K.G. Saiyidaen on “Iqbal’s Educational Philosophy”- A Study

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Intercivilisational Social Theory: Complementarity and Contradiction in the Muslim and Western Intellectual Traditions

In its broadest ambition, sociology aims to better understand the human predicament. Despite this, modem social theory is grounded in a decidedly Western disciplinary rationality-modernist, developmentalist, naturalistic, and secular. Yet, the fact is that human beings exist in multiple diverse traditions, including transcendental, authentic/liberative, and religious. A paradigm of comparative social theory, then, would enlarge our craft's theoretical apparatus: A 'hermeneutic cultural positivity' model that has both intercivilisational and existentialistic aspects will put at sociology's disposal a vast array of comparative and analytical concepts to address contemporary global issues in an intercivilisational dialogue. Specifically, social theory which considers major problems in relation to existential questions reveals commonalities among Western and Muslim intellectual traditions. The major elements of 'social' theory-human nature, community, religion, the sacred, the secular, and authenticity-are here deconstructed from both perspectives, as understood by two representative theorists from each tradition, who all agree that modernity poses both a possibility for and a danger to human existence. Goffman's sociology is based on symbolic and discursive social theory, while Giddens defends social democracy and the 'Third Way.' Despite these theorists' absence of transcendental consciousness both focus strongly on ex~stential concerns (as· distinguished from religious concerns). By the same token, in the Muslim tradition of liberation theology, existential concerns are equally crucial social issues in Iqbal's modern traditionalism and Shariati's post-colonial Islamist modernisation. Considering these four thinkers within this comparative model can create a new vision for tackling world problems by demonstrating their respective theories' inherent strengths and weaknesses-Le., their potential contributions. Without understanding both intellectual traditions in these seemingly different civilizations, we are not able to reach the constructive understanding at the basis of meaningful co-existence. On the modem global stage, reinventing the sociological tradition on an intercivilisational basis can bring fundamental change to intellectual engagements. Rather than incommensurable agents imprisoned by our mental and social structures, we can choose between disagreement, clash, confrontation, and dialogue.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The main philosophical idea in the writings of Muhammad Iqbal (1877 - 1938)

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Conceptions of Religion: Exploring the Converging and Diverging Religious Philosophies of Muhammad Iqbal and Friedrich Nietzsche

Popular conceptions of Pakistan are visions of violence, terrorism, and radical Islam. However, the idea of Pakistan originates with poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938) who cited a need for a state where Indian Muslims could live as true Muslims. Embedding his religious philosophy in poetry, Iqbal was a well-educated, progressive thinker, and had a variety of influences, including Friedrich Nietzsche (d. 1900). Nietzsche, sometimes called The Great Atheist, is most well-known for his pronouncement, God is dead. This thesis explores the apparent irony of how Iqbal, a deeply religious Muslim, took such philosophical inspiration from an apparent enemy of religion like Nietzsche

Said Nursi's ideal for human society : moral and social reform in the Risale-i Nur

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Informal religious leadership in a Bangladeshi Village

This thesis examines concepts of Islamic informal religious leadership, focusing on one particular village in Bangladesh and suggesting a framework within in further research could usefully be conducted. After reviewing the entry of Islam (both in terms of political rule and infiltration of ideas) into the region, and examining the concept of `formality /informality' as it pertains to localised religious leadership, such leaders in Rosulpur are reviewed. A classification of leadership, based on apparent rôles, is suggested. Some parallels between the Bengali village practice of Islam and foundational ideas of the faith are then detailed. Such parallels are not made by the villagers themselves, despite it being theoretically possible and it therefore seems that villagers' sense of identity does not rest on what are supposedly foundational Islamic beliefs and practices (such as ritual prayer). It is suggested that informal leaders, including singers, healers and (perhaps most importantly) pirs, are ceded leadership partly because they tacitly validate common practices and beliefs as being acceptable forms of Islam.Because leadership is such a key concept throughout the thesis, three appendices review this topic. The `Mirrors of Princes' genre of literature was an attempt to merge theory and practice in the exercise of power by several Islamic dynasties. A more contemporary and descriptive glimpse of Islamic leadership is given with the varied functions of the sheikh in various societies. The need to acknowledge unseen beings (such as jinn) and varied means of doing this in the wider Indian subcontinent is finally examined

Dr Mulk Raj Anand: a critical bibliography

Among the Indian novelists writing in English, Mulk Raj Anand is pre-eminent for the seriousness and fullness of his commitment to bring about a new Indian society. He is a novelist with an idea of himself and a conception of life which have been evolved from many influences, mainly western European, but with Indian sanctions and traditions. His humanism, new termed Karuna Rasa or compassion, is the natural outcome of his searching and sufferings arising from the crises in his life. According to Anand, he writes because there is this compulsion to express his feelings, his inner convictions and beliefs that have made him accept life. His autobiographical novels, Seven Summers, Morning Face and Confession of a Lover, and the novels that developed from his 'Confessional' of two thousand pages, are distinguished by this Indian personality, the people that touched his life, and the events that constitute the rich history of India in pre-Independence days....

