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Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition – A Landmark Study by the Foremost U.S. Scholar on Contemporary Issues and World Peace
The foremost U.S. authority on Islam and, Seyyed Hossein Nasr discusses today’s hot button issues—including holy wars, women’s rights, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and the future of Moslems in the Middle East—in this groundbreaking discussion of the fastest-growing religion in the world. One of the great scholars in the modern Islamic intellectual tradition, and the acclaimed author of books such as The Garden of Truth and The Heart of Islam , Nasr brings incomparable insight to this exploration of Muslim issues and realities, delivering a landmark publication promoting cross-cultural awareness and world peace.
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2010
54 people are currently reading
432 people want to read
About the author
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
249 books726 followersSeyyed Hossein Nasr was born on April 7, 1933 (19 Farvadin 1312 A.H. solar) in Tehran into a family of distinguished scholars and physicians. His father, Seyyed Valiallah, a man of great learning and piety, was a physician to the Iranian royal family, as was his father before him. The name "Nasr" which means "victory" was conferred on Professor Nasr's grandfather by the King of Persia. Nasr also comes from a family of Sufis. One of his ancestors was Mulla Seyyed Muhammad Taqi Poshtmashhad, who was a famous saint of Kashan, and his mausoleum which is located next to the tomb of the Safavid king Shah Abbas, is still visited by pilgrims to this day.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C. is one of the most important and foremost scholars of Islamic, Religious and Comparative Studies in the world today. Author of over fifty books and five hundred articles which have been translated into several major Islamic, European and Asian languages, Professor Nasr is a well known and highly respected intellectual figure both in the West and the Islamic world. An eloquent speaker with a charismatic presence, Nasr is a much sought after speaker at academic conferences and seminars, university and public lectures and also radio and television programs in his area of expertise. Possessor of an impressive academic and intellectual record, his career as a teacher and scholar spans over four decades.
Professor Nasr began his illustrious teaching career in 1955 when he was still a young and promising, doctoral student at Harvard University. Over the years, he has taught and trained an innumerable number of students who have come from the different parts of the world, and many of whom have become important and prominent scholars in their fields of study.
He has trained different generations of students over the years since 1958 when he was a professor at Tehran University and then, in America since the Iranian revolution in 1979, specifically at Temple University in Philadelphia from 1979 to 1984 and at the George Washington University since 1984 to the present day. The range of subjects and areas of study which Professor Nasr has involved and engaged himself with in his academic career and intellectual life are immense. As demonstrated by his numerous writings, lectures and speeches, Professor Nasr speaks and writes with great authority on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from philosophy to religion to spirituality, to music and art and architecture, to science and literature, to civilizational dialogues and the natural environment.
For Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the quest for knowledge, specifically knowledge which enables man to understand the true nature of things and which furthermore, "liberates and delivers him from the fetters and limitations of earthly existence," has been and continues to be the central concern and determinant of his intellectual life.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C. is one of the most important and foremost scholars of Islamic, Religious and Comparative Studies in the world today. Author of over fifty books and five hundred articles which have been translated into several major Islamic, European and Asian languages, Professor Nasr is a well known and highly respected intellectual figure both in the West and the Islamic world. An eloquent speaker with a charismatic presence, Nasr is a much sought after speaker at academic conferences and seminars, university and public lectures and also radio and television programs in his area of expertise. Possessor of an impressive academic and intellectual record, his career as a teacher and scholar spans over four decades.
Professor Nasr began his illustrious teaching career in 1955 when he was still a young and promising, doctoral student at Harvard University. Over the years, he has taught and trained an innumerable number of students who have come from the different parts of the world, and many of whom have become important and prominent scholars in their fields of study.
He has trained different generations of students over the years since 1958 when he was a professor at Tehran University and then, in America since the Iranian revolution in 1979, specifically at Temple University in Philadelphia from 1979 to 1984 and at the George Washington University since 1984 to the present day. The range of subjects and areas of study which Professor Nasr has involved and engaged himself with in his academic career and intellectual life are immense. As demonstrated by his numerous writings, lectures and speeches, Professor Nasr speaks and writes with great authority on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from philosophy to religion to spirituality, to music and art and architecture, to science and literature, to civilizational dialogues and the natural environment.
For Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the quest for knowledge, specifically knowledge which enables man to understand the true nature of things and which furthermore, "liberates and delivers him from the fetters and limitations of earthly existence," has been and continues to be the central concern and determinant of his intellectual life.
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November 26, 2016
Ini adalah satu hasil kerja yang sangat hebat daripada seorang penulis kelahiran Iran.
Melalui karya agung ini, penulis membawa pembaca menyingkap khazanah intelektual dalam tradisi Islam khususnya karya-karya klasik aliran Syiah. Dalam khazanah turath aliran Sunni, Syeikh Ali Jumuah merupakan antara ilmuwan yang telah menyenaraikan ratusan karya klasik dalam setiap cabang ilmu melalui karyanya 'al-Kutub al-Mukawwinah li al-Fikr al-Islamiy' yang sempat saya uliti beberapa tahun lepas.
Tetapi karya ini cukup jauh berbeza kerana ia juga diadun dengan kajian meluas lagi rinci akan falsafah melalui kaca mata Islam, jalur-jalur tokoh falsafah daripada setiap aliran (Sunni, Syiah, Barat, Eropah dsb.), huraian berkenaan mazhab tradisional/klasik, apa fungsinya dan bagaimana untuk terus bernafas di dalamnya dalam arus modernisme yang kian menjarah nilai-nilai penting ini.
Ini adalah buku ketiga tulisan SH Nasr yang pernah saya baca (selepas Ideals and Realities in Islam dan A Young Muslim's Guide to The Modern World) dan ternyata kajiannya di sini merentas semua aliran pemikiran dan begitu memuaskan. Penulis boleh dikatakan telah menyebut semua tokoh falsafah Islam (daripada tahap yang berbeza-beza) dan juga tokoh-tokoh falsafah bukan Islam dan menyusun satu kerangka bagi pembaca untuk mengkategorikan mereka daripada aliran mana.
Penulis tampak sekali telah menyelam ke dalam lautan falsafah apabila menyebut nama-nama seperti Plato, Aristotle, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, as-Sijistani, Ibnu Sina, al-Ghazali, as-Shahrastani, al-Razi, Ibnu Rusyd, Nasir al-Din at-Tusi, at-Tabatabai, Sahrawardi, Mulla Sadra, Foucault, Goethe, Sartre, Marx, Descartes, Kant, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Mutahhari, Ali Shariati, Fazlur Rahman, Naquib al-Attas, Syed Hussein al-Atas, Osman Bakar, Majid Fakhry, Arkoun, Iqbal, Dr. Muhammad Imarah, Dr. Abdul Halim Mahmoud dan ramai lagi secara bersahaja.
Tokoh-tokoh spiritual dan sejarah juga turut dijadikan rujukan silang dalam karya ini seperti Martin Lings, Corbin, Rumi, Ibnu Arabi, Huston Smith, Albert Hourani, George Makdisi, Karen Armstrong dan Hamza Yusuf.
Baik, banyak tema yang diangkat oleh penulis dalam buku ini. Dibahagikan kepada empat bab besar iaitu;
1. Isu yang diperdebatkan dalam dunia Islam hari ini (jihad, lelaki dan wanita, etika bekerja Islam serta tradisi Syiah Imam 12)
2. Tradisional Islam dan Modenisme (spiritual dan pembangunan)
3. Ketegangan antara Tradisi, Modenisme dan Fundamentalisme (dari sudut pendidikan, falsafah dan sains serta kesenian dan arkitektur).
4. Postscript (Dunia Islam)
Bagi memudahkan rantaian mesej yang cuba disampaikan oleh penulis, mungkin kita boleh kategorikan buku ini di bawah tiga payung iaitu Islam, Falsafah dan Modenisme.
