bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Islam and the Western Philosophy of Knowledge
Authors: Abu-Rabi' Ibrahim M.
Published: December 2020

It is a simple truism to state that any scholar who treats such a vast topicas "Islam and the Western Philosophy of Knowledge" must be familiar withthe different domains of intellectual and philosophical discourses in bvth theMuslim and the western worlds, their epistemological bases (i.e., foundationalconceputal principles), historical evolution, and cultural expressions. Inaddition, such a scholar cannot do justice to this imponant topic without constructingan appropriate and comprehensive comparative method that mightshed some light on why there have been some important divergences betweenthe Muslim worldview and the western one, especially in the modern period(e.g., the past few centuries). Third, in dealing with the above subject, ascholar must know at least one Islamic language (e.g., Arabic) and oneEuropean language in addition to English (e.g., French or German). Measuredagainst this criteria, the author of this (very) tiny work fails miserably to justifyhis goal(s) for writing this book, to offer a convincing method of comparativeanalysis, and to prove that he possesses the appropiate tools (i.e., sourcesand languages) with which to conduct his research.To begin with, the author states in the Preface that he intends to offer "ahumble contribution to the contemporary debate on the need for a new epistemology.” The nature of the contemporary debate the author refers to is unclear:Is it an Islamic debate? Western or African? Second, what is the nature of thisnew epistemology of which he speaks? His entire discussion throughout thebook does not mention any new epistemology per se, but rather a historicallyold and established one: that of the Qur’an and other revelations. So, is the authoroffering a Qur’anic rationale for and justification of some uiucial philosophicalissues arising in the modem westem world, or is he interested in measuring theimpact of western philosophy on the modem Muslim mind in the context ofcolonialism and the new world order? No such desire is expressed. When theauthor states in his Acknowledgment that “I came to the conclusion that the realmalaise of the Muslim Umma is the intellectual,” he does not tell us why it is soand why it is not economic, political, social, or a combination of the abov ...
THE CONCEPT OF MODERNIZATION
Authors: Ali Mohammad Mumtaz
Published: December 2020

One of the main characteristics of contemporary Islamic thought,especially within the traditions of Islamic revival movements and theIslamization of knowledge movement, is its critical attitude toward boththe Islamic heritage and western ideas, concepts, and theories. Thinkersand scholars of these movements have neither rejected entirely the westerncontributions toward knowledge, unlike the rejectionists, nor havethey accepted it blindly, like the adoptationists. Most thinkers in thesemovements do not accept western ideas and concepts without a criticalevaluation from an Islamic perspective. Khurshid Ahmad aptly remarks:The Islamic movement clearly differentiates between developmentand modernization on the one hand and westernization andsecularization on the other. It says “yes” to modernization but“no” to blind westernization.’Such a stance on modernization may not be attributed only to suchIslamic movements as the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt,2 established byHasan a1 Banna,’ and the Jama‘at-e-Islami of the Indian s~bcontinent,~founded by Abul A‘la Mawdudi,’ but also to the Islamization of knowledgemovement.6 The type of modernization welcomed by scholars ofthese movements is not the same as that conceived by the West; rather,it is an Islamic modernization based on an Islamic epistemology ...
MODERN INDIAN MUSLIMS AND IQBAL
Authors: Iqbal Javaid
Published: December 2020

The book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, alsoknown as the Madras Lectures of Iqbal, has been translated into Urdu asTashkeel-e Jadid Ilahiyat-e Islamia. In light of this work, I have chosento address the topic: “Iqbal and the Concept of an Islamic State inModem Times.” First, however, it is necessary to give some backgroundto Iqbal’s lectures.This book has remained the least noticed work of Iqbal, althoughit deserves much more attention. The main reason for this neglect isthat these lectures were addressed to and later published for Muslimsof the new generation. Iqbal was aware that these Muslims could notremain aloof from the values of modem westem culture. It was thereforenecessary for the Muslims to remain Muslim and, at the sametime, to become modem. Since this book discussed modernity in Islam,the ulama were very annoyed with it. Its Urdu translation was delayed,because it was feared that the translation might provoke the ulama’swrath and that they might consider it a presentation of a new religion,like Akbar‘s Dine Ilahi, or a distortion of religion under the pretext ofreinterpretation. Many objections were raised. For instance, the lateSulaiman Nadvi wrote that it would have been better had this book notbeen published. Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi wrote:I do not consider Iqbal an innocent and pious person or a religiousguide or an Imam Mujtahid, nor do I cross the limits, ashis staunch supporters do, while acknowledging and praising hisworks. I consider that Hakeem Sinai, Attar and Arif Rumi werefar ahead of him in respecting and following the Shariat, ...
PRIVATIZATION AND THE ETHICS OF ISLAM
Authors: Pomeranz Felix
Published: December 2020

