Download or read book Qur an and the Just Society written by Ramon Harvey and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-23 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilising a pioneering theological and hermeneutic framework adapted from both classical Muslim literature and contemporary academic studies of the Qur'an, Ramon Harvey explores the underlying principles of its system of social justice.
Download or read book Transcendent God Rational World written by Ramon Harvey and published by Edinburgh Studies in Islamic S. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ramon Harvey revisits the Muslim theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) from Samarqand and puts his system, and that of the Māturīdī school, into lively dialogue with modern thought to show that a contemporary Muslim philosophical theology (kalām jadīd) can provide original and constructive answers to perennial theological questions.
Download or read book Thomas Jefferson s Qur an written by Denise Spellberg and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country. Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done. As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.
Download or read book Major Themes of the Qur an written by Fazlur Rahman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-06-15 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this introduction to the Qur'an, Fazlur Rahman unravels its complexities on themes such as God, society, revelation, and prophecy.
Download or read book A Culture of Ambiguity written by Thomas Bauer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Western imagination, Islamic cultures are dominated by dogmatic religious norms that permit no nuance. Those fighting such stereotypes have countered with a portrait of Islam’s medieval “Golden Age,” marked by rationality, tolerance, and even proto-secularism. How can we understand Islamic history, culture, and thought beyond this dichotomy? In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and establish absolute, uncontestable truths and another, competing tendency that looks for ways to live with ambiguity and accept complexity. Bauer ranges across cultural and linguistic ambiguities, considering premodern Islamic textual and cultural forms from law to Quranic exegesis to literary genres alongside attitudes toward religious minorities and foreigners. He emphasizes the relative absence of conflict between religious and secular discourses in classical Islamic culture, which stands in striking contrast to both present-day fundamentalism and much of European history. Bauer shows how Islam’s encounter with the modern West and its demand for certainty helped bring about both Islamicist and secular liberal ideologies that in their own ways rejected ambiguity—and therefore also their own cultural traditions. Awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize, A Culture of Ambiguity not only reframes a vast range of Islamic history but also offers an interdisciplinary model for investigating the tolerance of ambiguity across cultures and eras.
Download or read book Justice in Islam written by RAYMOND WILLIAM. BAKER and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Justice stands as the crown jewel of the Islamic moral universe. Qur'anic referenes to justice are more frequent than those to the prophets of Islam. It is justice, rather than jihad or "holy war"' of the Western imagination, that defines the centrist Islam of the Qur'an. Justice in midstream Islam is at once "one and many," to borrow a formulation of Islamic mystics. Justice is one as the core Islamic value and many in the particular struggles for social justice it inspires. Abu Dharr al Ghifari, the beloved 7th century companion of the Prophet Muhammd, authored several hundred prophetic traditions and fought for the rights of the poor. Abu Dharr modeled the combination of scholarship and activism that characterizes Islamic intellectuals. Struggles for social justice waged in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, and beyond evoke the Prophet's companion as exemplar. The excesses of extremist thinking and the blinding glare of the violence it fosters may threaten to overwhelm the faith. Invariably, however, Islamic intellectuals step forward to restore moderation. Centrist Islam today is winning adherents at a pace that outstrips all other faiths. Individual chapters focus on the contributors to this Awakening, including the Egyptian Shaikh Muhammad al Ghazalli, the Turkish scholar Sa'id Nursi, the Lebanese Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, the martyred Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Baqir al Sadra, the Iranian intellectual Ali Sheriati, and the American athlete and Muslim convert Muhammad Ali. Their stories explain how an awakened Islam has today become a global phenomenon"--
Download or read book Sharia and the Concept of Benefit written by Abdul Aziz bin Sattam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-13 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of maslaha has a rich history in classical legal thought and literature. Conventionally translated into English as 'general benefit' or 'general interest', it has been the subject, over many centuries, of intense argument in Muslim legal manuals about how the concept should be constructed and how it might be interpreted. Some celebrated scholars have even elevated its status to an independent legal source; while other prominent jurists have spoken of the special strictures which need to be applied to maslaha when considering it within the overall framework of Islamic law. In this thorough and original treatment of the concept, Abdul Aziz bin Sattam offers the first sustained examination of one of the most important tenets of Sharia. Seeking to illuminate not only the intricacies of its application, but also the wider history which has shaped it, the author examines its foundations, theoretical underpinnings and the key debates in both classical and contemporary texts. His book will be a vital resource for all those with an interest in Islamic law, whether of the medieval or modern periods.
