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The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam
This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.
416 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 29, 2023
It is a pretty bad read. I didn't expect it to be so bad and dogmatic with so many assumptions that already determines the way the book would be analysed.
The author had assumed secular rationality as a legitimate epistemic view and using this worldview to scrutinise Islam. He thereby subjects Islam to a foreign and alien philosophical system and expects it to make sense and be reasonable. The reason here, of course, is what the secular rational worldview deems "plausible."
Aside from this unwarranted, uncritical, epsitemic attitude, the biggest blunder in this book is perpetuating the old worn-out Orientalist nonsensical myth of intellectual decline in the Muslim world due to Imam Ghazali This shows that the author is not in touch with the recent development in Islamic intellectual history which has already debunked this myth, this epic legendary story of decline, a decline which never happened except in the minds of some self-styled specialists and intellectual charlatans like Pervez Hoodhboy, Weinberg et al.
It is against this fictional and assumed intellectual decline that the author wants to start a new fresh philosophy of Islam. This statement assumes two things. 1) There has not been an intellectual field of Islam for the past 900 years. 2) Therefore, the author has taken the daunting task of finally revealing Islam from its dogmas and finally bringing it to the light of Reason, the same way as Christianity and Judaism. Such self-styled praises and utterly erroneous assumptions are enough for anyone to drop this book and never read it.
Lastly, to complete the circle, there are no good references in the book. The author goes on for pages and pages without providing any academic references.
This book was a bad experience.
The author had assumed secular rationality as a legitimate epistemic view and using this worldview to scrutinise Islam. He thereby subjects Islam to a foreign and alien philosophical system and expects it to make sense and be reasonable. The reason here, of course, is what the secular rational worldview deems "plausible."
Aside from this unwarranted, uncritical, epsitemic attitude, the biggest blunder in this book is perpetuating the old worn-out Orientalist nonsensical myth of intellectual decline in the Muslim world due to Imam Ghazali This shows that the author is not in touch with the recent development in Islamic intellectual history which has already debunked this myth, this epic legendary story of decline, a decline which never happened except in the minds of some self-styled specialists and intellectual charlatans like Pervez Hoodhboy, Weinberg et al.
It is against this fictional and assumed intellectual decline that the author wants to start a new fresh philosophy of Islam. This statement assumes two things. 1) There has not been an intellectual field of Islam for the past 900 years. 2) Therefore, the author has taken the daunting task of finally revealing Islam from its dogmas and finally bringing it to the light of Reason, the same way as Christianity and Judaism. Such self-styled praises and utterly erroneous assumptions are enough for anyone to drop this book and never read it.
Lastly, to complete the circle, there are no good references in the book. The author goes on for pages and pages without providing any academic references.
This book was a bad experience.
Currently reading
August 27, 2009So far... the tide of secularism in the 17th century and it's seeds in early Christian history.
The main argument of the book is that Islam with regards to it's relationship with secularism differs radically from the Christianity or Judaism... let's see how?
Among the subjects I liked were:
Secular humanism versus Islam, the issue of moral laws... The Platonic question was: does God command things because they are good or are they good because he commands them. Theologists choose the second answer, but there can be a third possibility...
How can Muslims accept the existence of non religious virtues, something that used to be a misnomer.
Some achievements of humanism in modern times.
A post card of Islamic philosophy takes us from Alkindi to the Mu'tazilite who put reason as the only authority then to Asha'era to Ibn Rushd and his elitism (that I'm personally against)until we reach Alghazali who signed the death warrant of philosophy, as many like to say, but the author claims that the tree of philosophy was not removed with difficulty because it was originally a foreign seed not native to Islam. The author continues that while the Jews needed philosophy to tackle and justify the ethnic nature of their religion, and while Christianity needed philosophy to support the complicated concept of trinity. The Quran does not seem to encourage unguided logic, although it consistently orders humans to ponder in the creation of heaven and earth. It does not not endorse philosophical adventurism, perhaps because the faith it offers is very simple and self explanatory. It claims Islam to be "instinctive faith" Fitra in Arabic.
Philosophical problems started to arise only when Muslims conquered other civilisations.
The main argument of the book is that Islam with regards to it's relationship with secularism differs radically from the Christianity or Judaism... let's see how?
Among the subjects I liked were:
Secular humanism versus Islam, the issue of moral laws... The Platonic question was: does God command things because they are good or are they good because he commands them. Theologists choose the second answer, but there can be a third possibility...
How can Muslims accept the existence of non religious virtues, something that used to be a misnomer.
Some achievements of humanism in modern times.
A post card of Islamic philosophy takes us from Alkindi to the Mu'tazilite who put reason as the only authority then to Asha'era to Ibn Rushd and his elitism (that I'm personally against)until we reach Alghazali who signed the death warrant of philosophy, as many like to say, but the author claims that the tree of philosophy was not removed with difficulty because it was originally a foreign seed not native to Islam. The author continues that while the Jews needed philosophy to tackle and justify the ethnic nature of their religion, and while Christianity needed philosophy to support the complicated concept of trinity. The Quran does not seem to encourage unguided logic, although it consistently orders humans to ponder in the creation of heaven and earth. It does not not endorse philosophical adventurism, perhaps because the faith it offers is very simple and self explanatory. It claims Islam to be "instinctive faith" Fitra in Arabic.
Philosophical problems started to arise only when Muslims conquered other civilisations.
November 21, 2025
It was a long read, well written, and somewhat overly verbose, but I find myself asking what I took away from it, what insight I gained that wasn’t plainly obvious to me before. I’m struggling to find it.
The author can be presumptuous and overly dismissive at times, presenting his opinion as indisputable fact which may annoy some readers.
In essence this is a long treatise on why Islam should be intellectually and legally reformed to respond to the modern secular milieu that threatens theism. By reform the author doesn’t mean a necessary radical reform that totally overrides the indisputable doctrines of Islam, but a more moderate kind that challenges what the author perceives as an overly ossified orthodoxy and orthopraxy. If you already agree with that premise, which I don’t think I totally do, you’ll probably like this book. If you are a hardcore secularist or traditional Muslim, I don’t think you’ll find it convincing.
The author can be presumptuous and overly dismissive at times, presenting his opinion as indisputable fact which may annoy some readers.
In essence this is a long treatise on why Islam should be intellectually and legally reformed to respond to the modern secular milieu that threatens theism. By reform the author doesn’t mean a necessary radical reform that totally overrides the indisputable doctrines of Islam, but a more moderate kind that challenges what the author perceives as an overly ossified orthodoxy and orthopraxy. If you already agree with that premise, which I don’t think I totally do, you’ll probably like this book. If you are a hardcore secularist or traditional Muslim, I don’t think you’ll find it convincing.
October 21, 2021
Not worth even half a star
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews