scholarly journals Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-174
Author(s):  
Brian Wright
Keyword(s):  
San Antonio ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of

At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio,the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted the third annualIsmail al Faruqi Memorial Lecture. Delivered by Ahmad Atef Ahmad (Universityof California Santa Barbara), the lecture focused on the changing academicfield of Islamic studies: where the field has been, where it is now, andwhere it should go in the future.Ahmad began by outlining the history of approaching both Islamic studiesand comparative religion in general. After decades of claiming neutrality, hebelieves that the field has now reached a new phase. “In the past there was anassumption that there is a neutral, global set of rules and tools that can help usunderstand religion, like those of philosophy or anthropology. However, overtime we have come to realize that these tools are in no way neutral and comewith their own kinds of baggage.” This failure of neutrality has particularlyaffected scholars of Islam, because “You find that Muslim scholars who taketheir primary sources seriously find the deck stacked against them, especiallyfor those who are working in the West and trying to engage in conversationswith other religious traditions.”As a result of the realization that the tools of religious studies cannot beneutral, academia has undergone a significant shift ...

scholarly journals ISIS and the Challenge of Interpreting Islam

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-165
Author(s):  
Ayşenur Sönmez Kara
Keyword(s):  
San Antonio ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Text Context ◽  
Final Question

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) organized an “ISIS andthe Challenge of Interpreting Islam: Text, Context, and Islam-in-Modernity”panel at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting held onNovember 21, 2016, in San Antonio, TX. After the panel, it held a receptionand presented the al Faruqi Memorial lecture. The panel brought together seniorscholars of Islam, history, and cultural studies.Moderator Ermin Sinanović (director, Research and Academic Programs,IIIT) divided it into three rounds and allowed questions after each round. Eachround addressed an ISIS-related question: (1) “How should we best understandISIS? Is it a product of Islamic tradition or something inherently modern? Whatis ISIS an example for?”; (2) “What role does the Islamic tradition play in enabling,justifying, or delegitimizing ISIS?”; and (3) “Is ISIS Islamic?”The first speaker, Ovamir Anjum (Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of IslamicStudies, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University ofToledo) reminded the audience of the commonality of violence for politicalends in history by arguing that this is not a uniquely Islamic phenomenon. Accordingto Islamic tradition, groups like ISIS that employ violence to kill Muslimsand non-Muslims are ghulāt (extremists), rebels, or khawārij. One mustunderstand ISIS within the Islamic tradition, because the group is using Islamicsymbols. But this does not mean that it is an Islamic phenomenon.In the second round, he contextualized the issue by stating that the numberof Syrians killed by Bashar al-Assad is seven times higher than those killedby ISIS. He remarked that “ISIS is horrifying for psychological reasons becausethey use the pornography of violence, for example, not because theyare a uniquely murderous threat. There are a lot of those in the world.” Anjumalso found its acts dangerous because its members justify their own biases inthe name of Islam. He restated that the group is khawārij, enslaves and killsnon-combatants, and rejects the authority of existent Islamic scholarship becausethe Islamic juristic tradition forbids killing non-combatants.Anjum responded to the final question by refusing to call ISIS “Islamic,”for “Of course ISIS is making Islamic claims, but Islamic tradition is verycomplex and has been very difficult to agree on things except for a very, veryfew fundamentals throughout Islamic history.” He also argued that “those whoexcommunicate Muslims en masse and kill for that reason are khawārij, andthey must be fought. This is agreed upon by both Sunni and Shi‘a scholars.” ...

scholarly journals Muslim Scholars, Islamic Studies, and the Gendered Academy

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-134
Author(s):  
Muneeza Rizvi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
American Academy ◽  
Memorial Lecture ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Boston University ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Convention Center ◽  
University Department ◽  
Muslim Scholars

The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted its fourth annualIsmail Al Faruqi Memorial Lecture at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The presentation took place at theHynes Convention Center in Boston on Sunday, November 19, 2017. Dr.Kecia Ali (Boston University, Department of Religion) delivered the keynotelecture, titled “Muslim Scholars, Islamic Studies, and the GenderedAcademy.” In her speech, Dr. Ali situated ongoing and gendered contestationsin Islamic Studies within a number of broader contexts: the historyof the AAR (currently the largest American organization dedicated to thestudy of religion), contemporary crises in higher education, and our shiftingnational climate ...