Di bawah payung Islam, penulis membawa pembaca ke alam budaya di Iran, hierarki ulama' (bukan politikal) di sana serta kehebatan tokoh wanita Islam terdahulu. Selain itu, fungsi teks-teks tradisional, apakah yang dihadapi oleh tradisional Islam, grey area dalam gelaran Islam serta sumbangan penterjemahan juga turut disentuh oleh penulis. Penulis juga berjaya mengharmonikan antara nilai intelek dan nilai spiritual melalui model tokoh-tokoh yang cukup relevan selain menawarkan solusi terhadap utopia 'negara Islam'.
Di bawah payung falsafah pula, penulis menyorot sejarah falsafah Islam, memberikan pandangan yang tuntas terhadap falsafah serta cara-cara untuk mempelajari falsafah Islam dan falsafah Barat. Falsafah perlu dilihat sebagai salah satu silibus pendidikan Islam yang harus dipelajari secara adil. Ketakutan umat Islam dalam memahami modenisme dan falsafah daripada acuan Barat itu sendiri ibarat memberi peluang kepada pihak Barat untuk menyelinap masuk ke dalam pemikiran umat Islam melalui pintu belakang dengan begitu mudah. Lebih membimbangkan, ia membawa kepada sikap anti-intelektual dan kelahiran fahaman Islam dan ideologi moden yang separa masak.
Payung yang terakhir ialah modenisme. Pasca abad ke-14, ilmu sains 'aqli mula menyusut dalam dunia Islam dan luka ini bertambah parah menjelang infiltrasi Barat pada abad ke-19 dengan ketiadaan madrasah yang memelihara pelbagai lapangan ilmu terutamanya dalam bidang ilmu matematik, perubatan dan sains. Daripada sudut kesenian, era globalisasi dan dunia perindustrian telah merobek nilai kesenian, etika and estetika manusia. Misalnya, penghasilan produk melalui mesin telah mengambil alih nilai kecintaan dan kehalusan tangan manusia terhadap sesebuah seni.
Pada empat lampiran terakhir yang disisipkan dalam buku ini, penulis berkongsi dengan lebih mendalam lagi rihlah keilmuan beliau bersama-sama ramai tokoh. Pengalaman beliau yang pernah menghirup udara tanah Arab dan dunia Barat turut menambahkan rencah dalam buku ini.
Usai membaca tulisan SH Nasr ini, saya masih tertanya-tanya, wujudkah karya ilmuwan tanah Melayu yang setaraf dengan hasil kajian graduan Harvard ini dan sejauh manakah pula tahap pengkajiannya?
Melalui karya agung ini, penulis membawa pembaca menyingkap khazanah intelektual dalam tradisi Islam khususnya karya-karya klasik aliran Syiah. Dalam khazanah turath aliran Sunni, Syeikh Ali Jumuah merupakan antara ilmuwan yang telah menyenaraikan ratusan karya klasik dalam setiap cabang ilmu melalui karyanya 'al-Kutub al-Mukawwinah li al-Fikr al-Islamiy' yang sempat saya uliti beberapa tahun lepas.
Tetapi karya ini cukup jauh berbeza kerana ia juga diadun dengan kajian meluas lagi rinci akan falsafah melalui kaca mata Islam, jalur-jalur tokoh falsafah daripada setiap aliran (Sunni, Syiah, Barat, Eropah dsb.), huraian berkenaan mazhab tradisional/klasik, apa fungsinya dan bagaimana untuk terus bernafas di dalamnya dalam arus modernisme yang kian menjarah nilai-nilai penting ini.
Ini adalah buku ketiga tulisan SH Nasr yang pernah saya baca (selepas Ideals and Realities in Islam dan A Young Muslim's Guide to The Modern World) dan ternyata kajiannya di sini merentas semua aliran pemikiran dan begitu memuaskan. Penulis boleh dikatakan telah menyebut semua tokoh falsafah Islam (daripada tahap yang berbeza-beza) dan juga tokoh-tokoh falsafah bukan Islam dan menyusun satu kerangka bagi pembaca untuk mengkategorikan mereka daripada aliran mana.
