Feminist scholarship on women in religious and right-wing social and political movements has moved from a reductive focus on causal or motivational factors to more sophisticated analyses explicating processes of agency and subject formation. With the aim of expanding and deepening this conceptual space, I will discuss some of my interactions with a group of women in the Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, as we attempted to explore the complex meanings of ‘the modern’ that informed the self-understanding of my interviewees. My work (...) corroborates some of the contemporary scholarship on what is referred to as Political Islam in arguing that Islamist movements in Muslim societies are also the catalysts of modernization, rather than simply its interlocutors. This article argues that these processes of social and political organizing entail particular interrogations and the reconstituting of identities in ways that blur the line between ‘the religious’ and ‘the secular’. On the one hand, we need to understand Jamaat women's self-construction as religious or pious women; on the other hand, we must grasp the specificity of their claims to act as modern subjects situated in the time of political and cultural modernity. (shrink)

This study uses a literature study of examining the Tarjih Council of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Islamic organisation in Indonesia. Criticism is directed towards manhaj’s principle which states that any classical Islamic school of law should not be embraced and, thus, breaks up from the chain of Islamic intellectuality. The critics, however, fail to cover the very idea of Muhammadiyah as an embodiment of the Islamic renewal vision. The article aims to reveal the evolution of the (...) manhaj. The evolution will be elaborated into stages to show the development of concepts and principles in each stage. The article is based on a literature study using constructive conceptual analysis. The analysis is divided into three steps, namely analytical assessment, performative aspects, and conceptual genealogy, stressing the reflective relationship between knowledge and social reality. The study shows that the Tarjih Council’s preference not to embrace any classical Islamic schools of law has developed since the establishment of the Tarjih Council. The developments of manhaj’s formulation occur in three stages from 1924 until 2000. The manhaj comes up with the synthesis of textuality, rationality, and spirituality as the basic vision of Muhammadiyah’s renewal idea which reflects the achievement of a modernist Islamic movement. The study, in comparison to previous research, provides a more comprehensive picture of the manhaj of Muhammadiyah as a representation of the Islamic renewal movement and shows how the manhaj comes to a synthesis that marks Muhammadiyah as a unique modernist-renewal movement.Contribution: The study enriches the perspectives on the manhaj as the backbone of Muhammadiyah ideology and shows that Islamic modernism in Indonesia has stepped further to uncover a synthesis suitable to Indonesian society. (shrink)

L'islam des Lumières a-t-il un avenir? Peut-on parier sur un autre islam structuré par une pensée libérale, rationnelle et critique? Cet ouvrage s'interroge sur les ressources et les limites de la pensée éclairée en islam, aussi bien en Occident que dans le monde majoritairement musulman. Malgré des difficultés majeures au niveau de la pensée religieuse et de l'action, l'islam des Lumières pose des défis sérieux à l'islam traditionniste et politique dominant dans les sociétés musulmanes aujourd'hui.

Islamic environmentalism is an intellectual movement whose representatives discuss contemporary environmental problems in the language of Islamic theology. This field includes Shariah-based environmental law, environmental activism, and environmental philosophy. This article is an overview of the genealogy of this philosophical trend: key names will be listed and their contributions to the development of this movement will be analyzed. For example, the legacy of Sayyid Hossein Nasr, considered the founding father of Islamic environmentalism, will be examined in detail. (...) The religious and ethical program of this philosophical movement will be analyzed in detail. The categorical apparatus to which Islamic eco-activists, philosophers, and ulema turned as the Islamic environmental agenda expanded will also be examined, such as how the concepts of khalifa, hima, and misan were conceptualized. Philosophers whose writings we will turn to include Iraqi philosopher and jurist Mawil Izzi Dien, British eco-activist Fazlun Khalid, Egyptian Grand Mufti Ali Jumaa, and representatives of so-called “Western Islam” Ziauddin Sardar and Tariq Ramadan. The example of Indonesia will be used to examine how Islamic eco-theology has formed the basis of a multilevel environmental policy. The thesis of the fundamental contradiction underlying Islamic environm entalism is put forward. On the one hand, this movement in its present form genetically dates back to the European protest movements of the 1960s and 70s, which opposed the culture of mass consumption, impersonal materialism, and overproduction. On the other hand, an equally important part of the rhetoric of a number of Islamic modernists, including on ecology, is the emphasis on the break with Western neoliberal values. The special role of social media in the promotion of Islamic eco-activism is noted separately. (shrink)

