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The Story of Reason in Islam
In The Story of Reason in Islam, leading public intellectual and political activist Sari Nusseibeh narrates a sweeping intellectual history—a quest for knowledge inspired by the Qu'ran and its language, a quest that employed Reason in the service of Faith. Eschewing the conventional separation of Faith and Reason, he takes a fresh look at why and how Islamic reasoning evolved over time. He surveys the different Islamic schools of thought and how they dealt with major philosophical issues, showing that Reason pervaded all disciplines, from philosophy and science to language, poetry, and law. Along the way, the best known Muslim philosophers are introduced in a new light. Countering received chronologies, in this story Reason reaches its zenith in the early seventeenth century; it then trails off, its demise as sudden as its appearance. Thereafter, Reason loses out to passive belief, lifeless logic, and a self-contained legalism—in other words, to a less flexible Islam. Nusseibeh's speculations as to why this occurred focus on the fortunes and misfortunes of classical Arabic in the Islamic world. Change, he suggests, may only come from the revivification of language itself.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 9, 2016
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About the author
Sari Nusseibeh
13 books41 followersSari Nusseibeh (Arabic: سري نسيبة)is a Palestinian professor of philosophy and president of the Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. Until December 2002 he was the representative of the Palestinian National Authority in Jerusalem.
Nusseibeh was born to the politician Anwar Nusseibeh who was a distinguished statesman, prominent in Palestinian and (after 1948) Palestinian-Jordanian politics and diplomacy, and Nuzha Al Ghussein, who descended from Palestine's wealthy landed aristocracy and is the daughter of Palestinian political leader Yaqub al-Ghusayn. Nusseibeh studied philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford and has a Ph.D. in Islamic Philosophy, from Harvard University (1978).
He returned to the West Bank in 1978 to teach at Birzeit University (where he remained as Professor of Philosophy until the University was closed from 1988 to 1990 during the First Intifada). At the same time, he taught classes in Islamic philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Through the early 1980s, he helped to organize the teachers' union at Birzeit, and served three terms as president of the union of faculty and staff there. Nusseibeh is also co-founder of the Federation of Employees in the Education Sector for the entire West Bank.
The Nusseibeh family are trustees, according to tradition, for the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Nusseibeh was an important leader during the First Intifada, authoring the Palestinian Declaration of Principles and working to strengthen the Fatah movement in the Occupied Territories; Nusseibeh helped to author the "inside" Palestinians' declaration of independence issued in the first intifada, and to create the 200 political committees and 28 technical committees that were intended to as an embryonic infrastructure for a future Palestinian administration .
