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The Qur’an and Politics: A Study of the Origins of Political Thought in the Makkan Quran
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Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid’s “The Quran & Politics” is a thorough inquiry into the beginnings of political philosophy inside the Makkan Quran, exposing the intricate link between Islamic scripture and political ideology. This scholarly treatise digs into the verses revealed in Makkah during Prophet Muhammad’s early mission, offering insight into the fundamental ideas that set the cornerstone for Islamic political philosophy.
Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid contextualizes the research by evaluating the verses revealed in Makkah during a period of social, political, and spiritual transformation. The book reveals the political truths hidden in the Quranic revelations, giving readers a comprehensive knowledge of how these verses impacted the fledgling Muslim society.
The book’s main focus is on finding the origins of political philosophy in the Quran. Eltigani Abdelgadir Hamid painstakingly analyzes verses dealing with governance, justice, and the individual-state interaction. The reader is taken on a scholastic journey to unearth the seeds of Islamic political philosophy sown in the early revelations. -
The Qur’anic Worldview: A Springboard For Cultural Reform
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Looking back at the various stages of Islamic historical development, AbuSulayman puts forward a thesis that focuses on the recovery of what is termed the Quranic worldview. Our faith will only be complete when we have become utterly sincere in our love for God, a love expressed in a pure, passionate love for goodness and truth in this world. It was the strict internalization of this perspective and close adherence to the principles of the Quran which AbuSulayman contends, played a key factor in galvanizing the devout and intensely Godconscious followers of fledgling Islam to achieve the successes that they once did, the profound historical and global impact of which is still the subject of much study and admiration today.
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The Socio-Intellectual Foundations of Malek Bennabi’s Approach to Civilization
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Since the publication of Samuel Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” concern about civilization has been reintroduced into the debate on the world order. Malek Bennabi (1905-1973), prominent Algerian thinker and great Muslim intellectual, intently focused on unravelling the causes of Muslim decline and the success of Western civilization and culture. The key problem he theorized lay not in the Qur’an or Islamic faith but in Muslims themselves. The author investigates Bennabi’s approach to civilization and the fundamental principles drawn, using metatheorizing methodology. In doing so he sheds further light on perhaps one of the more intriguing elements of Bennabi’s theory, that civilization is governed by internal-external and social-intellectual factors and that an equation can be generated for civilization itself. This equation of (Man+Soil+Time) = Civilization and of which religion, according to Bennabi, forms the all-important catalyst, is explained and its significance in terms of the reversal of Muslim decline evaluated.
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The Theory of Islamic Art: Aesthetic Concept and Epistemic Structure
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Divine oneness as the principle of beauty is perhaps quintessentially Islamic artistic expression and experience and what it celebrates. Why has Islamic art evolved as it has, what forms does it take, what is the logic underlying it? What message is the Muslim artist attempting to convey, what emotion is he seeking to evoke? This work views Islamic art as a subject of archeological study and treats its evolution as part of the historical study of art in the broader sense. At the same time, it paves the way for an epistemological shift from viewing Islamic art as a material concept having to do with beautiful rarities and relics that have grown out of Islamic cultural and artistic creativity, to a theoretical concept associated with a vision, a principle, a theory and a method. This theoretical concept provides the intellectual and cultural foundation for a critical philosophical science of Islamic artistic beauty to which we might refer as ‘the science of Islamic art,’ or ‘the Islamic aesthetic’ that evaluates visual artistic creations in terms of both beauty and practical usefulness. In the process the study also explores orientalist misconceptions, challenging some of the premises with which it has approached Islamic art, with judgement rooted in a cultural framework alien to the spiritual perspective of Islam.
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Toward Our Reformation: From Legalism to Value-Oriented Islamic Law and Jurisprudence
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In Toward Our Reformation, the author contends that at the heart of the Muslim predicament lies ignorance and/or a lack of commitment to core Islamic values. Mohammad Omar Farooq advocates for a return to what he calls a “value-oriented” approach. We learn that what we consider to be the Shari¢ah today is actually an original hub enveloped in a labyrinthine shroud of scholastic views and deductions, which in effect serves to hinder the development of Muslims. He argues that to extravagantly rely on questionable hadith and fallacious implementation of hudud law betrays the spirit of the Qur’an and the Prophet’s message. The consequence is a blatant abuse of Muslims. The author explores this misapplication of hudud law and, therefore, this abuse.
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Understanding Maqasid al-Shari’ah: A Contemporary Perspective
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Musfir bin Ali al-Qahtani’s work contributes to the ever growing body of scholarly literature in the field of maqasid al-Shariah (higher objectives of Islamic law).
Understanding Maqasid al-Shariah calls for the development of a juridical sense that is finely tuned to the higher objectives and purposes of Islamic rulings, the aims of which are the formulation of a new methodology in understanding the revealed texts and the reform of Muslim thought and its application.
The author draws attention to the importance of understanding various levels of maqasid, including distinguishing between primary aims (al-maqasid al-asliyyah) and secondary aims (al-maqasid al-tabiah).
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Where East Meets West: Appropriating the Islamic Encounter for A Spiritual-Cultural Revival
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The fate of civilization lies in the balance of culture, not power. This penetrating work argues that the terms of the culture of our times will determine the future of politics and societies. Islam continues to be, as much as it was in the past, at the hub and crossroads of contemporary civilization. The difference from a historical perspective, lies in the West’s control of the political setting, the primary factor in qualifying the terms of today’s civilization, and in setting its pace and direction accordingly.