Penulis tampak sekali telah menyelam ke dalam lautan falsafah apabila menyebut nama-nama seperti Plato, Aristotle, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, as-Sijistani, Ibnu Sina, al-Ghazali, as-Shahrastani, al-Razi, Ibnu Rusyd, Nasir al-Din at-Tusi, at-Tabatabai, Sahrawardi, Mulla Sadra, Foucault, Goethe, Sartre, Marx, Descartes, Kant, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Mutahhari, Ali Shariati, Fazlur Rahman, Naquib al-Attas, Syed Hussein al-Atas, Osman Bakar, Majid Fakhry, Arkoun, Iqbal, Dr. Muhammad Imarah, Dr. Abdul Halim Mahmoud dan ramai lagi secara bersahaja.
Tokoh-tokoh spiritual dan sejarah juga turut dijadikan rujukan silang dalam karya ini seperti Martin Lings, Corbin, Rumi, Ibnu Arabi, Huston Smith, Albert Hourani, George Makdisi, Karen Armstrong dan Hamza Yusuf.
Baik, banyak tema yang diangkat oleh penulis dalam buku ini. Dibahagikan kepada empat bab besar iaitu;
1. Isu yang diperdebatkan dalam dunia Islam hari ini (jihad, lelaki dan wanita, etika bekerja Islam serta tradisi Syiah Imam 12)
2. Tradisional Islam dan Modenisme (spiritual dan pembangunan)
3. Ketegangan antara Tradisi, Modenisme dan Fundamentalisme (dari sudut pendidikan, falsafah dan sains serta kesenian dan arkitektur).
4. Postscript (Dunia Islam)
Bagi memudahkan rantaian mesej yang cuba disampaikan oleh penulis, mungkin kita boleh kategorikan buku ini di bawah tiga payung iaitu Islam, Falsafah dan Modenisme.
Di bawah payung Islam, penulis membawa pembaca ke alam budaya di Iran, hierarki ulama' (bukan politikal) di sana serta kehebatan tokoh wanita Islam terdahulu. Selain itu, fungsi teks-teks tradisional, apakah yang dihadapi oleh tradisional Islam, grey area dalam gelaran Islam serta sumbangan penterjemahan juga turut disentuh oleh penulis. Penulis juga berjaya mengharmonikan antara nilai intelek dan nilai spiritual melalui model tokoh-tokoh yang cukup relevan selain menawarkan solusi terhadap utopia 'negara Islam'.
Di bawah payung falsafah pula, penulis menyorot sejarah falsafah Islam, memberikan pandangan yang tuntas terhadap falsafah serta cara-cara untuk mempelajari falsafah Islam dan falsafah Barat. Falsafah perlu dilihat sebagai salah satu silibus pendidikan Islam yang harus dipelajari secara adil. Ketakutan umat Islam dalam memahami modenisme dan falsafah daripada acuan Barat itu sendiri ibarat memberi peluang kepada pihak Barat untuk menyelinap masuk ke dalam pemikiran umat Islam melalui pintu belakang dengan begitu mudah. Lebih membimbangkan, ia membawa kepada sikap anti-intelektual dan kelahiran fahaman Islam dan ideologi moden yang separa masak.
Payung yang terakhir ialah modenisme. Pasca abad ke-14, ilmu sains 'aqli mula menyusut dalam dunia Islam dan luka ini bertambah parah menjelang infiltrasi Barat pada abad ke-19 dengan ketiadaan madrasah yang memelihara pelbagai lapangan ilmu terutamanya dalam bidang ilmu matematik, perubatan dan sains. Daripada sudut kesenian, era globalisasi dan dunia perindustrian telah merobek nilai kesenian, etika and estetika manusia. Misalnya, penghasilan produk melalui mesin telah mengambil alih nilai kecintaan dan kehalusan tangan manusia terhadap sesebuah seni.
