Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): December

Background: Islamic acculturation is a dynamic process through which Islamic teachings interact with local traditions, producing diverse forms of lived religious expression. Yoruba Islam in Nigeria and the Ebeg performance tradition in Indonesia represent localized expressions of Islam shaped by distinct historical and cultural contexts. Comparative studies connecting African and Southeast Asian Muslim cultural experiences, however, remain limited.

Methods: This study employs a qualitative comparative approach using literature-based cultural analysis. Data were collected from peer-reviewed articles, ethnographic studies, historical records, and cultural documentation related to Yoruba Islam and Ebeg performance traditions. The analysis focuses on cultural adaptation, religious negotiation, and performative integration.

Results: The findings reveal that Yoruba Islam demonstrates strong cultural embeddedness through the integration of Islamic values into festivals, naming systems, kinship practices, and communal rituals. In contrast, the Ebeg tradition reflects a selective and negotiated form of acculturation in which Islamic elements are incorporated into dance, music, and ritual performance. Both cases indicate that Islamic identity is shaped through continuous interaction between religion and local culture.

Discussion: The comparative analysis shows that Islamic acculturation is historically adaptive and context-dependent. Material and performative culture function as important mediums for negotiating religious meaning and communal identity.

Conclusion: Islamic acculturation in Nigeria and Indonesia represents a non-linear process shaped by cultural continuity, reinterpretation, and social negotiation.

Novelty: This study offers a comparative African–Southeast Asian perspective by highlighting the role of material and performance culture in shaping localized Islamic experience.

Background: Islamic inheritance law (faraidh) sets normative rules for estate distribution, but its socio-legal application varies across contexts. This study compares Mukalla (Yemen) and Kedungreja (Indonesia) to examine how legal pluralism mediates inheritance practices and balances textual fidelity with local socio-cultural adaptation.

Methods: Qualitative comparative analysis using interviews and document review in Mukalla and Kedungreja, analyzed through thematic coding.

Results: Two coherent models of inheritance implementation emerged. Mukalla demonstrates doctrinal continuity, where Shāfiʿī jurisprudence and religious institutions ensure textual fidelity and centralized authority. Kedungreja reflects a negotiated, context-sensitive approach, integrating family deliberation, customary norms, and state law, resulting in flexible outcomes.

Discussion: The findings illustrate that Islamic inheritance law operates as a living legal system, dynamically shaped by authority structures, interpretive frameworks, and socio-cultural environments.

Conclusion: Legal pluralism mediates the balance between normative prescriptions and social realities, confirming that both textual fidelity and contextual adaptation are legitimate manifestations of Islamic law.

Novelty: By combining normative fiqh analysis with empirical socio-legal comparison, the study provides an internationally relevant framework for understanding Islamic inheritance law across diverse institutional and cultural contexts.

Background: Islamic fiscal governance integrates law, ethics, and public finance in Muslim-majority societies. Culinary taxation policies illustrate how modern fiscal systems can align with Islamic principles of justice, transparency, and public welfare. This study examines such policies across three continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe—focusing on Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Lithuania.

Methods: A qualitative comparative socio-legal approach was applied. Data were collected from policy documents, scholarly literature, and media discourse. The analysis employed fiqh siyasah maliyah, the principle of maslahah, and socio-legal theory to assess legal interpretation, ethical alignment, and public legitimacy across diverse legal, institutional, and cultural contexts.

Results: All countries use taxation to support public welfare, but implementation varies: Indonesia employs decentralized regional regulations; Malaysia integrates Islamic administrative frameworks; Nigeria uses hybrid Sharia-civil law systems; and Lithuania applies secular legal structures. Policies aligned with justice, proportionality, and transparency achieve higher public acceptance, whereas misaligned implementation produces socio-economic tensions and limits legitimacy.

Discussion: Islamic fiscal principles demonstrate flexibility across political, legal, and cultural contexts. Harmonizing fiscal objectives with ethical and welfare-oriented principles fosters public trust and positive socio-economic outcomes. Institutional capacity, legal pluralism, and ethical communication are key factors in effective implementation.

Conclusion: Comparative analysis confirms that Islamic fiscal governance can coexist with contemporary taxation systems when guided by ethical and socio-legal principles. Principles of maslahah, justice, proportionality, and transparency enhance legitimacy and socio-economic balance across contexts.

Novelty: This study offers a multi-continental socio-legal framework linking Islamic fiscal ethics with contemporary taxation, showing practical adaptability in diverse modern settings.

Background: Islamic education is shaped by differing institutional contexts, particularly between Indonesia’s formal state-based system and London’s community-based Islamic education. These differences raise critical questions regarding how teacher ethical formation is constructed and practiced across contexts.

Methods: This study employs a qualitative comparative conceptual analysis using library research. Data were drawn from scholarly literature and policy documents on Islamic education in Indonesia and the United Kingdom. The analysis is guided by the frameworks of tarbiyah (holistic education), ta’dib (ethical formation), and community-based learning theory.

Results: Findings show that teacher ethical formation in London is primarily grounded in community trust, moral responsibility, and experiential engagement within mosques and supplementary schools. In contrast, Indonesia emphasizes formal teacher professionalism through certification and curriculum standardization, although ethical internalization in classroom practice remains inconsistent.

Discussion: The study indicates that teacher ethical formation is not only determined by institutional regulation but also by social and community-based learning environments. The London model highlights strong moral identity formation through informal educational ecosystems, while the Indonesian model reflects structured professionalism with varying ethical depth in practice.

Conclusion: Effective Islamic Religious Education requires integration between formal institutional structures and community-based moral ecosystems to strengthen teacher ethical formation.

Novelty: This study develops a comparative conceptual perspective on teacher ethical formation in community-based (London) and institutional (Indonesia) Islamic education, moving beyond descriptive comparisons toward analytical synthesis.

Background: Delayed marriage among Muslim youth is increasingly observed in Indonesia, Spain, and Portugal as a result of economic uncertainty, educational expansion, and changing social values in contemporary society.

Methods: This study used a qualitative comparative approach through systematic literature review and thematic analysis based on peer-reviewed academic sources.

Results: Economic insecurity and prolonged education were identified as the main factors contributing to delayed marriage across the three countries.

Discussion: Despite different socio-cultural backgrounds, the three countries show converging trends toward later marriage influenced by globalization and shifting life priorities.

Conclusion: Islamic education remains relevant in strengthening moral awareness and family preparedness among Muslim youth.

Novelty: This study provides a comparative Islamic education perspective across Muslim-majority and European secular contexts. However, this research is limited to literature-based analysis without direct empirical field data.