Current privatization efforts dwarf all which have gone before. In general,the “less developed” nations, including peoples of the Muslim faith,seem to have attracted the advocates of privatization. Disturbing resultsare obtained when the substance and process of privatization are juxtaposedto the teaching of Islam.In certain cases, privatization may result in the transfer of wealth fromrelatively weak hands (i.e., from the debtor governments of the lessdeveloped nations) to relatively strong hands (i.e., consortia of intemationalentrepreneurs). Islam teaches the opposite: It recognizes the rightof the less able in the wealth of those who have greater ability or theopportunity to produce greater wealth (Mirakhor, 1989).The outcomes of privatization are important to peace and security.Consequently, the emergence of privatization as a cat’s paw in politicaldiscourse is not a good omen. For example, Abdelhak Benhamouda,Algeria’s labor leader, “opposes any privatizations undertaken on the‘back‘ of the workers and demanded (sic) ‘guarantees’ from the govemment”(AFX News, 1995).The article defines privatization and discusses its structural and operationalproblems in light of religious imperatives ...
Economic Doctrines of Islam
Authors: Ahmad Lmtiazuddin
Published: December 2020

Dr. Haq’s book belongs to the same group of issue-oriented studies in Islamiceconomics that Umar Chapra’s’ books do. However, unlike Chapra, who firstprovides a critical evaluation of the failed modem economic systems and thenestablishes the supremacy of Islam’s economic development strategy, IrfanUl Haq starts out with a comprehensive expository analysis of Islamic mnomicdoctrines. He then relies on extensive personal interpretation to derive andthen justify various policy prescriptions for the promotion of economic growthin an Islamic economy.The book contains four parts, which are divided into fourteen chapters. Thefirst five chapters in the first two parts discuss Islamic methodology and Islam’ssocial and political order. The book‘s major theme is included in the third andfourth parts where the author discusses most of the economic issues and policies.Since the controversial policy-oriented economic subjects are covered inthese parts, I will concentrate on the evaluation of these major economic subjects.These subjects include the proper role of the public sector, fard al-kifayahand its implications, interest-free financing, land ownership and tenure, taxation,poverty, employment, and the policies to provide economic essentials.Fard al-Kifayah and Its Implications for Economic PolicyIn discussing the principle of fard al-kifayah and the role of the Islamic statein providing public goods, Dr. Haq advocates a policy of nationalization ofresources as an appropriate policy for an Islamic state to follow. The same policyis extended elsewhere to include price fixing and direct control of the graintrade, and by implication, of all other commercial activity. Rather than providinga justification for such a policy on economic and Islamic grounds, he carriesout his entire discussion on the assumption that big government has the capacityand the means to solve all economic problems. This thesis, in my view, contradictsthe basic economic philosophy of Islam, which incorporates private initiativeand free enterprise with a primary focus on the individual as a decisionmaker and khurifah of God on earth. The author continues to overlook the factthat equity and efficiency are not complementruy, but often competitive. Anover-emphasis on the distributional justice of Islam creates an erroneous impressionthat in the Islamic worldview, economic growth and development are relegatedto a secondary role. This is not only incorrect, but it also contradicts thevery thesis of his book. Elsewhere I have elaborated on the Qur’anic view ofman and its implications for his economic role.land Ownership and TenureIn the beginning of chapter 10, the author correctly notes that Islam allowsland accumulation without any restrictions and recommends a balanced ...
WTO SUCCESSOR TO GATT
Authors: Sultan Arif
Published: December 2020

Within a short span of time a number of economic blocs have emergedon the world horizon. In this race, all countriedeveloped, developingand underdeveloped-are included. Members of the North America FreeTrade Agreement (NAITA) and the European Economic Community(EEC) are primarily of the developed countries, while the EconomicCooperation Organization (ECO) and the Association of South EastAsian Nations (ASEAN) are of the developing and underdevelopedAsian countries.The developed countries are scrambling to create hegemonies throughthe General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT). In these circumstances,economic cooperation among Muslim countries should be onthe top of their agenda.Muslim countries today constitute about one-third of the membershipof the United Nations. There are around 56 independentMuslim states with a population of around 800 million coveringabout 20 percent of the land area of the world. Stretchingbetween Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the Muslim Worldstraddles from North Africa to Indonesia, in two major Islamicblocs, they are concentrated in the heart of Africa to Indonesia,in two major blocs, they are concentrated in the heart of Africaand Asia and a smaller group in South and Southeast Asia.'GATT is a multilateral agreement on tariffs and trade establishing thecode of rules, regulations, and modalities regulating and operating internationaltrade. It also serves as a forum for discussions and negotiations ...
ON THE ROLE OF MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS
Authors: Hofmann Murad Wilfried
Published: December 2020

