Contemporary Muslim Thinkers Research Articles

Mapping Contemporary Islamic Jurisprudence of Muḥammad Saʻīd al-‘Ashmāwī and Muḥammad Shaḥrūr

Muḥammad Saʻīd Al-‘Ashmāwī and Muḥammad Shaḥrūr are well known as contemporary Muslim thinkers. This article tries to map their contemporary ideas on Islamic jurisprudence. The main data of this research taken mainly from the works both of Al-‘Ashmāwī and Shaḥrūr. In particular, the paper tries to analyze Al-‘Ashmāwī‘s ideas on sharia, politics, hijab, marriage and divorce. On the other hand, the ideas of Shahrour on al-Qur'an, Sunnah and Fiqh, the theory of borders, pluralism, the commandment, inheritance, hijab, marriage, divorce, dowry, politics, and imamate are also critizised. After analyzing their lives and their ideas on Islamic jurisprudence, the paper found that their social, educational and practical backgrounds have affected their intellectual formations and ideas. Ashmawi is encouraged by diligence and enlightenment and is believed to be enlightened. Shahrour, however, takes a new approach in order to create the ḥudūd theory as a new way. As well as their intellectual background, Ashmawi has a good queen in Arabic, English and French as well as religion, Sharia, jurisprudence and theology. Shahrour is a good queen in Arabic, English, Russian, philosophy, philology and historical language.

HERMENEUTIKA FENOMENOLOGIS HASAN HANAFI

Al-Quran as a source of verbatim teachings requires a touch of understanding from humans to explore the meaning and contents. But in the process of touching meaning, often faced with a dilemma. On the one hand it is desirable to understand the meaning of the Qur'an in accordance with scientific and objective provisions, while the other side wants the presence of present reality for the creation of the moral interests and needs of Muslims today. So no wonder if various methodological offers emerge from contemporary Muslim thinkers, although the offer is different in the form of a framework, but is on the one goal that is to realize the nature of the Qur'an Shalihun Likulli Zaman wa Makan, the nature that desires the values universal in the contextualized Al-Quran, so that it can always be relevant in every age and place. Hasan Hanafi is one of the Muslim thinkers who assume that in digging the meaning of the Qur'an should see the needs and reality of Muslims in the Qur'an (subjective), not interpret the Quran as a whole regardless of the needs and guidance of Muslims. By this way, a mufassir is very important to have awareness of praxis as a form of realization of the meaning of the text in every day human life

Tauhid Sebagai Prinsip Ilmu Pengetahuan (Studi Analisis Ismail Raji al Faruqi)

This writing discusses the consept of tauhid in building science incorporated as part of al-Faruqi’s construction of Islamic studies. As a contemporary Muslim thinker, al-Faruqi maintains that tauhid is a substantial point in human’s character building in various dimensions. As such, this gives rise to producing the dynamics of tauhid meanings in all aspects of life. This kind of tauhid essence has to be persued at the ontological and epistemological conceptions. In order to explore such subtance, historical descriptive analysis approach is used so that the formulation of tauhid epistemology of al Faruqi could be known in detail throw light into the tauhid meanings in this life. The writer found that al-Faruqi’s scientific paradigm at the level of applying tauhid be demonstrated in the concept of science , hoping that it will enlighten human life based on the principles of Islamic creed or tauhid.