Download or read book The Qur an written by Bruce Lawrence and published by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. This book was released on 2008-03-18 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “timely and provocative” biography of Islam’s foundational text: “The history of the book is a map of the world we live in today” (Tribune-Review). Few books in history have been as poorly understood as the Qur’an. Sent down in a series of revelations to the Prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an is the unmediated word of Allah: a ritual, political, and legal authority; an ethical and spiritual guide; and a literary masterpiece that inspires devotion, passion, fear, and sometimes incomprehension. In The Qur’an, historian and Islamic Studies professor Bruce Lawrence shows precisely how the Qur’an is the embodiment of Islam. He describes the origins of the faith in seventh-century Arabia and explains why the Qur’an is memorized and recited by devout Muslims. Lawrence also discusses the Qur’an’s commentators and doubters and assesses its tremendous influence on today’s societies and politics. Above all, Lawrence emphasizes that the Qur’an is a sacred book of signs that cannot be reduced to a single, obvious message. It is a book that demands interpretation and one that can be properly understood only through its long and storied history. “An important work for those seeking to understand—and defend—Islam.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book The Story of the Qur an written by Ingrid Mattson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-02-18 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This popular introduction by a well-known Islamic scholar has been updated and expanded, offering a balanced portrayal of the Qur’an and its place in historic and contemporary Muslim society. Features new sections on the Qur’an and its relationship to democracy, science, human rights, and the role of women Contains expanded sections on the Qur’an in the life cycle of Muslims, and in Islamic ethics and law Incorporates additional images and student features, including a glossary. Supported by an accompanying website (available on publication) hosting a range of additional material, including student resources, links to important websites, news stories, and more This title is also available as an eTextbook on the CourseSmart platform, as a Wiley Desktop Edition, or via your preferred eTextbook vendor; eTextbooks offer convenience, enhanced electronic functionality, and flexible pricing options – learn more at www.wiley.com/college/wileyflex
Download or read book Woman s Identity and the Qur an written by Nimat Hafez Barazangi and published by . This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An original study of the Qur'anic foundations of women’s identity and agency, this book is a bold call to Muslim women and men to reread and reinterpret the Qur'an and to discover within its revelations an inherent affirmation of gender equality. Barazangi asserts that Muslim women have been generally excluded from full participation in Islamic society, and thus from full and equal Islamic identity, primarily because of patriarchal readings of the Qur'an and the entire range of early Qur'anic literature. Based on her study of the sacred text, she argues that Islamic higher learning is a basic human right, that women have equal authority to participate in the interpretation of Islamic primary sources, and that women will realize their just role in society and their potential as human beings only when they are involved in the interpretation of the Qur'an. Barazangi offers a curricular framework for self-teaching that could prepare Muslim women for an active role in citizenship and policymaking in a pluralistic society by affirming the self-identity of the Muslim woman as an autonomous spiritual and intellectual human being.
Download or read book What the Qur an Meant written by Garry Wills and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-12-04 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America’s leading religious scholar and public intellectual introduces lay readers to the Qur’an with a measured, powerful reading of the ancient text Garry Wills has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about Christianity. In What the Qur’an Meant, Wills invites readers to join him as he embarks on a timely and necessary reconsideration of the Qur’an, leading us through perplexing passages with insight and erudition. What does the Qur’an actually say about veiling women? Does it justify religious war? There was a time when ordinary Americans did not have to know much about Islam. That is no longer the case. We blundered into the longest war in our history without knowing basic facts about the Islamic civilization with which we were dealing. We are constantly fed false information about Islam—claims that it is essentially a religion of violence, that its sacred book is a handbook for terrorists. There is no way to assess these claims unless we have at least some knowledge of the Qur’an. In this book Wills, as a non-Muslim with an open mind, reads the Qur’an with sympathy but with rigor, trying to discover why other non-Muslims—such as Pope Francis—find it an inspiring book, worthy to guide people down through the centuries. There are many traditions that add to and distort and blunt the actual words of the text. What Wills does resembles the work of art restorers who clean away accumulated layers of dust to find the original meaning. He compares the Qur’an with other sacred books, the Old Testament and the New Testament, to show many parallels between them. There are also parallel difficulties of interpretation, which call for patient exploration—and which offer some thrills of discovery. What the Qur’an Meant is the opening of a conversation on one of the world’s most practiced religions.
