EDITORIAL: ISLAM IN ASIA AND EUROPE

The subjects of discussion in this edition of Al-Jami‘ah are mostly modern themes with the exception of Al Makin’s paper on early Islam and Miftahurrohim N. Sarkun on classical Islamic jurisprudence. To begin with, Nina Nurmila overviews the extent to which modern Indonesian Quranic and tradition exegetes gives new meaning to the basic sacred text of Islam. Indeed Nurmila finds that the issues of gender have attracted the attention of Indonesian intellectuals, who argue for gender equality and men’s and women’s equal role both at home and work. In fact, many Indonesian exegetes reject the inferiority of women at home with regard to conventional understanding that men are seen superior in domestic leadership