The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Encountering Traditions) - Softcover

Iqbal, Mohammad

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804781478 ISBN 13: 9780804781473

Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1930) is Muhammad Iqbal's major philosophic work: a series of profound reflections on the perennial conflict among science, religion, and philosophy, culminating in new visions of the unity of human knowledge, of the human spirit, and of God. Iqbal's thought contributed significantly to the establishment of Pakistan, to the religious and political ideals of the Iranian Revolution, and to the survival of Muslim identity in parts of the former USSR. It now serves as new bridge between East and West and between Islam and the other Religions of the Book. With a new Introduction by Javed Majeed, this edition of The Reconstruction opens the teachings of Iqbal to the modern, Western reader. It will be essential reading for all those interested in Islamic intellectual history, the renewal of Islam in the modern world, and political theory of Islam's relationship to the West.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), beloved poet of the modern state of Pakistan, was also one of the most important Muslim and Western religious philosophers of the 20th century.Javed Majeed is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at King's College, London.

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THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ISLAM

By MUHAMMAD IQBAL, M. Saeed Sheikh

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2012 Iqbal Academy Pakistan
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8047-8147-3

Contents

Preface to the American Edition Basit Bilal Koshul........................
vii
Introduction to Muhammad Iqbal's The Reconstruction of Religious Thought 
in Islam Javed Majeed.....................................................
xi
Editor's Introduction M. Saeed Sheikh.....................................
xxxi
Preface....................................................................
xlv
LECTURE I Knowledge and Religious Experience..............................
1
LECTURE II The Philosophical Test of the Revelations of Religious 
Experience.................................................................
23
LECTURE III The Conception of God and the Meaning of Prayer...............
50
LECTURE IV The Human Ego—His Freedom and Immortality......................
76
LECTURE V The Spirit of Muslim Culture....................................
99
LECTURE VI The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam............
116
LECTURE VII Is Religion Possible?.........................................
143
Notes and References.......................................................
158
Bibliography...............................................................
215
Qur'anic Index.............................................................
236
Index......................................................................
242

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Knowledge and Religious Experience

What is the character and general structure of the universe inwhich we live? Is there a permanent element in the constitutionof this universe? How are we related to it? What place do weoccupy in it, and what is the kind of conduct that befits the placewe occupy? These questions are common to religion, philosophy,and higher poetry. But the kind of knowledge that poeticinspiration brings is essentially individual in its character; it isfigurative, vague, and indefinite. Religion, in its more advancedforms, rises higher than poetry. It moves from individual tosociety. In its attitude towards the Ultimate Reality it is opposedto the limitations of man; it enlarges his claims and holds out theprospect of nothing less than a direct vision of Reality. Is it thenpossible to apply the purely rational method of philosophy toreligion? The spirit of philosophy is one of free inquiry. Itsuspects all authority. Its function is to trace the uncriticalassumptions of human thought to their hiding places, and in thispursuit it may finally end in denial or a frank admission of theincapacity of pure reason to reach the Ultimate Reality. Theessence of religion, on the other hand, is faith; and faith, like thebird, sees its "trackless way" unattended by intellect which, inthe words of the great mystic poet of Islam, "only waylays theliving heart of man and robs it of the invisible wealth of life thatlies within." Yet it cannot be denied that faith is more than merefeeling. It has something like a cognitive content, and theexistence of rival parties– scholastics and mystics– in the historyof religion shows that idea is a vital element in religion. Apartfrom this, religion on its doctrinal side, as defined by ProfessorWhitehead, is "a system of general truths which have the effectof transforming character when they are sincerely held andvividly apprehended." Now, since the transformation andguidance of man's inner and outer life is the essential aim ofreligion, it is obvious that the general truths which it embodiesmust not remain unsettled. No one would hazard action on thebasis of a doubtful principle of conduct. Indeed, in view of itsfunction, religion stands in greater need of a rational foundationof its ultimate principles than even the dogmas of science.Science may ignore a rational metaphysics; indeed, it hasignored it so far. Religion can hardly afford to ignore the searchfor a reconciliation of the oppositions of experience and ajustification of the environment in which humanity finds itself.That is why Professor Whitehead has acutely remarked that "theages of faith are the ages of rationalism". But to rationalize faithis not to admit the superiority of philosophy over religion.Philosophy, no doubt, has jurisdiction to judge religion, butwhat is to be judged is of such a nature that it will not submit tothe jurisdiction of philosophy except on its own terms. Whilesitting in judgement on religion, philosophy cannot give religionan inferior place among its data. Religion is not a departmentalaffair; it is neither mere thought, nor mere feeling, nor mereaction; it is an expression of the whole man. Thus, in theevaluation of religion, philosophy must recognize the centralposition of religion and has no other alternative but to admit itas something focal in the process of reflective synthesis. Nor isthere any reason to suppose that thought and intuition areessentially opposed to each other. They spring up from the sameroot and complement each other. The one grasps Realitypiecemeal, the other grasps it in its wholeness. The one fixes itsgaze on the eternal, the other on the temporal aspect of Reality.The one is present enjoyment of the whole of Reality; the otheraims at traversing the whole by slowly specifying and closing upthe various regions of the whole for exclusive observation. Bothare in need of each other for mutual rejuvenation. Both seekvisions of the same Reality which reveals itself to them inaccordance with their function in life. In fact, intuition, asBergson rightly says, is only a higher kind of intellect.

The search for rational foundations in Islam may be regardedto have begun with the Prophet himself. His constant prayerwas: "God! grant me knowledge of the ultimate nature ofthings!" The work of later mystics and non-mystic rationalistsforms an exceedingly instructive chapter in the history of ourculture, inasmuch as it reveals a longing for a coherent system ofideas, a spirit of whole-hearted devotion to truth, as well as thelimitations of the age, which rendered the various theologicalmovements in Islam less fruitful than they might have been in adifferent age. As we all know, Greek philosophy has been a greatcultural force in the history of Islam. Yet a careful study of theQur'an and the various schools of scholastic theology that aroseunder the inspiration of Greek thought disclose the remarkablefact that while Greek philosophy very much broadened theoutlook of Muslim thinkers, it, on the whole, obscured theirvision of the Qur'an. Socrates concentrated his attention on thehuman world alone. To him the proper study of man was manand not the world of plants, insects, and stars. How unlike thespirit of the Qur'an, which sees in the humble bee a recipient ofDivine inspiration and constantly calls upon the reader toobserve the perpetual change of the winds, the alternation of dayand night, the clouds, the starry heavens, and the planetsswimming through infinite space! As a true disciple of Socrates,Plato despised sense-perception which, in his view, yielded mereopinion and no real knowledge. How unlike the Qur'an, whichregards "hearing" and "sight" as the most valuable Divine giftsand declares...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: STANFORD UNIV PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0804781478
• ISBN 13: 9780804781473
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 277
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande