Books Published

Muslim Modernism and the Problem of Modern Science

Muhammad Maroof Shah
Indian Publishers Distributor, 2007, xiv, 318 p.,
ISBN 81-7341-427-0
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Contents:
Preface.
1. Modern science and varieties of Muslim modernism.
2. Muslim modernism, reconstructionist thesis and the problem of appropriating modern science in Islam.
3. Frithjof Schuon's traditionalist critique of modern science.
4. Conceptual confusions in modernist thesis of compatibility between the Quran and modern science.
5. Thesis of compatibility between modern science and Islam from Iqbalian perspective.
6. Legitimating the modern project: Iqbal's interpretation of the idea of finality in Islam.
7. Modernist appropriation of evolution and Iqbal.
8. Muslim modernism and demythologization : Sir Syed, Abduhu and Iqbal perspective.
9. Modernist psychologism and the question of reconstruction of religion: an appraisal of Iqbal's approach.
10. Perennialist critique of modern science and reconstructionist thesis and Iqbal.
11. Modernist critique of the concept of Islamization of knowledge: a case study of Iqbal's reconstruction.
12. Iqbal and Harun Yaha on the theory of relativity.
13. A critique of modern concept of religious experience : a case study of Iqbal.

 
"Present work is a critical appraisal of Muslim modernist appropriation of modern science, largely from perennialist traditionalist perspective. It argues against the current usual thesis amongst most Muslims that modern science is compatible with Islam, and that latter provided inspiration for it and that one could graft modern scientific enterprise to traditional Islam. Certain postmodernist insights are juxtaposed with perennialist approach in our critique of modernist thesis which is basically the thesis that Islam and modern science are compatible and that modern science could be relevant and must be appropriated in reinterpretation and reconstruction of traditional religious thought in Islam. Foregrounding the perennialist critique of modern science for its commitment to reductionist, naturalist, demythologizing, evolutionist, empiricist, rationalist methodology and world-view it critiques most forms of modernist appropriations of Islam and the pleas for reinterpretation / reconstruction of traditional religious thought in Islam in the light of modern scientific developments. Rejecting the metanarrative of modern science and its epistemic chauvinism on postmodern and perennialist grounds, it argues for return to traditional metaphysical perspective as it highlights the divergence between epistemic and cognitive universes of traditional Islam and modern science. Iqbal is discussed as representative modernist voice and in the context of other modernist voices. His credentials as representative of consistent modernist approach to problem of modern science are fore grounded. Conceptual confusions and operational anomalies of modernist approach are highlighted. Present work is also a contribution to the debate on Islamization of knowledge also. It is primarily a contribution to perennialist approach to modernism and modern science. Certain postmodernist insights are juxtaposed with perennialist approach our critique of modernist thesis which is basically the thesis that Islam and modern science are compatible and that modern science could be relevant and must be appropriated in reinterpretation and reconstruction of traditional religious thought in Islam. Certain popular modern works on Islam and science also come under critical scrutiny. Works of Harun Yaha, Zakir Naik, Fatehullah Khan, Wahidudin Khan, Abdul Bari Nadvi, Ziaudin Sardar, Maurice Boccaile, I.R. Faruqi and others provide a context to present work and have been discussed vis-a-vis Iqbal. Present work opens new vistas on Iqbal studies and more specifically on Reconstruction studies. 

 

 

Problem of Evil in Muslim Philosophy: A Case Study of Iqbal

Muhammad Maroof Shah
‎ Indian Publishers Distributor (14 January 2008)

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8173414300
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8173414305
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The great enigma of existence of so much suffering and moral evil in the world and its religious significance has been among the most important and difficult problems of religion. The problem of suffering, moral evil, waste, death, meaninglessness, absurdism, the "silence" and "absence" of God has been a common problem for religion , philosophy and great art and literature, especially during modern times which are characterized by extreme obtrusiveness of evil. Modern man cites this as one of the major reasons for his disbelief in religion, especially in traditional theism. Pessimist and nihilist tendency of much of modern thought which has a negative bearing on religion is attributable to faulty appropriation of the problem of evil. Traditional Christian theistic answers to the problem are increasingly felt to be inadequate and unconvincing. What is surprising is that Islam's unique theological and metaphysical resources have been largely ignored in tackling the problem of evil by both Muslim and non-Muslim scholarship. There is great dearth of comprehensive and systematic work on Islam's perspective on the problem of evil. The present study is an attempt to present and also reread traditional Muslim theological and metaphysical perspective on the issue and thus fill the vacuum. After a brief critical survey of modern response to the existence of evil and traditional Muslim theological approaches to the same it discusses in detail modern Muslim philosophical approach as presented in the writings of Iqbal - one of the most important philosophers of modernist Islam who alone amongst the great Muslim intellectuals of Indian subcontinent has seriously reckoned with the problem in contemporary language. There has been no systematic study of Iqbalian position on the problem of evil. This has contributed to certain misunderstanding and confusion in general Iqbalian studies. The present study is a critical evaluations from modern as well as traditionalist perspectives, of Iqbal's attitude towards this important theological problem. It is the perennialist or metaphysical approach to theodicy that forms the background as well as provides the critical lens through which modern secular as well as modernist Muslim responses to the problem are evaluated.