scholarly journals Rethinking Reform in Higher Education, From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Educational Goals ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Great Books ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Major Attention ◽  
The Way

This volume, one of the most important and timely publications of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), represents the latest effort by scholars associated with the organization to formulate an educational program for Muslims. Ziauddin Sardar and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas revise and update the attempts by Ismail Faruqi and fellow founders of IIIT in the 1980s to address the crisis of education faced then by Muslim societies.That is appropriate, for the crisis has not disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it has become greater and now encompasses Muslims worldwide—not just those in Muslim societies. And, as the authors of this volume note repeatedly, it has captured the attention of educators in the US, UK, and most other European nations.Now, eschewing the older Islamization of knowledge approach, Sardar and Henzell-Thomas propose the integration of knowledge. They set aside the old paradigm while offering minimal comments about the shortcomings that warrant such a change, perhaps so as to avoid giving rise to unnecessary quarrels. Major attention must be accorded, therefore, what the authors understand integration of knowledge to be and how it might address the needs of their specific audience—Muslim societies. One must wonder, all the same, why the audience is so defined. After all, the crisis of education affects people everywhere, Muslims in Muslim and non-Muslim societies as well as non-Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. How do differences in political and economic problems faced by these various groups affect the educational goals to be achieved and who is affected by them?Another preliminary objection concerns the way both the earlier IIIT reformers and those involved in the new project ignore or neglect the critique of shortcomings in educational approaches launched in the US early in the twentieth century by Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, a critique that culminated in the Great Books movement. It, or, more accurately, offshoots of it, have given rise to attempts at general or liberal education in numerous American and European institutions. Especially pertinent for the integration of knowledge project is how these offshoots of the Great Books movement, ostensibly centered on Western writings at the outset, have gradually come to incorporate fundamental texts from the Golden Age of the Arabic and Islamic tradition. Today more than ever, it is essential to promote the cultural phenomena common to all. Only greater awareness of the extent to which we are one people will allow us to counter those who seek to divide us and thereby fuel enmity.Finally, no attention is accorded here to how the issues identified with the crisis of education are addressed in other faith traditions or to the way members of those traditions attempt to integrate the teachings of revealed texts with ones arising from simple human reasoning. Such a broader focus would have permitted the authors to propose an approach that might resonate with the general malaise expressed by many educators and suggest a way forward that all, not just Muslims, could embrace.Still, these preliminary objections are just that, preliminary. To assess their merit, it is essential to consider carefully what is actually proposed in the volume under review. It consists of a Foreword setting forth the basic principles of the revised project and four chapters. The first, “Mapping the Terrain,” is by Sardar, as is the second, “From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge.” Henzell-Thomas is the author of the third and fourth chapters, “The Integration We Seek” and “Towards a Language of Integration.”

scholarly journals Rethinking Reform in Higher Education, From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Educational Goals ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Great Books ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Major Attention ◽  
The Way

This volume, one of the most important and timely publications of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), represents the latest effort by scholars associated with the organization to formulate an educational program for Muslims. Ziauddin Sardar and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas revise and update the attempts by Ismail Faruqi and fellow founders of IIIT in the 1980s to address the crisis of education faced then by Muslim societies.That is appropriate, for the crisis has not disappeared with the passage of time. If anything, it has become greater and now encompasses Muslims worldwide—not just those in Muslim societies. And, as the authors of this volume note repeatedly, it has captured the attention of educators in the US, UK, and most other European nations.Now, eschewing the older Islamization of knowledge approach, Sardar and Henzell-Thomas propose the integration of knowledge. They set aside the old paradigm while offering minimal comments about the shortcomings that warrant such a change, perhaps so as to avoid giving rise to unnecessary quarrels. Major attention must be accorded, therefore, what the authors understand integration of knowledge to be and how it might address the needs of their specific audience—Muslim societies. One must wonder, all the same, why the audience is so defined. After all, the crisis of education affects people everywhere, Muslims in Muslim and non-Muslim societies as well as non-Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. How do differences in political and economic problems faced by these various groups affect the educational goals to be achieved and who is affected by them?Another preliminary objection concerns the way both the earlier IIIT reformers and those involved in the new project ignore or neglect the critique of shortcomings in educational approaches launched in the US early in the twentieth century by Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, a critique that culminated in the Great Books movement. It, or, more accurately, offshoots of it, have given rise to attempts at general or liberal education in numerous American and European institutions. Especially pertinent for the integration of knowledge project is how these offshoots of the Great Books movement, ostensibly centered on Western writings at the outset, have gradually come to incorporate fundamental texts from the Golden Age of the Arabic and Islamic tradition. Today more than ever, it is essential to promote the cultural phenomena common to all. Only greater awareness of the extent to which we are one people will allow us to counter those who seek to divide us and thereby fuel enmity.Finally, no attention is accorded here to how the issues identified with the crisis of education are addressed in other faith traditions or to the way members of those traditions attempt to integrate the teachings of revealed texts with ones arising from simple human reasoning. Such a broader focus would have permitted the authors to propose an approach that might resonate with the general malaise expressed by many educators and suggest a way forward that all, not just Muslims, could embrace.Still, these preliminary objections are just that, preliminary. To assess their merit, it is essential to consider carefully what is actually proposed in the volume under review. It consists of a Foreword setting forth the basic principles of the revised project and four chapters. The first, “Mapping the Terrain,” is by Sardar, as is the second, “From Islamization to Integration of Knowledge.” Henzell-Thomas is the author of the third and fourth chapters, “The Integration We Seek” and “Towards a Language of Integration.”

