English Literary Studies

On January 15, 2014, Md. Mahmudul Hasan, assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the International Islamic University Malaysia, addressed an audience at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon, VA. He spoke on how Muslims have tended to associate English studies with we...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Jay Willoughby
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/15e337d87f964e0e959073b0d8dfba5e
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:15e337d87f964e0e959073b0d8dfba5e
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:15e337d87f964e0e959073b0d8dfba5e2021-12-02T17:49:34ZEnglish Literary Studies10.35632/ajis.v31i2.10542690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/15e337d87f964e0e959073b0d8dfba5e2014-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/1054https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 On January 15, 2014, Md. Mahmudul Hasan, assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the International Islamic University Malaysia, addressed an audience at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon, VA. He spoke on how Muslims have tended to associate English studies with western value systems, secularism, and anti-Islamic practices. He opened his talk with some background information. He was educated at a madrassa and then chose to study western (English) literature, much to his father’s disappointment – he firmly believed that his son, whom he had always envisaged as an Islamic scholar, would come out of the university as a secularist, an atheist, or an agnostic. Although this may not be the case today, at his father’s time people could actually see their university-enrolled children undergo some changes or adopt the various western lifestyles uncritically at the expense of their traditional Islamic upbringing. Reflecting further on the context that had given rise to this attitude, Hasan pointed out the tendency at that time, and based solidly upon the Subcontinent’s colonial experience, to associate English literature studies with both colonialism and western Christendom. In response to this, contemporary scholars of postcolonial studies employ the twin strategies of abrogation and appropriation to dismantle the original intent behind introducing English literary studies and, simultaneously, to create platforms of self-assertion and resistance. Those who support the Islamization of English literary studies propose a similar approach to English literature in order to counterbalance the un-Islamic cultural influences as well as to present the Islamic worldviews in relation to the life-worlds that these literary texts are reputed to promote. He said that many Muslims find it difficult to reconcile “Islam” and “English literature,” for how can there be any relationship between them? This is not as illogical as it may seem, however, for the British introduced English literature into the Subcontinent long before they introduced it into the United Kingdom itself. It was offered in the former in 1830, but only ninety years later in the latter. In fact, according to Hasan, the subject itself has a colonial background, for it, along with Christian missionary activity, was designed to ... Jay WilloughbyInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 31, Iss 2 (2014)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Jay Willoughby
English Literary Studies
description On January 15, 2014, Md. Mahmudul Hasan, assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the International Islamic University Malaysia, addressed an audience at the IIIT headquarters in Herndon, VA. He spoke on how Muslims have tended to associate English studies with western value systems, secularism, and anti-Islamic practices. He opened his talk with some background information. He was educated at a madrassa and then chose to study western (English) literature, much to his father’s disappointment – he firmly believed that his son, whom he had always envisaged as an Islamic scholar, would come out of the university as a secularist, an atheist, or an agnostic. Although this may not be the case today, at his father’s time people could actually see their university-enrolled children undergo some changes or adopt the various western lifestyles uncritically at the expense of their traditional Islamic upbringing. Reflecting further on the context that had given rise to this attitude, Hasan pointed out the tendency at that time, and based solidly upon the Subcontinent’s colonial experience, to associate English literature studies with both colonialism and western Christendom. In response to this, contemporary scholars of postcolonial studies employ the twin strategies of abrogation and appropriation to dismantle the original intent behind introducing English literary studies and, simultaneously, to create platforms of self-assertion and resistance. Those who support the Islamization of English literary studies propose a similar approach to English literature in order to counterbalance the un-Islamic cultural influences as well as to present the Islamic worldviews in relation to the life-worlds that these literary texts are reputed to promote. He said that many Muslims find it difficult to reconcile “Islam” and “English literature,” for how can there be any relationship between them? This is not as illogical as it may seem, however, for the British introduced English literature into the Subcontinent long before they introduced it into the United Kingdom itself. It was offered in the former in 1830, but only ninety years later in the latter. In fact, according to Hasan, the subject itself has a colonial background, for it, along with Christian missionary activity, was designed to ...
format article
author Jay Willoughby
author_facet Jay Willoughby
author_sort Jay Willoughby
title English Literary Studies
title_short English Literary Studies
title_full English Literary Studies
title_fullStr English Literary Studies
title_full_unstemmed English Literary Studies
title_sort english literary studies
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2014
url https://doaj.org/article/15e337d87f964e0e959073b0d8dfba5e
work_keys_str_mv AT jaywilloughby englishliterarystudies
_version_ 1718379394278359040