bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reflections into the Spirit of the Islamic Corpus of Knowledge and the Rise of the New Science
Authors: Dhaouadi Mahmoud
Published: December 2020

There is no question that contemporary western civilization has beendominant in the field of science since the Renaissance. Western scientificsuperiority is not limited to specific scientific disciplines, but is rather anovetall scientific domination covering both the so-called exact and thehuman-social sciences. Western science is the primary reference for specialistsin such ateas as physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, economics,psychology, and sociology. It is in this sense that Third World underdevelopmentis not only economic, social, and industrial; it also suffersfrom scientific-cultutal underdevelopment, or what we call "The OtherUnderdevelopment" (Dhaouadi 1988).The imptessive progress of western science since Newton and Descartesdoes not meari, however, that it has everything tight or perfect. Infact, its flaws ate becoming mote visible. In the last few decades, westernscience has begun to experience a shift from what is called classical scienceto new science. Classical science was associated with the celestialmechanics of Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, the new physics of Galileo,and the philosophy of Descartes. Descartes introduced a radical divisionbetween mind and matter, while Newton and his fellows presented a newscience that looked at the world as a kind of giant clock The laws of thisworld were time-reversible, for it was held that there was no differencebetween past and future. As the laws were deterministic, both the pastand the future could be predicted once the present was known.The vision of the emerging new science tends to heal the division betweenmatter and spirit and to do away with the mechanical dimension ...
Freedom of Expression in Islam
Authors: Kamali Mohammad H.
Published: December 2020

This article develops the concept of fitnah and its bearing on freedomof expression. It puts together information from the unconsolidated sourcematerials of the Shari'ah in a manner reflecting the interest and style ofa modem student of comparative law. It also develops the theme thatmodem interpretations of seditious speech and conduct have done muchto restrict the scope and substance of the freedom of expression. TheShati'ah tends to advocate the opposite, as it confines the scope of testrictionsto measures necessary to repel an imminent danger to nomdotder in society. The individual's freedom to investigate facts and ideasand to formulate and express an opinion ate integral to Islam's approachto the dignity of the individual and the quest for ascertaining the truth.What Is Fitnah?Dictionaries give various meanings for3tnah: temptation, trial, misguidance,enticement, fascination, commotion, sedition, confusion, affliction,torture, and strife (Majma' a1 Lughah a1 'Ambiyah 1405/1958; alZawi n.d.; Wajdi 1971; Cowan 1976; Hughes n.d.; Khan 1979). Thisplmlity of meaning might have contributed to a certain ambiguity notedin the term's juridical meaning. Fitnah and its derivatives feature prominentlyin the Qur'an, being found in no less than sixty places. In thechapter "Kitab al Fitan," Sahih al Bukhari records eighty-six hadiths.Thus, as might be expected, the word appears in both the Qut'an and thehadith in several contexts and denotes meanings that converge andoverlab ...
Islamic Values in the United States
Authors: Yousif Ahmad
Published: December 2020

In this book, Haddad and Lurrunis present a scientific analysis of thesocial and religious values of the Muslim community in North America.The book probes into this community's psyche in an effort to detenninehow its members, as a religious minority, cope or fail to cope with particulartenets of their religion while living in a non-Islamic environment.A number of problems and issues are encountered by this minority: marriage,divorce, interest, diet, pets, American holidays, and the roles of themasque and the imam. The authors attempt to determine the existence ofcorrelations between such variables as length of time in the United States,the extent of dining with non-Muslims, gender, country of origin, and thesubject's response to different values. The data was collected ftom numerousinterviews and over three hundred questionnaires at Islamic tenterson the east coast, upstate New York, and the midwest.'Despite acknowledging the controversy surrounding the term "AmericanIslam," the authors conclude that this phenomenon does exist in morethan one form, depending on nationality, ethnic affiliation, level ofeducation, economic status, and other factors. The findings also show thatthere are two dynamic, but opposing, scenarios occurring among Muslimsin the United States ...
The Methodology of the Islamic Behavioral Sciences
Authors: Abu-Saud Mahmoud
Published: December 2020

Methodology is the means of fotmdating the principles that detetminethe guidelines for various sciences. Or, in other words, it is the systemof practices and procedures that, when applied to a specific branchof knowledge, will result in furthering the particulars of that knowledge.The concept of studying methodology is not new. In fact, some trace itback to Plato and Anstotle, who gave it special consideration. Its studyhas developed to such an extent that it has now become a science in andof itself under the fotmal title of "methodology." Its content has also become intertwined with the philosophy of the sciences themselves.Methodology in the WestWe can say with certainty that the ideological and civilizational developmentthat affected the West throughout history left profound traceson the essence of methodology. The domination of the Catholic chutchand its teptesentatives over the methods of scientific reseaTch placedlimits on rational thinking and confined it within the strictures of churchdoctrine on the concepts and principles that explained natute and humanbehavior.In those centuries, man was not the master of the univeme. Furthermote,human thought not only depended upon religious teachings but wasactually subject to it. Knowledge was in no way dependent on the soundnessof methodology. On the contrary; it was measured by God's pleasureand acceptance, since He was understood to provide knowledge and reasonwith legitimacy. Of course it was the church which, throughout thisperiod, actually expressed divine pleasure and acceptance on behalf ofGod. In this manner, the church became the only source for the discoveryof natm's sectets, and Christian dogma became the only criteria fordistinguishing between scientific fact and fiction ...
Islam and Science
Authors: Basha Ahmad F.
Published: December 2020