scholarly journals Observing the Observer

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-99
Author(s):  
David H. Warren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Interested Reader ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Muslim Minority

This publication, a collection of ten essays incorporating both quantitative andqualitative studies, has emerged as part of a lengthy research project conductedby the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Center for Islamand Public Policy (CIPP) beginning in 2004 and concluding in 2007. Naturally,given the state of relations between the United States and those countries perceivedas comprising the “Muslim World,” as well as regular controversies andscandals relating to the American Muslim minority and those who purport toobserve, study, and teach others about them and their religion, such a study isparticularly welcome. The studies included are aimed at both students and specialists,not only in the field of “Islamic studies” itself, but also more broadlywith regard to such related academic fields as theology and anthropology. Anotheraudience is the more general interested reader who might wish to learnwhat may (or may not) have changed in that field attacked so successfully inEdward Said’s great polemic, that its title Orientalism ultimately entered Islamicstudies as a truly condemnatory and pejorative slogan ...

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Teaching Islamic Studies in Theological Seminaries

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-162
Author(s):  
Fatima Siwaju
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Care ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Care Coordinator ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Theological Schools ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
President Elect ◽  
Muslim Student ◽  
Professional Degrees

On Saturday, November 21, 2015, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., a panel coorganized by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) entitled “Opportunitiesand Challenges of Teaching Islamic Studies in TheologicalSeminaries,” was held during the Annual Meeting of the American Academyof Religion (AAR) at the Marriott Hotel in Atlanta, GA. The panel was presidedover by Reverend Dr. Serene Jones (president of Union Theological Seminaryand AAR president-elect), and included contributions from Nazila Isgandarova(Emmanuel College), Munir Jiwa (Graduate Theological Union), JerushaLamptey (Union Theological Seminary), Nevin Reda (Emmanuel College),Feryal Salem (Hartford Seminary), and Ermin Sinanović (IIIT). Amir Hussain(Loyola Marymount University) served as respondent.The purpose of the roundtable was to address the growing trend amongChristian seminaries in North America of offering courses and, in some cases,professional degrees in the study of Islam, which has often involved hiringMuslim academics. The panelists endeavored to explore the opportunitiesand challenges posed by this new context, as well as the possible future directionof theological schools in addition to the future trajectory of Islamicstudies at them.Nazila Isgandarova, a spiritual care coordinator for the Center for Addictionand Mental Health in Canada and a graduate student at Emmanuel College,spoke of her personal experience as a Muslim student in a theological school.She noted that one of the unique advantages of studying Islam in a Christianenvironment is that it provides a space for the exchange of ideas. Isgandarovaidentified clinical pastoral education (CPE) as one of the major advantages ofstudying at a seminary. She emphasized that Islamic spiritual care educationshould be grounded not only in the Islamic tradition, but also in the conceptualand methodological frameworks provided by CPE. While she acknowledged ...

scholarly journals Islamic Thought in the South Asian Subcontinent

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
Zafar I. Ansari
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Revival Movements ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

