World Literature Decentered: Beyond the ‘West’ Through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal By Ian Almond

Cosmologists say that if space-time is infinite, then somehow, somewhere, all possible things exist. As someone who has taught that nebulous entity “world literature” for over ten years, I’d like to begin by sketching out one such alternate world. Think of this alternative world as a kind of World Literature Fantasy. In this parallel world, there is no dominant Western canon: only lots of good Western writers, struggling like everyone else to make their voices heard above the growing crescendo of the planet’s collective murmur. Moreover, the people who live in Western countries actually realize they only form 10% of the planet. They understand that the non-Western is not some misrepresented ethnic minority, but Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East – the overwhelming majority of the world.

There are centers of influence, certainly, but they are multiple and constantly shifting. A decade of readers in Argentina might become obsessed with Middle Eastern fiction; a new generation in China might start to fixate on West African writers. The swirling network of influences – Swedes reading Turks reading Mexicans, Brazilians translating Urdu ghazals and Chinese tanka – forever shimmers, brightens and collapses, reconfiguring itself not in response to power and economy, but through a much more curious, seem- ingly chaotic algorithm. There are certainly books which are read more than others, but they do not subscribe to a common ideology – in the anthologies of this world, Buddhists, Islamists, Anarchists and the occasional Capitalist argue with one another endlessly on contentious editorial boards. Writers in this alternative world feel no compulsion to communicate some anthro- pological information about their community, although many choose to do so

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Representations of Islam in Western Thought By Ian Almond

By Ian Almond

What do we understand by the term ‘representation of Islam’? What does it mean to investigate the depiction of the Muslim world – be it the faith, the cultures, the believers, the literature – in non- Muslim discourse? How would studies of the representation of Muslims by non-Muslims differ from their logical inverse – Muslim representations of Christians and Christianity in texts from Turkish or Arabic literature?

The term has, by now, practically established a genre of its own. Academic books and articles abound in the study of the Muslim world’s portrayal in areas as different as sixteenth century French literature, contemporary cinema, British children’s education syllabi, German drama, medieval thought, many of them preceding Edward Said’s landmark investigation of French and British Orientalist portrayals of their subjects. As a consequence, I’d like to consider some of the things I understand such studies to entail.

First of all, to examine the depiction of the Muslim in Western discourse is to examine the West. To consider the scimitar-bearing Turks and veiled women of Western Oriental landscapes is to consider the anxieties and desires of the gazer, not the gazed upon. This is not to say the Muslim is merely a blank screen upon which the West simply projects whatever facet of itself it happens to be

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Signs and Causes: Astro-Meteorology in Early Islamic Centuries By Razieh S. Mousavi

By Razieh S. Mousavi

Before the existence of weather stations, people relied on a variety of visible and invisible signs to predict the weather. Among Arabs, observing the regular motions of the stars was a common method for weather forecasting, both before and after the rise of Islam. How did they perceive the connection between cosmic and atmospheric phenomena?

In many past societies, including pre-Islamic Arabia, astronomy and weather forecasting were closely connected, and this knowledge played a crucial role in the region’s economic considerations. After the advent of Islam, this understanding was further enriched by the rapid exchange of ideas with neighboring cultures, blending climatic and environmental concepts with astronomical principles, a synthesis that is evident in the literature from that era. While there is some continuity in Arabian knowledge of astronomy and weather between the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, notable differences also stand out.

Pre-Islamic records are primarily archaeological, such as stone inscriptions, 2 and fragmented poetry, much of which was preserved through Islamic manuscripts. 3 In contrast, sources from the Islamic period, particularly from the late eighth
century onward, are far more diverse and extensive. 4 Another significant difference lies in how this knowledge was created and used. In the Islamic period, knowledge production was primarily state-supported, leading to a more formal and elite-driven approach tied to political and administrative needs. On the other hand, pre-Islamic knowledge of the environment was less structured, based largely on individual observations and regional traditions. Modern scholarship
commonly refers to this body of astro-meteorological knowledge in Arabia, as “folk astronomy” to emphasise its informal, observational character compared to the more advanced and systematic studies that emerged in Islamic societies. However, this lable should not obscure the dynamic encounters between different approaches and practices across changing religious and intellectual contexts

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“Decolonizing the Muslim Mind: A Philosophical Critique,” Philosophical Forum 55 (2024): 353–375

The crises of the Islamic world revolve around “epistemic colonialism.” So, in order to decolonize the Muslim mind, we must be able to deconstruct the Western episteme, and this involves dissociating ourselves from the Eurocentric knowledge system that gradually became ascendent since the Renaissance through such ideas as progress and modernity. However, this does not mean we need to discontinue dialog with Western thought. Rather it means retrieving and reviving our own intel- lectual heritage and being able to think with the categories and concepts derived from that heritage. But in light of the postcolonial situation where the intellectual and linguistic connection with one’s own tradition is severed, this is a tremendous challenge. What is more, many Muslim intellectuals simply think that Islamic heritage has little relevance to address contemporary challenges. Yet unless Muslims are able to ground their self-identity in their own intellectual tradition, they will be held captive to the web of epistemic colonialism. They might be comfortable offering their prayers as Muslims, but their mental ambience will be permeated by devastating, Eurocentric ideas. They will hardly be able to overcome their fragmented self-image.

Imagine living in an old Riad in Fez, a Haveli in Lahore, or another traditional house, and then being forced into ugly high-rise apartments. These modern buildings might offer amenities like swimming pools, fitness centers, and private outdoor spaces, but their all-glass structures lack the traditional windows that connect people to the natural world of heat, light, and sound. Moreover, the sealed and glazed facades increase heating and cooling loads and create issues with glare and thermal comfort. Although people may still possess beautiful artifacts from their old homes, such as window panes, oil lamps, and plant pots, they no longer understand their language and meaning in a new context. In a word, the new setting radically alters the rhythms of life, work, and thought. And this is analogous to what has happened to the Muslim mind; its very architecture has been fundamentally transformed. Sadly, the current generation, with its fragmented self-image, often does not care to explore their historical identity and the importance of this knowledge in constructing a present self-identity

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Platonism In Safavid Persia: Mīrdāmād (d. 1631) and Āqājānī (ca. 1661) on the Platonic Forms

In this paper, I analyze the treatment of Platonic Ideas in the fifth Qabas (lit. “blazing brand,” in this context a “chapter”) of Mīr Dāmād’s Qabasāt, 2 along with Āqājāni’s 3 commentary thereof. In this section, Mīr Dāmād first

For a survey of his life and the major tenets of his philosophy, see: H. Dabāshī, “MīrDāmād and the Founding of the ‘School of Iṣfahān’,” in: S. H. Nasr et al, History of Islamic Philosophy, London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 597–635; H. Corbin, “Confessions extatiques de Mīr Dāmād.” In: Mélanges Louis Massignon. Damascus: L’Institut Français de Damas, 1956; idem, En islam iranien. 4 vols. Paris: Gallimard, vol. IV: L’Ecole d’Ispahan, pp. 9–123. S. A. Mūsavī Bihbahānī, Ḥakīm-i Astarābād Mīr Dāmād. Tehran: Tehran University Press, 1377 [A.H. solar]; I. Netton, “Suhrawardī’s Heir? The Ishrāqī Philosophy of Mīr Dāmād.

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Ibn ʿArabī in Contemporary Iran: Some Currents and Debates / Çağdaş İran’da İbn Arabî: Bazı Akım ve Tartışmalar – By Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies

By Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies

Iran’s historical and complicated social situation has led to diverse attitudes toward Sufism and interpretations of Ibn ʿArabī’s legacy. Many of Ibn ʿArabī’s prominent followers and commentators were originally from Iran; however, many of his notable opponents were also from Iran. These two historical currents of followers and opponents of Ibn ʿArabī are still quite alive. Other currents with unique attitudes toward Ibn ʿArabī also have been established recently in Iran. In this article, different attitudes towards Ibn ʿArabī in contemporary Iran are presented and contextualized. Attitudes represent not only the scholarly tendencies of Iranian academics and Islamic scholars but also their role in forming diverse collective identities.

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Sufism in the United Arab Emirates – Ida Zilio-Grandi

This essay aims to provide a brief overview of Sufism in the United Arab Emirates, both in its historical and contemporary contexts. Consideration has been given firstly to the increasing support of local leaderships for the Sufi orientation of Islam as an antidote to the spread of Salafism and political Islam; and secondly to the unfortunately scarce written documentation of the presence and revival of the schools to date. In many cases, the contribution of daily press and social media has proved crucial.

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Rethinking the Unio Mystica: From McGinn to Ibn ʿArabī

Research into the unio mystica has revealed what seems to be an area of “real discussion” between scholars of different traditions of mysticism, particularly those of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although this research serves as a promising start to the dialogue among scholars, it has also raised many questions about a “shared moment” that is nevertheless expressed in “irreducibly diverse” and distinct ways in each tradition. What purpose, for instance, can generic cross-cultural categories serve when they mean little or nothing to scholars in each tradition? By contrast, tradition-specific vocabularies are profuse and often difficult to represent in interlinguistic contexts without significant explanation. The challenge of translating mystical texts, imagery, and ideas across cultures and linguistic traditions raises obvious concerns about the misrepresentation and distortion of traditions in an environment of post-colonial critique. Nevertheless, the continued promise of dialogue calls for specialists of these traditions—particularly non-western and non Christian traditions—to approach, assess, re-formulate, and even challenge the categories of mysticism from within the conceptual and theoretical horizons of the traditions that they research.

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Intellectual Imperialism: Definition, Traits, and Problems – Syed Farid Alatas

Imperialism is not confined to the political or economic aspects of the historical process. Rather, it is to be considered as a cluster. A phenomenon such as imperialism is a cluster of different aspects of human undertakings. What is usually discussed is economic and political imperialism. In this paper, however, we turn to intellectual imperialism, first describing what it is, and second enumerating the problems connected with it. Intellectual imperialism has, among other things, resulted in a displacement of attention from issues that should be of vital concern to Asian and African societies. The emancipation of the mind from the shackles of intellectual imperialism is the major condition for the development of a creative and autonomous social science tradition in developing societies.

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Sufis and Muʿtazilites: Theological Engagements of Ibn ʿArabī – Yydogan Kars

“This paper introduces Ibn ʿArabī’s depictions of, encounters with, and responses to the preeminent Islamic theological school, Muʿtazilism. Ibn ʿArabī fourished during the eclipse of Muʿtazilism, yet his corpus demonstrates close familiarity with their theological claims. Therefore an analysis of his depic- tions of Muʿtazilism gives us important insights on the trans- mission and reception of ideas within the Islamicate world. This study explores six major theological themes that played key roles in his engagement with Muʿtazilism, particularly in the encyclopaedic Meccan Openings [al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya]: (i) divine role in human actions and agency; (ii) epistemologi- cal sources of theological speculation; (iii) divine attributes; (iv) divine knowability; (v) vision of God; (vi) divine justice and mercy in the afterlife. In most of these cases, Ibn ʿArabī’s approach to Muʿtazilism is not only well-informed, but also empathetic rather than dismissive. His personal encounter with al-Qabrafīqī, a Muʿtazilite Suf in Seville, and his corpus indi- cate Ibn ʿArabī’s informed engagements with both basran and baghdadian Muʿtazilite teachings. He took them seriously as a major theological school that relies on legitimate religious pre- cepts, provides compelling and still relevant ideas, and honours divine transcendence and unity. by the time of Ibn ʿArabī, Muʿtazilism had made an unmis- takable impact on Islamic theology, yet largely dissolved into a variety of movements. on the other hand, in the feld of theol- ogy, later schools or movements were not the only channels between the Muʿtazilites and the Sufs of the 12th and 13th”

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A new light on the Sufi network of Mindanao (Philippines) – Oman Fathurahman

“This article attempts to fill the gap in the very limited knowledge of the history of Islam and Muslim intellectual tradition in Mindanao in the 19th century. It particularly deals with a set of primary sources of Islamic manuscripts recently found in the Lanao area of Mindanao, southern Philippines, which formerly belonged to a Maranao ulama, Aleem Ulomuddin Said, who inherited the manuscripts from his father, Sheikh Muhammad Said bin Imam sa Bayang(1904-1974). This manuscript collection contains several texts written in Malay, Arabic, and Maranao languages on various fields. I will argue that these manuscripts indicate the close contact Muslim communities of Mindanao developed during the 18th and19th centuries with their Malay colleagues, especially those in Aceh and Banten. It also conforms their network with the wider Islamic world, more specially with Mecca and Medina through“

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Fasting in Early Sufi Literature [Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies] – Atif Khalil

Abstract:

In Plato’s Phaedo we encounter a dialogue between Socrates and Cebes around the nature of the soul and its relation to the body. The soul we learn is divine-like, deathless, intelligent, uniform, indissoluble and of course invisible, while the body in contrast is mortal, multiform, changing, soluble and visible. If the body gains mastery over the soul it is bound to drag it down into the sludge and sediment of the lower, material world through the tentacles of desire, and embroil it in confusion and dizziness. On the other hand, if the soul frees itself from the allure of the transient pleasures offered to it by the senses, and in turn gains mastery over the body by assuming its proper and naturally ordered relation to it, then the soul will be prepared for its own inevitable departure and ascent, and thereby, its eternal felicity. Philosophy

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