While much has been written about Islam, particularly over the twenty-five years, few books have explored the full range of the ideas that have defined the faith over a millennium and a half. Fitzroy Morrissey provides a clear and concise introduction to the origins and sources of Islamic thought, from its beginnings in the 7th century to the current moment. He explores the major ideas and introduces the major figures--those who over the centuries have broached life's major questions, from (...) the nature of God and the existence of free will to gender relations and the ordering of society, and in the process defined Islam. Drawing on Arabic and Persian primary texts, as well as the latest scholarship, A Short History of Islamic Thought explains the key teachings of the Qur'an and Hadith, the great books of Islamic theology, philosophy, and law, as well as the mystical writings of the Sufis. It evaluates the impact of foreign cultures-Greek and Persian, Jewish and Christian-on early Islam, accounts for the crystallization of the Sunni and Shi'i forms of the faith, and accounts for the rise of such trends as Islamic modernism and Islamism. Above all, it reveals the fundamental principles of Islamic thought, both as a source of inspiration for Muslims today and as illuminating and rewarding in their own right. (shrink)

Abdel-Hakim Ourghi's Reform of Islam is an open indictment of prevailing conservative Islam which insists on the absolute subjugation of the body and mind of all Muslims. The author seeks a humanist understanding of Islam and aims to interpret Islam in today's terms. He argues against the historical alienation and transfiguration that still shape the collective consciousness of Muslims in the 21st Century. Using critical analysis and logic, the author aims to reveal the true core of Islam. His 40 Theses (...) include: The freedom of the individual to interpret the Qur'an No scholars as mediators between God and man Islam does not claim to possess the absolute truth Only a reformed and open Islam is a religion of peace The Qur'an as the basis of a contemporary humanist ethics. (shrink)

Islamic modernism; Islamic philosophy; 20th century.

One of the common refrains in commentary about the Islamic Middle East, especially since September 11, is that Islam needs a Reformation. The assumption is that modernist, tolerant, reformist Muslims are to the fundamentalists as the Protestants of the Christian Reformation were to the medieval Catholic Church. This is very nearly the exact opposite of the truth. The Islamists are reacting against the Enlightenment modernism of the West, which they see as a threat to Islamic culture; but (...) their call for a return to an imagined purer state of Islamic society is analogous to the Protestant goal of freeing Christianity from the worldly compromises and the scholasticism of the Church. Islam does not need a Reformation. The problem is that it’s having one now. What it needs is an Enlightenment. (shrink)

Introduction: religion in modern Islam -- The essence of religion and Islam's essence -- The value of religion and Islam -- Religion, Islam and identity -- The meaning and symbol of the Islamic state -- Religion between sharīʻa and law -- Reading Islamic feminism: modernism and beyond.

This book brings together the ideas of a number of contemporary modernist and liberal Muslim thinkers, exposing an important intellectual current in Islamic thought which will be new to many Western readers. Responding to the challenges brought by colonialism and modernization, the contributors propose new conceptions and interpretations of Islam consonant with the age. Although their specific concerns and emphases vary, they all reconsider the relation between religion and politics and the incorporation of modern Western ideas.

The ideals that gave rise to Daesh are not so much those of pre-modern Sunni Islam, including Salafism, as they are the ideals that post-colonial Arab states have propagated since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In contravention to long-established ideals of Islamic law, post-colonial Arab states have attempted to legitimate their own despotisms through a formal commitment to a certain kind of Islamic normativity. Inasmuch as Islam provides a ready political discourse to resist despotism, it is unsurprising (...) that pan-Arab “Islamist” movements have made resistance to despotism their central concern. Daesh, however, rejects the anti-despotic politics of modern pan-Arab and “Islamist” political movements and instead offers a despotic and apocalyptic religious conception of the political that is as far from the Sunni mainstream as the political despotisms of the post-colonial Arab states. In this respect, there is a deep synergy between Daesh and the despotisms of the modern Arab state, both of which portray themselves as the only alternative to the murderous tyranny of the other. The only long-term solution to Daesh, therefore, is reform of the despotisms of the post-colonial Arab states. (shrink)