Pada empat lampiran terakhir yang disisipkan dalam buku ini, penulis berkongsi dengan lebih mendalam lagi rihlah keilmuan beliau bersama-sama ramai tokoh. Pengalaman beliau yang pernah menghirup udara tanah Arab dan dunia Barat turut menambahkan rencah dalam buku ini.
Usai membaca tulisan SH Nasr ini, saya masih tertanya-tanya, wujudkah karya ilmuwan tanah Melayu yang setaraf dengan hasil kajian graduan Harvard ini dan sejauh manakah pula tahap pengkajiannya?
May 21, 2016
“Who speaks for Islam?” is often heard since 9/11 and if we think back over the past 15(!) years we realize how much more we’re able to know about the different corners of our world thanks to technology. The “Clash of Civiliations” thesis could be viewed in many different ways, maybe all of them having an element of truth depending on perspective. For it is true that in our recent history, very different cultural ideas have been made more visible from online exposure. Different people are of course going to have different reactions to this diversity of ideas.
These thoughts could lead a much larger discussion, but this book is basically Dr. Nasr’s attempt to contextualize the “traditional” view of Islam in relation to the various currents that have come about since the start of modernity, and this includes both in the Western world and in the Islamic world as a reaction to the West. The extremist elements of both East and West might make it seem like there is a conflict of civilizations, but Dr. Nasr shows that Islam has always emphasized the center. It is the middle way, and the ideas of tolerance, mercy and acceptance are foundational to Islam and all authentic faiths.
Dr. Nasr is a man with deep respect for authentic religion that leads to the One. He believes in preserving these authentic faiths in the light of love, mercy, respect and acceptance for all manifestations of the Truth, which is inherent in all creation. He is able to hold this idea of respect in unity with the practice of Islam as his chosen faith. I find a lot of common ground in this perspective. Yet in our time, all faiths will have to work particularly hard at emphasizing the mercy and tolerance aspects of their various faiths if we’re to continue to live together – all faiths and those of no faith as well.
These thoughts could lead a much larger discussion, but this book is basically Dr. Nasr’s attempt to contextualize the “traditional” view of Islam in relation to the various currents that have come about since the start of modernity, and this includes both in the Western world and in the Islamic world as a reaction to the West. The extremist elements of both East and West might make it seem like there is a conflict of civilizations, but Dr. Nasr shows that Islam has always emphasized the center. It is the middle way, and the ideas of tolerance, mercy and acceptance are foundational to Islam and all authentic faiths.
Dr. Nasr is a man with deep respect for authentic religion that leads to the One. He believes in preserving these authentic faiths in the light of love, mercy, respect and acceptance for all manifestations of the Truth, which is inherent in all creation. He is able to hold this idea of respect in unity with the practice of Islam as his chosen faith. I find a lot of common ground in this perspective. Yet in our time, all faiths will have to work particularly hard at emphasizing the mercy and tolerance aspects of their various faiths if we’re to continue to live together – all faiths and those of no faith as well.
April 2, 2011
(I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads)
In a time when so many people seem so ill informed, yet so quick to speak, on the religion that is Islam, it is important for there to be reliable, informative resources out there so that those who do wish to properly educate themselves can. Nasr’s Islam in the Modern World is such a resource.
Highly informative, this book touches on the idea of traditional Islam, not only as we see it in the world today, but throughout history. He makes the important distinction between what is traditional Islam from the other, many, branches we see today. Drawing comparisons between the idea of modernism and the different versions of fundamentalism, he shows how they differ from the traditional stance. This is his primary concern, Traditional Islam in confrontation with modernism and fundamentalism.
The author also touches on how the term “Islam” is used for national, ethical, politico-economic (etc) reasons, and not just religious ones (the manipulation of Islam for non-Islamic ends), as well as the idea of Jihad being the effort exerted in life to ensure an equilibrium of life, both inwardly and outwardly, as opposed to the vision so many have of it meaning religious violence, which is something that I think needs to be understood here in the US, were there are so many who so often fail to understand the differences.