The International Institute of Islamic Thought-Islamabad, the IslamicResearch Institute, and the International Islamic University, Islamabad,are conducting ongoing seminars on the history of Islamic thought ineighteenth-century South Asia. What follows is a report of some activitiesand decisions taken to date.Recent studies of Islamic thought have generally attributed the rise ofMuslim reform and revival movements, as well as the intellectual activitiesundertaken during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to theimpact of Europe and the influence of its academic, social, political, andtechnological advancement. This raises the following question: If theMuslim world had not come into contact with Europe, would it haveremained a totally unchanged and unchanging society? In order to answerthis question, it is essential to:1. Study and examine how Muslim thinkers analyzed their societyin the precolonial period2. Explore whether there was any dissatisfaction with the statusquo among Muslims;3. Detemine whether there were any trends of reform, revival,ijtihad or whether there was any significant interest in philosophyand rational sciences. Was there any interest in reinterpretingIslamic teachings in order to meet the challenges ofmodernity in general and of the western intellectual experiencein particular;4. Study whether the foundations of the political movements, religiousorganizations, and sects that arose in the subcontinent (i.e.,Ahl-i Hadith, Deobandi, and Barelawi) were laid on the emergentattitudes of opposition and resistance to British rule or whethertheir origins can be traced in the pre-British period; and5. Investigate principles and concepts (i.e., bid’ah, taqlid, ijtihad,dar al harb, jihad, and hijrah) used by Muslim thinkers for totalacceptance, rejection, or adaptation of political, social, and religiousideas and practices and of modern science and technology.How were these developed, refiied, restated, or reconsh-ucted? ...

scholarly journals Observing the Observer

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-97
Author(s):  
Usaama Al-Azami
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Saba Mahmood ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Lay Reader ◽  
Online Availability ◽  
Quantitative Nature

This excellent study brings together a number of widely regarded Western scholars of Islam as contributors on the nature and history of Islamic studies in the American academy. This compilation is part of “The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities,” a research project undertaken by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Center for Islam and Public Policy (CIPP) between 2004 and 2007. Its findings were first made available in draft form on IIIT’s website in 2009 (http://iiit.org/iiitftp/ PDF%27s/Islamic-Studies. pdf), where it remains as of writing this review. That draft appears to have been substantially complete, and one wonders why it took three years to remove a chapter and then add a more refined introduction, a short conclusion, and a bibliography. Still, its earlier online availability (free of charge) means that one cannot be too critical of its delayed publication. This volume brings together some major names in Western Islamic studies, including Seyyed Hossein Nasr, John Voll, Farid Esack, and Saba Mahmood, and represents important reflections on the state of the field as an academic endeavor. Ten essays, varying in length from eleven pages to ones almost four times that length, are preceded by a useful introduction and conclusion, both of which concisely summarize noteworthy aspects of each essay and can serve as a valuable overview for the rushed reader. The study includes essays of both a qualitative and quantitative nature, which are generally of high quality. The editors state that they seek to inform the lay reader as well as scholars in the field, but also feel that the “data and analyses […] will be immensely valuable for educational planners and administrators who are interested in strengthening programs of Islamic studies in institutions of higher learning” (p. xxvii). Given the constraints of space, I restrict serious reflection to only a handful of the rich essays ...

scholarly journals Editorial Note

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Sulayman S. Nyang
Keyword(s):  
Editorial Note ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
Part Presentation ◽  
The University

In this issue we have a collection of very interesting articles. There is thelead article written by the late Professor Ismail al Faruqi, founding Presidentof the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Reston, Virginia, and thefirst President of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in 1972. Thesetwo organizations, which are separate but work together as partners in Muslimscholarship in North America, are the sponsors of this journal.Dr. al Faruqi's contribution on the important question of world theologyintroduces a four-part presentation on aspects of the Islamization of Knowledge.Well-grounded in this field of knowledge and coming from a background whichclearly made him one of the few Muslim scholars capable of engaging in ameaningful dialogue with Western thinkers on their own ground, Professoral-Faruqi identifies the main areas of discourse and then offers a critical Islamicperspective on the problem.Following his article are two position papers on pressing current issues.The first is the piece written by S. Abdullah Schleifer, an American Muslimcurrently working and living in Cairo, Egypt. A prominent journalist withmany years of experience in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world,Schleifer looks at the needs, feasibility and limitations of an independent IslamicNews Agency. This piece is provocative and provides food for thought to thoseMuslims who are interested in the current debate on the New InternationalInformation Order (NIIO). The second paper deals with the operations ofmodern financial markets for stocks and bonds and its relevance to an Islamiceconomy. Written by Professor Raquib uz-Wan, it focuses on a very importantissue in the current discussion on Islamic economics.We regret to announce that Dr. Musa O.A. Abdul, a member of our AdvisoryEditorial Board has passed away due to natural causes. Students andfaculty of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and all others who came to knowhis work in Islamic studies will always benefit, inshallah, from his inspiringdevotion to the cause of Islam.We hope that this issue will continue the steady improvement in the qualityof this journal. We are determined, insha' Allah, to raise the quality of productionand the quality of scholarship in this journal. For this and other relatedreasons we call on all scholars who are interested in the Muslim World tosend in their comments and suggestions. Contributions are welcome fromall over the world ...