Discussions of surface pattern in Islamic art resonate within broader tensions about the role of figural representation in communicating meaning. The question of whether geometric pattern communicates—whether it functions as a language without a code—reflects broader tensions about the relationship between secular and spiritual communication. Poised between discussions of modernism and Islam, the attribution of linguistic capacity to geometry serves as a measure for the possibility of abstracting pure reason from the religious roots of representationalism. This paper explores (...) this question in four parts. First, it examines the articulation of geometric meaning in Islamic discourses. It then explores European discussions of geometry between language and ornament poised between a search for universal reason and universal spiritualism, both in modernist painting and in modern exhibitions. The final section the expressive capacity of artistic responses to historical Islamic isometric geometries in the adaptive reuse of historical Iranian arts as contemporary abstraction in the sculptures of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and in the popular transformation prints of M. C. Escher. It argues that the frequent recognition of intrinsic meaning in geometry, expressed in both premodern Islamic and modern secular interpretations, undermines art historical expectations of theorization as a necessary intermediary for communication. Geometry thereby functions as a language without a code. (shrink)

The study brings about the contribution of Islam to world civilization. It traces the rise of Muslim power in Asia, Europe and Africa over more than ten centuries combining political ascendancy with promotion of basic sciences, philosophy, literature and arts. It deals with the prevailing myths which have for long blocked the way to a correct understanding of the faith and the traditions of Islam. Vigorously debated issues, such as jihad, status of women, and national patriotism are discussed in their (...) historical context. The book provides lucid exposition of theological concepts, the schools oflaw, the Shariah, the on-going conflict between orthodoxy and modernism, and Sufism, on the basis of the Quran and the Hadith. It gives interesting account of the willing acceptance in medieval Europe of Islamic scholarship in sciences along with bitter hostility against Islam in the ecclesiastical establishment of Christian period. The nature of the Muslim rule and its relationship with non-Muslim communities in the Caliphates, in the Ottoman realm and in the Sultanate and Mughal empire in the Indian subcontinent has been evaluated. The events and the personalities contributing to India's partition in 1947 are examined to assess the truth of the so-called separatism in the mind of Indian Muslims. The book gives the background of the tension between Muslim countries and Western nations which intensified with the conclusion of World War I in 1918 and rose to be acute with the end of the Cold War in 1990. The continued political, economic, and military intervention by European powers and the U.S.A. has been discussed in the context of the present situation when Muslims tend to look upon the West as anti-Islam and in the Western world-view Islam is considered to be a menace to civilization itself. (shrink)

This book investigates the central role of reason in Islamic intellectual life. Despite widespread characterization of Islam as a system of belief based only on revelation, John Walbridge argues that rational methods, not fundamentalism, have characterized Islamic law, philosophy and education since the medieval period. His research demonstrates that this medieval Islamic rational tradition was opposed by both modernists and fundamentalists, resulting in a general collapse of traditional Islamic intellectual life and its replacement by more modern (...) but far shallower forms of thought. However, the resources of this Islamic scholarly tradition remain an integral part of the Islamic intellectual tradition and will prove vital to its revival. The future of Islam, Walbridge argues, will be marked by a return to rationalism"--Provided by publisher. (shrink)