Implementasi Syariat Islam: Telaah atas Praktik Ijtihad Umar bin Khattab

The reason of writing this article is the problem and mistake come from the contemporary Muslim thinkers who made mas}lah}at as the only benchmark in Islamic law, they even assumed that mas}lah}at is more important than the sharia itself. From this they concluded that deconstructing sharia based on mas}lah}at is permissible. They built their argument on the basis of the ijtihâd done by ‘Umar bin Khattab. At that time, ‘Umar broke the law of hand cuts for theft, stoped giving zakat for the converts, and did not give the spoils land to the soldiers. In fact, according to contemporary Muslim thinkers, these three things have been determined in the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet SAW. It means ‘Umar bin Khattab’s ijtihâd is a breakthrough in liberal thinking. ‘Umar dared to contrary what was established in the Qur’an and the hadith of the Prophet. Then, ‘Umar is regarded as a fgure who has applied hermeneutic methods in Islamic law. This thought actually is a mistake. The contemporary thinkers only thought partially and did not discuss ‘Umar’s ijtihâd thoroughly and deeply. By referring to earlier Muslim scholars, this article try to prove that ‘Umar’ ijtihâd is an attempt to implement the Islamic Shari’a, despite elimiting or dismissing Islamic Shari’a itself as the above thinkers claim.

Pengaruh Realitas Sosial terhadap Perubahan Hukum Islam: Telaah atas Konsep ‘Urf

An article discusses the concept of al-’urf which became one of the foundations of making Islamic law. This concept makes the law by taking something familiar in society, which have become their habit and were united with their lives, whether in the form of deeds or words. With note that when making Islamic law is surely without violating the basic teachings in Islam from the Qur’an and al-Sunnah. The application of al-‘urf leads to the acceptance of sharia by the community, without having to abandon the basic principles of Islam. The study of this concept is also the answer for contemporary Muslim thinkers who often encourage and insist to reform Islamic law through the mechanism of deconstruction and adapting to the principles of human rights. What they did is dangerous, because it changed the basic teaching in Islam, such as the obligation of fve times prayer, Ramadan fast, hajj, and so forth. In relation to al-’urf, these contemporary thinkers usually take up all the prevailing customs in society to make Islamic law, even these customs are contrary to the religious teachings. Through the study of the classical and contemporary books of jurisprudence, this article explains that Islamic teachings are appreciative and cooperative in addressing the growing cultural phenomenon in society. Islam still adopts and takes traditions that exist in society as one of the foundation of Islamic law, as long as those do not contrary to the teachings of Islam.

Ali Abdurazik i teorija odvojenosti islama i politike - kritičko vrednovanje

A year after Atatürk abolished the institution of the caliphate, Ali Abdel Razek, an Islamic scholar from the traditional al-Azhar University, published a not-too-thick volume entitled Islam and the Foundations of Political Power and initiated a new and dynamic discussion of completely unexpected proportions about the relationship between Islam and politics. Distinguished professors of al-Azhar had an urgent meeting and made a decision that Abdel Razek should be stripped of his title of an Islamic cleric because of the views he had expounded in his book. However, despite this, in the following decades his book became one of the most popular texts among the contemporary Muslim thinkers in the Egyptian scientific and political circles and beyond. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the contents of this book we notice that Abdel Razek persistently attempts to show that the caliphate did not have any benefit for the Muslims, and that it even was a source of permanent injustice and evil. He concludes that the political power, the state and even the judiciary should not be connected with religion, because they are exclusively political phenomena. He also insists that the Prophet Muhammad was a purely spiritual leader and that he had never contemplated the concepts of political authority or the state. For this reason he explicitly claims that politics and religion are mutually incompatible and warns Muslims that they must follow the latest results of human reason in the field of political science if they wish to consolidate the foundations and structure of the political power in their societies. However, we notice that, due to his frequent and generally objective criticism of the Caliphs and their policies in various historical periods, Abdel Razek ignores the fact that in the Quran and the Islamic tradition there are frequent references to the political power, the judiciary, defense issues, economic control, and the organization of internal and international politics, that is, that both the Quran and the Islamic tradition contain teachings about a different policy that leads one toward eternal bliss. Such policy, the ultimate purpose of which is the enlightenment of man and society, was written about extensively by the representatives of a brilliant political philosophy and political jurisprudence in Islam, who relied on the cognitive credibility of the religious texts and the various categories of theoretical and practical reason.

