Modern Muslim Theology

Martin Nguyen is associate professor of Islamic religious traditions at Fairfield University, where he is also the faculty chair for diversity. He is the author of the book Sufi Master and Qur’an Scholar.

Muslim theology has traditionally been understood as involving doctrines and beliefs, as emphasizing the conceptual and cognitive aspects of the faith. Nguyen (Fairfield Univ.) considers Muslim theology in a different way. He understands it as encompassing all aspects of a believer’s life—the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual elements. He believes Muslim theology should lead people to see their lives as an ongoing response to God involving active engagement with others and society. Nguyen looks at prayer, the Koran, imagination, creativity, Muslim tradition, prostration before God, righteousness in words and actions, and protest. He intends this book for both laypersons and scholars, since he believes that theology should address all believers and not just a small, elite segment of them. Nguyen's fresh approach makes Islam relevant to the present time, in which people are influenced by postmodernism and need to see faith in action and not simply through its doctrines and ideas. Nguyen likely will encounter resistance and criticism from other Muslim scholars, but his creative vision for theology may well have significant influence.Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

• CONTENTSAcknowledgments Introduction Why Theology? Muslim Theology A Muslim Theology of Engagement Genealogy of the Book Arrangement of the Book Conventions of the Book Notes 1 The Language of Theology Theology The Horizon of Engagement The Measure of Revelation Notes 2 The Measure of Modern Time A Pound of Flesh Life Without End The Time That Remains End of the End TimesCrisis Continuous Notes 3 Imagining Tradition The Question of Tradition The Construction of Tradition The Ka?ba as Tradition Notes 694 The Religious Imagination Imagine Reason and Rationalities The Muslim Imaginative Tradition The Measure of the Religious Imagination Notes 5 Revelation and Response The Qur’an as Revelation In the Moment of Revelation Toward a Theology of Prostration Notes 6 Faith in the Tradition A Life of Faith The Measure of Faith Faith in the Changing Tradition A Life of Change Faith in the Forge Notes 7 Theology in Prostration Prayer A Life of PrayerPrayer in ProstrationThe Timing of PrayerThe Form of Prayer The Prostration of Response The Prostration of Protest Pray as Though It Is Your Last Prayer Notes ConclusionWhere We Have Been Where We Shall Go Notes Bibliography Arabic Texts 187General Sources 189Index of Qur’anic Verses 199About the Author 205