Indonesia has received Islam over the past millennium During this period, Islam has intermingled in varying degrees with Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous animism in different parts of the archipelago. Consequently, beliefs and practices diverge. Nevertheless, Islam has an overwhelming if diverse presence in Indonesia. The paper will examine the resultant diverse versions of Islam that currently coexist in Indonesia. These versions are the modernist, traditional, devotional, and syncretic aspects of Islam. Each version will be analyzed in terms of both differences (...) and similarities. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Islam: Religion, History, and CivilizationZain AliIslam: Religion, History, and Civilization. By Seyyed Hossein Nasr. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2003. Pp. 224. Paper $9.71."Islam," writes Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "is like a vast tapestry," and in his book Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization he aims to survey the masterpiece that is Islam. The present work is part of a trilogy including Ideal and Realities of Islam and The Heart (...) of Islam. Nasr states that the common theme in the trilogy "is the universalist perspective and respect for other religions" (p. xxiv). In addition, Nasr clarifies that his approach, as with all of his Islamic writings, is to write from an Islamic perspective, which he terms "traditional Islam" (p. xxiii). Nasr stands opposed to either the secular modernist or fundamentalist perspectives, both of which he regards as forms of extremism.This book, initially published as part of Our Religions, edited by A. Sharma, is significantly revised and includes a new introduction and bibliography. It can best be described as a primer on Islam, consisting of eight chapters that focus on a variety of pertinent themes.Chapter 1 deals with the self-understanding of Islam and the Islamic world. Islam, Nasr notes, sees itself as a return to the primordial faith of humanity, a faith that affirms the unity and oneness of God. This chapter also presents an overview [End Page 495] of the various ethnic and cultural groupings within the Muslim world, and charts the spread and demographic growth of Islam.Chapter 2 introduces the notion of al-din, an Arabic term that corresponds closely to the word "religion." Nasr contrasts the two words, where religion means "to bind" while al-din means "debt" (p. 25). Thus, religion, as framed by Islam, involves the notion of debt, in particular humanity's debt to the Divine. The chapter also discusses the significance of the Qur'an and Muhammad as the messenger of God.Chapter 3 begins with an exposition of the nature of Divinity, which is at the heart of Islamic doctrine. As Nasr explains, the Divine is understood as being "at once the Absolute, the Infinite, and the Perfect Good" (p. 59). The remainder of the chapter deals with various Islamic doctrines and beliefs, including prophecy and revelation, human nature, the Qura'nic view of men and women, and eschatology.Chapter 4 deals with the content, codification, and schools of Shariah, the Divine Law of Islam. There is also an interesting discussion of Sufism, which Nasr claims "is like the heart of the body of Islam" (p. 81). Controversially, Nasr claims that "the spread of Islam outside of the Arab and Persian worlds up to the present day has been mostly through Sufism" (p. 87).Chapter 5 delves into the central pillars of Islam, which accompany the belief in God and in Muhammad as the messenger of God. The pillars are salah (canonical prayer), sawn (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage), and zakah (religious tax or charity). Associated with these pillars is the notion of jihad, and here Nasr writes, "jihad... is usually mistranslated into English as 'holy war,' but literally means 'exertion' or 'effort' in the path of God" (p. 91). Also covered are the topics of family, ethics, and economic and political institutions.Chapter 6 presents the historical evolution of Islam beginning with the migration of Muhammad to Medina, and the events leading to the divide between Sunnis and Shiites.Chapter 7 discusses the early Islamic community, who found themselves in the "throes of disputes over such issues as whether human beings are saved by faith or works, whether there is freewill or determinism, and questions concerning the sacred text as the Word of God" (p. 154). Nasr then explores the various schools of theology and philosophy that arose in order to address these questions of faith.Chapter 8, the final chapter of the book, attempts to evaluate the place of Islam in the contemporary world. Nasr concludes by noting that despite the challenges of secular modernism and fundamentalism the vast majority of Muslims remain committed to the truth of Islam, and bear witness to the Oneness of God and the Oneness of humanity.The one quibble... (shrink)

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of Islamic ethical issues within a wide spectrum of philosophy of science topics, examining the development of the model of moral inclusiveness in economics, science and society from ontological, epistemological and analytical perspectives. This paradigm takes the view that ethics is systemically endogenous, and can be studied by the most rigorous scientific analysis pertaining to diverse issues and problems of ethicality in socio-scientific inquiry. This handbook takes a sweeping transdisciplinary approach that is deeply (...) phenomenological, to the nature and logic of scientific inquiry of, and in, the Qur’an. Such an approach invokes the episteme of the unity of knowledge in the socio-scientific systemic sense. The volumes' respective sections focus on the nature, logic, and role that ethics plays in formulating new vistas of alternative epistemic futures in Islamic economics, finance, and the social sciences. The ideas presented are situated within the broader context of the post-modernist, post-pandemic, and the post-Covid-19 epoch, while being aimed at conceptualising a distinctive new outlook of transdisciplinary intellection in Islamic philosophy. The content is rigorously conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, and applied. Covering a diversity of subject areas from philosophy of science, to economics and in socio-scientific context within the realm of Islamic philosophy, this forms a key text for scholars in these respective arenas, led by pioneering scholarship in Islamic studies. (shrink)

