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eBook Category: Politics/Government/Spiritual/Religion
eBook Description: Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition is the first book to account for the religious, historical and political dimensions of Islamic fundamentalism in a single volume. It provides analyses based upon spiritual principles, rather than conjecture based on political prejudices. This book provides the context necessary for a deeper understanding of important issues pertaining to Islam and the contemporary Middle East. It accomplishes this by explaining the traditional Islamic perspective in a contemporary language. Some essays analyze the historical background of Islamic militancy, demonstrating how the scriptures and teachings of Islam condemn religious fanaticism and gratuitous aggression. Others examine the conditions that allowed for the rise of such an aberration, while yet others address the divide between East and West, bringing into relief the pressures of modernization and globalization which have produced an internal confusion which fans the flames of religious extremism. Written as a collaborative effort by a group of young Muslim scholars, this volume questions much of the prevailing "wisdom" regarding extremist interpretations of Islam. Contributors include Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Foreword), David Dakake, Reza Shah-Kazemi, Fuad Naeem, Waleed El-Ansary, Ibrahim Kalin, Ejaz Akram, and T.J. Winter. Joseph E.B. Lumbard is the founder of The Islamic Research Institute and is currently Professor of Islamic Studies in the Arabic Studies Department of The American University in Cairo. He was awarded a B.A. magna cum laude in English Literature and Religious Studies from The George Washington University in 1993, and an M.A. in Religious Studies in 1995. He received an M.Phil. in Islamic Studies from Yale University in 2000, and a Ph.D.in Islamic Studies with distinction in May, 2003. A specialist in Sufism and Islamic Philosophy, Dr. Lumbard has spent many years researching and writing about Islamic civilization, with an emphasis on its intellectual traditions. He has studied Islamic texts on Quran, law, theology, philosophy and Sufism with scholars trained in the classical Islamic tradition and has reached a high degree of proficiency in both Arabic and Persian. He is thus conversant with the technical vocabulary and the methodological issues particular to a broad range of Islamic intellectual disciplines.

eBook Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc, Published: 2004
Fictionwise Release Date: October 2004

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"This book capably argues for a return to the true spirit of classical Islamic intellectualism, disregarding the distractions and obstacles created by the West. This book is a good resource for progressive Muslims, graduate students and readers already well versed on the politics of Islamic theology."--Publishers Weekly

"The eight essays collected here were written by Western-trained scholars committed to traditional Muslim faith and practice. As such, they firmly reject the extremism of puritanical reformist movements in the Muslim world. These movements 'have abandoned the guidance of their own intellectual heritage' for rigid, literal readings of the Qur'an and the prophetic traditions. Yet they also reject secular modernism, which fosters oppressive globalization and economic colonialism, denigrates traditional Muslim cultural values, and undermines morality by relegating God's revelations to the purely private sphere. Two essays address the 'myth of a militant Islam' and contrast it with the true spirit of jihad. Additional essays examine the rise of inauthentic, ideological forms of Islam, the economies of terrorism, traditionalist responses to modernity, globalization's role in fostering Western-Muslim conflict, and Euro-American misconceptions of Islam pre- and post- 9/11. Despite some tension between the post colonial methodology and the traditionalist agenda of the text, this volume is essential for anyone concerned about the role Islam plays in contemporary culture. Recommended for all academic and public libraries."--Library Journal

"9/11 brought into sharp relief the struggle for the soul of Islam which has gripped Muslim communities across the world. In its wake many have asked, 'Where are the moderate Muslims?' Islam, Fundamentalism, and the Betrayal of Tradition: Essays by Western Muslim Scholars provides access to insightful and, at times, provocative Muslim voices."--John L. Esposito, author of Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam

"Islam must be conciliated in the West if we are to move on to better days. Knowledge is the only means we have to do so and this book is a step in the right direction."--Hamza Yusuf, Director of the Zaytuna Institute

"With America's 'war on terrorism' being seen increasingly by many people as a 'war on Islam' there is nothing more important than informed scholarly analysis around the nature of contemporary Islam. This volume helps us in that understanding and provides us a desperately needed perspective in the discussion which threatens to spin out of control in a miasma of prejudice and ignorance."--Akbar S. Ahmed, American University in Washington DC.

In the post-September 11th environment there is an urgent need for a clear enunciation of the views of traditional Islam in regard to jihÂd, so-called ?holy war." The first matter which needs to be made clear is that jihÂd is not simply fighting or holy warfare. In Arabic, jihÂd literally means ?effort," that is, to exert oneself in some way or another. Within the context of Islam, jihÂd has the meaning of exerting oneself for the sake of God, and this exertion can be in an infinite number of ways, from giving charity and feeding the poor, to concentrating intently in one's prayers, to controlling one's self and showing patience and forgiveness in the face of offenses, to gaining authentic knowledge, to physical fighting to stop oppression and injustice. Generally speaking, anything that requires something of us?that is, requires that we go beyond the confines of our individual ego and desires? or anything that we bear with or strive after for the sake of pleasing God can be spoken of as a ?jihÂd? in Islam. This understanding of jihÂd is such that when the ?five pillars? of the faith are taught, jihÂd is sometimes classified as a ?sixth pillar? which pervades the other five, representing an attitude or intention that should be present in whatever one does for the sake of God.

This being said, there is no doubt that jihÂd has an important martial aspect. To understand this we should remember that within the Islamic tradition the term ?jihÂd? has been understood to possess two poles: an outward pole and an inward pole. These two poles are illustrated in the words of the Prophet of Islam when he said to his companions, after they had returned from a military campaign in defense of the Medinan community: ?We have returned from the lesser (asghar) jihÂd to the greater (akbar) jihÂd." Here the lesser jihÂd refers to physical fighting, whereas having come back to the relative physical safety of their city of Medina, the Muslims faced yet a greater jihÂd?namely, the struggle against the passionate, carnal soul that constantly seeks its own self-satisfaction above all else, being forgetful of God. This famous saying of the Prophet emphasizes the hierarchy of the two types of jihÂd, as well as the essential ?balance? that must be maintained between its outward and inward forms, a balance often neglected in the approach of certain modern Islamic groups that seek to reform people and society from ?without," forcing change in the outward behavior of men and women without first bringing about a sincere change in their hearts and minds. This is the lesson of the words of the Qur?an when God says, "We never change the state of a people until they change themselves? (13:11). This lesson, as we shall see when we examine the earliest military jihÂd, was not lost on the first Muslims.