Islam, Modernity and the Concept of Progress (Islam, Pemodenan dan Konsep Kemajuan)

This paper aims to review definitions and scope of modernity and analyze it in the context of a specific religion, Islam. The paper then highlights the harmony between progress and Islam based on the historical examples from the glorious eras of Islamic civilization in Andalusia and the Abbasid caliphate, in which modernity and religion were complementary in producing the novel innovations of that time. Knowledge creation and technological advancements were strongly pursued during that time by numerous renowned Muslim scholars, intellectuals and philosophers. This paper then examines the current situation in the Muslim world. The majority of Muslim nations are backward, impoverished and stagnant due to rigidity and restrictions in political and intellectual freedom, in addition to gender inequality and discrimination. As the paper finds, these unprecedented qualities are not a part of Islamic teachings, but the consequential effect of post colonialism and the politicization of religion by certain squatters using Islam for political interests and purposes. Keywords: Modernity, Islam, Islamic Civilization and innovations, Muslim Spain, Abbasid Caliphate, Modernity today, Islam and modernity. Abstrak Penulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengulas definisi, dan skop kemodenan seta menganalisa hubungan antara modernisasi dengan agama iaitu, Islam. Terbukti pemodenan boleh wujud dengan keharmonian antara kemajuan dan Islam itu sendiri dengan mengaplikasikan contoh sejarah daripada zaman kegemilangan tamadun Islam seperti di Andalusia dan Abbasiyah dimana pemodenan dan agama saling berkait rapat antara satu sama lain untuk menghasilkan inovasi yang terbaik pada waktu itu. Penciptaan ilmu pengetahuan dan kemajuan teknologi tercetus dengan kelahiran ulama, ahli intelek dan ahli falsafah Muslim. Selain itu, bahagian berikut bagi penulisan ini mengkaji situasi masa kini di dunia Islam dimana majoriti negara Islam dikatakan mundur, dibelenggu kemiskinan dan berfikiran jumud disebabkan ketegasan dan pembatasan didalam kebebasan berpolitik dan intelek, kesaksamaan jantina dan diskriminasi. Penulisan ini menemui, sifat sifat negatif tersebut tercetus bukan berdasarkan daripada ajaran Islam, tetapi kesan daripada pasca penjajahan dan pempolitikan berlandaskan agama daripada puak tertentu yang menggunakan Islam atas tujuan kepentingan politik. Kata Kunci: Pemodenan, Islam, Tamadun Islam dan inovasi, Muslim Sepanyol, Khalifah Abbasiyah, Kemodenan hari ini, Islam dan pemodenan.

Тюрки в ранних арабских источниках: модусный анализ сочинения Ахмеда Ибн Фадлана о путешествии на Волгу

Introduction. The article examines the subjectivity in the representation of Turkic clans in ibn Fadlan’s famous memoirs devoted to the Arab mission trip undertaken from Baghdad to the Volga Bulgaria in early 10th c. Informed by the latest linguistic theories, the authors aim to analyze how the modus of his text, i.e. the meaning of the entire historical document, is influenced by the memoirist’s personality as a bearer of certain cultural characteristics and of specific religious beliefs, as well as by historical and everyday circumstances at the time the travelogue was written. Data and methods. Both the reconstructed Arabic original and available Russian translations and commentaries were used in a comparative mode. In addition, the authors considered the recent works of Arab scholars discussing the issue of discourse types of ibn Fadlan’s heritage in the context of the medieval Arab history and thinking. The article focuses on the prevailing themes and motifs in the text of the Arab traveler, when describing the social structures, traditions, and rituals of the Turkic ethnic groups he encountered (chiefly Oguzes), to identify the moduses (of condemnation, fear, surprise, admiration, etc.) through which these were realized, as well as the linguistic means of their expression that disturbed the neutral style of the story. The results of the analysis allow to draw a conclusion that the modus of the work was largely shaped by the medieval way of thinking and the world picture characteristic of the Arab-Muslim traveler, as well as by the official status of ibn Fadlan’s work at the court of the Abbasid Caliphate in its heyday. Also, the authors point out that there is a passage in the text that may be fictional, its morphology being largely of a fabulous character. Notably, attention should be drawn to ibn Fadlan’s attempts to find some possible commonalities between the civilizations, especially in the heavenly realm, and to promote an understanding between the peoples, even if neither cultural nor trade interaction between them existed at the time.

Babylonia: A Diaspora Center

This chapter plots out the emergence of a diaspora center in Babylonia, beginning in the late Biblical era and continuing through late antiquity, as it grew into probably the foremost community in the Jewish world by the early Middle Ages. It outlines the geographical settlement of the region and the development of a Babylonian Jewish self-consciousness and self-confidence. Among the key factors in this achievement was the constant and close economic and intellectual contact between Babylonia and Palestine. Although Babylonia and Palestine were, for the most part, ruled by separate empires, often in conflict with one another, the Jews, and significantly the rabbis in both places, maintained close contact. The importance of Babylonia within the Sasanian Empire, and subsequently within the Abbasid caliphate, both economically and militarily, also contributed to the development and preeminence of the region in global terms.

Dragon of Skyros : a study on the cultures of the ninth century through creative fiction

To investigate the reception of Classical motifs within the early medieval world, as well as show the multicultural connectivity between peoples, this work of creative fiction explores the tradition of Neoptolemus in the Ninth Century CE. Rather than telling the story from a single perspective, a plethora of cultural perspectives are employed throughout the novel. From the war-ravaged boon companion of the heir to the Abbasid Caliphate, to a far-travelling Scandinavian intersex völva accompanying multicultural Rus merchants into Austrvegr, to a Khazar shaman plagued by her dreams of destruction and her brother's illness, all of the characters in the novel intertwine through imagery and myth, as a Bulgar monk searching out the missing fragments of Neoptolemus' story meets and brings together the patchwork of stories.

The Imam of the Christians

This book examines how Christian leaders adopted and adapted the political practices and ideas of their Muslim rulers between 750 and 850 in the Abbasid caliphate in the Jazira (modern eastern Turkey and northern Syria). Focusing on the writings of Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, the patriarch of the Jacobite church, the book describes how this encounter produced an Islamicate Christianity that differed from the Christianities of Byzantium and western Europe in far more than just theology. In doing so, the book opens a new window on the world of early Islam and Muslims' interactions with other religious communities. The book shows how Dionysius and other Christian clerics, by forging close ties with Muslim elites, were able to command greater power over their coreligionists, such as the right to issue canons regulating the lives of lay people, gather tithes, and use state troops to arrest opponents. In his writings, Dionysius advertises his ease in the courts of ʿAbd Allah ibn Tahir in Raqqa and the caliph al-Ma'mun in Baghdad, presenting himself as an effective advocate for the interests of his fellow Christians because of his knowledge of Arabic and his ability to redeploy Islamic ideas to his own advantage. Strikingly, Dionysius even claims that, like al-Ma'mun, he is an imam since he leads his people in prayer and rules them by popular consent. A wide-ranging examination of Middle Eastern Christian life during a critical period in the development of Islam, the book is also a case study of the surprising workings of cultural and religious adaptation.