Humanism and Muslim Culture (eBook)

Prof. Dr. Stefan Reichmuth lehrt am Seminar für Orientalistik und Islamwissenschaften der Universität Bochum.

Title Page 3
Copyright 4
Table of Contents 7
Body 9
Stefan Reichmuth//Aladdin Sarhan: 1. Foreword 9
Stefan Reichmuth//Aladdin Sarhan: 2. Humanism and Muslim Culture: Historical Heritage and Contemporary Challenges 11
1. Universal concept of humanity 13
2. Centrality of the human being: Anthropocentrism 14
3. Human dignity as a basic value of cultural orientation 15
4. Equality of all human beings in respect to their essential dignity 15
5. Fundamental reference to responsibility and otherness in human existence 16
6. Individuality and social responsibility 16
7. Humanity and Transcendence 17
The present book 18
Part I: A humanist hermeneutics of Islam? 20
Part II: Debates on humanist elements in Islamic culture 21
Part III: Humanism and Islam in European identity politics: German and Dutch cases 22
Bibliography 24
Part I: A humanist hermeneutics of Islam? 25
: 3. The Concept of Man in the Qur'an. Non-Muslim Perspectives 27
Introduction 27
Part I: The social background of the Qur'anic text 30
Part II: Humanistic Hermeneutics of the Qur'an 35
Bibliography 38
: 4. Rethinking the Qur'an: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutics 39
1. The Qur'an as `Discourse' 41
2. The Qur’an versus the Mu..af: the spoken and the silent 43
3. The `Text' Reconstructed and Manipulated 44
4. Polyphonic not Monophonic Who Speaks and Who Listens?
5. Dialogue 50
6. Negotiation 53
7. From Negotiation to Disputation 55
Conclusion 59
Bibliography 60
: 5. The Vicissitudes of Ethics in Islamic Thought 61
The two sources of ethics 63
1) From the tensions between reason and belief to an ultraliberal pragmatism versus Islamic fundamentalism 65
2) From the ethics of to the expansion of Islamic fundamentalism: which specific lessons? 73
3) Where do the Values Go? Commanding the Right and Prohibiting the Wrong (al-amr bi-l-ma‘ruf wa-l-nahy ‘ani-l-munkar) 78
Instead of a Conclusion: Postulates and Systems of Truth 82
Bibliography 84
Part II: Debates on humanist elements in Islamic culture 87
Renate Würsch: 6. Humanism and Mysticism – Inspirations from Islam 89
Bibliography 99
Hinrich Biesterfeldt: 7. The Perfect Man – a Humanist? 101
1. The Perfect Man in Ibn al-.Arabi’s thought and al-Jili’s system 102
2. Various personifications of the Perfect Man in Islamic religious thought 105
3. The Perfect Man – a Humanist? 108
Bibliography 112
Stefan Reichmuth: 8. Humanism in Islam between Mysticism and Literature 115
Bibliography 125
Michael Kreutz: 9. Understanding the Other: on Reason and Individualism 127
Heritage in an Age of Criticism 129
From to 132
A Plea for Human Reason 136
From Reason to Faith 139
Bibliography 142
Part III: Humanism and Islam in European identity politics: German and Dutch cases 145
Birgit Schäbler: 10. Humanism, Orientalism, Modernity: A Critique 147
From Humanism to Neo-Humanism 148
Writing Islam out of Modernity 150
Global Modernity 156
Bibliography 159
Michael Kemper: 11. The Cracks in Civilizations: The Dutch Public Discourse on Humanism and Islam 163
, Fitna (2008) 165
, Islam for Pigs (2008) 170
Kader Abdolah, The Koran./The Messenger (2008) 173
Conclusion 176
Bibliography 177
About the Contributors 179