One may wonder why the author wrote this book. In his own words:The germ of the idea grew from a lecture which the Lahore EducationSociety invited me to deliver in May 1984 on the subjectof Islam and Science. Those were bad times for the country ingeneral, and academics in particular ... numerous charlatans andsycophants, responding to the regime's rhetoric of Islamization,had seized the reins of society and set for themselves the task of"Islamizing" everything in sight, including science. (p. xiii)and, on his own secular and anti-Islamic attitudes:Indeed the last section of this book is a reprint entitled "TheyCall It lslamic Science." This is an exposition and critique thatwas inspired by the First International Conference of ScientificMiracles of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah, organized in Islamabadby the International Islamic University during the time of GeneralZia. Originally published as an article in the Pakistani monthlymagazine "Herald" (January 1988), it drew vituperation and abusefrom proponents of the new so-called "Islamic Science." (p. xiv)Thus the question: Can the author deal competently with such an interdisciplinarysubject? According to Hoodbhoy:I wish to state wiequivocally that I have no illusions and makeno claims to mastery over the subject of this book, Islam and science,or even of the philosophy of science. It was quite unwillingly,and with considerable trepidation, that I embarked ona project so far removed from my field of professionalconcern-particle and nuclear physics ... I would have preferredsomeone with a professional interest to have done this jobinstead, but it seemed unwise to wait indefinitely for it to happen ...
Postmodernism and Islam:
Authors: Siddiqui Dilnawaz A.
Published: December 2020

According to postmodemists, modemists have passed their intentional,planned, and personal assertions as laws to justify their oppression,injustice, terrorism, and exploitation of the poor peoples of the world forseveral centuries. A cursory look at the record of Euro-American colonialismand neocolonialism across the globe bears out this fact One canthink of their laws, totalitarian state regulations, the Nixon and Carterdoctrines, and many recent resolutions of the raped United Nations as examplesof personal beliefs and desires, even whims, justified as laws.Paradoxically, the secular fundamentalist tradition of postmodernismitself has justified its own free-wheeling metanarrative as a revolt againstall traditionalism without distinguishing between lasting and fleeting so­cietal values. Sardar and Davies, in their Distorted Imagination (1990),illustrated this phenomenon by referring to Salman Rushdie's porno­graphic writings, such as The Satanic Verses. This characteristic confusionof postmcxiernism can be partly tmderstood by the mission of one ofits founders (Habennas), which was to complete the Wlfinished businessof western modernism: a noble cause of enlightenment rooted in "objectivescience, universal morality, and autonomous art according to theirinner logic." Baring the civil autonomy of art, tirades against objectivityand the universality of modernism and its morality are considered thevery backbone of postmodernism.Ahmed's book is an excellent expose of this paradox of postmodernismas it relates to Islam. The quixotic western beliefs about, attitude to­wards, and treatment of Islam and Muslims as the new perceived enemiesare part of its central theme. He sees for Islam, in its fresh encotmter withthe West and its powerful propagandist media, many problems and a pro­mise. Keeping his tradition of critical self-evaluation, he points out manyweaknesses of the Muslims and their present leadership. The promise, hefeels, lies in the openness of the postmodernist and in the proven survivabilityof Islam's universal principles.The book features six chapters preceded by a preface and followedby exhaustive references and the two usual indexes. Ahmed states in thepreface that this book is an attempt to understand the present times interms of their prospects and promises, and that his arguments are basedlargely on his south Asian background, which may be impressionisticwithout necessarily being chronological or sequential. In reality, it is acompendium of cogent proofs exposing the illogical nature of the imagesand impressions of Muslims and Islam constructed by the global media ...
Four Works on Women in Islam
Authors: Hashem Mazen
Published: December 2020

