Book Review: (Islam and Modernity: Transformation in an Intellectual Tradition) by the Pakistani philosopher Fazlur Rahman Malik

Abstract

In the following, we aim to review the book “Islam and Modernity: Transformation in an Intellectual Tradition,” written by the Pakistani philosopher Fazlur Rahman Malik, who is considered one of the founders of contemporary Islamic thought, especially immediately after the Arab and Islamic Renaissance. The importance of this book lies in the fact that it is the first historically to approach the problem of Islamic education in its relationship to the phenomenon of modernity, which has spread overwhelmingly from Europe and the West to various countries of the Arab and Islamic world. Despite the passage of many decades since the publication of this intellectual work, its ideas, interpretations, and predictions still have a qualitative value, because its author adopted a progressive, orientalist approach that transcends physical history and transcends the coordinates of geography. In this review, we have maintained the intellectual line drawn by the author, starting from the introduction and ending with the fourth chapter, which is analytical and evaluative of the results of this solid study conducted by Fazlur Rahman. Thus, this review came in line with the formal structure on which the book was based. It began with a general introduction about the author, the book, and the general vision it carries. Then we devoted a separate section to each of the book’s four chapters. They are as follows: the jurisprudential heritage and the development of Islamic education, classical Islamic modernity and education, Islamic education in the light of contemporary modernity, progressive intellectual visions for the advancement of Islamic education. Finally, we concluded our review with a conclusion that included a general summary of the subject, approach and context.