The global ecological crisis in the Anthropocene has intensified attention to the Qur’ānic concept of fasād fī al-arḍ as a foundation for environmental ethics. This study aims to analyze the transformation of the interpretation of fasād across classical and contemporary exegetical traditions and to reconstruct its ecological meaning through ecological hermeneutics. This qualitative study employs a comparative textual analysis of selected Qur’ānic verses concerning fasād, khalīfah, mīzān, and amānah. This qualitative study employs comparative textual analysis of selected Qur’ānic verses concerning fasād, khalīfah, mīzān, and amānah, drawing on a corpus comprising classical tafsīr, modern-contemporary tafsīr, and a complementary work of Islamic environmental thought. Data were analyzed through thematic (mawḍū’ī) Qur’ānic exegesis, comparative tafsīr analysis, and thematic coding. The findings show that classical tafsīr primarily understands fasād as moral and cosmic disorder resulting from human disobedience, whereas contemporary interpretations expand it to encompass structural and ecological consequences of human activities. This study reconstructs fasād as an ecological diagnostic category for identifying human-induced ecological disruption and proposes an integrated Islamic environmental ethics framework based on the interconnected concepts of fasād, khalīfah, mīzān, and amānah. This framework contributes a Qur’ānic theological foundation for ecological responsibility and sustainable environmental governance in the Anthropocene.
Uang panai is a customary marriage tradition among the Bugis community that embodies symbolic values of respect, sincerity, and the prospective groom's responsibility toward the prospective bride. However, contemporary social transformations have gradually altered its original meaning, turning uang panai into an economic burden that may hinder marriage. This study examines the practice of uang panai as a reflection of the tension between cultural values and burdensome tradition through a thematic analysis of the Qur'an from the perspective of Ṭāhir Ibn ʿĀshūr's maqāṣid al-sharīʿah. Employing a qualitative case study approach, the research combines descriptive-analytical methods with a thematic examination of Qur'anic verses concerning marriage, justice, facilitation, and public welfare (maṣlaḥah). The findings indicate that the Qur'an consistently emphasizes the principles of ease (taysīr), justice (ʿadl), and the prevention of harm in the institution of marriage. From the perspective of Ṭāhir Ibn ʿĀshūr's maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, social customs are considered legitimate only insofar as they remain consistent with the higher objectives of Islamic law, particularly the protection of lineage, property, and social harmony. Accordingly, the practice of uang panai should be critically reinterpreted and proportionally reconstructed so that its cultural significance can be preserved while remaining aligned with the objectives of the Sharīʿah and the ethical spirit of the Qur'an.
The devastating floods that struck Aceh in late 2025 not only generated a large-scale humanitarian crisis but also reactivated latent tensions between universal humanitarian solidarity and local religious sensitivities. The presence of interfaith humanitarian actors in a region characterized by the formal implementation of Islamic law positioned humanitarian assistance within a social arena marked by complex ethical negotiations. This article examines how local Muslim NGOs interpret and practice interfaith solidarity by drawing upon the Qur’an as a living and contextual ethical framework. Employing an interpretive qualitative approach with socio-ethical analysis, the study is based on in-depth interviews, limited field observations, and the examination of secondary disaster-related data. The findings reveal that Qur’anic ethics, as enacted by Muslim NGOs, does not function as a fixed set of normative prescriptions; rather, it operates as a form of negotiated ethics continuously shaped through interactions among sacred texts, lived humanitarian experiences, and Aceh’s socio-religious environment. Interfaith solidarity is understood as a religious obligation that affirms a universal commitment to human dignity while maintaining clear ethical boundaries against the instrumentalization of humanitarian aid for non-humanitarian agendas. This study contributes to the growing scholarship on interfaith humanitarianism and Islamic ethics by offering empirical insights from a Muslim-majority context characterized by heightened religious sensitivity. It further enriches contemporary understandings of humanitarian practice as a reflective, socially embedded, and contextually negotiated ethical process.
Studies on the living Qur'an have predominantly focused on recitation practices, amulets, and ruqyah within mainstream Muslim communities, while largely overlooking the ways in which Qur'anic verses are integrated into indigenous healing systems through material objects, spatial rituals, and local cosmologies among peripheral ethnic communities. This article addresses that gap by examining be-langea, a traditional healing ritual practiced by the Rejang community in Dusun Sawah, Bengkulu, Indonesia, in which water and lime (jeruk nipis) function as the principal therapeutic media through which Qur'anic verses are materially activated and spatially mediated. Employing a qualitative research design that combines ethnographic fieldwork with phenomenological analysis, the study draws on data collected through in-depth interviews with five key informants: two traditional healers, two patients, and one community leader, as well as participatory observation conducted over a period of more than one month. Guided by Rafiq's informative–performative framework, the findings make three principal theoretical contributions. First, be-langea demonstrates a process of Qur'anic materialization in which the sacred text is transferred into physical substances and enacted through bodily gestures and domestic spaces, thereby extending its performative function beyond verbal recitation. Second, the informative and performative dimensions operate as mutually constitutive rather than sequential mechanisms. Third, the dukun functions as a cultural broker who actively negotiates Islamic legitimacy for indigenous healing practices amid ongoing reformist pressures. By foregrounding the material and spatial dimensions of Qur'anic engagement, this study advances living Qur'an scholarship through a framework that illuminates how Muslim communities enact and embody sacred texts across the full spectrum of their cultural resources.
The debate over the creation of the Qur’an (khalq al-Qur’an) is one of the most influential controversies in the history of Islamic theology. Traditionally understood as a doctrinal dispute over divine attributes, this debate also raises deeper questions about the relationship between divine meaning and human language. However, the linguistic dimension of this debate is rarely systematically examined in contemporary science. Therefore, this study aims to reinterpret the khalq al-Qur’an debate as a discourse that reflects the conceptual understanding of different languages in the Islamic theological tradition. This study uses a qualitative theoretical design using conceptual analysis and rational reconstruction. The classical theological texts of Mu’tazilah, Ash’ariyyah, and Hanabilah are analyzed to identify key concepts related to divine utterance. In addition, empirical data was collected through interviews with contemporary Islamic scholars to provide a contextual perspective on the debate. The findings suggest that these theological schools represent three different conceptual models of language. Mu’tazilah views divine utterance as a temporal communicative act, Ash’ariyyah distinguishes between eternal meaning (kalam nafsi) and temporal linguistic expression (kalam lafẓi), and Hanabilah emphasizes the authority of the revealed text. This study concludes that the debate on the khalq al-Qur’an contains conceptual insights that can be reconstructed as a discourse on the ontology of language in the Islamic intellectual tradition.
