This is the first study in a European language on Ibn ʿĀshūr’s theory of tafsīr in his 130-page t... more This is the first study in a European language on Ibn ʿĀshūr’s theory of tafsīr in his 130-page ten prolegomena (al-Muqaddimāt al-ʿashr) to al-Taḥrīr wal-tanwīr, which sum up his approach to Quranic hermeneutics.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (1050-1143/1641-1731) "Perfecting the Qualities: On Keeping to Homes... more ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (1050-1143/1641-1731) "Perfecting the Qualities: On Keeping to Homes" is a 39-folio treatise that epitomizes eight centuries of Islamic works on the theme of social reclusion (ʿuzla) away from latter-day strifes (fitan) and has received two editions 21 years apart, the latter of which I received from and read with its editor, the Ḥumṣī grammarian and exegete Munīr al-Ḥāyik, from beginning to end in Beirut. ʿUzla built upon the Qurʾānic and Hadith texts enjoining social withdrawal and political quietism for the sake of preserving one's religion and safety, practicing repentance (tawba), keeping to simple living (zuhd) and sparing others one's own harm. The author begins by quoting scholarly poetry then about 60 hadiths related to reclusion, which he follows up with a lament on the dissolution of morals in his time as well as previous times. As did his predecessors, he demarcates reclusion from un-Islamic practices such as monasticism and clears it from any suggestion of divisiveness. He concludes his work with examples of past authorities who all practiced one form or another of qualified asociality. This article situates his work within the literature of ʿuzla in the Sunni tradition and its development of the sub-themes of safeguarding one's faith, social disengagement and informal eremitism, the refocus on personal priorities, pacifism in the face of intra-Muslim strife, misanthropy and the struggle against egotism.
This review, "Enduring Myths of Orientalism", a critique of the Orientalist perspective on the wr... more This review, "Enduring Myths of Orientalism", a critique of the Orientalist perspective on the writing of Hadith and its early history revolving around a recent work on the subject, was published in The Muslim World Book Review 27 no. 4 (Summer 2007), pp. 24-29.
This paper gives a short biography of the Afghan-born Meccan Hanafi polymath Ali al-Qari with a d... more This paper gives a short biography of the Afghan-born Meccan Hanafi polymath Ali al-Qari with a descriptive list of his teachers and students followed by an itemized discussion of 109 of his works. Although he was principally a specialist of Quranic readings al-Qari touched on most of the Islamic sciences including of course Hadith, and was considered by some to be among the "renewers" of the Ummah.
This is an important work for students of the Quran in the non-Muslim world by Ziad Elmarsafy, pl... more This is an important work for students of the Quran in the non-Muslim world by Ziad Elmarsafy, placing Catholic and Protestant versions of the Qur'ān at the heart of the European Enlightenment covering, among other topics, translators and translations, Sale, Marracci and the representation of Islam, "translating Christ and Christianity," Voltaire's Islamophilia vs. his Judaiphobia; Rousseau, Savary, Napoleon, Egypt and Goethe.
The Quran Beheld is a worshipful (or, per its style, humbly adoring) interpretation that resists ... more The Quran Beheld is a worshipful (or, per its style, humbly adoring) interpretation that resists the assumption that a modern language can be on a par with the original text. Its grounding in established athar and glosses makes it a must-have vade mecum for the studious reader, who can now peruse an engaging paraphrase doubling as a close mirror of the tafsīr tradition of trusted orthodoxy—the agreed-upon golden-middle way of Quranic commentary sine qua non.
This is the first study in a European language on Ibn ʿĀshūr’s theory of tafsīr in his 130-page t... more This is the first study in a European language on Ibn ʿĀshūr’s theory of tafsīr in his 130-page ten prolegomena (al-Muqaddimāt al-ʿashr) to al-Taḥrīr wal-tanwīr, which sum up his approach to Quranic hermeneutics.
ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (1050-1143/1641-1731) "Perfecting the Qualities: On Keeping to Homes... more ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (1050-1143/1641-1731) "Perfecting the Qualities: On Keeping to Homes" is a 39-folio treatise that epitomizes eight centuries of Islamic works on the theme of social reclusion (ʿuzla) away from latter-day strifes (fitan) and has received two editions 21 years apart, the latter of which I received from and read with its editor, the Ḥumṣī grammarian and exegete Munīr al-Ḥāyik, from beginning to end in Beirut. ʿUzla built upon the Qurʾānic and Hadith texts enjoining social withdrawal and political quietism for the sake of preserving one's religion and safety, practicing repentance (tawba), keeping to simple living (zuhd) and sparing others one's own harm. The author begins by quoting scholarly poetry then about 60 hadiths related to reclusion, which he follows up with a lament on the dissolution of morals in his time as well as previous times. As did his predecessors, he demarcates reclusion from un-Islamic practices such as monasticism and clears it from any suggestion of divisiveness. He concludes his work with examples of past authorities who all practiced one form or another of qualified asociality. This article situates his work within the literature of ʿuzla in the Sunni tradition and its development of the sub-themes of safeguarding one's faith, social disengagement and informal eremitism, the refocus on personal priorities, pacifism in the face of intra-Muslim strife, misanthropy and the struggle against egotism.
This review, "Enduring Myths of Orientalism", a critique of the Orientalist perspective on the wr... more This review, "Enduring Myths of Orientalism", a critique of the Orientalist perspective on the writing of Hadith and its early history revolving around a recent work on the subject, was published in The Muslim World Book Review 27 no. 4 (Summer 2007), pp. 24-29.