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 The Islamic concept of the Caliphate: basic principles and a contemporary interpretation

Islamology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Leonid Sykiainen
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Legal Thought ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Contemporary Interpretation ◽  
The Way

This article studies the approach of Islamic legal thought to the idea of a Caliphate. The author explains the fundamental principles of the Islamic concept of the state as an instrument for defending and maintaining religion and dealing with worldly affairs. Modern Islamic thought, considering historical evolution of Islamic statehood under the influence of objective political circumstances, came to the key conclusion that an Islamic state is not restricted to a unified Caliphate (the Caliphate on the way of the prophecy). Other models of power are quite admissible if they meet the aims of the Caliphate.

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.” ...

Pemikiran Politik Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi di dalam Karya Islamisasi Ilmu dan Tawhid

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-201
Author(s):  
Ariff Aizuddin Azlan
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Islam And Politics ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Theology Education

As a scholar of Islam, Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi has made great contributions especially in the field of philosophy, theology, education, and thought. Provided with a vast knowledge of Islamic tradition and Western, his ideas have impacted the academic world crossing the disciplines. Al-Faruqi also went further by transforming his ideas into a decisive practice especially when he co-founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) as a symbol that showcases the relevance of the methodology of Islamic education. Two of his significant writings which are the Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan and Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life have become one of the major references in the field of Islamic studies. By referring these two writings, this study argues that, Al-Faruqi’s view on politics is inevitable and he presented his political thought by establishing a substantial connection between Islam and politics. Besides that, Al-Faruqi also acknowledges the discipline of political science by arguing that such discipline is critical in assessing the problematic situation that the Muslim world is currently facing. Just like other Muslim political thinkers, Al-Faruqi also did not dismiss the important facts that the concept of khilafah is profoundly central to Islam and politics.

Narrative, Intertext and Allusion in the Qur'anic Presentation of Job

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Johns
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Complex Network ◽  
Key Words And Phrases ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Western Tradition ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

Job (Ayyūb) is a byword for patience in the Islamic tradition, notwithstanding only six Qur'anic verses are devoted to him, four in Ṣād (vv.41-4), and two in al-Anbiyā' (vv.83-4), and he is mentioned on only two other occasions, in al-Ancām (v.84) and al-Nisā' (v.163). In relation to the space devoted to him, he could be accounted a ‘lesser’ prophet, nevertheless his significance in the Qur'an is unambiguous. The impact he makes is achieved in a number of ways. One is through the elaborate intertext transmitted from the Companions and Followers, and recorded in the exegetic tradition. Another is the way in which his role and charisma are highlighted by the prophets in whose company he is presented, and the shifting emphases of each of the sūras in which he appears. Yet another is the wider context created by these sūras in which key words and phrases actualize a complex network of echoes and resonances that elicit internal and transsūra associations focusing attention on him from various perspectives. The effectiveness of this presentation of him derives from the linguistic genius of the Qur'an which by this means triggers a vivid encounter with aspects of the rhythm of divine revelation no less direct than that of visual iconography in the Western Tradition.

