more sensitive to the transformation of public behaviour compared to other groups, this article discusses the perspectives of Malaysian NGOs on the transformation of Muslim EEB in Malaysia in three aspects: (a) The type of EEB practiced by Muslims in Malaysia; (b) The transformation process of EEB experienced by Muslims in Malaysia; and (c) Whether or not the transformation of EEB of Muslims in Malaysia is motivated by the values advocated by Islam. The research adopted a qualitative research method of data collection, i.e., focus group discussions (FGDs). FGD’s results illustrated that: (a) Pre-cycling, reusing and recycling are the common types of EEB practiced by Muslims in Malaysia; (b) The transformation process of EEB experienced by Muslims in Malaysia is not accelerating at the speed that we hoped for; and (c) The transformation of EEB of Muslims in Malaysia is motivated more by economic and social factors as well as level of education and regulation enforcement compared to the values advocated by Islam.

Al-Quran is deemed to be the first text or charter which recognizes the existence of other religions in addition to asserting the truth of Islam and expose incoherent and the faults of otherwise. The facts set forth in the al-Quran, al-Kafirun 109: 1-6. Similarly, there are many verses in the Quran that deal with religions, whether samawi or wadha`i religions. In presenting religions, the Quran highlight various methods of criticism such [i] method of comparison such as comparing the truth and falsehood or comparing between monotheism and polytheism, [ii] presents the falsehood faith based on historical method, [iii] method of arguing by demanding supported evidence, creed or faith from its believer. The diversity critical method of al-Quran is a guide for scholars and Muslim intellectuals in dealing with propaganda of religions other than Islam through their works. The works Izhar al-Haq has written by Syeikh Rahmatullah al-Kairanawi (1818-1891) is subjected in this article. Discussion of this article focuses on al-Kairanawi's adaptation on the Quranic approach in criticizing the Bible; equation issues in Izhar al-Haq and the Quran; critical method by arguing and demanding textual evidences that are believed by the defendant. The methodology adopted in this study is content analysis and comparison between the approaches of the Izhar al-Haq and the Quran. Finally, the article concludes that al-Kairanawi approach in his Izhar al-Haq is accordance with the approach of the Quran in criticizing the Bible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until now, a comprehensif and practical guide on muamalat procedures in banking transaction is still limited. This article attempts to discuss the intrinsic construct of the bank choice determinants according to the ideal Muslim. A group of experts who are among the religious figures, practitioners, consultants and academicians were interviewed. Comments were recorded, collated and themes extracted using grounded theory. Four themes emerged, namely halal and haram deliberation, quality consumption, return of maslahah and capability-based consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imam al-Ash'ari was the founder and leading figure of the Asha'irah sect of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. His approach is often used as a main reference by Muslims since the time of its appearance until now concerning questions of faith. Some other schools of thought try to claim that the holding of Imam al-Ash'ari doctrine coincides with their beliefs. Imam al-Ash'ari is said to go through three stages of thought before he returned to the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah at the end of his life to follow Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal the leadership of Salaf. Therefore, anyone who does not abide by the final stand of Imam al-Ash'ari, they are not considered as Asha'irah followers for conflicting Imam al-Ash'ari and Salaf scholars as recognized the best of generations. To assure the issues, this article is put forward to reexamine of the truth of the allegations either Imam al-Ash'ari has gone through three stages of thought or otherwise. Through document analysis method based on the works of Imam al-Ash'ari and his followers, the study found that Imam al-Ash'ari only used two stages of thought; Mu'tazilah initially and Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah in the end. Imam al-Ash'ari also used the tafwid Salaf and Khalaf interpretation methods especially in interacting with mutashabihat texts throughout his stay with the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. The study also identified that the disagreements among Asha'irah when determining the thoughts of Imam al-Ash'ari is due to their uncertainty about the exact date of his works written. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ruling Barisan Nasional started to dominate Sarawak politics after the Muslim bumiputera took over the state leadership from the Iban after the 1970 elections. Under the stewardship of the Muslim bumiputera, Barisan Nasional had successfully dominated every state and parliamentary elections held since 1970 to 2008. Although the opposition parties launched a strong challenge towards the Muslim bumiputera's dominance in the late 1970s and middle 1980s, the latter was able to fend off this challenge and continued to uphold the ruling party's grip on the state with the largest number of state and parliamentary seats. This article analyses the Muslim bumiputera's dominance in Sarawak politics and the factors that had contributed to over four decades of domination. Despite this domination, new sources of contestation have emerged, namely the middle class, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the intelligentsia. This article analyses the contestation instigated by these forces and its impact on Sarawak politics particularly the leadership of Muslim bumiputera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]