Mulla Sadra by Ibrahim Kalin

Reviewed by: Mulla Sadra by Ibrahim Kalin Edward Moad (bio) Mulla Sadra. By Ibrahim Kalin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 192. Paperback $24. isbn: 978-0-19-945117-3. This introduction to the life and thought of Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya Qawami al-Shirazi (Sadr al-Din al Shirazi, or Mulla Sadra), is part of the Makers of Islamic Civilization series, conceived by the Oxford Centre for Islamic studies, edited by Farhan Nizami, and published by Oxford University Press. The self-described aim of the series is to provide a set of introductory texts on outstanding figures in the history of Islamic civilization. This volume represents an important contribution to the literature on a neglected period of Islamic philosophy, by a scholar who is emerging as one of the most important contemporary Muslim thinkers. Ibrahim Kalin states his own aims in the book in terms of its four main chapters. The first is to give a brief account of Mulla Sadra's life and influence. The second is to describe the cultural and intellectual context in which his thought developed. The third is to introduce Sadra's main intellectual contribution: his doctrine of the primacy of existence. The fourth provides an overview of Sadra's thought and assesses the extent to which it succeeded (or not) in arriving at a coherent synthesis." (p. 9) Kalin thoroughly accomplishes the first two of these objectives. He does a great job of putting Mulla Sadra in historical context, including the preceding rise of the Safavid dynasty with Shah Ismaʿil's conversion of the Safawiyya Sufi order from Sunnism to Twelve-Imam Shiʿism in 1501. Sadra emerges a generation later, as a major intellectual at the beginning of Shi'a ascendency in Iran. Kalin provides a clear and readable account of the intellectual climate of the time, including the akhbari-usuli controversy and the emergence of a new Shʿia oriented Sufism. He shows how the work of Sadra emerged out of a bubbling cauldron of diverse ideas, including the peripatetic philosophy of Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, the ishraqi school of Suhrawardi, the Sufi metaphysics of Ibn ʿArabi, and the various schools of Shiʿʿa and Sunni kalam. He is also generous in describing Sadra's influence on future thinkers. Unfortunately, Kalin is not as successful with his fourth objective, of providing a critical assessment of the success of Sadra's overall project; and the reason for this seems to be that the way he approached the third objective, of introducing the 'primacy of existence' doctrine, upon which the success of [End Page 1] Sadra's project turns, was not such as to make a critical assessment possible. That need not necessarily detract from the book, because there is some reason to believe that the doctrine itself is simply not accessible to critical assessment, at least of any sort that can be accomplished in a book. As Kalin puts it: For Sadra, one of the goals of philosophy is to equip us with the proper epistemic tools and cognitive means to 'see' the self-evident (badihi) reality of existence. This, however, cannot be achieved by mental or rational analysis alone because demonstrative and rational analyses give us only a mental picture of existence, not its reality. (p. 82) But there is some ambiguity on this point, which first appears in Kalin's account of Sadra's view of the relation between ʿirfan, and burhan. On the one hand, he says that "gnosis is not without cognitive content, and a true sage can explain his vision by using ordinary rational arguments." (p. 47). On the other, he quotes Sadra as saying "the knowledge of what is tasted and the knowledge of spiritual states cannot be captured in the garment of letters and words." (p. 49). The latter position lends itself to Wittgenstein's famous dictum, "that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence." But the former characterization of Sadra's position, and the fact that he did have a lot to write on the primacy of existence, whets the appetite for a satisfying burhani treatment of the topic; one that, as Kalin puts it, "ensures that...

