Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies

At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted the third annual Ismail al Faruqi Memorial Lecture. Delivered by Ahmad Atef Ahmad (University of California Santa Barbara), the lecture focused on the changing academ...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Brian Wright
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/45eed030fcce4a8bb47791ce4bdd9fdb
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:45eed030fcce4a8bb47791ce4bdd9fdb
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:45eed030fcce4a8bb47791ce4bdd9fdb2021-12-02T19:22:39ZConfronting Challenges in Islamic Studies10.35632/ajis.v34i1.8722690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/45eed030fcce4a8bb47791ce4bdd9fdb2017-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/872https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted the third annual Ismail al Faruqi Memorial Lecture. Delivered by Ahmad Atef Ahmad (University of California Santa Barbara), the lecture focused on the changing academic field of Islamic studies: where the field has been, where it is now, and where it should go in the future. Ahmad began by outlining the history of approaching both Islamic studies and comparative religion in general. After decades of claiming neutrality, he believes that the field has now reached a new phase. “In the past there was an assumption that there is a neutral, global set of rules and tools that can help us understand religion, like those of philosophy or anthropology. However, over time we have come to realize that these tools are in no way neutral and come with their own kinds of baggage.” This failure of neutrality has particularly affected scholars of Islam, because “You find that Muslim scholars who take their primary sources seriously find the deck stacked against them, especially for those who are working in the West and trying to engage in conversations with other religious traditions.” As a result of the realization that the tools of religious studies cannot be neutral, academia has undergone a significant shift ... Brian WrightInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 34, Iss 1 (2017)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Brian Wright
Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
description At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Antonio, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) hosted the third annual Ismail al Faruqi Memorial Lecture. Delivered by Ahmad Atef Ahmad (University of California Santa Barbara), the lecture focused on the changing academic field of Islamic studies: where the field has been, where it is now, and where it should go in the future. Ahmad began by outlining the history of approaching both Islamic studies and comparative religion in general. After decades of claiming neutrality, he believes that the field has now reached a new phase. “In the past there was an assumption that there is a neutral, global set of rules and tools that can help us understand religion, like those of philosophy or anthropology. However, over time we have come to realize that these tools are in no way neutral and come with their own kinds of baggage.” This failure of neutrality has particularly affected scholars of Islam, because “You find that Muslim scholars who take their primary sources seriously find the deck stacked against them, especially for those who are working in the West and trying to engage in conversations with other religious traditions.” As a result of the realization that the tools of religious studies cannot be neutral, academia has undergone a significant shift ...
format article
author Brian Wright
author_facet Brian Wright
author_sort Brian Wright
title Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
title_short Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
title_full Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
title_fullStr Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
title_full_unstemmed Confronting Challenges in Islamic Studies
title_sort confronting challenges in islamic studies
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 2017
url https://doaj.org/article/45eed030fcce4a8bb47791ce4bdd9fdb
work_keys_str_mv AT brianwright confrontingchallengesinislamicstudies
_version_ 1718376731522367488