Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationAhmad Amin (1886-1954) was a well established historian and a liberal thinker on the issue of cultural reform. His son, Husayn (1932-), is also widely known for his argument against the Islamic radicalism, particularly from the angle of a historian and a judiciary. Their roles and contributions could be assessed in their respective societies, just as they could be evaluated together as in a journey of liberalism. The manner in which various discussions were carried out by the two differs on each topic; the father elaborated a lot on the concept of religious belief, whereas the son seemed to have relied upon it. The son was critical about a historical role played by Sufism but he also appreciated highly its contribution before the tenth century, thus avoiding a clash with the father. Both the father and the son tend to take a position of the middle way on various questions, including that of the application of the Shari'a, stressing a vital importance of the personal interpretation or ijtihad. As viewed from a broader spectrum, the son reflects the legacy from the father as a liberal, though its connotation is somewhat different from the Western context. Also both are students of history in their zeal to maintain an objective stand toward historical events. At the same time, they reflect the change of their respective times, thus composing a paradigm shift: the father's Arab-Islamic perspective and the son's one nation perspective, after all Arab states are sovereign and independent by the end of the twentieth century