ISLAMISASI ILMU EKONOMI: TAMBAL SULAM WACANA ILMIAH

Like any other discipline, economics as a science is formed on the framework of a scientific building. It is the implementation of a particular point of view, in the sense of the product of interpretation and translation of the collaboration between the basic values ​​of the worldview and the context of all the activities that go on. Islam as a basic framework that is full of values, has its own concept of economy. In Islamic economics as an inner science context is a merger between the conceptual environment and the context of discussion, from the collaboration of these two things the economic epistemology is born. Therefore, the scheme and structure of this building acts as a scope of discussion or context of economics. On the other hand, problems begin to emerge when it intersects with the conventional economic concept of capitalism or socialism. Economics in the Islamic and conventional systems appears to be essentially tangent. Islam itself absolutely rejects all or accepts blindly. Contemporary Muslim thinkers view the economy as a creative reconceptualization, built on a collection of pre-existing thought-thinking, and always have an ever-growing bond of authority, and an evolving Islamic tradition of scholarship. Therefore, Islamization begins with an examination of the discipline of the object, by basically refining the worldview, the philosophy, and the basic values ​​of the discipline, by then eliminating points that are inconsistent with Islam and assimilating in harmony with it. Keywords : worldview , Islamization work-plan , saintific method, al-Attas, al-Faruqi.

SINTAGMATIK-PARADIGMATIK SYAHRUR DALAM TEKS AL-QUR’AN

Contemporary muslim thinker mostly from Islamic dicipline, but not for Muhammad Syahrur (here in after referred as: Syahrur) who interested in islamic issue without Islamic background, can offers many ideas in his book, al-Kitab wa al-Qur’an, this book is the first book published, “this book is contemporer reading of interpreting the holy book of the Qur’an” by analysis of the 20th century; which means that his opinion of the Qur’an must be interpreted according to the present methodology, Al -Qur'an is a revelation and guidance for mankind, so that the Qur'an can be understood as a whole for humans throughout the period naturally. From that then, the linguistic approach was used by Shahrur in digging up the secrets of His message. This research wants to explain format of Syahrur’s linguistic approach which related laws of verses of the Qur’an. Actually, discuss all his linguisticc approach are very interesting, but the writer just take the syntagmatic - paradigmatic analysis of the term <em>al - istiqamah</em> and <em>al - Hanif</em>. From this reasearch, there are two basic formulations problems, firstly how Shahrur analyze these two words by using syntagmatic - paradigmatic analysis and what advantages and disadvantages which offered Shahrur in this analysis. This reseach used library research models, and focus on analytical descriptions from his book by qualitative model.

The State and the authority in Contemporary Arab Islamic Thought

The follower of the Arab Islamic thought texts until the end of the twentieth century, find the absence of any coherent intellectual construction in the question of the state and authority theory, but finds the dimensions of political ideology, linked to the intellectual background of the thinker, since the Islamic reform used concepts such as freedom, constitution, parliament, public opinion, and concepts used to express the system of legitimate policy, which led to different intellectual results. The researcher found that newly and contemporary Muslim thinkers, reformers and revivalists, did not researched the state as a theoretical problem along with its political essence. Rather, they discussed its relationship with religion and the nation in terms of its religion Islam. They also recalled for concepts such as the question of state, identity, democracy and citizenship. Which created an intellectual state that views the state as a possessive and instrument that seeks to control it to achieve a political objective or project.

Real Images Flow: Mullā Sadrā Meets Film-Philosophy

The eastern Islamic concept of the imaginal realm, which explains how supra-sensory realities present themselves to imaginative perception, can enrich the imagination of film-philosophy. The imaginal realm, in Arabic ‘alam al-mithal, world of images, or ‘alam al-khayal, imaginative world, is part of a triadic ontology of sensible, imaginal, and intelligible realms. Diverging from roots shared with Western thought in the concept of the imaginative faculty, the Islamic imaginal realm is supra-individual and more real than matter. The imaginal realm is a radically pro-image concept, affirming the importance of poetry, art, and images in motion. As developed by the Persian philosopher Sadr al-Dîn Muhammad al-Shîrâzî, known as Mullâ Sadrâ (1571–1640), the imaginal realm flows and intensifies, in a process philosophy we may fruitfully compare with Spinoza, Leibniz, and Whitehead. I sketch the genealogy of the imaginal realm and compare it to contemporary Western film-philosophy. I suggest how this transcendental concept can be made immanent. Finally, I draw from contemporary Muslim thinkers, such as Mohammed Arkoun, who ground a visionary collective politics in the imaginal realm. My central example, the documentary The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012) by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joriege, exemplifies film's imaginal powers.

