Islamic Humanism

Islamic Humanism
Author: Lenn E. Goodman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2005-11-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199885001

This book is an attempt to explain how, in the face of increasing religious authoritarianism in medieval Islamic civilization, some Muslim thinkers continued to pursue essentially humanistic, rational, and scientific discourses in the quest for knowledge, meaning, and values. Drawing on a wide range of Islamic writings, from love poetry to history to philosophical theology, Goodman shows that medieval Islam was open to individualism, occasional secularism, skepticism, even liberalism.

Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West

Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West
Author: Makdisi George Makdisi
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2019-08-05
Genre: Cristianismo
ISBN: 1474470653

Challenging beliefs about intellectual culture, Makdisi reaffirms the links between Western and Arabic thought and shows that although scholasticism and humanism have long been considered to be exclusive to the Western world, they have their roots in the medieval Islamic world.

Humanism in Islam

Humanism in Islam
Author: Marcel Boisard
Publisher: American Trust Publications
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1987-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0892590351

Humanism in Islam - The West's generalized fear and lack of intellectual honesty toward Islam prevent it from recognizing the wealth of benefits Islam bestows on mankind. Demonstrates that Islam and Islamic law can make a vital contribution to the protection of human rights worldwide. Freed from European colonial tutelage and representing almost a billion souls, grouped in approximately forty states, the Muslims have entered the international scene without really having any other choice but to imitate the existing institutions, or to accept provisions in which they, historically speaking, have had no participation. Nevertheless, the process of modernization has not lured the Muslims away from the remembrance of a glorious heritage. On the contrary, wherever the movement of Westernization has been too brutal, it has run into a religious challenge. Islam thus reappeared as one of the grand moral and political forces of the contemporary world. Humanism in Islam has not been drafted only out of sympathy for the Muslims but also on account of historical evidence: Islamic civilization was the first to outline clear and mandatory provisions for protecting the destiny of man and society, and for creating order in the ties between peoples. As to its general character, this work attempts to encourage a certain Western public to abandon its ethnocentrism in order to better understand the legitimate aspirations - expressing themselves sometimes in chaos - of the present-day Muslims.

Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam

Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam
Author: Joel L. Kraemer
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 396
Release: 1992
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789004097360

Under the enlightened rule of the Buyid dynasty (945-1055 A.D.) the Islamic world witnessed an unequalled cultural renaissance. This book is an investigation into the nature of the environment in which the cultural transformation took place and into the cultural elite who were its bearers. After an extensive introductory section setting the stage, the book deals with the main schools and circles and with the outstanding individual representatives of this renaissance. The main expression of this renaissance was a philosophical humanism that embraced the scientific and philosophical heritage of Classical Antiquity as a cultural and educational ideal. Along with this philosophical humanism, a literary humanism was cultivated by litterateurs, poets, and government secretaries. This renaissance was marked by a powerful assertion of individualism in the domains of literary creativity and political action. It thrived in a remarkably cosmopolitan atmosphere - Baghdad, the center of the 'Abb?sid empire and of Buyid rule.

The World of Persian Literary Humanism

The World of Persian Literary Humanism
Author: Hamid Dabashi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0674067592

Humanism has mostly considered the question “What does it mean to be human?” from a Western perspective. Dabashi asks it anew from a non-European perspective, in a groundbreaking study of 1,400 years of Persian literary humanism. He presents the unfolding of this vast tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization.

What Is Islam?

What Is Islam?
Author: Shahab Ahmed
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 629
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1400873584

A bold new conceptualization of Islam that reflects its contradictions and rich diversity What is Islam? How do we grasp a human and historical phenomenon characterized by such variety and contradiction? What is "Islamic" about Islamic philosophy or Islamic art? Should we speak of Islam or of islams? Should we distinguish the Islamic (the religious) from the Islamicate (the cultural)? Or should we abandon "Islamic" altogether as an analytical term? In What Is Islam?, Shahab Ahmed presents a bold new conceptualization of Islam that challenges dominant understandings grounded in the categories of "religion" and "culture" or those that privilege law and scripture. He argues that these modes of thinking obstruct us from understanding Islam, distorting it, diminishing it, and rendering it incoherent. What Is Islam? formulates a new conceptual language for analyzing Islam. It presents a new paradigm of how Muslims have historically understood divine revelation—one that enables us to understand how and why Muslims through history have embraced values such as exploration, ambiguity, aestheticization, polyvalence, and relativism, as well as practices such as figural art, music, and even wine drinking as Islamic. It also puts forward a new understanding of the historical constitution of Islamic law and its relationship to philosophical ethics and political theory. A book that is certain to provoke debate and significantly alter our understanding of Islam, What Is Islam? reveals how Muslims have historically conceived of and lived with Islam as norms and truths that are at once contradictory yet coherent.

Humanism and Religion

Humanism and Religion
Author: Jens Zimmermann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2012-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199697752

Jens Zimmermann suggests that the West can rearticulate its identity and renew its cultural purpose by recovering the humanistic ethos that originally shaped Western culture. He traces the religious roots of humanism, and combines humanism, religion and hermeneutic philosophy to re-imagine humanism for our current cultural and intellectual climate.

The Quran and the Secular Mind

The Quran and the Secular Mind
Author: Shabbir Akhtar
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2007-10-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134072562

This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.

Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought

Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought
Author: Margaret MESERVE
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674040953

Drawing on political oratory, diplomatic correspondence, crusade propaganda, and historical treatises, Meserve shows how research into the origins of Islamic empires sprang from—and contributed to—contemporary debates over the threat of Islamic expansion in the Mediterranean. This groundbreaking book offers new insights into Renaissance humanist scholarship and long-standing European debates over the relationship between Christianity and Islam.

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions
Author: Anne Runehov
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-05-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781402082641

"To all who love the God with a 1000 names and respect science” In the last quarter century, the academic field of Science and Theology (Religion) has attracted scholars from a wide variety of disciplines. The question is, which disciplines are attracted and what do these disciplines have to contribute to the debate? In order to answer this question, the encyclopedia maps the (self)-identified disciplines and religious traditions that participate or might come to participate in the Science and Religion debate. This is done by letting each representative of a discipline and tradition answer specific chosen questions. They also need to identify the discipline in relation to the Science and Religion debate. Understandably representatives of several disciplines and traditions answered in the negative to this question. Nevertheless, they can still be important for the debate; indeed, scholars and scientists who work in the field of Science and Theology (Religion) may need knowledge beyond their own specific discipline. Therefore the encyclopedia also includes what are called general entries. Such entries may explain specific theories, methods, and topics. The general aim is to provide a starting point for new lines of inquiry. It is an invitation for fresh perspectives on the possibilities for engagement between and across sciences (again which includes the social and human sciences) and religions and theology. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference work for scholars interested in the topic of ‘Science and Religion.’ It covers the widest spectrum possible of academic disciplines and religious traditions worldwide, with the intent of laying bare similarities and differences that naturally emerge within and across disciplines and religions today. The A–Z format throughout affords easy and user-friendly access to relevant information. Additionally, a systematic question-answer format across all Sciences and Religions entries affords efficient identification of specific points of agreement, conflict, and disinterest across and between sciences and religions. The extensive cross-referencing between key words, phrases, and technical language used in the entries facilitates easy searches. We trust that all of the entries have something of value for any interested reader. Anne L.C. Runehov and Lluis Oviedo