Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction Contemporary Debates in Islam: Modernism versus Fundamentalism

   1. Introduction Contemporary Debates in Islam: Modernism versus Fundamentalism

      • Mansoor Moaddel, Kamran Talattof

      Pages 1-21

3. Islamic Modernism

   1. Jurisprudence, Rational Sciences, and Differentiation of Knowledge

      1. Religion versus Science

         • Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani

         Pages 23-28

      2. Islamic Revealed Law versus Islamic Common Law

         • Moulavi Chiragh Ali

         Pages 29-34

      3. The Rationalistic and Philosophical Spirit of Islam

         • Amir Ali

         Pages 35-40

      4. The Sociological Laws of the Quran

         • Muhammad Abduh

         Pages 41-43

      5. The Necessity of Religious Reform

         • Muhammad Abduh

         Pages 45-51

      6. Methodology of Historical Writing

         • ‘Allama Shibli Nu‘mani

         Pages 53-69

   2. Islam and Politics

      1. War and Peace: Popular Jihad

         • Moulavi Chiragh Ali

         Pages 71-94

      2. The Problem of Caliphate

         • Ali Abd al-Raziq

         Pages 95-100

      3. Authority and the Problem of Succession

         • Amir Ali

         Pages 101-108

      4. Intellectual Pluralism and Freedom of Opinion

         • Sayyid Ahmad Khan

         Pages 109-121

   3. Islam and Western Civilization

      1. Social Liberalism and Laissez-Faire Capitalism

         • Anonymous Mu‘tazilite Muslim

         Pages 123-134

      2. Islam and Civilization

         • Muhammad Farid Wajdi

         Pages 135-143

   4. Islamic Modernism and the Issue of Women

      1. Polygamy

         • Moulavi Chiragh Ali

         Pages 145-157

      2. The Rights of Women

         • Sayyid Ahmad Khan

         Pages 159-161

      3. The Liberation of Women

         • Qasim Amin

         Pages 163-181

   5. Style of Living

      1. The Way of Life

         • Sayyid Ahmad Khan

         Pages 183-185

      2. The Way To Eat a Meal

         • Sayyid Ahmad Khan

         Pages 187-188

      3. Civil Rights

         • Rifa‘ah Rifa al-Tahtawi

         Pages 189-196

With resurgent interest in the Muslim world and in particular political Islam, this collection of translated essays by major Muslim thinkers from the Middle East and South Asia demonstrates the ongoing and contentious debate between modernizers seeking to adapt Western ways and fundamentalists who rejected them. From Jamal al-Din al-Afghani in the nineteenth-century to Ayatollah Khomeini in the twentieth, the selections provide an opportunity to examine a diversity of Muslim thinkers thoughts on important topics like jurisprudence, politics, relations with the west, and women in their own words.

• bibliography
• civil rights
• fundamentalism
• government
• Islam
• Middle East
• political theory
• politics

'Provides an excellent source of the major issues that have engaged Muslim intellectuals for over a century as they attempted to grapple with the challenges of Western hegemony and modernity.' - Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Georgetown University

'This superbly chosen volume provides the best possible way for outsiders to gain authentic insights into modern Islam - to listen as leading Muslim scholars debate the serious issues facing their faith.' - Rodney Stark, Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion, University of Washington

MANSOOR MOADDEL is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University

KAMRAN TALATTOF teaches Persian Language and Literature and Iranian Culture in the Near Eastern Studies Department at the University of Arizona

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