Before delving into the subject of the role of Muslim intellectuals, weshould agree on what we mean when using the term.The meaning of the word Muslim is well-known because it has beendefined in the Qur’an itself. According to Sfirut ul-Nisi, verse 125, aMuslim is someone “who submits his whole self to Allah, does what isgood, and follows the way of Ibrahim.” And according to verse 136 ofthe same sfiruh a Muslim is he who believes “in Allah, and His messengers,and the scriptures which He has sent down to those before.” Finally,Sfirut ul-Tuwbah says in verse 7 1 that believing Muslims “order what isright and forbid what is wrong, observe their prayers, pay zakat, andobey Allah and His messenger.”The meaning of the word intellectual is more difficult to determine andis not defined in the Qur’an. In fact, this term has been used only sincethe late 19th century. For our purposes, I do not propose to define asintellectual everybody who is “cultured” or academically trained-inArabic al-muthaqifin. Rather, I should like to restrict the term to what iscalled in Arabic al-mufuqirfin: analytical minds who communicate, asopinion leaders, through lecturing or publishing and do not just sit athome, thinking and criticizing.So we know what, or who, a Muslim intellectual is. But do such individualsexist?It is well known that the so-called elite of Europe, also of KemalistTurkey, came to believe that there was a contradiction between beingintelligent and believing in God. In fact, from the middle of the 19th centuryto the present time, considered it Western and Turkish academicsconsidered it intellectually chic to be an agnostic or an atheist, in particularif one was a leftist-as if intellectualism was a privilege of the Left,and not to be found on the conservative Right.This attitude, still pervasive today, goes back to the so-called Age ofReason and the Enlightenment-budding with Descartes in the 17th ...
Pluralism in "Old Societies and New States"
Authors: Farooqui Jamil
Published: December 2020

Pluralism has emerged as an important aspect of political life since the adventof liberal democracy. It is considered essential for the success of modem states.It indicates the existence of vaiious conflicting ideologies, conception .. values.and purposes of human life at a social level and the plurality of autonomousgroups and organizations at a political level. The existence of modem tates andthe uccessful operation of democracy depends upon how they accommodateethno-cultural diversities within the broad framework of their social ethos and how they develop state mechanisms to safeguard the interests of all groups toensure the well-being of the masses.The book under review describes, in a limited manner, the features and problemsof pluralism in Southeast Asia. The region exhibits the traits of a pluralsociety where different groups and communities live side by side, maintainingtheir separate identities. Cultural interaction and civilized dialogue take placewithout major tension. The countries of the region, particularly members ofASEAN, have concentrated their efforts on economic development and proceededalong the path of industrialization as a means to that. They have succeededin their attempt and distinguished themselves from other countries in thecontinent ...
THE ROLE OF SUBJECT (MUJTAHID) IN AL-SHAFI'I'S METHODOLOGY: HERMENEUTIC APPROACH
Authors: Pacaci Mehmet
Published: December 2020

Ever since the Qur'an was revealed, Muslims have been making greatefforts to understand and live in accordance with it. Within a very shortperiod of time after the Prophet's death, schools of fish emerged in theHijaz, Iraq, and Syria. They defined the sources of the religion (al-din)and engaged in developing methods to better understand them. By theearly part of the second century, more systematic approaches appeared;the roots of the schools that emerged reached back to the Companions ofthe Prophet as well as to the Prophet himself.' Their approaches representedman's natural tendencies to understanding the din. Many schoolsappeared only to fade away and be replaced by ones more comprehensivein their approach. In the late second century, Imam al-Shafi'i (150-204 A.H.) put forward the first systematic methodology of fiqh. In hiswork, al-Risalah, Imam al-Shafi'i offered a methodoIogy for the verypurpose of understanding the din. Of course, the methodology took forgranted a certain definition of Islam. Even though his methodology drewfrom prior lines of thought, it is widely accepted that as an originalmethodology, the Imam's theory of fiqh drastically transformed the perceptionof Islam that had hitherto prevailed."In order to change the approach toward the din, he redefined conceptssuch as Sunnah and ijtihad. He identified ijtihad with qiyas; and whereasthe term Sunnah had been used for the practice of the Muslim community,the Imam restricted its application to the Sunnah of the Prophetand the companions. In his vocabulary the concept of hikmah took onconsiderable importance. Al-Shafi'i can almost be singled out by his definitionof the concept of hikmah from other Muslim scholars. In order toestablish and consolidate the authority of the Sunnah on the basis of theQur'an, he interpreted and defined this Qur'anic concept as being synonymouswith the Sunnah ...
Global Trap
Authors: El-Diwany Tariq
Published: December 2020

This book presents a most readable perspective on economic and social trendsin the coming century. Though retaining a European focus throughout, the materialspans the world and supports arguments that are of relevance to individualsin whichever continent they may live. The authors describe an incessant marchtoward globalization in finance and industry, a march that is forcing politicalchange upon a Europe that is simply unprepared, a march toward the GlobalTrap.Opening the book, the reader finds himself in San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel,an oasis of luxury in a desert of mere wealth, where the world’s leading thinkersand elder statesmen have gathered to discuss the future of our planet for anappropriate fee. A most plausible economic horror story follows. In the not-toodistantfuture, machines will replace humans in so many spheres of industry thatthere will be sufficient work for only 20 percent of the developed world’s population.In this 2080 society the 20 percent shall surround themselves with electronicsecurity and wire fences and the 80 percent will be doped with welfarepayments, trivial game shows, and other such “tittytainment.” Amusing catchphrasesspice Global Trap, trivializing yet somehow succeeding in summarizinga whole worldview. One immediately recognizes “MacWorld versus Jihad”as the much predicted confrontation between free market capitalism and Islam.The authors’ main concerns are expounded in a serious manner. They discussthe nature of the massive modem conglomerate whose control lies beyond thereach of national government. Moving their production to the least expensivelocations, these seemingly anonymous entities by default produce their wares inthose countries where environmental protection and employee rights are at aminimum. In another discussion, one’s attention is turned to the speculatorwhose activity impacts upon so many significant areas of modem life.Much attention is paid to the rapidly widening gap between the rich world andthe poor world, a gap which threatens the survival of both. In a sobering portrayalof one possible European future, the barriers are raised against floods ofcheap imports and of immigrants wishing’that they too could share the livingstandards of the rich world. But the immigrant finds himself in the midst of adifferent kind of economic nightmare, a world in which life on a human scale isno longer possible or profitable. in which the individual is enslaved in mortgagedebt, works at maximum output, or, does not work at all. Feeling that they nolonger have a voice in their own destiny, the indigenous population turns towardradical political solutions, toward the protectionist, the xenophobe, and the fascistDoes any of this sound familiar? Of course, the genre of doom and gloom hasa long pedigree, but this is not intellectual pornography for those awaiting theend of the world. There is little, if any, wild extrapolation of current trends inorder to predict future despair. Instead, the authors present well-researched factto support their forecast of what might be if solutions are not found in time ...
Remembering Ibn Rushd
Authors: Malkawi Fathi Hasan
Published: December 2020

This year is the 800th anniversary of Ibn Rushd's (1128-1198) death.Our editorial is dedicated to his memory as a great Muslim scholar. Hislegacy is one of the greatest contributions to human understanding andintellectual scholarship. The occasion deserves much more than an editorial.This issue reports on a conference celebrating Ibn Rushd'sachievements and later this year MISS will have a report on the seminarthat the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is organizing inAmman, Jordan, honoring his work. In this editorial I will try to clarifyIbn Rushd's place in Islamic Intellectual history and underscore his contributionsto the development of philosophical, theological, and scientificthought in the Muslim and Western worlds.Although Ibn Rushd has an important position in the Islamic intellectuallegacy, his contributions have not received due recognition in theMuslim world. Even among those who are aware of his works, to a greatextent, he has been misunderstood and misrepresented, and his positionhas undergone multiple distortions. We feel it is essential to understandhis work free of historical and contemporary ideological biases and distortionsin order to fully comprehend the problems and concerns thatmotivated Muslim scholars and provided the framework for Islamicthought. It is also important that we understand the reasons why he wasnot given the place he deserves in the Islamic heritage and why he isoften misinterpreted.Ibn Rushd was a great integrator of knowledge. He was a preeminentphysician and a prominent judge of his time. He was also a philosopherand theologian. His mastery of knowledge demonstrated two dimensions-he was both encyclopedic and specialist. In the areas of his specializations-medicine, jurisprudence, and philosophy-he was a masterwithout peer. Ibn Rushd had two outstanding qualities. He was extremelyintelligent and he was also extraordinarily just and fair in his approachto religion. It is important that we understand and appreciate his unprejudicedapproach to the study of religion. Indeed, it is one of his most distinctivequalities.Ibn Rushd was a committed Muslim and a very humble man. Thishumility manifests itself in his writings as well as in his methodology.His search for truth allowed him to explore all sources, including earlyGreek philosophers. He believed that we must examine all sources, even ...
Understanding Islam in the West
Authors: Ezzat Heba Raouf
Published: December 2020

Gilles Kepel, Allah in the West: Islamic Movements in America andEurope (Stanford, CA Stanford University Press, 1997). 273 pp.Adam LeBor, A Heart Turned East: Among the Muslims of Europe andAmerica (London: Little, Brown and Company, 1997), 322 pp.Understanding Islam and the West is not as easy a task as it mightseem. If one attempts to study Muslims living in the West, one is facedby millions of people who are divided among different states, come fromdifferent ethnic origins, adopt different schools of thought and understandingwithin their belief system, and incorporate a realm of perspectives,movements, subcultures, and contradicting positions toward theWest.Conversely, if one chooses to study the West in Dar al-Zslum, one isbound to face a past full of conflict and confrontations, a present of intellectualhesitation and unbalanced power relationships, and a future ofconfusing choices and questions on the prospects of democratidon andthe gains/losses of increasing globalization. Hence, scholars choose tofocus on one aspect. Recent attempts include studying Islam in relationto the West on a purely philosophical level (e.g., Khuri), the compatibilityof Islam and democracy, the future of the process of democratizationin the Islamic world (e.g., Esposito and Voll), and studying the responseof Muslim intellectuals to the questions and concepts of modernity, (e.g.,Cooper and Nettler).' ...
21st Century and the Birth of the United Nations of Islam
Authors: Bayoumi Alaa M.
Published: December 2020