Internationally, Nusseibeh is a member of the McGill Middle East Program's Executive and Management Committees. In November 2007, following the publication of Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life he travelled to Montreal, Canada to lecture on the MMEP and his vision of peace.
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May 10, 2022
কোনকিছু পড়ে আমি কিছুটা কম বুঝতে পারলেই সেটা বাজে কিছু বা বাতিল, তা আমি মনে করি না। কিন্তু, অযথা যা সহজ করে বলা অসম্ভব না, তা শুধু জটিল করার জন্য করা হয়েছে, এমন ভানসর্বস্ব লেখা ভালো লাগে না। সারি নুসেইবার লেখায় সেটা নেই। কিন্তু, উনি কথা শুরু করেন মাঝপথে, যেন পাঠক ইতিমধ্যেই যে বিষয়ে বলছেন, সে সম্পর্কে প্রাথমিক জ্ঞান রেখেই বইটা পড়ছেন। আর আমার কিছু কিছু অংশে হোঁচট খাবার কারন, প্রাথমিক ধারনার ঝুলি শূন্য।
সব মিলিয়ে ইসলাম নিয়ে বছরে অন্তত একটি বই পড়ার যেই নিয়্যত নিয়েছিলাম, তা পূরণ করতে পেরে ভালো লাগছে। রমজান মাসেই শেষ করতে পারতাম, কিন্তু, এই বই টানা পড়ে হজম করতে পারতাম বলে মনে হয় না। কারন, লেখক পাঠককে নিজের মতো ভাবতে বলেন, নিজের মতো বুঝতে বলেন কিছু ব্যাপার। তাই, সময় নিয়ে পড়াটাই জরুরী ছিল। আর লেখক যেহেতু নিজেই দার্শনিক, চিন্তার বেশ গভীর স্তরে তিনি নিয়ে যেতে পেরেছেন। সারি নুসেইবার আরো বই পড়তে চাই ভবিষ্যতে।
(ধর্মে বিশ্বাস বা অবিশ্বাস নিয়ে আমার নিজস্ব মাথাব্যাথা নেই। বিশ্বাস যার আছে, তার আছেই। যার নেই, তার নেই। যা মাথায় আসে না তা হল, কোন একটি দিক বেছে আরেক পক্ষকে অপমান করার চেষ্টা করে ভাবা যে যাক, বেশ ওপরের স্তরে পৌঁছানো গেল। সেই কাল্পনিক পর্বতশৃঙ্গে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকা সব পক্ষের লোককে সবসময়ে একই রকম মনে হয়েছে। হ্যা, বইয়ের রিভিউ হল না এই অংশটা। কিন্তু, মনে হল ইসলামী বই পড়ি বলে কিছু অদ্ভূত ফ্রেন্ড রিকুয়েস্ট পাই এখানে! তাদের মধ্যে যারাই এই বইয়ের রিভিউ পড়বেন, জানবেন, আমি গোঁড়া ফতোয়াবাজ গোত্রের লোক নই এবং আল্লাহকে আমি মনে প্রাণে বিশ্বাস করি।)
সব মিলিয়ে ইসলাম নিয়ে বছরে অন্তত একটি বই পড়ার যেই নিয়্যত নিয়েছিলাম, তা পূরণ করতে পেরে ভালো লাগছে। রমজান মাসেই শেষ করতে পারতাম, কিন্তু, এই বই টানা পড়ে হজম করতে পারতাম বলে মনে হয় না। কারন, লেখক পাঠককে নিজের মতো ভাবতে বলেন, নিজের মতো বুঝতে বলেন কিছু ব্যাপার। তাই, সময় নিয়ে পড়াটাই জরুরী ছিল। আর লেখক যেহেতু নিজেই দার্শনিক, চিন্তার বেশ গভীর স্তরে তিনি নিয়ে যেতে পেরেছেন। সারি নুসেইবার আরো বই পড়তে চাই ভবিষ্যতে।
(ধর্মে বিশ্বাস বা অবিশ্বাস নিয়ে আমার নিজস্ব মাথাব্যাথা নেই। বিশ্বাস যার আছে, তার আছেই। যার নেই, তার নেই। যা মাথায় আসে না তা হল, কোন একটি দিক বেছে আরেক পক্ষকে অপমান করার চেষ্টা করে ভাবা যে যাক, বেশ ওপরের স্তরে পৌঁছানো গেল। সেই কাল্পনিক পর্বতশৃঙ্গে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকা সব পক্ষের লোককে সবসময়ে একই রকম মনে হয়েছে। হ্যা, বইয়ের রিভিউ হল না এই অংশটা। কিন্তু, মনে হল ইসলামী বই পড়ি বলে কিছু অদ্ভূত ফ্রেন্ড রিকুয়েস্ট পাই এখানে! তাদের মধ্যে যারাই এই বইয়ের রিভিউ পড়বেন, জানবেন, আমি গোঁড়া ফতোয়াবাজ গোত্রের লোক নই এবং আল্লাহকে আমি মনে প্রাণে বিশ্বাস করি।)
October 9, 2017
The Story of Reason in Islam begins with the theme that this is a story about Islamic thought and the Arabic language, and thanks to the suggestion of the wonderfully-named Buraq (Nusseibeh's youngest son), a story that is quite reader-friendly.
Arabic is a language of great significance. It is a language of power and a language of staggering triumph as it catapulted an Arab world into a world of advanced scientific thought.
Arabic sparked this intellectual revolution, the birth of reason, which ultimately produced some of the greatest minds in the history of thought and science.