This book does seem to require a previous understanding of Islam and some of its concepts and terms, but not the point that one completely unfamiliar would be totally lost trying to read it. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the religion of Islam, and to understand the current condition of the religion, as well as its relation with the world around it.
In a time when so many people seem so ill informed, yet so quick to speak, on the religion that is Islam, it is important for there to be reliable, informative resources out there so that those who do wish to properly educate themselves can. Nasr’s Islam in the Modern World is such a resource.
Highly informative, this book touches on the idea of traditional Islam, not only as we see it in the world today, but throughout history. He makes the important distinction between what is traditional Islam from the other, many, branches we see today. Drawing comparisons between the idea of modernism and the different versions of fundamentalism, he shows how they differ from the traditional stance. This is his primary concern, Traditional Islam in confrontation with modernism and fundamentalism.
The author also touches on how the term “Islam” is used for national, ethical, politico-economic (etc) reasons, and not just religious ones (the manipulation of Islam for non-Islamic ends), as well as the idea of Jihad being the effort exerted in life to ensure an equilibrium of life, both inwardly and outwardly, as opposed to the vision so many have of it meaning religious violence, which is something that I think needs to be understood here in the US, were there are so many who so often fail to understand the differences.
This book does seem to require a previous understanding of Islam and some of its concepts and terms, but not the point that one completely unfamiliar would be totally lost trying to read it. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with the religion of Islam, and to understand the current condition of the religion, as well as its relation with the world around it.
October 21, 2020
This book describes the ethos of classical Islam and people who live life based on universal love.
The history behind multi-layered miscommunication between modernity and fundamentalism is discussed and Dr. Nasr sheds light on tradition, the classical teachings of Islam which fall right in centre, at a fine balanced point.
This resonates with modern, Islamic and scientific thought practiced by majority of muslims in the western or eastern world. There is really no reason or room seen for conflict when life is viewed by the lenses of wise sages emphasizing tolerance, mercy, self improvement and other values of Sufi traditions.
Recommended to get insight into the rich Islamic tradition.
The history behind multi-layered miscommunication between modernity and fundamentalism is discussed and Dr. Nasr sheds light on tradition, the classical teachings of Islam which fall right in centre, at a fine balanced point.
This resonates with modern, Islamic and scientific thought practiced by majority of muslims in the western or eastern world. There is really no reason or room seen for conflict when life is viewed by the lenses of wise sages emphasizing tolerance, mercy, self improvement and other values of Sufi traditions.
Recommended to get insight into the rich Islamic tradition.
May 12, 2013
In terms of content, the author seemed less intent on informing or communicating with his readers than on espousing his defence of Islam against the onslaught of modernist and fundamentalist elements. It says much about the book when the appendices are more relatable than the content proper. Surfeit with data but hardly informative; though the appendices are worth a look if you're looking for an introduction to a few of the important orientalists of our age.
Read
September 11, 2012I waited weeks to obtain this book, right now savoring the 'honeymoon' phase of adoring its aspects, enjoying the fragrance :)
In the author's own words is expressed my own sentiment:
'Let us hope that Islamic movements and groups will channel and guide their activities in a manner that is worthy in the sight of God and not what might appear politically or economically opportune.' ~SHN~
In the author's own words is expressed my own sentiment:
'Let us hope that Islamic movements and groups will channel and guide their activities in a manner that is worthy in the sight of God and not what might appear politically or economically opportune.' ~SHN~
April 3, 2013
torturous reading and repetitive beyond believe.
March 4, 2025
The problem with such books is that they pick the worst of others and romanticize the best of theirs to construct a comparison. This is a fallacy. In ratio of comparison, you have to take equivocal units of both the perspectives. The challenge to West with best arguments can only be established through taking the highs of Western civilization and then poking holes in it, rather than just punching the lows and feel superior!
January 3, 2021
Hates Madonna and Michael Jackson. Weird!
Want to read
February 1, 2011Won this through first reads today!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews