A New Approach to Islamic Intellectual Tradition

Abstract

This article attempts to explain the state of contemporary Islamic Intellectualism. Additionally, it proposes a set of abilities, attributes, and responsibilities that Muslim scholars should possess to develop Islamic Intellectualism. To achieve this, this article first provides an analysis of the history of Islamic civilization, and the role of traditional Islamic Intellectualism in pushing the civilization towards new heights in the realms of societal organization, politics, culture, economics, and theology. Islam, as such, had experienced its first renaissance from the eighth to the sixteenth century. Today, the Muslim world is in need of a second renaissance. This is the context in which this article situates the ‘standards’ to which contemporary Muslim intellectuals must strive towards.