This book studies the posibilities, objectives, characteristics, and advantagesof the unity of Muslim nation in the foreseeable future. The author, Jawed UIHaq Siddiqui, deals with the various dimensions and functions of this aspiredunity and offers an ambitious institutional scenario for its attainment. Its dominantfeature is the establishment of the Organization of Islamic Unity (OIU),which will replace or reconstruct the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).The OIU will work to establish various institutions and processes of unificationby the year 2000, ullimately to establish the United States of Islam (USI) by theyear 2010.The birth of the USI will result by accumulating different processes of unificationundertaken by Muslim nations from now until the year 2010. USI's confederationwill be open for membership to all Muslim states. ln order to join, Muslim states must sign on to at least one of the basic points of confederation.The basic points are the following: ...
The Nazarean Legacy
Authors: Kopanski Ataullah Bogdan
Published: December 2020

After Pompey Magnus’s conquest of the Hellenistic East in 64 B.c., theRoman administrators of Asia Occidentalis divided the Arabian peninsulainto three realms: Arabia Petraea (Rocky Arabia), which stretchedfrom Greater Syria to the Gulf of Ayala (Aqaba), and whose capital inPetra (the Rock) was carved out by the Nabateans from sandstone on theslopes of Ain Musa; Arabia Deserta (desert Arabia) with Bostra (Busra)as the commercial capital in Hawran; and Arabia Felix (happy Arabia)or Yemen with the capital city of Mariaba (Ma’rib). Arabia Petraea,despite its wilderness, played a significant role in the political life of theempire.’ Because of the natural supply of pure water in the barren land,it was a midpoint on the ancient caravan route from Hadramaut to Egyptand Syria. A variety of goods-the myrrh and frankincense of theSabaean Arabia Felix, ivory, gold, and slaves of East Africa, spices,gems, and precious wood of India- were transported via Petra andGerasa (Jerash) to Damascus, Alexandria, and Rome. In Arabia Petraea,the Prophet Yusuf was cast into a well by his brothers from which he wasfound and brought to Egypt, where he was sold. Many readers of theBible believe that Ain Musa near Petra is the spring that the ProphetMusa caused to gush forth. In the time of the Prophet Sulayman, ArabiaPetraea was populated by the semitic tribes of Edom and Moab. Duringthe rule of the Babylonian Nabuchadnezzar who sacked Jerusalem in 587B.c. and deported Judean rebels to Babylon, the Edomites established akingdom of Sela in the land of Seir. But at the end of the sixth centuryB.c., the Nabateans forced them to migrate to Idumea. Under theNabatean rule, Petra was recognized as the ancient “duty-fire” city. TheNabatean desert kingdom survived as an independent state until the ...
Phenomenology versus Historicism
Authors: Refudeen Mohammed Awais
Published: December 2020

IntroductionThe purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that phenomenologicalapproaches, which include the significance of constructed meanings andsymbolic values of events and personalities in their understanding, cannotbe reconciled with historicism and positivist accounts of history.Phenomenological accounts of religious issues are imbued with metaphysicalsignificance and are sensitive to discursive constructions ofreality and history. To the practitioners of this perspective the beliefs andvalues of the subject are as important as the sequence of events in histoq.Indeed, for them, the very idea of history is dependent on the way thesubject envisions it.The historicists on the other hand see history itself as the driving forcebehind social constructions of meanings and seek to identify objectiveforces in order to account for the emergence of beliefs and meanings.Thus, while phenomenologists use values to “understand” history, historicistsuse history to “explain” values. This paper posits that the significantdifference in the treatment of “subjectivity” and its impact onreligious beliefs and practices in these two approaches cannot be reconciled.This paper also examines Mircea Eliade’s contention that these twoapproaches can be reconciled and frnds that claim does not stand up tothe case at hand.In order to contrast the differences in the phenomenological and historicistaccounts and also to test Eliade’s contentions, this paper employsthe Shi’i idea of Imamate as a case study. The findings of this paper aregermane to all religious issues, such as Muslim beliefs about the divinenature of the Qur’an and the miracles performed by Prophets. At a basiclevel the discussion in this paper deals with the fundamental challenge ...
Information Technologies and Globalization
Authors: Siddiqui Dilnawaz A.
Published: December 2020

Technology is defined as a device to compensate for human physical,psychological, and mental limitations. It is usually neutral, but can havefunctional and dysfunctional aspects based on its users’ intentions.Historically, the technological haves have justified the existence and possessionof new technologies, have publicized their own innocence andsense of responsibility in using them, and have asserted the innocuousnessof their devices without necessarily sharing all of their secrets. Concernedand helpless, the technological have-nots have resisted them and, havingsuffered their deadly devastation, have tried to obtain them at great risk tothemselves. However, the situation of information technology/-ies (IT) isdifferent and more interesting. The haves have attempted to popularizetheir use globally for commercial and other reasons. Many have-nots areembracing them wholeheartedly, while some are more cautious.One motivation behind the use of these technologies is globalization.The increasingly popularized term globalization is rather vague and complex,allowing a variety of interpretations and hidden intentions. Thehave-nots seem to see it as the West’s redoubled efforts at Westernizingthe world with all its pains, pleasures, and perversions; as achieving politicalhegemony as the sole superpower after the end of the Cold War; andas the “opening up of the globe” for commercial control on its own terms.Initially the world, especially the nations of South Asia, saw for themselvesa rare opportunity in the globalization of trade and IT. But since thecontagion has now spread, rather too fast, across the globe, the world cansee more clearly both the prospects and the problems of these two majorglobal trends. The purpose of this paper is to identify various issuesinvolved in these trends, and to discuss, in greater depth, some of them,namely, global business, the promise of technology, and the globalizationof media and culture ...
Religion and Locality Conference
Authors: Kucukcan Talip
Published: December 2020

