Makers of Islamic Civilization – serie

This book places Biruni in his historical and cultural context within the long-term history of medieval Eurasia. It outlines the course of Biruni's life, clarifying key questions about his associations, travels, and patrons. Following an overview of Biruni's chief interests, it details his major works to illustrate the breadth of Biruni's output and his intellectual approach, especially his attention to language, esteem for knowledge, and commitment to objective truth. An account of his institutional context and relationships elucidates his friendships and rivalries, notably with Avicenna. The book also shows how varied paths of transmission affected the legacy of Biruni and its reception in global scientific and literary traditions. Finally, a timeline, list of key works, and detailed bibliographic essay will guide readers into further study of Biruni and his thought.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was one of the most remarkable Muslim scholars of the pre-modern period. He founded what he called the science of human society or social organization, as well as a new methodology for writing history and a new purpose for it, namely to understand the causes of events. While his ideas had little impact on the development of Muslim thought for several centuries, they hugely impressed European thinkers from the nineteenth century on-some of them proclaimed Ibn Khaldun a progenitor of sociology and modern historiography. This book introduces the reader to Ibn Khaldun's core ideas, focusing on his theory of the rise and decline of states. It presents the story of Ibn Khaldun's life, his political ups and downs, and some features of his character that contribute to an understanding of the development of his ideas. The central concept of 'asabiyya (group solidarity) and the factors that lead to its dilution are explained in detail, as also the method of testing (historical) reports for their plausibility. Alatas provides an extended discussion of Ibn Khaldun's views on education and knowledge, and on society. He recounts the reception of Ibn Khaldun in his own time and in the modern period, in the Islamic world and in the West: the range of responses include those who thought Ibn Khaldun merely reworked ideas found in the works of al-Farabi and in the Ikhwan al-Safa' to those who compare him to the giants of Western political and sociological thought, from Machiavelli to Marx. The book also includes a comprehensive list of the various editions and translations of Ibn Khaldun's works into European and non-European languages and also an annotated list of major works in Arabic, English, and other Western languages, which would aid the reader in further research.

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) is the most famous exponent of the mystical tradition in Islam and venerated as 'Mevlana', 'our master'. The still flourishing Mevlevi order of dervishes, famous for their ecstatic music and dance, was organized by his eldest son on the basis of Rumi's teaching and practice. He spent most of his life in Konya in Rum (modern Anatolia), whence the name 'Rumi'. His longest work, the Mathnavi, has held its reputation in the eastern lands of the Islamic world as the most recited and venerated text after the Qur'an. Echoes of the Muslim Scripture, and traces of Rumi's education as a traditional Muslim jurist or faqih, are apparent throughout his writings. The resurgence of interest in Rumi in the West has evolved into a cult, especially on American college campuses. As Schimmel explains, this cult does not do justice to the profound spiritual passion and insights of the Mathnavi and Rumi's Divan. In this concise, readable essay, she sketches the major landmarks in Rumi's life and the influences on it, the religious and cultural background of his poetic Sufism, the dominant strands of imagery and the range of tone and anecdote that animate his spiritual world. She explains why Rumi, as poet and mystic, must be understood in the Persian literary and the Islamic religious traditions to which he belonged. It is through those traditions that he experienced and expressed the Divine Love that the peoples of all faith traditions immediately recognize and affirm. The closing chapters review recent scholarship and translations of Rumi's works, in West and East, and answer the question 'What does Rumi mean to us in the modern world?'

Haji Imdadullah (1817-1899) was a prominent Sufi shaykh of the Chishti order. The first part of his life coincided with the period when the British were consolidating their power over India. His family were long settled in the small towns in the north of the country. During the repression that followed the 1857 Uprising against British rule, Imdadullah migrated to the Ottoman Hijaz and settled in Makka where he remained until his death. From there Imdadullah was able to establish his authority among a large and dispersed community of scholars and sufis. He continued to guide his disciples from across the Indian Ocean through his correspondence and his books. His authority spread further in India and into the wider Islamic world. His life, works, and legacy offer a window on an early stage of Muslim response to the forced encounter with the processes of modernization just as they gathered momentum. This book explains how Imdadullah came to be respected as a spiritual forefather of key seminaries at Deoband, Saharanpur and Lucknow, and of important movements such as Tablighi Jamaat and Jamiat-i Ulama-i Hind. It highlights some of the major intellectual trends of the period and their continued relevance: the convergence between the sufi and scholarly traditions; the networks that linked South Asian intellectuals with their peers elsewhere in the Islamic world; their use of print and improved transportation to sustain trans-Asian networks and to manoeuvre within them. It explains also how Imdadullah stood out among his contemporaries on account of his commitment to minimizing disputes over ritual and doctrine that were rife among Muslims in India and elsewhere.

Abu al-A`la Mawdudi (1903-1979) was a major Muslim scholar-activist of the Indian subcontinent. His writings, which deal with an extraordinarily wide range of subjects, and the political organization he founded, Jama`at-i Islami (Islamic Party), to give practical expres-sion to his programme of Islamic revivalism, have deeply - in some instances, decisively - influenced the religious landscape of the sub-continent and the larger Muslim world. This book aims to provide a compact introduction to Mawdudi's contribution to Islamic scholarship and activism, and a reappraisal of that contribution in the light of the best scholarship about him. Mawdudi, his works, and his political party have been the subject of numerous studies. Mustansir Mir brings into relief the central motif of Mawdudi's many-sided work, namely Islam as a system of thought and practice. The idea of Islam as a system predates Mawdudi, but it is Mawdudi's working out of that idea that distinguishes him from his contemporary thinkers and writers. Speaking overall, Mawdudi, more than any other modern Muslim thinker, can be said to have redefined the Islamic problematic for the present age.