This paper gives a short biography of the Afghan-born Meccan Hanafi polymath Ali al-Qari with a d... more This paper gives a short biography of the Afghan-born Meccan Hanafi polymath Ali al-Qari with a descriptive list of his teachers and students followed by an itemized discussion of 109 of his works. Although he was principally a specialist of Quranic readings al-Qari touched on most of the Islamic sciences including of course Hadith, and was considered by some to be among the "renewers" of the Ummah.
This is an important work for students of the Quran in the non-Muslim world by Ziad Elmarsafy, pl... more This is an important work for students of the Quran in the non-Muslim world by Ziad Elmarsafy, placing Catholic and Protestant versions of the Qur'ān at the heart of the European Enlightenment covering, among other topics, translators and translations, Sale, Marracci and the representation of Islam, "translating Christ and Christianity," Voltaire's Islamophilia vs. his Judaiphobia; Rousseau, Savary, Napoleon, Egypt and Goethe.
The Quran Beheld is a worshipful (or, per its style, humbly adoring) interpretation that resists ... more The Quran Beheld is a worshipful (or, per its style, humbly adoring) interpretation that resists the assumption that a modern language can be on a par with the original text. Its grounding in established athar and glosses makes it a must-have vade mecum for the studious reader, who can now peruse an engaging paraphrase doubling as a close mirror of the tafsīr tradition of trusted orthodoxy—the agreed-upon golden-middle way of Quranic commentary sine qua non.
Review of a a brief but important work which is the synopsis of a proposed renewal of the Quranic... more Review of a a brief but important work which is the synopsis of a proposed renewal of the Quranic exegetical disciplines inspired by the former Grand Mufti of Egypt Dr. ʿAlī Jumuʿah and distilled from his teachings by his student, the author. Originally published as Madkhal ilā ʿulūm al-tafsīr, it is the author’s introduction to Jumuʿah’s 300-page Quranic commentary—itself based on lectures delivered at al-Azhar—al-Nibrās fī tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-karīm (Cairo: al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib, 2009), which covers the Fatiha and al-Baqara until verse 26. The Introduction is intended to help students of tafsīr as well as engage and inspire its experts. Its two main ideas are that more exegesis is needed for what the author calls the axes (maḥāwir) and objectives (maqāṣid) of the Qur’ān and, second, it must show the relevance and applicability of the Qur’ān to contemporary issues.
University of Victoria Professor Emeritus of Islamic History and Senior Research Fellow at the In... more University of Victoria Professor Emeritus of Islamic History and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London Andrew Rippin wrote a four-page review (JAOS 136.1, 2016, 222-225) of the first volume of the Integrated Encyclopedia of Qur’ān (IEQ) which he describes as “sumptuous and carefully produced,” “an impressive beginning” and “a considerable contribution to the study of the Quran” (p. 222 par. 1). His review goes downhill from there. In the process he appeals to a purported shared understanding of the nature of scholarship on Islam and makes serious charges that give pause and warrant a detailed discussion, which this response is meant to be.
The Lights of Guidance from the Knowledge Oceans of the Divine Side: The Early Lebanon Suhbas of Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani. Volume I, 2024
Pages from an annotated English translation of the first of four published volumes containing the... more Pages from an annotated English translation of the first of four published volumes containing the transcriptions of suhbas in Arabic given by Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani in Tripoli and other venues in Lebanon in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The transcriber is Muhammad Ghazi Ghannoum (b. 1950) and the translator is Gibril Fouad Haddad (b. 1960). ISBN: 978-1-938058-82-0
On February 3, 2015 a video emerged online showing the young Jordanian airforce pilot Muath Al-Ka... more On February 3, 2015 a video emerged online showing the young Jordanian airforce pilot Muath Al-Kasasbeh being burnt to death by “Islamic State of Iraq and Shām” affiliates (ISIS or IS). Another IS live burning video was released on December 22, 2016, this time of two Turkish prisoners of war. IS quoted the Syrian theologian Ibn Taymiyya in support of the licitness of the publicized burning alive of war captives as revenge and intimidation. The same argument was developed in prior and concurrent pro-IS literature and fatwas online and in print. This book shows that such an argument, fatwas, and act are in fact unislamic and have no basis whatsoever in the Qur’ān, the authentic Sunna and acts of the Companions, or Islamic law in its totality, and that the burning of enemy captives, whether for retaliation, deterrence, or any other reason, is forbidden by consensus in the rulings pertaining to the conduct of war.
A bilingual book containing 40 Hadiths on the virtues of the Family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه ... more A bilingual book containing 40 Hadiths on the virtues of the Family of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم narrated with full transmission chains from 40 of his contemporary descendants out of 40 books of Hadith. Forthcoming.
Ethnobotany in the Qur’an and Hadith - An Exploration / Universiti Brunei Darussalam, 2018
There is no definitive work as of yet on the sourcing, definition, translation, description and t... more There is no definitive work as of yet on the sourcing, definition, translation, description and tafsīr-based exegesis of plants in the Qur'ān available in English. Besides the lack of grounding in Arabic tafsīr and Arabic botany sources common to most studies of the subject in English, some erroneous opinions have now become current on the basis of such works, such as the confusion of sidr and ṭūbā with the cedar-tree, qaḍb with vegetables, rayḥān as sweet basel exclusively, etc. Even in condensed form, no reliable Islamic nomenclature in English exists. The Brill Encyclopedia of Qur'ān (2006), a work already marred by its Orientalist methodology, has no entry on 'Plants' but only on 'Agriculture.' This overview offers a sample template of what such an entry might cover and highlights the need for precision in translating plant names.
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