This article examines dynamics of Islamic discourses in Post-New Order Indonesia, focusing on the birth of Jaringan Islam Liberal/JIL. The network which emerged in 2001 was a result of informal meeting and group discussions of young intellectuals at Jl. Utan Kayu 68 H, East Jakarta who later agreed to establish the JIL. Since its earliest foundation, the networks has been at the forefront to attack Islamic extremist and fundamentalist groups while calling for Islamic liberalism. This article tries (...) to portray the emergence of the JIL and its liberalism agenda and offers the contestation on Islamic liberalism in Indonesia. As for the latter, it not only encapsulates responses of fundamentalist groups, but also important Muslim organisation, like the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama/NU and the Modernist Muhammadiyah, and important Indonesian Muslim thinkers. This article further argues that Islamic liberalism that takes its root to Muslim activism during the New Order Indonesia has shaken the basic foundation of religion as introducing liberalism in Islamic discourses. It has invited contestation and responses for a significant Muslim group, including the two-most important Indonesian Muslim organisations, the NU and the Muhammadiyah. As this article further demonstrates, the contestation is mainly because of different opinions among Muslims on the limit of reason to understand religion. (shrink)

The object of this paper is to explore the possibility of defending women's rights within a framework of Islamic concepts and ideas. This is to be accomplished by introducing a number of methodological principles that can, and for feminists should, govern the practice of " religious interpretation" (ijtihad) which Muslims have used throughout the centuries to adapt Qur)anic and Islamic teachings to changing realities and circumstances. The main goal is to explore the meaning and possibility of "Islamic (...) feminism". (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Islam: Religion, History, and CivilizationZain AliIslam: Religion, History, and Civilization. By Seyyed Hossein Nasr. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2003. Pp. 224. Paper $9.71."Islam," writes Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "is like a vast tapestry," and in his book Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization he aims to survey the masterpiece that is Islam. The present work is part of a trilogy including Ideal and Realities of Islam and The Heart (...) of Islam. Nasr states that the common theme in the trilogy "is the universalist perspective and respect for other religions" (p. xxiv). In addition, Nasr clarifies that his approach, as with all of his Islamic writings, is to write from an Islamic perspective, which he terms "traditional Islam" (p. xxiii). Nasr stands opposed to either the secular modernist or fundamentalist perspectives, both of which he regards as forms of extremism.This book, initially published as part of Our Religions, edited by A. Sharma, is significantly revised and includes a new introduction and bibliography. It can best be described as a primer on Islam, consisting of eight chapters that focus on a variety of pertinent themes.Chapter 1 deals with the self-understanding of Islam and the Islamic world. Islam, Nasr notes, sees itself as a return to the primordial faith of humanity, a faith that affirms the unity and oneness of God. This chapter also presents an overview [End Page 495] of the various ethnic and cultural groupings within the Muslim world, and charts the spread and demographic growth of Islam.Chapter 2 introduces the notion of al-din, an Arabic term that corresponds closely to the word "religion." Nasr contrasts the two words, where religion means "to bind" while al-din means "debt" (p. 25). Thus, religion, as framed by Islam, involves the notion of debt, in particular humanity's debt to the Divine. The chapter also discusses the significance of the Qur'an and Muhammad as the messenger of God.Chapter 3 begins with an exposition of the nature of Divinity, which is at the heart of Islamic doctrine. As Nasr explains, the Divine is understood as being "at once the Absolute, the Infinite, and the Perfect Good" (p. 59). The remainder of the chapter deals with various Islamic doctrines and beliefs, including prophecy and revelation, human nature, the Qura'nic view of men and women, and eschatology.Chapter 4 deals with the content, codification, and schools of Shariah, the Divine Law of Islam. There is also an interesting discussion of Sufism, which Nasr claims "is like the heart of the body of Islam" (p. 81). Controversially, Nasr claims that "the spread of Islam outside of the Arab and Persian worlds up to the present day has been mostly through Sufism" (p. 87).Chapter 5 delves into the central pillars of Islam, which accompany the belief in God and in Muhammad as the messenger of God. The pillars are salah (canonical prayer), sawn (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage), and zakah (religious tax or charity). Associated with these pillars is the notion of jihad, and here Nasr writes, "jihad... is usually mistranslated into English as 'holy war,' but literally means 'exertion' or 'effort' in the path of God" (p. 91). Also covered are the topics of family, ethics, and economic and political institutions.Chapter 6 presents the historical evolution of Islam beginning with the migration of Muhammad to Medina, and the events leading to the divide between Sunnis and Shiites.Chapter 7 discusses the early Islamic community, who found themselves in the "throes of disputes over such issues as whether human beings are saved by faith or works, whether there is freewill or determinism, and questions concerning the sacred text as the Word of God" (p. 154). Nasr then explores the various schools of theology and philosophy that arose in order to address these questions of faith.Chapter 8, the final chapter of the book, attempts to evaluate the place of Islam in the contemporary world. Nasr concludes by noting that despite the challenges of secular modernism and fundamentalism the vast majority of Muslims remain committed to the truth of Islam, and bear witness to the Oneness of God and the Oneness of humanity.The one quibble... (shrink)