Arthur John Arberry(1905-1969): A Critical Evaluation of an Orientalist

Arthur John Arberry (1905–1969): A Critical Evaluation of an Orientalist Arthur J. Arberry is widely recognised as one of the leading British scholars of Oriental Studies in the mid-twentieth century. This thesis aims to re-evaluate Arberry’s contribution to the field by examining his works and translations from a post-colonial perspective. After having provided a background to A. J. Arberry, this PhD thesis focuses on discussing and defining the concept of Orientalism as understood by its critics, especially Edward Said. We analyse the influence of empire and imperialism on Said’s experiences and academic works, concluding that post-colonialism informed Said’s views. The post-colonial critique is the foundation to analyse the opus of Arberry and examine concepts of empire and colonialism in his works and his attitudes to the Middle East. A selection of Arberry’s works reveals that his interpretation of Islamic culture is that of a Western scholar. His wartime work for the Ministry of Information and the BBC showed that he was a strong supporter of British values but also that his contributions were evidence of his inability to adjust his scholarly practices to the need to communicate effectively with audiences abroad. Theories of translation provide additional analytical tools to assess his Orientalist views as revealed by his translations of Arabic and Persian texts, including those of Iqbal. His frequently acclaimed versions of the Qur’an will be scrutinised in detail with the result that their accuracy of interpretation and style of translation are open to question. The thesis finds that Arberry was a text-based Oriental scholar who did not consider contemporary life in the countries from which the texts originated. His outlook was conservative, declining to venture into fields of study outside his discipline, being unsuited to fully engage with challenges emanating from a changing world. The thesis agrees with the critique that his works show essentialism, absence and otherness. Examination of Arberry’s works has demonstrated the nature of scholarly Orientalism of the mid-twentieth century. The phrase ‘post‐colonial perspective’ is used to describe a new methodological revisionism which enables a wholesale critique of western structures of knowledge and power; the term indicates the theoretical and methodological approach used in the analysis and critique. For post‐colonialism in general, see E. Said, Orientalism (London: Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1978

Joseph v. Hammer Purgstall's German Translation of Hafez's Divan and Goethe's West-östlicher Divan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan [West-Eastern Divan], which emerged from the author’s interest in love poems of the fourteenth-century classical Persian poet Hafez, was the inspiration for this thesis. The overwhelmingly negative appraisal of the first translation of Hafez’s entire Divan into German by Joseph Freiherr von Hammer Purgstall, which was used by Goethe in the composition of his own poems, sparked its research questions: How can the errors in Joseph von Hammer Purgstall’s translation of Hafez’s Divan be explained, and how did these inconsistencies affect Goethe’s understanding of Hafez’s poems? Despite contention about the accuracy of Hammer’s version of Hafez, the translation inspired Goethe, who, feeling so much affinity for Hafez as to call him his ‘twin brother’, soon began to write poetry imitating Hafez’s style in the process of cultivating his growing fascination for this classical Persian love poetry. The thesis draws connections between the Hafezian elements of the original Divan and their reproduction in Goethe’s cycle of poems by analyzing a selection of poems from Hammer’s translation, considering Hammer’s role as mediator, as well as comparing with these a selection of Hafez-inspired poems from Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan. To this end, chapter one sets Hafez into the historical and artistic context of Persian poetry and introduces the formal aspects of Hafez’s primary lyrical form, the ghazal. In this it focuses especially on technical aspects of rhyme and complicating elements such as the formal consideration of unity and the contextual consideration of mystical allusions. Further, this chapter familiarizes the reader with essential features of the linguistic and rhetorical peculiarities and traditions of the Persian language, as well as the dramatis personae of Hafez’s Divan. The analysis of Hammer’s translations in the second chapter demonstrates both his successful renderings as well as his occasional deviations from the original, while addressing the difficulties he faced in transferring the linguistic peculiarities of the original to the target language. It also reviews the extent to which Hafez’s philosophy remained intact in his version. The third chapter focuses on the poems of Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan in light of both Hammer’s translation and Hafez’s original. Taking about thirty poems into account, this chapter shows that Goethe’s mastery in composing Hafez-inspired poems gives the reading audience an understanding of the poetry of that classical Persian figure without needing to read or understand the original text and it argues that the poems of his West-östlicher Divan enliven Hafezian literary patterns in the minds of readers who know the Persian poet and make them understandable for the uninitiated westerner. The analysis further elucidates how Goethe overcame the weaknesses in Hammer’s version to reconstruct the fundamentals of Hafez’s message