Vol. 13 No. 2 (2026): Madinah: Jurnal Studi Islam

This article analyzes the concept of the ethics of care within Amina Wadud's thought, not as an abstract ethical theory, but as a manifestation of practical theology that shapes spaces of autonomy and agency for Muslim women. Departing from previous studies that treat grassroots movements merely as fieldwork objects, this study is a library-based inquiry that positions Wadud's Inside the Gender Jihad as both the primary source and the principal object of analysis. Through a critical reading of Wadud's narrative concerning two Muslim women's communities in Richmond, Virginia—Muslim Women United (MWU) and Together Righteousness Unites The Hearts (T.R.U.T.H.)—the article argues that the care work they perform constitutes a concrete form of Gender Jihad, a transformative struggle for gender justice. This practice reconstitutes the central Islamic concept of mu'amalat (just social relations) while also functioning as a tacit corrective to the failure of patriarchal Islamic structures in realizing social justice. The article demonstrates how the ethics of care builds legitimacy through impactful praxis, creates an alternative epistemology grounded in women's lived experiences, and offers a relational, justice-centered, and sustainable paradigm of Islam. By synthesizing these four interconnected dimensions—interpretive tool, autonomous space, legitimacy strategy, and epistemology—the study shows that MWU's crisis-responsive care and T.R.U.T.H.'s sustained, network-based care are complementary expressions of a single theological praxis. These findings underscore the importance of reading theology not only from texts but also from the bodies and actions of women in everyday spaces.

The digital era has intensified information disruption through the proliferation of hoaxes, clickbait practices, and echo chambers, potentially undermining social cohesion and public trust. This study aims to reconstruct the concept of tabayyun in Surah Al-Hujurat verses 6–8 as a Qur’anic-based model of information resilience, with particular emphasis on its conceptual applicability to urban digital communities. Employing a qualitative approach through reflexive thematic analysis, the study examines relevant units of meaning from three authoritative Qur’anic commentaries: Tafsir al-Qurthubi, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and Tafsir al-Azhar, contextualized through contemporary digital communication scholarship. The findings identify six thematic categories integrated into a three-layer protection model: an internal-spiritual layer comprising five ethical control mechanisms, a procedural-empirical layer involving seven information verification procedures, and a structural-governance layer encompassing four data validity rules and four information governance principles. These interconnected layers establish a conceptual framework for mitigating information distortion, strengthening public trust, and preventing socially harmful decisions. The study reconceptualizes tabayyun from an individual ethical obligation into an integrated information resilience system, offering a Qur’anic foundation for strengthening verification practices, ethical communication, and information governance in urban digital communities confronting contemporary disinformation challenges.

This study critically reinterprets human rights values embedded in the Qur’an and Hadith through the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur in contemporary Muslim societies. Departing from dominant compatibility-based and apologetic approaches, it reconstructs how human rights meanings are produced, negotiated, and transformed through the interpretation of Islamic texts. Using qualitative interpretive textual analysis, the study examines Qur’anic verses QS. Al-Mā’idah [5]: 32, QS. Al-Isrā’ [17]: 70, and QS. An-Nisā’ [4]: 135, alongside relevant hadiths and classical and contemporary exegetical traditions. Findings reveal a shift from context-bound legal and theological formulations toward broader ethical universality, encompassing the sanctity of life, human dignity, justice, equality, and the protection of fundamental rights. Through Gadamer’s fusion of horizons and Ricoeur’s concepts of distanciation and appropriation, the study explains how sacred texts can be critically reinterpreted in relation to contemporary moral concerns. Distanciation refers to the interpretive distance that allows texts to be examined beyond their original contexts, while appropriation involves readers’ engagement with and application of textual meanings to their present circumstances. Tensions remain between theological foundations and secular human rights frameworks. Rather than treating these tensions as irreconcilable contradictions, the study considers them productive spaces for critical engagement. It advances an integrative hermeneutic approach that positions Qur’anic and hadith texts as dialogical, context-responsive sources of ethical reasoning, contributing to a more critical and non-apologetic discourse on human rights in Islam