A two-day (September 8-10, 1998) international conference, “Religionand Locality,” took place at Leeds University, organized by the Departmentof Theology and Religious Studies. The conference participants addressedvarious emerging issues related to the relationship between religion andlocality, religious mapping of a locality, and the effects of globalization onlocal manifestations of religious practices, ideas, and movements.The first day of the conference was opened by a lengthy discussion in anagenda-setting session led by Kim Knott and Haddon Willmer (both ofUniversity of Leeds, UK). Knott and Willmer raised important theoreticalquestions in the study of religion and locality. They argued that localitycannot always be confined to a physically identified place, for a shared culturealso constitutes a form of locality. Addressing methodological issues,Knott and Willmer stated that anthropology, sociology, geography, history,as well as religious studies can provide insightful approaches and usefultheoretical perspectives to explore different aspects of religion and locality.Conference participants contributed to the agenda-setting session with anumber of suggestions. For example, it was suggested that the study ofconcepts such as diaspora, state, and citizenship might refme approaches tominority religions, which are often seen as monolithic and as fixing beliefsystems. It was also suggested that new religious movements, contextualand situational factors, and sacred on the cyberspace should also be takeninto consideration, as well as global and international developments, for nolocality is isolated from external encounters in the information age.Following the closure of agenda setting, Michael Pye (University ofMarburg, Germany) gave a paper, “Religious localization in Sacred andSecular Space.” Pye argued that religious focus and pathways are intertwinedwith social realities. Religious focusing takes place within a secular/general space. Drawing upon his observations on Indian, Japanese, andancient Egyptian religions, he drew attention to the influence of secular and ...
Human Motivation
Authors: Alawneh Shafiq F.
Published: December 2020

This article seeks to elaborate on the Islamic understanding of humanmotivation. It discusses the importance of understanding motivation asa guide for explaining human behavior. It reviews various conceptionsof motivation available within the different schools of psychology.Motivation in Islam, the paper argues, derives from knowledge abouthuman origins, about God and Man’s relationship with God and theworld around him. Free will and knowledge are important componentsof human motivation. Iman (faith), the paper insists, is the most basicof human motivations. It is a profound psychological state that influencesall forms of motivations. The article concludes by identifying theimplications of motivation to education and learning.
Toward an Islamic Perspective of Developmental Psychology
Authors: Shehu Salisu
Published: December 2020

This article seek to advance an Islamic understanding of the process of human development. It begins with a critique of the Western ecular worldvicw, which relies exclusively on empiricism and reductionism. It also bring out the exclusion of the spiritual dimension and the privi­leging of materialism in secular developmental psychology. The paper relies on the Quran to determine the factors, heredity and environment, that shape development. It also argues that while there are factors that have a cau al effect, in the ultimate analy is everything depends on God' will.
On the Development of Islamic Jurisprudence
Authors: Hofmann Murad Wilfried
Published: December 2020

This article examines the state of Islamic jurisprudence with regard to many sensitive issues, such as the status of women and minorities in Islam, Islam and Democracy, hudud punishments. The author explores the current state of Islamic discourse on jurisprudence and identifies three approaches-traditional, secular and reformist. The paper explores the positions of the traditional ulama and the reformist muj­tahids on the mentioned topics and finds the reformist position more sensible and closer to the position of ihe Qur'an and Sunnah. This paper while advocating neo-ijtihad, makes an impressive case for the merit???? and Islamic credibility of the reformist jurisprudence.
Atlas al Hadarah al lslamiyah
Authors: Nourallah Riad
Published: December 2020