It is poetry, Nusseibeh argues that embodies the authentic spirit of creativity transcending imagination to be the progenitor of reason.
Poetry is key.
Arabic as the revered language of poetry owes its mystification to the silence of the Arabian Desert.
poetic rhymes following the soft, rhythmic beats of camels, trending along the undulating sands; from this soil, the finest lyric of Arabic literary tradition would grow.
With Arabic having the power to command, the Arab, as poet, becomes the voice of his people, a gifted master of the Arabic language.
The poet- the receiver of visions, the free thinker, the Promethean emissary of light- now qualifies a an outsider, an outcast, he grows estranged from his own community and is forced to roam alone. He is feared and despised; sometimes, he is demonized to the point of suffering incarceration and crucifixion.
The brilliance of Arabic is that it was chosen as the language of the Quran, a Quranic Arabic, the language of Divine Speech, a linguistically commanding language with unparalleled linguistic characteristics and Quranic grammar, to express the Holy Message, Divine Poetry, the poem of the universe.
Consider the heavens, the Quran exhorted, the seven skies bejeweled by the stars and planets, each of them following a prescribed path. Consider how they are held together- as if by invisible anchors. Do those who will not believe not see how the earth and skies were once fused together- that We tore them asunder and made water the source of all life?
The poetic verses of the Quran made the reader, the listener, the reciter question the meaning of life and called upon living in harmony with the Universe.
The Quranic verses addressed - in whole and in detail- a range of psychological and existential concerns: yearning for enduring life, a future of comfort and bliss, instinctive fear of punishment or retribution for doing wrong; the promise of reward for dong right. Above all, however, the verses spoke to- and roused- the imagination and the intellect.
As such Islam gave us the Sufi saint Rabi'a Al Adawiyyah and Imam Hasan al Basri, both stretching the limits of language to a different realm of rational investigations.
Resolving the great questions of existence depends on linguistic skill and analytic ability. Intellect-reason, that is enables one to "unravel" deeper layers of meaning within the Sacred text.
Arabic became the lingua franca of intellectual discourse.
The Story of Reason in Islam is told through Kalam, the science of speech that draws meaning from the contextual use of language, an oral debate spoken in ordinary speech, that promoted inquiry into pressing questions.
Kalam began- by espousing and developing views about God and His relationship to the world.
Nusseibeh presents the Story of Reason in 24 parts. His scholarship impresses throughout, but it is the part about language and reason that makes it a work of great significance.
The Word was Arabic- which was also a living language that continued to be used for intellectual discourse.
The last pieces of why the Islamic world fell into decline fall into place. Nusseibeh gives us perhaps arguably one of the most interesting theories to explain the Islamic intellectual demise.
His brilliance lies in his tour of Islamic thought and his examination of Islamic reasoning.
While The Story of Reason in Islam is clearly not a candidate for least readable, it does require having a will for exploring both rational and transrational knowledge.
The pleasure of reading such a story is that Nusseibeh as a philosopher and Arab intellectual posits that including philosophers in today's debates would challenge where innovative judicial deliberation has all but ceased, consequently, past judgments on ethical conduct have become more and more stratified, and politics has failed to ensure that modern Muslims can live their lives without being encumbered by archaic codes of conduct.
The Story of Reason In Islam is a well-crafted, illuminating account of Muslim intellectual thinking that paved the way for European Enlightenment. Marked by its honesty and sobriety, Nusseibeh teaches us that
As natural twins, East and West - need each other; one should not view them as destined to clash. Nor, in the Muslim world, should reason ( the pursuit of knowledge and progress) and religion ( a virtuous code of ethics) be viewed as mortal enemies.
With details well- chosen throughout:
the "East" represents a region where the imagination provides both a spiritual map and a practical guide for how the human soul may best live in the world. "The West" on the other hand- even if he described it in the imaginative terms, too- stands for the natural world: the earth and its place in the cosmos. East and West complement each other, but the whole is best seen from the East.
Arabic is a language of great significance. It is a language of power and a language of staggering triumph as it catapulted an Arab world into a world of advanced scientific thought.