‫السنة‬ ‫مفهوم‬ ‫من‬ ‫الليبرالي‬ ‫الاتجاه‬ ‫موقف‬

One of the major issues that has occupied intellectual discourses in the contemporary Muslim World pertains to practicing historicism on Islamic religious texts (al-Qur’an and al-Sunnah). This study seeks to examine and respond to some efforts that have been done by liberal thinkers, Indonesian as well non-Indonesian, to redefine the concept of Sunnah based on historicism, the view that historical awareness is crucial for adequate understanding in a particular fieldor in general. After using both deductive and critical-analytical methods, this study has come to the conclusion that the concept of Sunnah which has been put forward by Indonesian liberal thinkers is mere repetition of contemporary Muslim thinkers, Arab as well non-Arab, who came under spell of the Orientalists. For liberal thinkers, Sunnah is not identical with hadits. According to their view, the conventional conception of Sunnah which means all that was delivered by the Prophet (SAW), whether by word of mouth, deed, prescription, and character (either physical or ethical), has caused the decline of Islam. Thus, in the their opinion, the sound definition of Sunnah that suits the contemporary era involves the prophet’s personal reasoning (ijtihâd) in executing the injunctions of the holy book, namely, penalties (hudud), worship, and ethics while accounting for the realistic (objective) world wherein he lived. Therefore, based on this view, the Sunnah should not be implemented literally as the Prophet did, but rather it could be changed due to some circumstances. No doubt that such concept needs boundaries, that is to say, which are principles and which are not in Islam. Otherwise, such a view is not only against the universality of Sunnah itself, but also a kind of effort to eliminate the role of Sunnah from Muslim life.

Kritik ‘Alî Harb terhadap Pembacaan Teks

‘Alî Harb, one of the contemporary Muslim thinkers, whit a philosophy background, also crushed the renewal through hermeneutic methods and gather it with the French treasury to discover Islam groundede which appropriate with the development period and history. This paper attempts to peer into the mind of hermeneutics of ‘Alî Harb and its implications for the world of Islamic thought. And it is found a result that ‘Alî Harb understand the text as a symbol and each symbol can not be abstracted the reality completely. He tried to photograph the forgotten side of the developing ideas. Therefore howefer what he did is a valuable contribution in the treasures of Islamic thought.

Signifikansi Maqâsid al-Sharî‘ah sebagai Kerangka Berpikir Epistemik Ijtihad

This paper focuses on the importance of <em>maqâs</em><em>id al-sharî‘ah </em>for the effectiveness of ijtihad in Islamic law. The emergence of controversies at the beginning of the tenth century AD on the issue of the closing of the gate of ijtihâd has resulted in the rigidity of Islamic law and its methodological framework. Along with these issues, some contemporary scholars on <em>maqâs</em><em>id </em>agreed that <em>sharî‘ah </em>law (al-Qur’ân) consists of partial (<em>juz’îyât</em>) and universal values (<em>kullîyyât</em>) that should be understood through a holistic approach in the frameworks of <em>maqâs</em><em>id</em>. Shift in the meaning and orientation of <em>maqâs</em><em>id al-sharî‘ah </em>in some contemporary Muslim scholars’ views, involving social sciences, philosophy of law, principles of morality, universality, social justice, human dignity, human rights, is a concrete manifestation of how Islamic law is able to provide answers to the current problems faced by the Muslim and non-Muslims community. This awareness has made contemporary Muslim thinkers strive to bring Islamic law into various achievements of progress in many aspects of life by emphasizing the importance of <em>maqâs</em><em>id al-sharî‘ah.</em>

Issues in Islamization of Human Knowledge: Civilization Building Discourse of Contemporary Muslim Thinkers

Issues in Islamization of Human Knowledge: Civilization Building Discourse of Contemporary Muslim Thinkers