Download or read book Qur an in Conversation written by Michael Lawrence Birkel and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Qur'an is God's verbatim speech for most traditional Muslims. Qur'an in Conversation reflects how this sacred text of Islam comes into dialogue with the contemporary world through the voices of the eloquent interpreters gathered in this volume. In Qur'an in Conversation, author Michael Birkel engages North American Muslim religious leaders and academics in conversations of scriptural interpretation. Scholars, practicing imams, and younger public intellectuals wrestle with key suras of the Qur'an. Qur'an in Conversation demonstrates a wide spectrum of interpretation and diversity of approaches in reading Islam's scripture. The discussions directly address key issues in Muslim theology--good versus evil, the nature of God, and the future of Islam. Younger North American Muslims read the Qur'an in varied ways; this is analogous to the diverse ways in which Jews and Christians have interpreted their own holy books. Michael Birkel welcomes people of goodwill into a public conversation about the current role of Western Muslims in Islam. Qur'an in Conversation encourages non-specialists and Muslim scholars alike to imagine how the Qur'an will be interpreted among North American Muslims in years to come. --Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of North Carolina "Publishers Weekly"
Download or read book Women in the Qur an Traditions and Interpretation written by Barbara Freyer Stowasser and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996-08-22 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic ideas about women and their role in society spark considerable debate both in the Western world and in the Islamic world itself. Despite the popular attention surrounding Middle Eastern attitudes toward women, there has been little systematic study of the statements regarding women in the Qur'an. Stowasser fills the void with this study on the women of Islamic sacred history. By telling their stories in Qur'an and interpretation, she introduces Islamic doctrine and its past and present socio-economic and political applications. Stowasser establishes the link between the female figure as cultural symbol, and Islamic self-perceptions from the beginning to the present time.
Download or read book Arguing the Just War in Islam written by John Kelsay and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007-11-30 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jihad, with its many terrifying associations, is a term widely used today, though its meaning is poorly grasped. Few people understand the circumstances requiring a jihad, or "holy" war, or how Islamic militants justify their violent actions within the framework of the religious tradition of Islam. How Islam, with more than one billion followers, interprets jihad and establishes its precepts has become a critical issue for both the Muslim and the non-Muslim world. John Kelsay's timely and important work focuses on jihad of the sword in Islamic thought, history, and culture. Making use of original sources, Kelsay delves into the tradition of shari'a--Islamic jurisprudence and reasoning--and shows how it defines jihad as the Islamic analogue of the Western "just" war. He traces the arguments of thinkers over the centuries who have debated the legitimacy of war through appeals to shari'a reasoning. He brings us up to the present and demonstrates how contemporary Muslims across the political spectrum continue this quest for a realistic ethics of war within the Islamic tradition. Arguing the Just War in Islam provides a systematic account of how Islam's central texts interpret jihad, guiding us through the historical precedents and Qur'anic sources upon which today's claims to doctrinal truth and legitimate authority are made. In illuminating the broad spectrum of Islam's moral considerations of the just war, Kelsay helps Muslims and non-Muslims alike make sense of the possibilities for future war and peace.
Download or read book The Qur an in Its Historical Context written by Gabriel Reynolds and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-09-28 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing commentary on the controversial revisionist school of Qur’anic studies, this book explores the origins, scholarship and development of the Qur'an. The collection of articles, each written by a distinguished author, treat very familiar passages of the Qur’an in an original manner, combining thorough philology, historical anthropology, and cultural history. This book addresses in a critical fashion the hottest issues in recent works on the Quran. Among other things, the contributors analyze the controversial theories of Luxenberg regarding Syriac and the Quran, and in particular his argument that the term Hur refers not to virgins but to grapes.
Download or read book The Qur an Women and Modern Society written by Asgharali Engineer and published by Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. This book was released on 2005 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reinterprets divine injunctions from the Quran and traditional practices in Islam in light of the fundamental Islamic values of justice and equality on women's status. This work presents sociopolitical values and medieval social ethos as the origins of repressive practices, discussing controversial issues such as polygamy, and family planning.
Download or read book Justice in Islam written by Ramon Harvey and published by International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its roots in the Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to its branches in contemporary political and social movements, Islam has always been concerned with the question of social justice. The promise of a just order on earth has motivated both the reflections of the community of scholars and the actions of Muslims who have striven to realize it within their societies. Despite the disappointments that history has often delivered, the hope for justice remains undimmed as does the struggle to achieve it today. This concise volume focuses on some of the ways that the theme of justice is explored in emerging currents of Islamic thought. Chapters discuss new theological and ethical proposals in the light of contemporary philosophical developments; ideas of gender justice that provoke a reformist challenge to the received tradition; and regional contexts, such as Turkey, Iran and Japan, in which the question of Islam’s relationship to justice is sharpened by the particularities of history and locale. The contributions to this collection raise the prospect that if justice can be imagined more perfectly as an Islamic ideal, perhaps it can be brought into reality.
