The contemporary Qur’anic studies have been marked by amazing development. Various methods and approaches to understand the Qur’an are offered by the scholars. One of the prominent figures in this field is Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010 M) is a highly controversial contemporary thinker. He is an Egyptian scholar who is accused of being apostate, because of his theory of qur’anic hermeneutic (the textual of Qur’an). This is reflected in his stances towards contemporary religious discourse and (...) the approach to reading religious texts, especially the Quran, which requires reading according to a hermeneutic mechanism. His books ‘Naqd al-Khitab al-Dini (Criticism of Religious Discourse)’ and ‘Al-Takfir fi Zaman al-Takfir (Thinking in the Time of Atonement)’ caused a great uproar in the early nineties of the last century. Abu Zayd was accused of criticising atheists because of their stances on the text. Therefore, this study aimed to discuss Abu Zayd’s position on contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts, and also aims to discuss why Abu Zayd’s theory has been string up Islamic world and ending by his expulsive from his native country. To deal with this problem, this article discusses Abd Zayd’s biography and some cultural framework of his people. The methodology of Qur’anic hermeneutic is the least his. Having examined the topic, the author finds that Abu Zayd believes that modem literary theory and criticism denote the way to understand and interpret the Qur’an ‘objectively’. The contribution of this research is discussing Abu Zayd’s contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts. Contribution: The contribution of this research is discussing Abu Zayd’s contemporary religious discourse and his new approach to reading religious texts. (shrink)

Pre-modern Arabic biography has served as a major source for the history of Islamic civilization. In this 2000 study exploring the origins and development of classical Arabic biography, Michael Cooperson demonstrates how Muslim scholars used the notions of heirship and transmission to document the activities of political, scholarly and religious communities. The author also explains how medieval Arab scholars used biography to tell the life-stories of important historical figures by examining the careers of the Abbasid Caliph al- Ma'mun, the Shiite (...) Imam Ali al-Rida, the Sunni scholar Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and the ascetic Bishr al-Hafi, each of whom represented a tradition of political and spiritual heirship to the Prophet. Drawing on anthropology and comparative religion, as well as history and literary criticism, the book considers how each figure responded to the presence of the others and how these responses were preserved by posterity. (shrink)

This book presents a study of the cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria and the Near East. Through case studies of saints and their devotees, discussion of the architecture of monuments, examination of devotional objects, and analysis of ideas of ‘holiness’, the book depicts the practices of living religion and explores the common heritage of all three monotheistic faiths. Critical readings of a wide range of contemporary sources — travel writing, geographical works, pilgrimage guides, legal (...) writings, historical sources, hagiography, and biography — reveal a vibrant religious culture in which the veneration of saints and pilgrimage to tombs and shrines were fundamental. (shrink)

Muslim reformism, which emerged in West Asia during the closingyears of the nineteenth century, and the early twentieth, was spearheaded byJamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad ‘Abduh. It responded to the socioeconomicand political challenges confronting the Muslim society. Muslimreformism was not only influential in West Asia but also in Southeast Asia.However, most studies on Muslim reform have privileged the “central Islāmiclands” at the expense of its “periphery”. As a result, Muslim reform inMalaysia has been marginalised. Thus, this article, discusses the historiographyof (...) Muslim reform in Malaya. An analysis of the major writings in Englishand Malay identified the major trends, issues, and gaps. It argues that theexisting studies tend to focus on the intellectual history of reform, while thesocial history of the diffusion of reformism has not been adequately analysed.Similarly, most works on reform in Malaysia focus on its development in thecountry alone without embarking upon comparative analysis with other areassuch as West Sumatra, Aceh and Java. Existing biographies of reformistsfocusing on prominent figures such as Syed Sheikh al-Hadi and Sheikh Tahirhave been thoroughly examined while other reformists such as Abu BakarAshaari, Abdullah Maghribi, and Abu Bakar Bakir have not been adequatelystudied. (shrink)

The Crusades are a period of struggle between the East and the West, or between Muslims and Christians, covering nearly two centuries. However, much of the academic research on the Crusades is European-centered and written by experts of the Middle Ages of the West. Changing this viewpoint whose impressions about the Muslim perspective are incomplete and distorted is possible by reconsidering the History of the Crusades from an East / Muslim point of view. In this study, the first reaction (...) of the Muslims against Crusades, the situation of the Seljuk State, the struggles between Frenk and Turks after the seizure of Seljuqan capital İznik by the Crusaders and the collapse of Urfa and Antakya cities will be discussed in the axis of the first Crusade. The sources of the research constitute the chronicles, biographies and geographical studies related to the subject. (shrink)

On religious life in Islam; conduct of life for Muslims and on Islamic ethics.

Biography of ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ʻAyn al-Quḍāh al-Hamadhānī, d. 1131, a Muslim saint from Iran.

The text provides a phenomenological analysis of The Autobiography of Malcolm X taken from the subjective perspective offered by Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X). Central to this process is the ever evolving and shifting relationality between Malcolm’s specific point of view and the social world he must take-up.

Muslim philosophers - Biography ; Islamic philosophy - Early works to 20th century.

Islamic philosophy; Muslim philosophers; biography.

ʻUways, ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm; Muslim philosophers; biography.

Muslim scholars; Saudi Arabia; biography.