This book is a penetrating study of several of the Qur'anic verses andhadiths used to construct and justify a "skewed" understanding of femininity:"He created you from a single soul, and then He created fromit/like-nature its mate" (4:1); " ... mighty is your snare" (12:27); "Fair inthe eyes of men/people is the love of things they covet: women and sons..." (3:14); the concept of shahawiit (earthly desires); and the hadith"she was created from a rib."The discussion is based on a close reading of several tafasir. One noticesimmediately that many of these sources dignify women and do notadvocate the conventional view prevaling in contemporary Muslim societies.The book makes no apology to any author or source that presentsa stereotypical view of women; instead, it criticizes their methodology onthe ground that they followed the traditions of the Bible and the Jews.In the second section, the discussion departs from a direct analysis oftexts to elaborate on an Islamic typology of modem Muslim women. Theauthor, now writing as an activist, no longer argues with others, but isconcerned with getting his own understanding across. Therefore he is notconcerned with nonnative understanding, but rather seeks the best Islamicjudgment, within the context of present circumstances and world culture,on this issue. The book is totally progressive, straight to the point, anddoes not make compromises to please traditionalists.Al Mar'ah bayna Ta'lim al Din wa Taqalid al Mujtama'By Hasan al Turabi: Jeddah: al Dar al Sa'udiyah li al Nashr waTawzi, 1984 ...
Fourth International Islamic Economics Seminar
Authors: Al Alwani Taha J.
Published: December 2020

During the past three decades, development has been perceived bothas a goal itself and as a means towards achieving certain goals. In manyThird World countries, development has even become a form of ideology.To achieve it, numerous theories and strategies have been presented.Many of these approaches have been experimented with in a practicalmanner. In general, however, returns and benefits have been negligible.Although modernized sectors have appeared in most third World countries,along with social classes and lifestyles similar to those of the West,the majority of the population's economic and social standard of livinghas deteriorated. Many basic human and Political rights have even beenstripped away in the name of achieving development. In many instances,development has become nothing more than a slogan and a means fordespotic regimes to solidify their grip on their unfortunate populations.Perhaps the same factors contributing lo the lhlrd World's paralysiscontribute to the West's success and achievement. One group of relatedfactors is the concept of development, its ideology and strategy. When weanalyze this issue, we find that the historical advances in western societysince the Industrial Revolution, and its associated social and culturalmovements, did not follow a predetermined written strategy or variousfive- and ten-year plans. Rather, this development followed a more spontaneouscourse determined by the changing circumstances of time, place,culture, and individual effort. As a result of the accumulation of such experiences,procedures, and know-how, development was achieved.When development was defined as a goal for the Third World, readymadewestern procedures, theories, and strategies were adopted withoutregard to the fact that these procedures were not actually implemented inthe West but rather came about as a result of a long period of trial anderror. In the third World, however, they are implemented beforehand andthus redefine what the Third World will look like socially, culturally, andintellectually ...
On Islamic Accounting
Authors: Khan Muhammad Akram
Published: December 2020

Islamic accounthg is an emerging field of study. With the establishmentof several Islamic banks, interest in this area has increased. Thepresent booklet is a master’s thesis, submitted to the Intemational Universityof Japan, consisting of four chapters and five appendices. Chapterone reviews western accounting and its evolution. Its main argument isthat western accounting developed in response to the needs of evolvingcapitalism. Due to social assumptions of the primacy of self-interest andthe profit motive, accounting serves the needs of business and not thoseof society. Society makes only an indirect use of a business entity’s accountingstatements.In chapter two, the author introduces the basic concept of Islamic accounting.According to him, Islamic accounting is more responsive to asociety’s needs. The accounting statements prepared in an Islamic frameworkprovide essential information needed by the society. For example,they are useful for calculating zakat. Chapter three deals with the actualaccounting of zakat. The author examines the controversy of whetherzakat should be treated as a cost or as part of the appropriation accountin a mudiirubuh arrangement. He supports the contention that it shouldbe treated as a cost. The last chapter summaries the debate and concludesthat western accounting should make use of the Islamic accounting concept’sof responding to the needs of a society rather than a business.The book is a welcome addition to the meager literatw on the subject.The author has examined some primary sources in order to base hisargument, although he has also relied on secondary source. But the readerdoes not find what he expects for, with the exception of one major observationabout the scope of accounting in the Islamic and western frameworks,there is little on the differences between the two concepts. Forexample, he does not compare their assumptions, standards, procedures,and methods. Perhaps these questions were not part of the book‘s scope.However, I think such a discussion would be of interest to many readers ...
The Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the AMSS
Authors: Ul Haq Irfan
Published: December 2020

The Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the Association of MuslimSocial Scientists (AMSS) was jointly organized by the Intemational Instituteof Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the AMSS and was held at the IIITpremises in Hemdon, VA. The open-theme conference featured eighteenpanels organized into fourtem sessions.The opening session consisted of the welcoming address by DilnawazSiddiqui, President (Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA), remarksby Mushtaqur Rahman, Conference Chairman (University of Iowa,Ames, IA), and the inaugural address of Taha al 'Alwani (President,IIIT). The second session, "Islamic Philosophy and Compamtive Approaches,"was chaired by Ja'afar Sheikh Idris (Institute of Islamic andArabic Sciences, Fairfax, VA). Presentations included "Islamic Theory ofKnowledge: A Reapptaisal" by Sirajul Husain (Islamic Research and DevelopmentCouncil, Cleveland, OH), "Islamization of the Creative Imaginationand Its Ramifications in the Visual Arts of Islam" by Halide A.Salam (Radford University, Radford, VA), and "The Concept of Free Willin the Comments of al Ash'ari, al Hilli, and Taftazani" by Anne E.Francisse (Seattle, WA).The third session had two concurrent panels: "Concept of Shzird andDemocracy in Islam," chaited by Mumtaz Ahmad (Hampton University,Hampton, VA) and "Culture and Communication," chaired by Ali Ramadan(IIIT). The first panel comprised Aziza a1 Hibri (University of Richmond,Richmond VA) and Ja'afar Shaikh Idris. Al Hibri pointed out thatshura (mutual consultation) is part of Islamic constitutional theory and reflectsthe divine dimension of an Islamic political framework-while democracyis one process of shzirti reflecting the human will in the politicalplane. Also featured was Hamid al-Ghazali (Islamic Center of Lawrence,Lawrence, MO), who gave a special report on the removal of an unjustleader from an Islamic institution that had been presented to the CircuitCourt of Jackson County, Missouri.The culture and communication panel had three presentors. ShamfRahman (Northern State Univedty, Aberdeen, SD) spoke on media typesand Muslim culture vis-8-vis Pakistani films and videos. Hussein Abiva(Chicago, IL) dealt with the role and importance of Sufi orders in Balkan ...
Clash of Civilizations or Clash of Religions?
Authors: Karabal Mohammed M.
Published: December 2020

Every phase of American foreign policy has found its supporters inAmerican academia. The Cold War had its famous academicians who notonly justified American foreign policy at that time but later becameprominent decisionmakers. Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Baezinski arestill remembered as successful academicians who became policymakers.However, only one prominent scholar has been able to survive the ColdWar with his credibility intact while maintaining his influence on Americanforeign policy: Samuel P. Huntington.In his recent article on "The Clash of Civilizations" (Foreign Afsairs77:3), Huntington attempts to predict the scenario of the New WorldOrder that will have to be dealt with by the West. He then seeks to influencenot only American foreign policy, but that of the entire West. Hisopening argument is that the old topology of conflict will be replaced byconflicts of civilizations. The world will be divided according to existingcivilizations (i.e., western, Islamic, Confucianist, Hindu, Buddhist, LatinAmerican, and possibly African). He then MITOWS the list of enemies totwo civilizations: Confucianism and Islam. This short commentary willconcentrate on the reasons behind Huntington's article in order to uncoverthe decay that is eating away at the beautiful face of the West.The Supremacy of Western CivilizationFrom the beginning, Huntington attempts to convince the reader thatthe West represents a homogeneous culture. In addition, he infers that itsculture and civilization is desired because it is superior and therefore naturalfor it to dominate. Here, he lacks the necessary credibility to providea reason for such supremacy. Such a worldview is not new, for the samementality helped to form similar justifications for westem colonialism:"civilizing mission" and the "white man's burden" are the predecessorsto Huntington's arguments.Indirectly, Huntington calls upon the nonwestem world &I join westemcivilization. He assumes that some nonwestem civilizations might acceptwestem dominance faster and easier than others. The obstacles forjoining, which are most difficult for Islamic and Confucian societies, canbe traced to their cultures. He argues that such societies will not only rejectwestem civilization, but that they will develop their own economicand military capabilities through cooperation with each other. But whyshould he nonwestem world "join" the West, especially when "join," inHuntington's dictionary, means "dependent" or "servant" of the West, not ...
Editorial
Authors: AbuSulayman 'AbdulHamid
Published: December 2020

Man’s physical and intellectual life has become too complicated anddiversified for a single individual to internalize, however knowledgeablehe or she may be. Hence, ijtihad and renewal are no longer a missionreserved exclusively for a mujtahid, ‘alim, or a leader as was traditionallythe case a few centuries ago.Historically speaking, more than a hundd years ago, this demandingreality of human life was recognized by the Ottomans. Rather thanfollowing the established traditions of placing the responsibilities oflegislation in the hands of a grand mujfuhid, a broad committee of‘ulama, statesmen, and public figures was set up to take charge of codifyingthe Hanafi school of fiqh (known as the Majalla). It is therefore theresponsibility of scientists, ‘ulama, philosophers, and, above all, socialscientists to play a significant role in the ongoing movement of Islamicrenewal.Yet the intellectual tcnewal of a nation can only be set on foot witha critique of dominant norms, paradigms, and ideals, whether of intrinsicmots or of foreign origins. Indeed, it is through a comprehensive andconstructive critical insights that society will be able to develop a newand invigorating worldview. This is the starting point and commondenominator shared by most articles of this issue of AJISS.Mona M. Abul-Fadl proposes an extensive and profound analysis ofcontempomy social theory. Her goal is to illustrate its misrepnasentationof the human venture and to lay the foundation for an Islamic perspectiveof social theory. Similarly, though on a smaller scale, Abdulwahab alMasseri reflects on the common mts of imperialism, secularism, and thedominant western epistemological outlook. Challenging decaying idealsof other categories, Taha J. al ‘Alwini presents a detailed reformulationon the rights of the accused in a typical Islamic judicial system. Bydrawing on primary Islamic texts and classical fiqh sources, his workepitomizes that of a contemporary faqih vis-a-vis contemporary issues.Suha Taji-Farouki's article is in contrast With that of al ‘Alwani. Here,a social scientist attempts to deconstruct a moden faqih’s (al Nabhani ...
1995 Special Issue
Authors: Elmesseri Abdel Wahab
Published: December 2020