The Unassailable Self: Freud's Image Among Post-war American Intellectuals

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Jenness
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
External Force ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Human Being ◽  
World War ◽  
The Us ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Way

This paper explores the way American intellectuals depicted Sigmund Freud during the peak of popularity and prestige of psychoanalysis in the US, roughly the decade and a half following World War II. These intellectuals insisted upon the unassailability of Freud's mind and personality. He was depicted as unsusceptible to any external force or influence, a trait which was thought to account for Freud's admirable comportment as a scientist, colleague and human being. This post-war image of Freud was shaped in part by the Cold War anxiety that modern individuality was imperilled by totalitarian forces, which could only be resisted by the most rugged of selves. It was also shaped by the unique situation of the intellectuals themselves, who were eager to position themselves, like the Freud they imagined, as steadfastly independent and critical thinkers who would, through the very clarity of their thought, lead America to a more robust democracy.

Health and Medicine in the Islamic Tradition

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-90
Author(s):  
Dennis Michael Warren
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Medical Tradition ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The late Dr. Fazlur Rahman, Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Islamic Thought at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, has written this book as number seven in the series on Health/Medicine and the Faith Traditions. This series has been sponsored as an interfaith program by The Park Ridge Center, an Institute for the study of health, faith, and ethics. Professor Rahman has stated that his study is "an attempt to portray the relationship of Islam as a system of faith and as a tradition to human health and health care: What value does Islam attach to human well-being-spiritual, mental, and physical-and what inspiration has it given Muslims to realize that value?" (xiii). Although he makes it quite clear that he has not attempted to write a history of medicine in Islam, readers will find considerable depth in his treatment of the historical development of medicine under the influence of Islamic traditions. The book begins with a general historical introduction to Islam, meant primarily for readers with limited background and understanding of Islam. Following the introduction are six chapters devoted to the concepts of wellness and illness in Islamic thought, the religious valuation of medicine in Islam, an overview of Prophetic Medicine, Islamic approaches to medical care and medical ethics, and the relationship of the concepts of birth, contraception, abortion, sexuality, and death to well-being in Islamic culture. The basis for Dr. Rahman's study rests on the explication of the concepts of well-being, illness, suffering, and destiny in the Islamic worldview. He describes Islam as a system of faith with strong traditions linking that faith with concepts of human health and systems for providing health care. He explains the value which Islam attaches to human spiritual, mental, and physical well-being. Aspects of spiritual medicine in the Islamic tradition are explained. The dietary Jaws and other orthodox restrictions are described as part of Prophetic Medicine. The religious valuation of medicine based on the Hadith is compared and contrasted with that found in the scientific medical tradition. The history of institutionalized medical care in the Islamic World is traced to awqaf, pious endowments used to support health services, hospices, mosques, and educational institutions. Dr. Rahman then describes the ...

scholarly journals Trauma and Sacrifice in Divided Communities: The Sacralisation of the Victims of Terrorism in Spain

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Eliana Alemán ◽  
José Pérez-Agote
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
The State ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Institutional Discourse ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Us ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Public Demonstrations ◽  
The Way

This work aims to show that the sacrificial status of the victims of acts of terrorism, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings (“11-M”) and ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty) attacks in Spain, is determined by how it is interpreted by the communities affected and the manner in which it is ritually elaborated a posteriori by society and institutionalised by the state. We also explore the way in which the sacralisation of the victim is used in socially and politically divided societies to establish the limits of the pure and the impure in defining the “Us”, which is a subject of dispute. To demonstrate this, we first describe two traumatic events of particular social and political significance (the case of Miguel Ángel Blanco and the 2004 Madrid train bombings). Secondly, we analyse different manifestations of the institutional discourse regarding victims in Spain, examining their representation in legislation, in public demonstrations by associations of victims of terrorism and in commemorative “performances” staged in Spain. We conclude that in societies such as Spain’s, where there exists a polarisation of the definition of the “Us”, the success of cultural and institutional performances oriented towards reparation of the terrorist trauma is precarious. Consequently, the validity of the post-sacrificial narrative centring on the sacred value of human life is ephemeral and thus fails to displace sacrificial narratives in which particularist definitions of the sacred Us predominate.

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