Arabic sparked this intellectual revolution, the birth of reason, which ultimately produced some of the greatest minds in the history of thought and science.
It is poetry, Nusseibeh argues that embodies the authentic spirit of creativity transcending imagination to be the progenitor of reason.
Poetry is key.
Arabic as the revered language of poetry owes its mystification to the silence of the Arabian Desert.
poetic rhymes following the soft, rhythmic beats of camels, trending along the undulating sands; from this soil, the finest lyric of Arabic literary tradition would grow.
With Arabic having the power to command, the Arab, as poet, becomes the voice of his people, a gifted master of the Arabic language.
The poet- the receiver of visions, the free thinker, the Promethean emissary of light- now qualifies a an outsider, an outcast, he grows estranged from his own community and is forced to roam alone. He is feared and despised; sometimes, he is demonized to the point of suffering incarceration and crucifixion.
The brilliance of Arabic is that it was chosen as the language of the Quran, a Quranic Arabic, the language of Divine Speech, a linguistically commanding language with unparalleled linguistic characteristics and Quranic grammar, to express the Holy Message, Divine Poetry, the poem of the universe.
Consider the heavens, the Quran exhorted, the seven skies bejeweled by the stars and planets, each of them following a prescribed path. Consider how they are held together- as if by invisible anchors. Do those who will not believe not see how the earth and skies were once fused together- that We tore them asunder and made water the source of all life?
The poetic verses of the Quran made the reader, the listener, the reciter question the meaning of life and called upon living in harmony with the Universe.
The Quranic verses addressed - in whole and in detail- a range of psychological and existential concerns: yearning for enduring life, a future of comfort and bliss, instinctive fear of punishment or retribution for doing wrong; the promise of reward for dong right. Above all, however, the verses spoke to- and roused- the imagination and the intellect.
As such Islam gave us the Sufi saint Rabi'a Al Adawiyyah and Imam Hasan al Basri, both stretching the limits of language to a different realm of rational investigations.
Resolving the great questions of existence depends on linguistic skill and analytic ability. Intellect-reason, that is enables one to "unravel" deeper layers of meaning within the Sacred text.
Arabic became the lingua franca of intellectual discourse.
The Story of Reason in Islam is told through Kalam, the science of speech that draws meaning from the contextual use of language, an oral debate spoken in ordinary speech, that promoted inquiry into pressing questions.
Kalam began- by espousing and developing views about God and His relationship to the world.
Nusseibeh presents the Story of Reason in 24 parts. His scholarship impresses throughout, but it is the part about language and reason that makes it a work of great significance.
The Word was Arabic- which was also a living language that continued to be used for intellectual discourse.
The last pieces of why the Islamic world fell into decline fall into place. Nusseibeh gives us perhaps arguably one of the most interesting theories to explain the Islamic intellectual demise.
His brilliance lies in his tour of Islamic thought and his examination of Islamic reasoning.
While The Story of Reason in Islam is clearly not a candidate for least readable, it does require having a will for exploring both rational and transrational knowledge.
The pleasure of reading such a story is that Nusseibeh as a philosopher and Arab intellectual posits that including philosophers in today's debates would challenge where innovative judicial deliberation has all but ceased, consequently, past judgments on ethical conduct have become more and more stratified, and politics has failed to ensure that modern Muslims can live their lives without being encumbered by archaic codes of conduct.
The Story of Reason In Islam is a well-crafted, illuminating account of Muslim intellectual thinking that paved the way for European Enlightenment. Marked by its honesty and sobriety, Nusseibeh teaches us that
As natural twins, East and West - need each other; one should not view them as destined to clash. Nor, in the Muslim world, should reason ( the pursuit of knowledge and progress) and religion ( a virtuous code of ethics) be viewed as mortal enemies.
With details well- chosen throughout:
the "East" represents a region where the imagination provides both a spiritual map and a practical guide for how the human soul may best live in the world. "The West" on the other hand- even if he described it in the imaginative terms, too- stands for the natural world: the earth and its place in the cosmos. East and West complement each other, but the whole is best seen from the East.
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February 5, 2017297.209 N975 2017
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