WORLD : ''MUSLIM IDEOLOGY MODERN''

''THE CONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN ISLAM''  By Dr. Allama Sir Muhammed Iqbal.

Compilation of lectures delivered at different universities:

FEW PEOPLE attain knighthood from the West. Few people are worthy of being called ''Alllama'' in the East. However, there is not a single individual whose name starts with both ''Sir'' & ''Allama'', not to ignore the ''Dr.'' title for the PhD as well.

This shows the extremely wide spectrum of thought  Iqbal had encompassed while embarking on a  intellectual and spiritual journey which no other Muslim undertook.

This book features lectures delivered by Iqbal at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh; title so perfectly implies, Iqbal as an original thinker, wanted to reconstruct Islamic thought with a fresh new start rather then clinging on to what previous Muslim scholars had already said.

This book was a major contribution to the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of  Islam, especially when a revolutionary point of view.

Its target audience were not devout Muslims at all but primarily the West or non-religious Muslims who were mesmerised by the onslaught of secular, liberal and atheistic thinking that gained prominence in Iqbal's time.

Why did Iqbal write it? According to him,  Islamic thought had been stagnant since more than  5 centuries. Muslims, too immersed in the two opposite extremes of Persian mysticism and hedonism, had not contributed to the growth of human knowledge since a long time due to which Islam had lost its appeal among educated and literate circles.

On the contrary, Western Thought, after the French Revolution and Enlightenment had progressed in leaps and bounds.

So, in order for Islam to make sense to intelligent minds, it had to maintain pace with latest findings in Physics, Biology, Philosophy, Psychology, Political Science and other disciplines.

In short, it was the ideal time in history in history for a marriage between tradition and modernity, and Iqbal who was born in conservative Sufi family and studied at the universities in Germany and England was the ideal man to do so.

The World Students Society thanks review author and researcher Adil Farook.