Redefining Islamic Political Thought: A Critique in Methodological Perspective

The suicide bombings on July 7, 2005 in underground stations of London left the world stunned, angry and uncomprehending. The shocking situation of devastating September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon of United States had already created an atmosphere of hatred, against the followers of Islam. Since these horrifying acts were committed in the name of Islam, the Western media, the politicians, the bureaucrats and even the citizens portrayed having a crusading mentality of the past being aggravated by the recent so-called ‘jihadist’ activities throughout the world-a religion that was reactionary, anti-modern, inhumane, undemocratic and ethno-centric that left no space for any democratization, dialogue and pluralism. In this authoritative book, the author successfully tries to seek the roots of this ‘coloured’ image of Islam not only in the orientalists and ‘Western scholars’ conceptualizations inherent in the crusading factors, but also in the shortcomings of the methodologies applied by the classical political theorists of Islam and modern Muslim intellectuals as well. The crisis lies in the thought, in the minds, in the intellectualism as well as in the classical orthodoxy, as the book analyses. The scholar explicity explains the pristine teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah relating to various aspects of Islamic political thought such as secularism, socialism, nationalism, democracy, modernization and pluralism; and evaluates the reflections of contemporary Muslim Ulama, reformers, activists and revivalist intellectuals. He providing an honest critique to Islamic political legacy, presents a blue print to Islamize the discipline of political science in the contemporary world in order to cope with the incoming challenges of the twenty first century. This book of clear language and vision portraying a true image of democratic, humane and plural Islam, reflects twenty two years of study, experience and understanding on the part of a scholar who has the oriental degrees of Alimiyah, Fadhilah, Takhassus fi al-Qur’an and the degrees in modern education of M.A., M.Phil and Ph.D. in political science as well. The book is a fist of the experiences in both the Islamic and modern streams.