Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Skreslet Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Positive Response ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Legal Writing ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Modern Egypt

The response to a speech made by Egypt’s President ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Sīsī in January 2015 on the occasion of the Prophet Muḥammad’s birthday celebrations that asked for “religious revolution” demonstrates the continuing importance of examining discursive trends in Islamic thought. The strategies of a fifteenth-century scholar, al-Suyūṭī, who framed his own identity as a jurist in his legal writing casts light on how contemporary scholars are using his legacy to define who they are in a time of crisis and upheaval in modern Egypt. Understanding how Islamic thinkers justify their interpretation of Sharīʿa can inform a positive response to the geopolitical realities that the Muslim world faces today.

A Critique of Modernist Synthesis in Islamic Thought

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-503
Author(s):  
Masudul Alum Choudhury
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Is it the realm of theoretical constructs or positive applications thatdefines the essence of scientific inquiry? Is there unison between thenormative and the positive, between the inductive and deductivecontents, between perception and reality, between the micro- andmacro-phenomena of reality as technically understood? In short, isthere a possibility for unification of knowledge in modernist epistemologicalcomprehension? Is knowledge perceived in conceptionand application as systemic dichotomy between the purely epistemic(in the metaphysically a priori sense) and the purely ontic (in thepurely positivistically a posteriori sense) at all a reflection of reality?Is knowledge possible in such a dichotomy or plurality?Answers to these foundational questions are primal in order tounderstand a critique of modernist synthesis in Islamic thought thathas been raging among Muslim scholars for some time now. Theconsequences emanating from the modernist approach underlie muchof the nature of development in methodology, thinking, institutions,and behavior in the Muslim world throughout its history. They arefound to pervade more intensively, I will argue here, as the consequenceof a taqlid of modernism among Islamic thinkers. I will thenargue that this debility has arisen not because of a comparativemodem scientific investigation, but due to a failure to fathom theuniqueness of a truly Qur'anic epistemological inquiry in the understandingof the nature of the Islamic socioscientific worldview ...

ANA ECHEVARRÍA, The Fortress of Faith: The Attitudes Towards Muslims in Fifteenth Century Spain, Medieval Iberian Peninsula, vol. 12 (Leiden, Boston, Cologne: E. J. Brill 1999). Pp. 254. $108 cloth.

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-452
Author(s):  
KATHRYN CAMP
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Selection Of

In The Fortress of Faith: The Attitudes Towards Muslims in Fifteenth Century Spain, Ana Echevarría presents a study of four mid-15th-century texts and argues that their polemical tone toward the Muslim world was inspired by contemporary historical events and revealed a Christian Spain preparing itself to end Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula. She argues that the events of 1450–70 are key to understanding Fernando and Isabel's renewed march against Granada in 1474 and that ecclesiastical literature of this time—as a manifestation of a “frontier church”—can provide a glimpse of the ideas common at court and among the clergy. At the center of her book are the works of three theologians (Juan de Segovia, Alonso de Espina, and Juan de Torquemada) and one layman (the Aragonese Pedro de Cavallería)—all written between 1450 and 1461—and Echevarría juxtaposes these texts with a wide selection of similar treatises written in Spain and elsewhere since the Muslim invasion of Iberia in 711. For each of her four primary texts, she provides the historical context of the author's life as well as an analysis of each work's style, sources, symbolism, and mode of argumentation against Islam (which, in general, involved allegations about the illegitimacy of the Muslim Prophet, holy text, or tenets). She then compares the views of these authors with the legal norms governing interactions among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in 15th-century Spain and concludes that both reveal an “evolution towards intolerance and violence which was common to the society and its rulers” and that impelled the eventually successful conquest of Granada.

Islam without Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad S. Dallal
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Religious Knowledge ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Ganges

Replete with a cast of giants in Islamic thought and philosophy, Ahmad S. Dallal’s pathbreaking intellectual history of the eighteenth-century Muslim world challenges stale views of this period as one of decline, stagnation, and the engendering of a widespread fundamentalism. Far from being moribund, Dallal argues, the eighteenth century--prior to systematic European encounters--was one of the most fertile eras in Islamic thought. Across vast Islamic territories, Dallal charts in rich detail not only how intellectuals rethought and reorganized religious knowledge but also the reception and impact of their ideas. From the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Atlantic, commoners and elites alike embraced the appeals of Muslim thinkers who, while preserving classical styles of learning, advocated for general participation by Muslims in the definition of Islam. Dallal also uncovers the regional origins of most reform projects, showing how ideologies were forged in particular sociopolitical contexts. Reformists’ ventures were in large part successful--up until the beginnings of European colonization of the Muslim world. By the nineteenth century, the encounter with Europe changed Islamic discursive culture in significant ways into one that was largely articulated in reaction to the radical challenges of colonialism.