If one thing that the failed coup by a small but some of the top hierarchy of Turkish armed forces on that fateful July 15, 2016 day made clear, it was: the ordinary civilians, unarmed as they were poured into the streets to defend the government whatever way they can. This massive public sympathy and support for Turkish resident Erdogan and his government would be hard, if not impossible to understand, without knowing the historical intellectual, academic, and moral combat between (...) the modernists and Islamist groups working within the country. Mustafa Kamal had turned Turkey, mostly by force, from Ottoman Empire into the secular mode using military power. Various Islamic revolutionary outfits struggled for the revival of Ottoman Empire. Among them Bedi-uz-Zaman Said Nursi managed to cast a strong influence. A little slow but steadfast effort influenced by Nursi movement. Islam-shy Western powers managed alternate power structure against sitting President Tayyep Erdogan. They, however, failed due to result oriented social work delivered by his regime as Mayor and Prime Minister. It is a lesson for other revolutionaries and Governments especially for Islamic revolutionaries that if politicians deliver no power can oust them like a bee from butter. (shrink)

The present study deals with the encounter with modernity in two neighbouring religious spaces: Christian Orthodoxy and Islam. Relying on Eisenstadt’s theory about multiple modernities and on its further developments by Thomas Mergel and Kristina Stoeckl, Islamic and Christian-Orthodox dynamics in relation to the challenges of modernity are examined under two aspects: first, the decoupling between religion and culture as elaborated by Olivier Roy, and second, the development of modernist and fundamentalist currents as phenomena of modernity. The study contributes (...) to the sketching of the profile of Islamic and the Christian-Orthodox modernities, pointing both to some of the commonalities and the differences, and inquiring the nature of their distinctiveness. Further on, it contributes to the theoretic discussion on modernity and its various, contextually shaped forms, shedding new light on the relation between the trigger of social changes and their processual character.Contribution: Inside the Christian Orthodox and the Islamic religious space the decoupling between religion and culture and the development of modernist and fundamentalist currents are analysed as markers of the second modernity that arises from the encounter of the worlds mentioned with the challenges of the first modernity. (shrink)

Among the civilization challenges, recognizing the human freedom and drawing its constraints have continuously been contestable. Hence, the recognition, definition, pledge and delineation of the boundaries of freedom have a special position in the declaration of rights. In the meantime, considering the historical intersection of jurisprudential foundations with the modernist thoughts, defining the concept of freedom and delineating its boundaries will be crucial. This definition provides a groundwork for elucidating and interpreting other Articles via identifying their positions in creating solutions (...) to the problems of public administration. The current study is an effort to recognize the concept of freedom and its boundaries in the constitutional system of the Islamic Republic of Iran via employing a descriptive-analytical method. Our findings indicate that the perception of freedom in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is convoluted and interpretable. Because of the existing ambiguities in balancing among the historical concerns, the boundaries of freedom can be redefined based on the temporal and historical circumstances by the pressure of social forces. (shrink)

In the tradition of Catholic bridge-building the authors strive to bridge modernist secularism with the religious traditions of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. It offers a "middle-way" based on a global ethic and a global spirituality. The role of community is emphasized as underpinning the book's bridging efforts.

