Focus and Scope

Al’Adalah: Journal of Islamic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on Islam, civil society, and religious movements. The journal welcomes interdisciplinary research that explores how Muslim communities, religious institutions, Islamic ideas, and practices shape social and public life, including relations between religious actors, society, and the state.

 

The journal focuses on three interconnected areas:

1. Muslim Civil Society and Religious Communities

Research on Muslim communities, religious associations, Islamic institutions, philanthropy, social solidarity, civic participation, and collective initiatives. This area includes the roles of religious organisations and community networks in addressing social concerns and contributing to public life.

 

2. Islamic Religious Movements and Religious Authority

Research on Islamic movements, religious activism, preaching, religious leadership, fatwas, and the formation and contestation of religious authority. This area also welcomes historical and contemporary studies of religious interpretation, legitimacy, and public debate, including developments in digital spaces.

 

3. Islam, Citizenship, and Society–State Relations

Research on citizenship, religious pluralism, interreligious relations, minority rights, public policy, legal pluralism, and relations between religious communities and state institutions. The journal is particularly interested in how Islamic ideas, norms, and practices inform social relations, public responsibilities, and political life.

 

Al’Adalah also welcomes scholarship in Islamic law, Qur’anic and Hadith studies, education, philosophy, ethics, history, and related fields, provided that the research makes a substantive contribution to one or more of these areas. Studies addressing gender, digital religion, environmental concerns, and economic or cultural issues are equally welcome when they engage directly with the journal’s central scholarly interests.

 

The journal publishes original empirical, historical, theoretical, conceptual, normative, and comparative research. Submissions may examine local, national, transnational, or global contexts. Articles should present a clear research problem, engage critically with relevant scholarship, and offer an original academic contribution. A general connection to Islam, without substantive relevance to the journal’s focus, is insufficient for consideration.