Islamic Political Philosophy Research Articles

Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy. By Muhsin S. Mahdi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. 240p. $37.50.

Mahdi's book marks a watershed in scholarship on medieval political philosophy. For the specialist, chapter 5, on the Book of Religion, alone would be worth the price of the book as a whole. The same could be said for the most synoptic chapter, chapter 7. For the more general reader and, especially, the teacher of political philosophy, the introductory section of the book will prove to be an indispensable resource. Introductions to medieval Islamic philosophy have appeared in great profusion in recent years. Part One of this book constitutes the best introduction to medieval Islamic political philosophy and may do the same for Islamic philosophy as a whole. Until now, no one has explained sufficiently why the first truly great efflorescence of philosophy within the Islamic world should be so deeply political. The peculiar character of this founding of medieval Islamic (political) philosophy has much to do with the relative inattention to Alfarabi in Western scholarship, despite his towering role in medieval Islamic and Jewish thought. With this book, we have reason to hope that Alfarabi will begin to garner the attention he deserves.

Recovering Alfarabi - Alfarabi, The Political Writings: “Selected Aphorisms” and Other Texts. Translated and annotated by Charles E. Butterworth. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001. Pp. xiii, 179. $35.00.) - Muhsin S. Mahdi: Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy. With a Foreword by Charles E. Butterworth. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Pp. xvii, 264.

Recovering Alfarabi - Alfarabi, The Political Writings: “Selected Aphorisms” <i>and Other Texts</i>. Translated and annotated by Charles E. Butterworth. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001. Pp. xiii, 179. $35.00.) - Muhsin S. Mahdi: Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy. With a Foreword by Charles E. Butterworth. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Pp. xvii, 264.

The Political Philosophy of Islamic Resurgence

This article is an attempt to synthesize and extract the philosophical elements of the Islamist discourse. It argues that contained within the discourse of contemporary Islamic resurgence are the foundations of an Islamic political philosophy. The article identifies three central dimensions—critical, reconstitutive, and programmatic—in the political philosophy of Islamic resurgence and explores the arguments developed under those categories. The article also makes a distinction between first-generation and second-generation Islamists and illustrates the evolution of the Islamist discourse from critical to programmatic. In essence the article claims that there is significantly more to what the Islamists are saying than just polemics.

Revelation and Political Philosophy

This is a "work in progress" presentation based on mearch I am nowconducting about the development of Islamic political philosophy duringthe classical period of Islam. My contention is that a better understandingof that tradition puts the current debate about Islamic fundamentalism orresurgence into a new perspective. Behind the sensational, popular demandsfor greater adherence to the strictures of the revealed law of Islamlies an issue of fundamental importance: how divine revelation is to beunderstd and interpreted for political guidance. Those who developedIslamic political philosophy spoke directly to this issue and did so in amanner that merits the attention of contemporary Muslim activists, scholarsinterested in Islam, and thoughtful human beings in general. Theythought clearly about the relationship between religious belief andpolitical practice because they addressed the issue ditectly and withoutpreconceptions. Consequently, whatever our religious and cultural origins,we can benefit greatly from their teaching.One of my goals is to refocus current social science scholarship whileengaging Muslim scholars in debate on topics they deem urgent. Lately,there have been many, perhaps too many, reports and prognostics concerningthe success of resurgent Islam as well as the challenges it posesto Middle Eastern and western regimes. Such studies invariably talkabout, rather than with, those calling for greater attention to Islamic preceptsand practices; they presuppose and reinforce an attitude of "us" and"our valued' vetSUS "them" and "their values." Such a posture not onlyfosters antagonism and misunderstanding, it also ignores the way Muslimsare now addressing this complex phenomenon.Indeed, for almost a decade, Muslims trained in the West have beeninvestigating how western learning, especially the social sciences, illuminatestraditional Islamic sciences and vice versa. This task addresses, atthe highest level, the issue behind the call for application of the Shari'ahand offers the best Contemporary possibility of achieving some kind ofintercultural understanding. It offers those interested in western and Islamicculture a unique opportunity to delve mare deeply into another cultureand thereby understand the other and their own culture better.Another goal is to investigate how philosophers within the classicalperiod of Islam understood revelation and its outward manifestationprophecy-to influence political life. While mast scholars recognize the ...

Continuity in Islamic political philosophy: the role of myth

Abstract There is an essential continuity between Islamic political philosophy in the Middle Ages and today. Political philosophers in the Middle Ages explained and justified the use of mythical stories by rulers to motivate the whole of the community to behave in appropriate ways. They argued, basing themselves to a degree on their understanding of Plato, that not everyone is capable of really comprehending the reasons for certain aspects of political necessity, and so they should be led to obedience of civil law by being told stories which represent in more vivid and imaginative form the rewards and penalties which exist with respect to the law. It has often been argued that these philosophers, ranging from al‐Farabi to Ibn Rushd, were dissimulating their genuine heterodox views on the relationship between Islam and the state by arguing for the use of stories and allegories to persuade the masses that they ought to act in particular ways, while the intellectual élite can be provided with rational explanations for political action. It will be argued that contemporary and recent political writers in the Islamic world of the Middle East speak and write in a manner very similar to that of their medieval predecessors, especially when it is a matter of distinguishing between an élite and the common people, and some resemblances between political and social conditions today and in the medieval world of Islam will be drawn to try to account for this similarity and continuity.

The Islamic Conception of Justice

In The Islamic Conception of Justice, Majid Khadduri, one of the world's preeminent authorities on Islamic justice and jurisprudence, presents his extensive study and reflection on Islamic political, legal, ethical, and social philosophy. This book is both a magisterial historical synthesis and an illumination of the beliefs and practices of modern Islam. Throughout, Khadduri discusses not only the meaning of justice in general but also how justice has undergone significant changes in the modern age. The final chapter deals with the impact of Western notions of justice, with especial emphasis on the recurrence of fundamentalist movements such as the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Pakistan, and other Islamic lands.

Democracy in Islamic Political Philosophy

It is fashionable nowadays to be democratic; modern Muslim political scientists and writers are no exception. Prompted by the desire to portray Islam as a modern ideology and a progressive system of government, they have reinterpreted Islamic political and juridical theory in terms. Ample use has been made of such notions as equality of men before God irrespective of race, color or ethnic differences; freedom of belief and thought for Muslims and non-Muslims alike; bay'a, shara and ijmd', all of which attest to the essentially humanistic character of Islam and the democratic temperament of its political constitution and social life. (1) It is not my purpose to examine the validity of these claims or investigate the elements of Islamic political and juridical theory that lend themselves to such interpretations. Suffice it to say that in spite of the prevailing assumption in Sunni political theory that the community of believers is qualified to participate in political life and make decisive political and

Rhetoric and Islamic Political Philosophy

Islamic political philosophy has always been pursued in a setting where great care had to be taken to avoid violating the revelations and traditions accepted by the Islamic community, since these offer guide-lines for the secular conduct of that community, as well as injunctions about the manner in which its religious life should be conducted. Political philosophy is the search for a thorough understanding of the good or the best political regime. Thus, a Muslim political philosopher must temper his conclusions about the character of the good or the best political regime with what the Islamic community holds to be appropriate for Muslims. This statement of what a Muslim political philosopher does immediately gives rise to two questions: (i) Can a Muslim political philosopher ever really engage in philosophy? (2) If he can, is it not at the expense of Islamic precepts?