scholarly journals Ideology and History, Identity and Alterity: The Arab Image of the Turk From The ʿAbbasids to Modern Egypt

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich W. Haarmann
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Modern Egypt ◽  
Vantage Points

At the end of the 1950s Khi¯lid Muhammad Khālid, whose importance for the history of modern Islamic thought and sentiment can hardly be overestimated, propagated the rather preposterous thesis that the terms “tyrant” (derived from Greek lyrannos) and “Türān,” the customary (Persian) word used for the homeland of the Turks, were etymologically and, as a corollary, also semantically akin. What was so irritating about this anti-Turkish libel was not so much its insipidity as the reaction or, more to the point, absence of a reaction to such and similar statements in the Arab public. The lonely voices of historians such as Salālh al-Dīn al-Munajjid and Abdallah Laroui, who from very different ideological vantage points chided their Arab audience in the late 1960s for foolishly blaming all their troubles on the Turks, remained unheeded for a very long time.

scholarly journals World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilization

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 159-162
Author(s):  
Muhammed Haron
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Keynote Speaker ◽  
World Conference ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Vice Chancellor ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Islamic Civilization

Kolej Universiti Islam Sultan Azlan Shah (KUISAS) organized and hostedthe Second World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilization (WCIT)during August 18-19, 2014, at Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh, Malaysia. Under theleadership of chairperson Wan Sabri bin Wan Yusof (associate professor), theorganizers chose Ibn Khaldun’s notion of the rise and fall of civilization asthe general theme and asked potential presenters to explore the contemporarystate of Muslim affairs. The over 200 selected presenters, ranging from thesocial sciences to the applied sciences, were slotted into various parallel panels.After welcoming and introducing the sponsors and various presenters,Nordin Kardi (vice-chancellor and rector, KUISAS) spoke on the Arab Springand other problems that continue to afflict the Muslim world: a low to mediumlevel of socioeconomic human development, an absence of good governance,intra-Muslim conflict, and an attitude of the “Muslim world and the rest.” Hesuggested that Muslims begin building strategic bridges to deal with them.The first keynote speaker, Sultan Nazrin M. Shah (pro-chancellor, Universityof Malaya), echoed some of Kardi’s points and reflected critically uponthe Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states’ general poor performancein producing scientific publications as a typical example of the deplorablestate of knowledge production among Muslims as a whole. Headvocated participation, transparency, equitable treatment, good governance,and sound education to remedy this generally negative condition.The second keynote speaker, Serif Ali Tekalan (vice-chancellor, Fatih University,Turkey) spoke on “The Role of Waqf in Islamic Civilization: Turkey’sExperience in Waqf for Education.” A great deal of evidence shows thatTurkey has used “endowment policies” to transform its socio-educational andreligious landscape. Both Muslim-majority and minority communities shouldbe able to benefit from its experience. The final keynote speaker, Zamry AbdulKadir (chief minister), who closed the conference, remarked that Muslimsshould return to the Qur’an and Sunnah to rebuild Islamic civilization. He optimisticallystated: “[I]ronic as it may seem, despite the multitude of conflicts… are we actually looking at the … resurgence of Islam?” He observed thatthe conference’s main result was “a call to re-examine the essence of Islamic ...

scholarly journals Prospects and Dimensions of Conflict Resolution Programs in the Islamic Context

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-152
Author(s):  
Jay Willoughby
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
International Institute ◽  
San Jose ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Amr Abdalla (professor and vice rector, University for Peace, San Jose, CostaRica) visited the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) on February1, 2013, to discuss the challenges of conflict resolution and peace that hascaught the attention of so many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars and policymakersfor several decades. As the Muslim world remains plagued with violentconfrontations between states and non-state actors, regional and nationalsectarian conflicts, and domestic conflicts with gender and family elements,such a discussion is very timely.The outbreak of the Arab Spring, which has resulted in several Islamistgroups taking power, has raised various questions: Why is it important to talk about conflict resolution and peace building in an Islamic context? How canthe theoretical be combined with the practical? How does Islam fit into thedemonstrations that occurred during the Arab Spring as well as into modernity?This is, according to Abdalla, the first opportunity that contemporaryMuslims have had to answer these questions for themselves ...