The definition of secularism as the separation of church and statehas gained currency and has become more or less universallyaccepted, probably because of its tameness. It confines the secularizingprocesses to the political and economic realms. Although it couldbe extended to cover what is commonly called the realm of "publiclife," it never goes beyond that. The term suggests that processes ofsecularization are explicit and quite identifiable, and that an individual'sprivate life (i.e., dreams and nightmares, tastes and aestheticsensibilities) can be hermetically sealed off and thus remain free ofthe ravages of secularism.One glance at life in the modern West demonstrates the fallacy ofthis assumption. The state, far from staying out of the realm of publiclife, has penetrated deeper and deeper and into to the farthest comersof our private lives. The corporations and pleasure industries haveinfiltrated our dreams, have shaped our images of ourselves, and havecontrolled the very direction of our libidos.Like most, or probably all, world outlooks, secularism revolvesaround three elements: God, humanity, and nature (nature is hereafterreferred to as "nature-matter" in order to emphasize the philosophicaldimension of the concept and to dispel the romantic aura that hassurrounded it and weakened its analytical and explanatory power).The attitude of God-is He transcendent or immanent; is He abovenature and humanity and history or immanent in (namely reducibleto) them-is what defines the status of a human being in the universeand hisher relationship to nature-matter.Secularism declares that it is immaterial whether or not God exists,for He has very little to do with the formulation of our epistemological,ethical, aesthetic, and signifying systems. If God exists, Hetakes two extreme forms: a) He could be too transcendent and removedfrom humanity and nature, indifferent to human suffering, orb) He could be seen as completely immanent in both humanity andnature (or in either) and as having no existence separate from them.This view, which is the more common of the two, is known as immanence.Immanence implies that a) the world as given has within it allthat is necessary for its full understanding and utilization, and b) thatthe human mind is so equipped that it could acquire all of the knowledgenecessary for a full understanding of, and dominance over,nature. If nature is autonomous and self-sufficient, then so is thehuman mind. This duality (or dualism) produced two orientationswithin the same secular outlook: ...
The Rise of Early Modern Science
Authors: Leonard Graham
Published: December 2020

The author has shown great courage in undertaking an endeavor thathas daunted historians of science, intellectual historians, Islamicists, andSinologists. Huff utilizes excellent sources and makes insightful hypothesesin this multidisciplinary work. If the book is not perfect, the failure issmall compared to what he has achieved. Building on this work, otherscholars will be able to sharpen the on-going debate and propose boldconclusions for years to come.The Rise of Early Modern Science concentrates on why science "tookoff' in the West but not in China or the Islamic world, where it had muchlonger histories. By "takeoff," Huff means the explosion of scientific discoverythat flowered in the West, especially during the early seventeenthcentury. His basic premise is succinct: "Modem science depends on thebelief that the natural world is a rational and ordered world" and that"man is a rational creature who is able to understand and accuratelydescribe the universe." Claiming that such Greek tenets never occurred inChina and noting that the Arabs passed them on to Europe, he enwnerateshow they took hold in the West and facilitated the modem world.Huff compares the legal systems of the three cultures as institutionalizationsof their social, political, and intellectual experiences. While comparisonsof their legal systems produce interesting results, contrasting theirthought processes, educational systems, and practices of science couldhave shed more light on the differences in their utilization of scientificmethodologies. His recourse co legal systems for comparisons in scienceis not successful, for law parallels scientific methodology in that bothemploy rigor, empiricism, and deduction. But induction, essential for science,was used in law mainly for purposes of legislation. His comparisonof Islamic law with the West's fails because the former includes everyaspect of life, whereas the latter is more limited to criminal, civil, and corporateaspects. China's law, on the other hand, is concerned with the socialorder.Huff notes that China concentrated more on the organization ofhuman society than on the natural environment. Emperors and their minionsopposed searching for "truths" lest the established order be troubled.China did not codify or institutionalize its laws in ways comparable toIslam and the West. Given this history, China should be effectively out of ...
Materialist Science
Authors: Bouguenaya Yamina
Published: December 2020

