Muslim Reconstructions of Knowledge: The Cases of Nasr and al-Faruqi

Abstract

Throughout Muslim history, there have been important debates between theologians, philosophers, and mystics over what constitutes religious as opposed to more profane forms of knowledge. As I discuss in the next chapter, like many classical scholars, Ibn Khaldun devotes a lengthy section of his Muqaddimah to a discussion of the classification of knowledge. This, and his concern about the placement of his new discipline within such a classification, attests to the long-standing tradition in Muslim scholarly circles of debate over the very nature of knowledge itself.