Reclaiming the Tradition

The issue at hand for every Muslim who takes hisher Muslim identity seriously is to work toward the creation and maintenance of Islamic knowledge. The commitment to this agenda should not, however, be seen exclusively as an exercise in constructing yet another knowledge structure, for then it would...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Yedullah Kazami
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: International Institute of Islamic Thought 1998
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/a85885e903f64ad9b367625b03604d32
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:a85885e903f64ad9b367625b03604d32
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:a85885e903f64ad9b367625b03604d322021-12-02T17:26:07ZReclaiming the Tradition10.35632/ajis.v15i2.21792690-37332690-3741https://doaj.org/article/a85885e903f64ad9b367625b03604d321998-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ajis.org/index.php/ajiss/article/view/2179https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3733https://doaj.org/toc/2690-3741 The issue at hand for every Muslim who takes hisher Muslim identity seriously is to work toward the creation and maintenance of Islamic knowledge. The commitment to this agenda should not, however, be seen exclusively as an exercise in constructing yet another knowledge structure, for then it would be an empty academic exercise. The full truth and force of Islamization of knowledge is captured only in its being understood initially as a political act. Only later is it to be understood as an act that, for its completion, requires Muslims to engage in academic exercises without, however, ever losing sight of the political import of the entire undertaking. The sense in which I am using the term “political” should not be understood in the narrow and parochial sense of belonging to a political party or an organization or even of being committed to some political ideology. I am employing the term to mean the exercise of power not for individual gains but for the betterment of the community viewed as a moral entity. Hence, the political is the realm within which moral debate takes place regarding the ends for which the community is to use power, by whom it will be exercised on behalf of the community, and how it will employ power to realize those ends. In this sense, the political becomes constitutive of the community considered as a moral entity. This understanding of the political is consistent with the Islamic view, which does not separate the political from the moral. In fact, in Islam political activity has legitimacy and makes sense only if undertaken for a moral purpose. In the West, the moral understanding of the political was the Cornerstone of Plato’s and Aristotle’s classical political theory, until it became marginalized as the West grew more secular and ... Yedullah KazamiInternational Institute of Islamic ThoughtarticleIslamBP1-253ENAmerican Journal of Islam and Society, Vol 15, Iss 2 (1998)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Islam
BP1-253
spellingShingle Islam
BP1-253
Yedullah Kazami
Reclaiming the Tradition
description The issue at hand for every Muslim who takes hisher Muslim identity seriously is to work toward the creation and maintenance of Islamic knowledge. The commitment to this agenda should not, however, be seen exclusively as an exercise in constructing yet another knowledge structure, for then it would be an empty academic exercise. The full truth and force of Islamization of knowledge is captured only in its being understood initially as a political act. Only later is it to be understood as an act that, for its completion, requires Muslims to engage in academic exercises without, however, ever losing sight of the political import of the entire undertaking. The sense in which I am using the term “political” should not be understood in the narrow and parochial sense of belonging to a political party or an organization or even of being committed to some political ideology. I am employing the term to mean the exercise of power not for individual gains but for the betterment of the community viewed as a moral entity. Hence, the political is the realm within which moral debate takes place regarding the ends for which the community is to use power, by whom it will be exercised on behalf of the community, and how it will employ power to realize those ends. In this sense, the political becomes constitutive of the community considered as a moral entity. This understanding of the political is consistent with the Islamic view, which does not separate the political from the moral. In fact, in Islam political activity has legitimacy and makes sense only if undertaken for a moral purpose. In the West, the moral understanding of the political was the Cornerstone of Plato’s and Aristotle’s classical political theory, until it became marginalized as the West grew more secular and ...
format article
author Yedullah Kazami
author_facet Yedullah Kazami
author_sort Yedullah Kazami
title Reclaiming the Tradition
title_short Reclaiming the Tradition
title_full Reclaiming the Tradition
title_fullStr Reclaiming the Tradition
title_full_unstemmed Reclaiming the Tradition
title_sort reclaiming the tradition
publisher International Institute of Islamic Thought
publishDate 1998
url https://doaj.org/article/a85885e903f64ad9b367625b03604d32
work_keys_str_mv AT yedullahkazami reclaimingthetradition
_version_ 1718380870349357056