It is commonly believed that physical phenomena can be understoodin scientific terms. Science is presumed to produce knowledge that enablesman to predict future events, control his environment or explain diversephenomena. Regardless of the use to which scientific knowledge is put,the cognitive claim is there. The question is: Do scientific results constituteknowledge? To answer this question, it is necessary to examine thelogical structure of science. The problem is one of justification. Given thata conclusion is supported by scientific evidence, is the scientific conceptof evidence a legitimate one? These questions about the foundation of scientificinference (i.e., the scientific method of justification) have greatimport.The methods of inference taught in the Qur'an are distinct from and inconflict with those of science. Furthermore, we believe that the applicationof the Qur'anic methods will yield knowledge of God, which is theonly true knowledge. However, the successes of science and its technologicalconsequences have made many people, including believers in God,equate knowledge with scientific knowledge. There are many who stillhold that religion is a matter of faith-the "dogmas" of religion are acceptedon faith. The point is that the grounds for accepting a faith have nothingto do with cognitive claims. If a particular religion is fundamentally amatter of faith, then there is no basis for pref erring it to other faiths.In the face of this conflict between the method of the Qur'an and thatof science, it is essential to assess the cognitive claims of religion. If ourcommitment to religion is to be more than an unjustified devotion, wemust know that revelation is better suited to the attainment of knowledgethan science. The problem is to ascertain whether there are sound logicalreasons for supposing that the conclusions of revelation constitute morereliable, in fact the reliable knowledge, than conclusions established on thebasis of the scientific method of inferences.Why and How Questions: An Artificial DivisionScience is based on causality, the cornerstone of materialism and theantithesis of God's Oneness (tawbid). For this reason, if the scientific ...
Fi Masadir al Turath al Siyasi al Islami
Authors: Abu-Rabi' Ibrahim M.
Published: December 2020

This is perhaps one of the most useful books I have come across inrecent years. In an age when almost every Middle East or Islamic studiesspecialist is obsessed with "political Islam" or "radical or fundamentalistIslam," and when the western mass media and below-average media specialistson the Muslim world try to explain "the rage of Islam" to theiraudience, this book is a forceful reminder that the political language ofcontemporary Islamic revivalism is grounded in a historically establishedand rich Islamic (political) tradition. It also reminds us that in order to dojustice to the political principles of the modem Islamic movement, boththe academics and the media specialists must familiarize themselves withthis rich and historically constructed tradition.The author's primary intention is to document and discuss the mainsources (i.e., writings) of Islamic political thought from the first centuriesto the present. To 'Arif, the Islamic theory of knowledge and practice,which is based on the Qur'an and the Sunnah, has worked as a catalyst thatenabled the Muslim mind to construct a unique political theory that takesinto account changing sociopolitical and historical conditions. As a result,"political thought" has always formed the crux of Islamic thinking in generaland has never been divorced from the unique evolution and progressof Islamic civilization. What this means, in effect, is that for a modemscholar to carry out research, let us say, on the concept of jihad in Islam,he/she must trace the concept to its earlier sources and study it in its epistemologicaland historical evolutions. Concepts do change, depending on ...
The First Arab-Islamic Conference
Authors: Nafi Basheer
Published: December 2020

This conference has been in preparation for almost thirty months. Thereason for this rather long (by Middle Eastern standards) gestation periodwas the unprecedented nature of the conference, difficulties of selectingparticipants and finding a safe and available location.Since the early 1950s, Arab nationalist and Islamic relations havebeen passing through very turbulent periods. The secularization ofArabism and the rise of Arab nationalists to power in many Arab coun·tries led to frequent and bloody confrontations between the two sides overpower and legitimacy of the state. However, during the last two decades,Arab regimes have become somewhat less ideological and more tyrannical;coercive means rather than persuasion has been widely deployed topreserve the status quo. As a result, many Arab nationalist intellectuals,activists, and public leaders have dissociated themselves from the rulingelites and moved to. establish independent Arab nationalist formulae,research centers, and groupings. Parallel to this turn was the spectacularrise of Islamic political forces in almost all part of the Arab world, adevelopment that could not be ignored by the Arab nationalists.One of the main results of the Gulf War was a growing sense of rapprochementbetween the nationalist and Islamist camps. In 1993 a grouprepresenting the two sides (including Rashid al GhannOshi, Khayr al Dinijasib, Mu}:iammad Sidqi al Dajani, 'Isam Nu'man, and a representativeof ijasan al Turab1) agreed to hold an Arab-Islamic conference to markthe era of reconciliation and set an agenda for both camps. Meeting inLondon, they agreed to invite 100 representatives (approximately 50 fromeach camp), nominated a preparatory committee, and named most of thewould-be participants. For many months afterwards, the preparatorycommittee worked to surmount the many obstacles which, to a certainextent, nearly undermined the enterprise. Eventually, after the MuslimBrotherhood of Egypt had agreed to participate, the Arab nationalists hadagreed to drop their insistence on inviting members of the Sudaneseopposition, and the Lebanese government (as well as the Syrians) hadgiven permission to hold the conference in Beirut, it was decided to convenethe conference on 12 October 1994 ...
Leadership and Subordination
Authors: Safi Louay
Published: December 2020

