EDITORIAL

Abstract

The first paper in our present issue is by Abdullah H. M. a1 Khalifah
and examines how religiosity in an Islamic context serves as a protective
mechanism against criminal temptation. This is done, in short, by placing
the concept of law in the realm of religion, which means that criminal
activity is seen as a violation of God’s law before it is seen as a violation
of a person’s rights. Such a perspective also reinforces the awareness of
the certainty and severity of punishment in the afterlife. The author argues
that Islam provides a unique social control perspective, one that has
accounted for the main parameters that underlie the mechanisms of social
control: religion, morality, and law. He first reviews the theories and
literature concerning the religion-crime relationship and then proceeds to
discuss the meaning of religiosity in Islam and how it has been transformed
into a valuable force for crime control. He concludes his analysis
with a discussion of the elements of Islamic ideology that constrain criminal
behavior.
Muhammad al-Ghazali calls for a study of Sh& Wali Allah’s thought
in greater depth, for the exceptionally futuristic thrust of his ideas are
extremely relevant and promising for contemporary and future Islamic
thought. He chooses to study Shah Wali Allah’s synthesis of reason,
revelation, and empiricism, which he claims has been unrecognized by
many earlier and contemporary scholars. Al-Ghazali shows how Shah
Wali All& builds evidence from an inductive survey of social phenomena
to substantiate the contentions of revelation while remaining
within the doctrinal framework of revealed guidance and thus constructs
a paradigm of universal social culture. Also covered is Shah Wali Allah’s
analysis of what separates human beings from animals and how the
former, due to their inherent and God-given instincts, develop civilization.
Muhammad Hashim Kamali discusses the possibility of price control
(tus‘fr) in Islam law. He shows that Islam did not promulgate any law
that limits profits and fixes prices. He also examines several provisions
concerning price control and highlights some of the conflicting interests
of freedom vs. authority that are reflected in relevant Shari‘ah provisions.
The underlying issue of his research is the extent to which price controls
may or may not impinge on the basic freedom of trade and of the individual
to sell items at the regular market price as opposed to one fixed ...