Arkam
Arkam. An early Meccan convert to Islam.
Arkam. An early Meccan convert to Islam.
Arkoun, Mohammed
Arkoun, Mohammed (b. February 1, 1928). Algerian Islamic scholar and writer. One of the leading Arab Muslim intellectuals of his time, Arkoun was involved in the sensitive task of re-interpreting and recasting the classical religious, legal, and philosophical traditions through a sophisticated hermeneutical system inspired by contemporary Western critical methodologies, a task that made him a controversial participant in the creation of a modern Arabo-Islamic critical discourse.
Arkoun was born on January 2, 1928, in the Berber village of Taourirt-Mimoun in Kabylia. From his modest beginnings as the son of a spice merchant, Arkoun went on to become a highly successful international scholar and thinker. He began Arabic studies in his native country and completed them in Paris. He was associated with the Sorbonne where he was the Professor of the History of Islamic Thought and was formerly Director of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies there. He was also the editor in chief of the French scholarly journal Arabica for many years. Arkoun’s international visibility has brought lectures and visiting appointments at academic institutions worldwide, including the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His adopted homeland appointed Arkoun Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur and Officier des Palmes Academiques.
What distinguished Arkoun from many other contemporary Arab and Muslim intellectuals was precisely what qualified him to be editor of Arabica – his serious training as a medievalist. Arkoun established himself as a foremost student of medieval Islamic thought with his work on the philosopher and thinker Miskawayh (d. 1030). He edited two treatises by Miskawayh and translated his Tahdhib al-akhlaq, a work whose close relationship to Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics compels anyone attempting to deal with the Arabic text to also grapple with Greek philosophy.
With this philosophical background combined with the resources of French criticism, Arkoun began his own intellectual crusade. His re-readings of the rich Islamic religious and legal traditions are an extension of this dual intellectual allegiance to the modern humanities and social sciences and to medieval studies. Arkoun also wrote widely on topics ranging from the twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher and physician Ibn Tufayl to Orientalism.
Arkoun’s Lectures du Coran was perhaps his most challenging and important work. The author pled eloquently and passionately for clear analytical distinctions in dealing with the Muslim holy book. According to Arkoun, too many levels of production of the sacred text are amalgated under the title of the Qur’an. There is the word of God, the Logos, of which the revelations of the three monotheistic religions are but fragments. There are also the Qur’anic discourse, the actual written text of the Qur’an, and the commentaries on this text. These distinctions permit a much more sophisticated reading of the scriptures.
Arkoun’s ideas did not go unchallenged by the intellectual leaders of the contemporary Islamist movement. An impassioned debate occurred between Arkoun and the Egyptian Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali in Algeria. Almost as quickly as the works of al-Ghazali became available to an international audience, so Arkoun’s works were re-edited in French in North Africa, translated into Arabic, and published in London. Arkoun’s impact on the contemporary Arab Muslim intellectual scene became increasingly important as the Islamist movement grew in strength. Arkoun defined the Islamic concept of the jihad al-nafs (personal jihad) as the work of the intellectual who feels a sense of solidarity with the society to which he belongs. This jihad al-nafs was Arkoun’s mission.
Arkoun was decorated as an Officer of the French Légion d'honneur in July 1996. In 2001, Professor Arkoun was asked to deliver the Gifford Lectures, which enable a notable scholar to contribute to the advancement of theological and philosophical thought and was announced as the recipient of the Seventeenth Georgio Levi Della Vida Award for his lifelong contribution to the field of Islamic Studies.
Mohammed Arkoun see Arkoun, Mohammed
Arkoun, Mohammed (b. February 1, 1928). Algerian Islamic scholar and writer. One of the leading Arab Muslim intellectuals of his time, Arkoun was involved in the sensitive task of re-interpreting and recasting the classical religious, legal, and philosophical traditions through a sophisticated hermeneutical system inspired by contemporary Western critical methodologies, a task that made him a controversial participant in the creation of a modern Arabo-Islamic critical discourse.
Arkoun was born on January 2, 1928, in the Berber village of Taourirt-Mimoun in Kabylia. From his modest beginnings as the son of a spice merchant, Arkoun went on to become a highly successful international scholar and thinker. He began Arabic studies in his native country and completed them in Paris. He was associated with the Sorbonne where he was the Professor of the History of Islamic Thought and was formerly Director of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies there. He was also the editor in chief of the French scholarly journal Arabica for many years. Arkoun’s international visibility has brought lectures and visiting appointments at academic institutions worldwide, including the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His adopted homeland appointed Arkoun Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur and Officier des Palmes Academiques.
What distinguished Arkoun from many other contemporary Arab and Muslim intellectuals was precisely what qualified him to be editor of Arabica – his serious training as a medievalist. Arkoun established himself as a foremost student of medieval Islamic thought with his work on the philosopher and thinker Miskawayh (d. 1030). He edited two treatises by Miskawayh and translated his Tahdhib al-akhlaq, a work whose close relationship to Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics compels anyone attempting to deal with the Arabic text to also grapple with Greek philosophy.
With this philosophical background combined with the resources of French criticism, Arkoun began his own intellectual crusade. His re-readings of the rich Islamic religious and legal traditions are an extension of this dual intellectual allegiance to the modern humanities and social sciences and to medieval studies. Arkoun also wrote widely on topics ranging from the twelfth-century Andalusian philosopher and physician Ibn Tufayl to Orientalism.
Arkoun’s Lectures du Coran was perhaps his most challenging and important work. The author pled eloquently and passionately for clear analytical distinctions in dealing with the Muslim holy book. According to Arkoun, too many levels of production of the sacred text are amalgated under the title of the Qur’an. There is the word of God, the Logos, of which the revelations of the three monotheistic religions are but fragments. There are also the Qur’anic discourse, the actual written text of the Qur’an, and the commentaries on this text. These distinctions permit a much more sophisticated reading of the scriptures.
Arkoun’s ideas did not go unchallenged by the intellectual leaders of the contemporary Islamist movement. An impassioned debate occurred between Arkoun and the Egyptian Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali in Algeria. Almost as quickly as the works of al-Ghazali became available to an international audience, so Arkoun’s works were re-edited in French in North Africa, translated into Arabic, and published in London. Arkoun’s impact on the contemporary Arab Muslim intellectual scene became increasingly important as the Islamist movement grew in strength. Arkoun defined the Islamic concept of the jihad al-nafs (personal jihad) as the work of the intellectual who feels a sense of solidarity with the society to which he belongs. This jihad al-nafs was Arkoun’s mission.
Arkoun was decorated as an Officer of the French Légion d'honneur in July 1996. In 2001, Professor Arkoun was asked to deliver the Gifford Lectures, which enable a notable scholar to contribute to the advancement of theological and philosophical thought and was announced as the recipient of the Seventeenth Georgio Levi Della Vida Award for his lifelong contribution to the field of Islamic Studies.
Mohammed Arkoun see Arkoun, Mohammed
Arruma
Arruma. Afro-Brazilian leader of the revolts of the Muslim Hausa slaves from 1807 to 1816. The revolts were centered around Bahia.
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