Abu Ja'far al Man~ur, the founder of the 'Abbasid state, once posed aquestion to some of his confidants:Who is the hawk of Quraysh? They replied: The Commander ofthe Faithful (Amir al Mu'minin) who established the reign, quietedupheavals, and extinguished ordeals. He said: You havenot answered my question. They said: Is it Mu'awiyah? He said:No. They said: Is it 'Abd al Malik ibn Marwan? He said: No.They said: Who else,  Commander of the Faithful? He said:'Abd al Ra}:iman ibn Mu'awiyah, who escaped by his cunningthe spearheads of the lances and the blades of the swords, travellingthe desert, and sailing the seas, until he entered an alienterritory. [There] he organized cities, mobilized armies, andreestablished his reign after it was completely lost, by goodmanagement and strong resolve. Mu'awiyah rose to his staturethrough the support of 'Umar and 'Uthman, whose backingallowed him to overcome difficulties; 'Abd al Malik, because ofprevious appointment; and the Commander of the Faithfulthrough the struggle of his kin and the solidarity of his partisans.But' Abd al Rab man did it alone, with the support of noneother than his own judgement, depending on no one but his ownresolve. (Ibn al Athir, 5: 182)Identifying leadership and determining its qualities and contributionsto collective life is an ancient concern of people. Abu Ja'far al Mansur, aneminent Muslim leader in his own right, raised the question in a peculiar ...
Desacralizing Secularism
Authors: Manzoor Parvez
Published: December 2020

No Muslim endeavor to face the intellectual challenge of the westerntradition can afford to ignore the critical discourse of postmodernism orfail to recognize the Nietzschean claim about truth's complicity withpower. Secularism as truth, as doctrine, therefore, cannot be separatedfrom the theory and practice of secular power. As the praxis of statecraft,secularism claims universal sovereignty, and as the theoriu of history, itsubordinates all religious and moral claims to its own version of the truth.The secularist enterprise, furthermore, has been immensely successful intransforming the historical order of our times. But as such, it is a subjectproper to the discipline of (political) history and merits the Muslim scholar'sfullest attention there.Secularism as a doctrine, as an -ism, on the other hand, falls squarelywithin the province of philosophy and the history of ideas. In order toapprehend. the secularist gospel and its discontents, one needs to contemplate,as it were, the ideational visage of secularism. It is this aspect of secularism-the mask of truth worn by the secularist will-to-power-that thepresent article intends to uncover. Thus, the secularism that is examinedhere is not a sociological theory but rather a philosophical paradigm, notan empirical fact but rather an ideological axiom. This survey is dividedfurther into two parts: secularizing theories in sociology and politics fromthe focus of the present essay. Secularism in philosophy, theology, and sciencewill be treated in the second installment.Secularism or Sacralization?Secularism, like any darling child, has many names. In contemporaryliterature it is presented (either humbly) as a rejection of ecclesiasticalauthority, a model for pluralism, a theory of society, a doctrine ofgovernance or (augustly) as a philosophy of history, a creed of atheism,an epistemology of humanism, or (even more grandiosely) as a metaphysicsof immanentism that corresponds to the ultimate scheme ofthings. Within the academic discourse, it is also customary to accord itan almost Socratic definition and to distinguish its various manifestationsas a process of history (seculurizution), a state of mind and culture(secularity), and a theory of truth (secularism). (One may note the close ...
Al Hurriyat al 'Ammah fi al Dawlah al Islamiyah
Authors: Alhroub Khaled
Published: December 2020

Rashed Ghannoushi is renown for being among the first to ventureinto the forefront of international debates tackling issues from an Islamicperspective. Among these debates, strengthened by the end of the coldwar, one can cite what are usually called normative theories of world politics:human rights, individual autonomy vs. state autonomy, ethics ofintervention, and so forth. At present, such issues are being discussed froma new perspective and are, at least apparently, less influenced by the inherentlyconflicting interests and politics of the two superpowers that formedthe former bipolar international system. Relatively speaking, the debatesare taking place on a more human-oriented reasoning plane and with ahigher degree of freedom from politics-directed approaches. The recentand perhaps most distinguished work of Ghannoushi, al Hurriyat al'Ammah fi al Dawlah al Islamiyah (Public Liberties in the Islamic State),is a pioneering account of such debates, even though it does not addressthem all.In its three lengthy chapters, the book is preoccupied with humanrights in the Islamic state. Chapter one speaks of individual freedom andindividual rights as understood by Islam. For Ghannoushi, freedom is theembarking point where the individual decides freely and by his/her ownwill to become a Muslim. Due to its very fundamental nature, freedom isa basic and a genuine value in itself. Ghannoushi gives special primacy totwo aspects of freedom. The first is the freedom of belief, which includesthe freedom of expression and religious worship, where the individual hasthe right to choose the belief he/she values without any obligation. Ghannoushigoes further and discusses one of the most controversial issues:when a Muslim makes a conscious decision to change his/her religion. Inmost of the traditional schools of Islamic jurisprudence, such an actioncauses the application of a penalty to punish the newly non-Muslim individual.Yet Ghannoushi, by interpreting the Prophet's position towardspecific cases and that of Abu Bakr at the time of his war against the apostates(al murtadin), concludes that these cases were treated as political, asopposed lo religious, defections. Tribes who defected during the reign ofAbu Bakr were manipulated into threatening the (political) order and theexistence of the Islamic society. In this case, waging a war of deterrenceis plausible. The case of an individual is of lesser importance from the ...
Rethinking Middle East Politics
Authors: Priess David
Published: December 2020

