Islamic philosophy
All topics-
Previously unpublished work
Naguib Mahfouz' "The Quarter"
Last year, Egyptian critic Mohammed Shoair made an unusual and thrilling announcement: the discovery of never-before-seen stories by Egyptʹs only Nobel laureate for literature, Naguib Mahfouz. Filed in a cardboard box in the possession of Mahfouzʹs daughter, this slender trove of texts has now yielded "The Quarter". By Marcia Lynx Qualey
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Interview with Islamic scholar Stefan Weidner
Thinking outside the Western box
In interview with Rachid Boutayeb, Stefan Weidner complains that even the most critical thinkers of Western tradition have practically never looked beyond their Western horizons. Islam, Indian religions and philosophies of non-European cultures are virtually absent from this thinking
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Interview with Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush
"The Sufis were prophets of pluralism"
Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush explains how he draws on the work of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi for guidance in his search for a comprehensive approach to religion that doesn't rely solely on rationality and logic, but also on a sense of the other dimension. Interview by Dara Alani
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Pashtun freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Islam's forgotten "Gandhi"
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the founder of the world’s first professional non-violent army. Here in the West, the Islamic Gandhi is little known – but today his legacy is more relevant than ever. A portrait of the Pashtun "Badshah Khan" by Marian Brehmer
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Obituary: Iranian philosopher Dariush Shayegan
The science of balance
On 22 March 2018, Dariush Shayegan, one of the Islamic world's foremost philosophers, died at the age of 83 in Tehran. Without ever pinning his colours to any one religious mast, Shayegan sought out the commonalities between Islamic, Indian and Far Eastern spirituality and Western philosophy. By Stefan Weidner
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Averroes' Enlightenment legacy
An intellectual earthquake
Koert Debeuf, director of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy posits that it is high time the West revised the exclusionary narrative of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and restored the historical truth to its rightful place
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The Islamic reformer Ibn Tumart
The man who changed the course of Islamic history
Ibn Tumart is considered the spiritual founder of the Berber dynasty of the Almohads in the twelfth century. His once revolutionary ideas sent shockwaves through the entire Arab world, ultimately resulting in violent tensions. By Mohamed Yosri
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Exhibition: "Jews, Christians and Muslims" in Berlin
Dispelling myths
The Berlin exhibition "Jews, Christians and Muslims: Scientific Discourse in the Middle Ages 500–1500" shows the circuitous routes by which knowledge made its way around the medieval world while dismantling the theory of a Judeo-Christian Europe. By Gustav Seibt
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Non-fiction: ″Religious criticism around 1900″
Middle Eastern philosophy's take on Islam
How is the relationship between science, philosophy and religion discussed in the Muslim world, beyond the well-known dictum that Islam rules its states and societies and therefore also determines its morality and aesthetics? A new series by Berlin-based publishers Klaus Schwarz addresses this question. By Sonja Hegasy
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French philosopher Henry Corbin
Wherever the spirit guides
Henry Corbin, theologian and professor in Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne, is widely regarded as the West′s authority on Persian philosophy. Despite having died in 1978, he is not only revered in modern-day Iran, he has also been appropriated. By Marian Brehmer
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On the death of philosopher and essayist Tzvetan Todorov
We are all barbarians
Tzvetan Todorov was not a typical French TV philosopher, bending the president's ear with ideas on the politics of the day. He definitely would not have called for "Libya to be bombed", as did Bernard-Henri Levy in 2011. Todorov kept a low profile. He passed away early this year. Stefan Buch explains why he was – and will remain – one of the voices of our time
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Islam and enlightenment
Beware of the myth
Anyone in Europe calling for Islam to finally go through a phase of enlightenment should first pause for critical reflection on our own concept of Enlightenment, writes the prominent Islamic studies expert Ulrich Rudolph