Recent controversies and online discussions raise the question: Who has Islamic authority in the dig
![Tariq Ramadan has announced he will not attend ISNA and RIS conferences in North America [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/201492144830862734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
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The institutions of the modern state have reconfigured perceptions of sharia to focus on punishment rather than ethics.
![Armed groups like the Islamic State, Boko Haram and the Taliban are inherently modern, argues Azad [AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014612133047253734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Western philosophy has for too long been caught up in circular arguments of what can or cannot be expressed.
![Language is incapable of expressing the highest truths, writes Azad [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014629112129595734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Are Muslim academics playing the role of ‘house Muslims’?
![Seyyed Hossein Nasr is among the Muslim World's prominent contemporary philosophers [Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20146101483432734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)