Atlas was first published in its original English edition in 1986. The collaborationof Temple University, the International Institute of Islamic Thought(IIIT), and the American Trust Publications with Macmillan made the publicationpossible. At the time, the book clearly marked a qualitative leap in termsof writings on Islamic culture and civilization. With its large format, over 500pages, and hundreds of maps, tables, charts, chronologies, photographs, andillustrations, it sought to catch the eyes (and minds) of a wide range of readers,sacrificing little in the way of erudition or pertinent detail and shunning bothgeographical and chronological arrangements. These two approaches, theauthors pointed out, would have been unsuitable for such a work, seeking tohighlight the “essence” of the Muslim experience in the midst of and despitethe bewildering diversity of that experience. Nor was the new venture merelya blend of the two methods with their perceived “shortcomings,” but one whichfollowed the “phenomenological” method, where “the observer let[s] the phenomenaspeak for themselves rather than force them into any predeterminedideational framework.”The Faruqis saw themselves as innovators in applying this method (traced toEdmund Husserl and Max Scheler) to the study of Islam. The method wasadvantageous as it allowed them to escape both the “epistemological ethnocentrism”of Western Islamicists and the “uncritical” assumptions of Muslimscholars. In the tradition of other Muslim harmonizers, and with a mix of genuinehumility and some unconscious trepidation, they also stressed that theirwork was “a beginning.”Surely Atlas was no starting point for the Faruqis. For many years they hadworked together, or individually, on many a project, book, and seminar -papers on music, compendiums on world and Asian religions, books on Islam,symposiums on the dialogue of the Abrahamic faiths. Their numerous intellectualand academic achievements, including Isma‘il al Faruqi’s pivotal role inthe founding and empowerment of the IIIT, deserve far more coverage thanthat provided by this cursory review. But the experiences and insights as wellas the team spirit they developed over the years, and through a great deal ofglobe-trotting, were to stand them in good stead as they approached a task ofencyclopedic proportions. Indeed, any glimpse into the features of Atlas, one ...
Hidden Agendas
Authors: McCarron Kevin
Published: December 2020

Those who admire the work of John Pilger, journalist and film maker, willfind much to enthuse over in Hidden Agendas, his seventh book. At nearly 700pages it is lengthy and its list of subjects includes Vietnam, East Timor,apartheid, English tabloid newspapers, Wapping, Rupert Murdoch, Burma,Hillsborough, Australian aboriginals, Kenya, Tony Blair and New Labour, theGulf War, and Northern Ireland. Pilger's primary themes, however, are considerablyfewer: media control, globalization, the military, capitalism, and, crucially,opposition to this ideology. Pilger writes in the introduction: “This book is devoted to slow news” (p. 1).By “slow news” Pilger means those stories which have not received seriousmedia coverage. He goes on to note: “When slow news is included, it is morethan likely dressed in a political and social vocabulary that ensures the truth islost” (p. 2). That Pilger knows what the truth is, is a central premise of hisbook. In his bitter criticism of global media coverage of the Gulf War, hewrites: “The war was not a war at all. It was a one-sided blood-letting. KateAdie [BBC reporter], like most of her colleagues, had reported the news, butnot the story” (pp. 52-53). Pilger’s real concern throughout this book is thestory, not the news. This is an unequivocally political book appealing to theeducated general reader. A substantial number of notes are employed and thereis a useful index, but Hidden Agendas has no scholarly pretensions. Indeed,overall, Pilger can be cavalier, even irresponsibly so, with regard to referencing.For example, in the following assertion made in the introduction, at leastseven claims are made, not one of which is substantiated ...
Hidden Agendas
Authors: Khan Shiraz
Published: December 2020

Modem democratic society is a mixture of centralized state power, a powerfulcorporate/finance sector, a virtually monopolized media network, and variouscivil institutions, the underlying ideological themes of which are the freedomof an individual to participate in the decision-making process and toexpress alternative viewpoints in the political, economic, and social spheres.Freedom has always been a cherished ideal, and freedom of thought a hardfought-for reality which today symbolizes one of the outward hallmarks ofmodem, particularly Western, societies. Pilger's book highlights the fact thatwhen this ideal - in essence the ability of a citizen to think, understand, andplay a meaningful role in managing the public affairs of his own society - coexistsalongside the reality of a set of powerful groupings working toward adifferent agenda within the same society, then true participatory citizenshipbecomes meaningless and democracy a sham. In other words, privileged elitesworking for their own wealth and self-interests become the leading orchestratorsof plans or "agendas" to maintain skewed power distributions, keeping thereality of matters so "hidden" from the public that a smoke screen of half-truthsand propaganda is created, preventing those outside from understanding reality,and therefore, acting in their own interests. These hidden agendas can takethe fonn of direct concealment or by the manufacture of consent (as defined byNoam Chomsky) whereby facts are manipulated and presented in such a guiseas to obtain the firm support of the individuals making up society.To the general reader, the title and subject matter of the book will undoubtedlyhave an almost conspiratorial ring about it, enough at least for most ...
Sirat al-Mustaqim and Hikma
Authors: El-Sheikh Salah
Published: December 2020

This paper seeks to understand the context in which the debates con­cerning Islamic economics are taking place. The author contends that in the absence of a democratic and free environment the discourses on Islamic economics are suffering from free and open discussions about the true essence of Islam and its implications in the socioeconomic arena. After discussing some of the limits of the discourses on Islamic economics, suc.h as a lack of common terminology and appropriate use of Qur'anic terms, the author advances his understanding of the Qur'anic approach to iman. The author argues that 'aql and hikrrui are the cornerstones of Islam and the two faculties that the Qur'an repeat­edly invokes in order that humanity may understand Islamic laws and principles and fulfill its mandate of Allah's vicegerency. The paper con­cludes that the straight path is essentially a rational approach and invites the discourses on Islamic economics to rely more on 'aql and hikrrui in their contemplation.
Islam and Modernity
Authors: Ezzat Heba Raouf
Published: December 2020