Named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the century, Tariq Ramadan is a leading Muslim scholar, with a large following especially among young European and American Muslims. Now, in his first book written for a wide audience, he offers a marvelous biography of the Prophet Muhammad, one that highlights the spiritual and ethical teachings of one of the most influential figures in human history. Here is a fresh and perceptive look at Muhammad, capturing (...) a life that was often eventful, gripping, and highly charged. Ramadan provides both an intimate portrait of a man who was shy, kind, but determined, as well as a dramatic chronicle of a leader who launched a great religion and inspired a vast empire. More important, Ramadan presents the main events of the Prophet's life in a way that highlights his spiritual and ethical teachings. The book underscores the significance of the Prophet's example for some of today's most controversial issues, such as the treatment of the poor, the role of women, Islamic criminal punishments, war, racism, and relations with other religions. Selecting those facts and stories from which we can draw a profound and vivid spiritual picture, the author asks how can the Prophet's life remain--or become again--an example, a model, and an inspiration? And how can Muslims move from formalism--a fixation on ritual--toward a committed spiritual and social presence? In this thoughtful and engaging biography, Ramadan offers Muslims a new understanding of Muhammad's life and he introduces non-Muslims not just to the story of the Prophet, but to the spiritual and ethical riches of Islam. (shrink)

Islamic ethics; Muslims; religious life; biography.

Birgivî Mehmet Efendi, ca. 1522-1573; Muslim scholar; biography; religious and political views.

Avicenna was a physician and philosopher in an era known as the Islamic Golden Age. His early medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine, was a groundbreaking text that scholars and healers read for centuries afterward.

Rev. ed. of: Contribution a l'etude de l'humanisme arabe au IVe/Xe siecle. 1970.

Biography and academic life of Riz̤ā Dāvarī, a prominent Iranian philosopher.

The first English-language biography of the well-known traditionalist metaphysican René Guénon, including a separate section assessing the impact of his work in the Western world, and an extensive annotated bibliography.

Biography of Burūjirdī, Ḥusayn al-Ṭabāṭabāʼī, 1875-196, an Iranian scholar and religio-political leader.

This note introduces the biography and the activities of Moodibbo Bello Aamadu, a Muslim scholar based in northern Cameroon who has invented an original alphabet for the writing of Fulfulde. Although Moodibbo Bello’s Fulfulde alphabet has not been in use beyond a restricted circle of his students, this attempt constitutes an important addition to our knowledge of indigenous African writing systems. The apparently curious record of Fulfulde, a language for which at least three different alphabets (besides ‘ajamī) have been already (...) documented in the literature, can be explained by the historical role of the Fulfulde-speaking Muslim scholars as vehicles of literacy across the western, central and eastern Sudan. [This is the abstract which accompanies the essay]. (shrink)

Extensive scientific, philosophical and artistic activities were carried out in the Islamic World’s various science and civilization centers during the early Middle Ages. In these centers, noteworthy works of mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine, pharmacology, optics, botany, chemistry and other fields of science, which would later determine improvement paths for these fields, were created. Abu al-Izz Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (12th-13th centuries), was a magnificent Muslim scientist known for his work named The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Kitab fi (...) ma‘rifati’l-hiyal al-handasiyya) and he was born in geography where many scientists were trained. He contributed to the development of science and civilization, the joint legacy of humanity and demonstrated his true capability and success in the field of ilm al-hiyal (the scientific field which addresses the information and practices regarding mechanical technology and engineering in Islamic science history). From this perspective, it is evident that al-Jazari had a wide field of interest, made his mark in the age he lived in with his brave and innovative ideas, and was a wise engineer. al-Jazari’s detailed descriptions and explanations of water clocks, oil lamp clocks and water pumping machines, as well as their construction, were astounding. In addition, al-Jazari’s studies on metal casting techniques, cone valves, wheel balance and the real-world use of aspiration tubes are important in contemporary engineering studies. When all these are considered, it becomes clear that his designation as the “Leonardo da Vinci of the Islamic World” is not a coincidence. Many studies on al-Jazari’s scientific legacy have been conducted in various parts of the world. There are various manuscripts of his aforementioned book. Based on these manuscripts, the work has been -fully or partially- translated into many languages, including Turkish. The German and English translations served as a basis for studies on al-Jazari in other languages. In recent years, studies conducted on al-Jazari in Türkiye (books, articles, domestic and international symposiums, congresses etc.) have demonstrated his brilliance and competence as a scientist. Furthermore, studies on al-Jazari are still ongoing in Türkiye. As for Russia, the scientific legacy of the scientists raised in the Islamic World such as Avicenna, al-Farabi, Abu Bakr al-Razi, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, al-Battani, al-Kashi, Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was researched within the scope of a special plan and program. Depending on the relevant studies, al-Jazari and his work drew attention as well. A small portion of the aforementioned Russian studies is known in Türkiye. It is safe to assume that al-Jazari studies in Russia are virtually unknown in Türkiye. The present study primarily aims to contribute to the literature on the scientific legacy of al-Jazari, a Middle Age Islamic scientist best known for his famous work in the mechanical field. More specifically, the present study aims to: 1) to identify the studies on al-Jazari in Russia, and in the former USSR countries, where academic studies are still in Russian after the Soviet Union period, to create a chronological biography and to set forth their compilation; in other words, to create a bibliography which includes Russian studies on al-Jazari; 2) to provide information on the structure and content of the studies in question, to detect the methodological issues encountered in these works, and make solution recommendations to solve these issues; 3) to contribute to continuing and future studies in Türkiye on al-Jazari in terms of source and material index. In conclusion, it should be stated that comparative reading was conducted centered on The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Kitab fi ma‘rifati’l-hiyal al-handasiyya). It should also be noted that Russian popular internet publications (which are not based on academic research and are created/reproduced for commercial and personal purposes) were excluded from the assessment. (shrink)

The volume gives a detailed account of the available data of the biography of the Jewish philosopher ʿIzz al-Dawla Ibn Kammūna (d. 683/1284), provides an outline of his philosophcial thought, and analyzes in detail the reception of his thought and his writings among later Muslim and Jewish philosophers. An inventory of his entire œuvre provides detailed information on all extant manuscripts. The volume furthermore includes editions of nine of his writings.