scholarly journals Issues in Methodology of Islamic Thought

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-372
Author(s):  
IIIT - Cairo Office
Keyword(s):  
September 11 ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Islamic Theology ◽  
Ibn Khaldun ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Municipal Council ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The University

During the period from Safar 9-12, 1410 H. / September 11-14,1989 A.D.,a seminar on the "Issues in Methodology of Islamic Thought" was held atAmir AM al Qadir University of Islamic Studies (Qusantinah, Algeria). Theseminar was organized by the university in conjunction with the InternationalInstitute of Islamic Thought (Washington, D.C.). A group of professors andstudents of both sexes from Amir Abd al Qadir University, as well as fromthe Central University, participated in the seminar activities. The openingsession was attended by representatives from Qusantinah Province, the NationalLiberation Front, the Municipal Council, and the Religious Committee.Speeches were delivered by Dr. 'Ammar al Talibi, the University Presidentand Chairman of the seminar; Dr. Gamal El-Din Attia, Academic Advisorof the International Institute of Islamic Thought and convenor of theseminar; and by Dr. Muhammad 'AM al Hadi Abu Ridah representing theguests of the seminar.The seminar included seven panels where twenty-one research papers,prepared for the seminar, were presented and discussed. These research paperscovered the following topics:1- Inference Methodology in the Qur'an: A Response to the Opponentsof Faith, by Dr. Ahmad 'Atwah.2- The Elements of Scientific Methodology in the Qur'an andal Sunnah, by Dr. Ghawi 'Inayah.3 - Muslim Methodology in Islamic Theology, by Dr. FawqiyahHusayn.4 - The Methodology of Ideology in the Light of ContemporaryScientific Advances, by Dr. Muhammad Abd al Sattar Nassar.5- An Overview of the Methodology of Recording History, byDr. 'Abd al Halim 'Uways.6- The Methodology of the Principles of Jurisprudence, by Dr.Abd al Hamid Madkur.7- The Crises of Methodology in Modem Ideological Studies,by Dr. Muhammad Kamal al Din Imam.8- The Scientific Methodology and Spirit of Ibn Khaldun andIts Relation to Islam, by Dr. 'Imad al Din Khalil ...

scholarly journals Lebih dari Sekedar Katalog Manuskrip: Jejak Intelektualisme Islam di Mindanao

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nida' Fadlan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tokyo Institute ◽  
Intellectual Networks

Oman Fathurahman, Kawashima Midori, and Labi Sarip Riwarung (eds.). 2019. The Library of an Islamic Scholar of Mindanao: The Collection of Sheik Muhammad Said bin Imam sa Bayang at the Al-Imam As-Saddiq (A.S.) Library, Marawi City, Philippines: An Annotated Catalogue with Essay. Tokyo: Institute of Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Studies, Sophia UniversityContemporary socio-political issues have dominated studies on Islam in the Southern Philippines. The lack of primary sources has caused discussions about the history of Islamic culture in the region to be relatively rare. This manuscript catalog could be the key. It reveals the existence of 4,215 pages of manuscripts and 3,224 pages of printed books (kitāb) of the Al-Imam As-Sadiq Library in Marawi City. However, according to the compilers, this book is more than just a manuscript catalog. It proposes a new method for compiling a manuscript catalog so that readers who are not too familiar with Islamic studies and philology may also enjoy reading. Besides offering a description of manuscripts, it also presents a mapping of intellectual works written by ulamas in Mindanao and their connection with the Muslim-Malay communities in other regions. Hence, this book will support further studies on intellectual networks in the Muslim community in Southeast Asia in general and Mindanao in particular.

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