The relation between Islam and modernity is a controversial topic and draws theattention of both Mush and non-Muslim scholars. Islam and Modernity bringstogether the ideas of a number of contemporary modernist and liberal Muslimthinkers and examines their ideas, which attempt to respond to the challenges ofthe postcolonial situation. The book comprises a collection of articles that analyzethe thought of a wide variety of figures from North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Iran, andIndia and from both Sunni and Shi’i backgrounds. In so doing, it attempts to presenta new “map” that goes beyond the usual categorization of Islamic thoughtaccording to area, language, or school of thought. For the most part, these thinkerspostdate the early wave of “modernist” thinkers, such as Muhammad Abduh andRashid Rida, and often differ from them in their thought - particularly in theirapproach to the Qur’an, their evaluation of Islamic law, and their ideas on the connectionbetween Islam and politics.In his introduction, Derek Hopwood raises the central issue of the book, whichis how change can be integrated into society and particularly how the challenges ofmodernization can be integrated into Muslim societies. He argues that change iscaused by a variety of factors but that tension occuts when a traditional society ischallenged by the outside world, or when attempts are made to modernize it fromwithin. In the Islamic world, for example, it was the European influence, h u g hthe experience of colonization, that came to challenge the established ideas andcustoms, and raised the issue of “modernity” in the minds of intellectuals.Hopwood also hies to make a distinction between “modernization” and “modemity.”Whereas “modernization” refers to the artihcts of modem life (transport, communication,industry, technology, e&.) and is the general term used for the politicaland cultural processes initiated by the integration of new ideas and new economicsystems, “modemity” is a system of thought and a way of living in the contemporaryworld that is open to change.In the first chapter, Javed Majeed explores some appropriations of Europeanmodernity that appear in late nineteenth century Urdu literam and focuses on thework of two of the main proponents of the Aligarh Movement, Sayyid AhmadKhan (1817-1898) and Altaf Hussain Hali (1837-1914). The aim of the AligarhMovement was to enable the Muslim Urdu-speaking elite, which it repsented, toadjust to the realities of British power after the suppression of the Indian rebellionof 1857. Sayyid Ahmad Khan played a central role in the establishment of theMuhammadan AngIo-Oriental College in 1875 and was a key figure in defining“Islamic modernism” in India ...
The Making of New World Slavery
Authors: Hunt Sylvia J.
Published: December 2020

Robin Blackburn's mighty tome talces readers on a historical journey throughthree hundred years of colonial slavery in the New World. As one travels throughEurope, Africa, and the Americas, one meets a wide range of characters: slaves,slave traders, merchants, seamen, national navies and armies, free and indenturedlaborers, planters, national leaders, and government officials, all of whom have apart to play that is duly examined by the author. The author has drawn on a verywide variety of sow-ces: American, British, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese,and Latin texts, ranging from the texts of antiquity to those of the late twentiethcentury. Some useful maps of the period are included, as well as infonnative illustrationsand many tables of economic and demographic surveys of the colonies.The detailed notes provide helpful signposts to readers wishing to pursue certainaspects of slavery and related topics in greater depth. The book comprises twelvechapters as well as an introduction, an epilogue, and a comprehensive index.In the Introduction, the author describes the book as "an account of the makingof the European systems of colonial slavery in the Americas" (p. 3). The authorattempts to show its role in the advent of modernity and to examine slavery in itshistorical perspective as an ever-present reality. Indeed, slavery existed from theearliest of times and was accepted as part of life by the Greek and Roman civilizationsand later by Christianity. The main justification for slavery was difference -implying inferiority -which could be derived from ethnicity, color, social status,genealogy, or criminal behavior. Prisoners of war were also frequently enslaved ...
Beyond the Dependency Culture
Authors: Anees Munawar A.
Published: December 2020

James Robertson is a seasoned policy maker. More than three decades ago,from the corridors of Whitehall, he became the architect of the "winds ofchange" theme for British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's end-of-empiretour of Africa. Robertson's theme of change is a call for liberation, and morespecifically, liberation from the control and domination of institutional power.He sees it fit to argue that in the post-imperial world, prosperity and survivalof nations and peoples depends on a deep-rooted concern for humans andnature.In the postmodern world where communism has breathed its last and socialismis in disrepute, Robertson has attempted to chart a new course for the futureof humanitv. lie believes that both caQ.italism and socialism have served themotives of big businesses and state. It is time for a postmodern worldview toemerge that will rectify the excesses of the two dominant systems. The authorcalls for a new path of progress, based on co-operative self-reliance rather thanincreased dependency, so that the world allows people (and nations) to takeresponsibility for their own development in co-operation with one another. Hesees this not only as an important end in itself, but also as "the only means, barringworldwide catastrophe, of transforming today's ecologically destructivepatterns of human activity into ways of life that can be sustained into thefuture" (p. xi).This theme constitutes the bulk of lectures and papers that are reprinted inthe book. Spanning a period of nearly two decades - from 1977 to 1996 -they complement the author's earlier published works: The Sane Alternative ...