The process by which the modem Middle East has taken its presentpolitical shape and continues to develop is the subject of a large and diverserealm of scholarship. Authors have examined this topic from a variety ofacademic and political points of view, but few have been able to classifythe assortment of past works in a coherent way while formulating a validnew approach to this complex area of study. Simon Bromley's most recentbook, Rethinking Middle East Politics, is an ambitious work that is moresuccessful than most earlier endeavors at meeting this dual challenge.Borrowing heavily from Marxism, Bromley pieces together a "historical-materialist" approach that, he posits, illuminates the processes of tateformation and political development in the Middle East while highlightingboth the distinctive aspects of the region's development and its similaritiesto other nondeveloped areas. The book is not flawless; Bromley makesseveral claims that may not be as universaJly accepted as he suggests andsupports the modem Middle East case studies with only a limited numberof references. Despite these relatively mild shortcomings, RethinkingMiddle East Politics as a whole provides a compelling and often provocativedescription of the Janus-faced nature of Middle East state formationand political development.Bromley begins with an introduction to culturalist and materialistarguments about non-European societies and their development. Thereader will be impressed with Bromley's ability to impose a sense of orderon the wide-ranging writings of such thinkers as Karl Marx, BassamTibbi, Max Weber, and Edward Said and to put together a cogent analysisof the implications of these schools of thought for Middle East development ...
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Authors: Mattson Ingrid
Published: December 2020

Preparations for the FourthWorld Conference on WomenThe Economic and Social Council of the United Nations has beenvery active during the past year convening world conferences in order toredefm e its goals and strategies for international cooperation on majorissues. In September 1994, delegations from many nations met in Cairofor the International Conference on Population and Development. InMarch 1995, Copenhagen was the venue for the World Summit for SocialDevelopment. In September 1995, Beijing will be the setting for theFourth World Conference on the Status of Women. In preparation for thelatter conference, international delegations met in New York duringMarch and April to prepare the Platform for Action, which is to be ratifiedin Beijing. The draft document was prepared by the Secretariat of theCommission on the Status of Women after consultation with regionalgroups of the United Nations. In New York, delegations were to proposeamendments to the Platform for Action so that it would be ready for ratificationin Beijing. At least that was the plan. The following report willdescribe how political agendas, arrogance, and bickering prevented thetask from being completed. Perhaps the greatest obstacle, however, wasthe belief that every country in the world could reach consensus on somany contentious issues-there is a better chance of the holy grail beingfound this year.First, for those who are not familiar with the dynamics of the UnitedNations, I need to sketch out the role of the major players. On one side ofthe floor of the UN, members of the European Union (EU) huddle together;the representative from France is their spokesperson. On the other sideof the floor sits the representative from the Philippines, who is thespokesperson for the Group of 77 (077). The 077, which now actuallycomprises 132 members, includes almost all nations from Latin and SouthAmerica, Africa, and Asia. Members of the EU and the 077 meet in theirrespective groups before the main assembly convenes in order to formulatea group position. On the floor of the UN, it is therefore the spokespersonsof these two groups who are the most active.It is significant that while 132 diverse nations were able to meet and,in most cases, bring about a consensus on difficult issues, the United ...
Sacral Qualities of Form in Mosque Architecture
Authors: Elwazani Salim A.
Published: December 2020

By the year 800 c.E., and within less than two centuries from the inceptionof Islam, a new religious and secular architecture materialized in a vastarea: western Asia, all of North Africa, and southern Spain. The archeologicaland textual references for these projects have provided us with awealth of physical and descriptive evidence of the emerging building typesand forms of Islamic architecture. The mosque, for example, developedinto a well-defined building type with characteristic physical feams andspatial organization, among them the mihrdh, the minhur, calligraphicinscriptions, and surface Ornamentation, all of which are architectural elementswhose designs and dispositions in the mosque space have taken onvarious reoccurring patterns.The theological rationalization behind the historical evolution ofmosque architecture is more formidable to consolidate, however, for informationis scarce and it is difficult to interpret subjective information. TheQur’an decreed emphatically the, Salah (prayer) but did not describe whatfeatures a house of worship should incorporate. The Prophet taught Salahto early Muslims and continued to lead the faithful in prayer in the architecturallymodest mosque of Madinah. When the spatial requirements forcongregational mosques became apparent, such architectural features asthe mihrcth appeared ...