Kitab Suci, Bahasa Arab dan Pembacaan Teks: Tinjauan Filsafat Mohammed Arkoun

Mohammed Arkoun is one of the great contemporary Muslim thinkers who advocate reforms of Islamic thought. This study seeks to explore Arkoun’s thoughts on The Book, Arabic language and reading scriptural text. Arkoun argues that when Muslims read the Qur’an as it is historically revealed, they will recreate Islam only as a dogma. Furthermore, he argues that it is a mandatory to rethink Islam from socio-cultural perspectives. The legacy of Islamic thoughts is accepted but it is also needed to be re-actualized because it was formulated in the specific time and place in the past. As for Arabic language, Arkoun thinks that as the language of the Qur’an, Arabic must become open language to any socio-cultural changes. However, since its enclosure as the unified codification, the Qur’an becomes “a close corpus”, which renders reinterpretation difficult. To solve this problem, he promotes the idea of de-construction of reading sacred text. 
 

REDEFINISI HUKUM ISLAM DALAM KERANGKA DEMOKRASI Eksperimentasi Muḥammad Shaḥrūr

This article discusses the new paradigm of Islamic law which is offered by Muḥammad Shaḥrūr, one of the contemporary Muslim thinkers from Suria. The focus of study on this paper is an attempt to criticize the redefinition of the basic concepts of Islamic law in Shaḥrūr view. According to Shaḥrūr, redefinition basic concepts in Islamic law must be done as a starting point to develop a new paradigm of Islamic law which is based on anthropocentric approaches, —not theocentric approaches. Islamic law is civil law, democratic and positive. Therefore, it requires more realistic, elastic, and implementable definition. For Shaḥrūr, the existence of a new paradigm, such as the democratization of Islamic law is very urgent in the midest of the Muslim world today on the era of the nation state, constitutionalism and democracy, rapidly changing, and increasingly distant from the tyranny period

Inter-Religious Dialogue: The Pespective of Malaysian Contemporary Muslim Thinkers

Malaysia is a country that is rich for the diversity of its people. This diversity can be seen from the aspect of faith, ethnicity, language, culture, and so on. In facing a society that is pluralistic in nature, several initiatives have been taken by the government and non-government bodies in ensuring understanding and unity among Malaysians. Among the initiatives taken are interreligious dialogues. In this regard, many among Malaysian thinkers have proposed some approaches and concepts of inter-faith dialogue that should and may be implemented in the context of Malaysia. For that purpose, this paper examined the forms of inter-religious dialogues in Malaysia from the perspective of Malaysian contemporary Muslim thinkers. The methodology utilized in this study is textual analysis, particularly the writings of these thinkers on this issue. This article concludes that there are several forms of inter-religious dialogues that are easily implemented, as well as the difficult ones in the context of Malaysia due to certain obstacles.

Sunnah dalam Nalar Islam Kontemporer Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

<p>This paper deals with the notion of Sunna according to one of the most leading contemporary Muslim thinkers, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd. The paper explores both his view concerning the Sunna, and his methodology of how to understand it. The paper discovers that the man does find in the Sunna a kind of flexibility that makes it open for new understanding and application within new context. His conception of the Sunna can be found in his ideas concerning the nature, position, validity and the interpretation of religious text. Given that the Sunna comes only second after the Qur’an, the former must therefore be interpreted in the light of the latter. The paper tries to show that what is interesting about studying Abu Zayd is his view to transform the Islamic religious texts from merely mythological narratives into a logical and living tradition.</p>

What Makes a “Muslim Intellectual”? On the Pros and Cons of a Category

At its core, this essay contains a substantiated plea for bringing about conceptual clarity to the notion of intellectual, which the frequent and highly ideologically charged public usage of this term seems to distort. In search for a sound analytical concept of first, relevant sociological and philosophical deliberations are highlighted, indicating that both of their notions differ to such an extent that their applicability to academic pursuit must be doubted. Yet, by discussing some considerations by a Study of Islam open to the approaches of the Social Sciences a possible framework for an analytically meaningful concept of intellectual is presented. At the same time, however, arguments are presented for why those contemporary Muslim thinkers who are usually credited with being intellectuals would hardly fit the analytical criteria for such label.