Distinguishing Companions: Mixed-Confession Education, Assimilation, and Islamic Thought

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-288
Author(s):  
Timothy Gutmann
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Educational Theory ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Ibn Taymiyya ◽  
Saba Mahmood ◽  
Ethics And Politics ◽  
Changing World

In this paper, I consider controversies over the question of mixed-confession education in late-19th century Beirut and contrast the assumptions behind them with those that governed educational and mixed spaces in the premodern Muslim world. The paper has two parts. In part one, I examine how Muḥammad ʿAbduh (1849–1905), a scholar who wanted to inspire Muslims to engage a changing world with generous confidence, theorized mixed education. By contrast, Yūsuf al-Nabhānī (1849–1932), believed modernity and cross-confessional schooling threatened the distinctiveness of this community. In part two, I present a formative work on educational theory Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s (1058–1111) formative educational theory and a text by Taqī al-Dīn ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) on that tells Muslims how to preserve their distinctiveness from non-Muslims. Ghazālī’s text describes how Muslims are to cultivate themselves and fellowship among Muslims, and Ibn Taymiyya’s instructs them how to preserve themselves and their community in a world of others. The premodern texts clearly delineate different kinds of spaces that are put together in modern education, in which the question of difference provokes considerable anxiety and instability. Throughout I draw on the work of Saba Mahmood, who troubles modern understandings of inclusion and exclusion, subjects and their worlds, and ethics and politics.

Islamic theology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelwahab El-Affendi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Islamic Thought

‘Ilm al-kalam (literally ‘the science of debate’) denotes a discipline of Islamic thought generally referred to as ‘theology’ or (even less accurately) as ‘scholastic theology’. The discipline, which evolved from the political and religious controversies that engulfed the Muslim community in its formative years, deals with interpretations of religious doctrine and the defence of these interpretations by means of discursive arguments. The rise of kalam came to be closely associated with the Mu‘tazila, a rationalist school that emerged at the beginning of the second century AH (seventh century ad) and rose to prominence in the following century. The failure of the Mu‘tazila to follow up their initial intellectual and political ascendancy by imposing their views as official state doctrine seriously discredited rationalism, leading to a resurgence of traditionalism and later to the emergence of the Ash‘ariyya school, which attempted to present itself as a compromise between the two opposing extremes. The Ash‘arite school gained acceptability within mainstream (Sunni) Islam. However, kalam continued to be condemned, even in this ‘orthodox’ garb, by the dominant traditionally-inclined schools. In its later stages, kalam attempted to assimilate philosophical themes and questions, but the subtle shift in this direction was not completely successful. The decline of kalam appeared to be irreversible, shunned as it was by traditionalists and rationalists alike. Although kalam texts continued to be discussed and even taught in some form, kalam ceased to be a living science as early as the ninth century AH (fifteenth century ad). Attempts by reformers to revive it, beginning in the nineteenth century, have yet to bear fruit.

scholarly journals The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-161
Author(s):  
Laith Kubba
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
The Rich

The Islamic fnlellectual Tradition in Persia is an edited collection of essays by SeyyedHossein Nasr, the Iranian metaphysician and ontolgist, on Muslim philosophers and theintimate relationship between Persian culture and its philosophical schools. The 24 essayswere written over a period of four decades and scattered among numerous journals and collections.The book is divided into six parts: Islamic thought and Persian culture; earlyIslamic philosophy; the works of al Suhrawardj; philosophers, poets, and scientists; laterIslamic philosophy; and Islamic thought in modem Iran. The essays highlight Nasr's prolificand learned scholarship on the development of Islamic philosophy and illuminatemany aspects of the rich philosophical traditions in Islamic Persia and its history.Throughout this unique collection of articles, Nasr covers the lives and works ofmore than fifteen prominent thinkers and scientists who made significant contributions tothe evolution of the Islamic intellectual traditions in the Muslim world in general and inIslamic Persia in particular. Among those covered are al Farabi, lbn Sina, al BirOni, N????irKhusraw, Fakhr al Din al Razi, al Suhrawardi, Quib al Din Shirazi, $adr al Din Shiriizi,and Mullii HadT Sabzawari. Nasr presents their ideas through their actual works andinforms readers of their conditions and life stories in an easy and enjoyable sty le, whichallows the reader to learn about their ideas and conditions through the lives of these greatphilosophers. Their lives and works cover a wide spectrum of the Muslim mind and beara noticeable interplay of ideas from different fields, ideas that can neither be separatedfrom their conditions nor confined to one field.The book touches on many subjects of pure academic interest and provides an insightinto Persian culture. Although the essays are useful in researching the intellectual historyof Muslim philosophers in the largest sense, no one essay researches the development ofspecific ideas or aspects of the Persian philosophers. Nasr 's essays describe al Fara bi asthe "second teacher" in philosophy and elaborates on lbn Sina's contributions to logic andlanguage, metaphysics and cosmology, medicine pharmacology, and psychology. Someof their works cover classical debates on being and existence, what is learned and what isrealized, discursive knowledge and the insights of illumination, and concepts of unity and ...

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