This book reflects upon the political philosophy of Muhammad Iqbal, a towering intellectual figure in South Asian history, revered by many for his poetry and his thought. He lived in India in the twilight years of the British Empire and, apart from a short but significant period studying in the West, he remained in Punjab until his death in 1938. The book studies Iqbal's critique of nationalist ideology and his attempts to chart a path for the development of the 'nation' (...) by liberating it from the centralizing and homogenizing tendencies of the modern state structure. Iqbal frequently clashed with his contemporaries over his view of nationalism as 'the greatest enemy of Islam'. He constructed his own particular interpretation of Islam - forged through an interaction with Muslim thinkers and Western intellectual traditions - that was ahead of its time, and since his death both modernists and Islamists have continued to champion his legacy. (shrink)

This article tries to explain the foundational entrapment of the logic of modernism, which imprisons interpreters in only one truth. It elucidates a clash between foundationalism and hermeneutics, and offers an alternative to overcome it. This study concludes that foundational textualism (bayani), intuisionism (`irfani), and empericism (burhani) in the history of Islamic thought, claim their own truth. Contemporary chal- lenges presented by post-modernism have shocked social and cultural conventions, systems of belief, statism and foundationalism of thinking, cultures (...) and outlooks, which have been sacralized by Moslem society for long time. In order to look for a way out from this crisis of Islamic thinking, which eventually affects its social praxis, multicultural interpretation should become an alternative for Moslems in promoting Islam as a uni- versal grace for the whole creation. Keywords: Fondasionalisme (foundationalism), hermeneutika (hermeneu- tics), pemikiran Islam (Islamic thought), multikulturalisme (multicul- turalism), interpretasi (interpretation). (shrink)

This article examines dynamics of Islamic discourses in Post-New Order Indonesia, focusing on the birth of Jaringan Islam Liberal/JIL. The network which emerged in 2001 was a result of informal meeting and group discussions of young intellectuals at Jalan Utan Kayu 68 H, East Jakarta who later agreed to establish the JIL. Since its earliest foundation, the networks has been at the forefront to attack Islamic extremist and fundamentalist groups while calling for Islamic liberalism. This article tries (...) portray the emergence of the JIL and its liberalism agenda and offers the contestation on Islamic liberalism in Indonesia. As for the latter, it not only encapsulates responses of fundamentalism groups, but also important Muslim organisation, like the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama/NU and the Modernist Muhammadiyah, and important Indonesian Muslim thinkers. This article further argues that Islamic liberalism that takes its root to Muslim activism during the New Order Indonesia has shaken the basic foundation of religion as introducing liberalism in Islamic discourses. It has invited contestation and responses for a significant Muslim groups, including the two-most important Indonesian Muslim organisations, the NU and the Muhammadiyah. As this article further demonstrates, the contestation is mainly because of different opinions among Muslims on the limit of reason to understand religion. (shrink)

The discussion of rationality can only be conducted today against the backdrop of the raging postmodernist and deconstructionist onslaught on the “citadel of reason,” as one writer has put it recently. Although the current postmodernist skirmishes are launched against modernism as represented by Descartes and Kant, it is clear that the proclamation of the bankruptcy of reason or “the end of philosophy,” as both Martin Heidegger and Richard Rorty have put it, goes well beyond the modernism of Descartes (...) and Kant. It is part of the struggle between logos and anti‐logos which is really perennial. (shrink)

This paper highlights the contributions of three major Islamicists, Louis Massignon, Henry Corbin, and Frithjof Schuon, to the understanding of the Qur’ân. Their works point to the epistemologic primacy of the contemplative and esoteric dimensions of the Book. Its linguistic texture and modalities are here understood as expressing the very limits of language, the proportional reciprocity between the actualization of inner meaning and spiritual fruition, and its ultimate metaphysical substance. These principles and their spiritual consequences may constitute the best antidote (...) to contemporary fundamentalist and modernist reductionism in scriptural hermeneutics. (shrink)

