The status of «Intellectuals in the Arab Civilization: Ibn Hanbal’s plight and Averroes’s disgrace » in al-Jabiri’s thought-programme

Abstract

This article investigates the work of Dr. Al-Jabri «Intellectuals in the Arab Civilization: Ibno Hanbal’s plight and Averroes’s disgrace [» in order to discuss the extent to which what was written was achieved, and did the book reflect what was provided in the entire intellectual project? In other words, we wondered if this book was another echo of what was preached in the great intellectual project of this Moroccan thinker? In order to answer the aforementioned questions, we have tried to identify some of the most prominent features of Professor Al-Jabri’s writings concerning mainly the methodological tools used in most of his writings, the employed scientific concepts, and the adopted historical background. We have said at the beginning that the book is an explicit manifestation and a clear complement to what is available in the other writings of Al-Jabri. As evidence to support our claim, we have settled on three signs, which we find explicitly - or at least implicitly - permeate everything that this thinker wrote: His implementation of the technique of adaptation, his acknowledgment of continuity - instead of separation - between the heritage and modernity, and his perseverance in undermining the myth of Eurocentrism/Western. So, was this booklet just a small window opened by the philosopher on the side lines of his project Or is it a continuation of the project as a whole by engaging in a "contemporary" topic which is "issue of the intellectual"?