The article highlights one of the most important aspects of the modernizing potential of Falsafa (hellenizing philosophy of classical Islam), associated with the significance of the soteriological concept developed within its framework for the soteriological concept that began in the 19th century reconstruction of theological discourse. On the example of the activity of Jamaladdin al-Afghani (d. 1897), Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905), Rashid Rida (d. 1935) and other reformers, it is shown how thinkers inspired by the ideals of scientific rationality and (...) socio-cultural progress overcame the eschatologism of traditional theology, applying to the intellectualistically and presentistically oriented soteriological teachings of the Muslim peripatetics, primarily Ibn Sina (Avicenna; d. 1037) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes; d. 1198). In fact, denying the normativity of hadiths (reports of proper prophetic sayings) as a source of creed-aqida, modernists exclude from the traditional list of obligatory dogmas all principles based on hadiths, including traditions on the nearness of the end of the world and the signs that precede it. The article pays special attention to the reformist rehabilitation of Falsafa’s theses, previously qualified as heterodox: the immateriality of the soul, the unresuscitatability of the earthly body, the otherness of the otherworldly corporeality, the intellectual-imaginative nature of the afterlife, the universality of final salvation (apokatastasis). (shrink)

Arkoun, Mohammed; authors, Arab; Algeria; views on modernism and Islamic philosophy.

Civilization; Modernism; Arab countries; intellectual life.

The problem of salvation of non-Muslims is a crucial element in the discourse of Islamic modernism. It was no less important for such Islamic thinkers of the classical period as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Abu Ḥamid al-Ġazali. The attention of the author of the present paper focuses on understanding the problem of salvation in the teaching of Muhammad Rashid Rida, who was one of the key participants in the modernist movement in Islam. Being a representative of “intellectual (...) salafism”, Rashid Rida proposes a solution for the issue of salvation that comes as an alternative for traditionalist views predominating in Sunni Islam. The present paper serves to prove that Rida’s quite peculiar solution is deeply rooted in Islamic tradition. In particular, it relates to viewpoints of al-Jawziyya and al-Ġazali, which deflect from mainstream. Similar to many other Islamic modernists, the main although not the only argument of Rida is based on the Quranic idea of all-embracing Divine grace. In his analysis of Rida’s position, the author notes that the former does not lean towards the liberal variant of Islamic reformism that supposes religious pluralism as one of its basic ideas. Advocating the superiority of Muhammad’s message, the Egyptian thinker adhered to a specific form of soteriological inclusivism that differs from religious pluralism. According to Rida, the main criterion for one’s salvation is whether one was touched upon by undistorted Islamic message or not. Rida was convinced that Gehenna only awaits those non-Muslims who received undistorted Islamic message, clearly understood its Divine source and thenintentionally rejected it. But even they may be redeemed, as God is not obligated to act on his declared threat. (shrink)

In most countries where Islam is acknowledged as a, or the, source of legislation, abortion is permitted under certain conditions and at certain stages of pregnancy. This article examines some of these laws and argue that they represent a continuation of the logic that governed the views of pre-modern Muslim jurists on abortion, that is, harm aversion. However, these laws also add a ‘modernist’ twist to that logic – rather than repealing that logic altogether, modernist views on ‘rights’ and the (...) advancement of medical knowledge and technology have influenced the priorities of Muslim jurists and lawmakers as far as abortion and the issues associated with it are concerned. This influence has furthermore been possible by a conscious selection and blending of pre-modern views to serve modern concerns. In all this, however, harm aversion remains the centrifugal principle, even when the abortion discourse in Muslim countries appears couched in the modernist discourse of rights. (shrink)

The comprehensiveness of Islamic law has been questioned seriously in the modern period by Muslim reformists like Rashīd Riḍā. Such reformists have used as evidence Qur'anic verses and Prophetic reports that seem to state clearly that the strictures of Islamic law are few and limited and that Muslims should not extend them to all areas of life. How could the Shariah have developed as a holistic and exhaustive body of law in light of such evidence? Looking back at (...) earlier Muslim scholars from the ninth to the eighteenth centuries, however, we see that these Qur'anic verses and Prophetic edicts were never understood in this way. They were either diffused with various hermeneutic strategies or understood as applying to debates unrelated to the comprehensiveness or minimalism of the Shariah. (shrink)