Book Description
This is a substantially expanded edition of the author's seminal work "The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study". Beginning with the case study of a Muslim basketball player who refused to stand up while the American national anthem was playing, the author documents the disintegration of the Islamic juristic tradition, and the prevalence of authoritarianism in contemporary Muslim discourses. The author analyzes the rise of what he describes as puritan and despotic trends in modern Islam, and asserts that such trends nullify the richness and diversity of the Islamic tradition. By declaring themselves the true soldiers of God and the defenders of religion, Muslim puritan movements are able to degrade women, eradicate critical thinking, and empty Islam of its moral content. In effect, the author argues, the self-declared protectors of Islam become its despots and oppressors who suppress the dynamism and vigor of the Islamic message. Anchoring himself in the rich Islamic jurisprudential tradition, the author argues for upholding the authoritativeness of the religious text without succumbing to authoritarian methodologies of interpretation. Ultimately, the author asserts that in order to respect the integrity of the Divine laws it is necessary to adopt rigorous analytical methodologies of interpretation, and to re-investigate the place of morality in modern Islam.
Customer Reviews:
Great Scholar!.......2006-02-28
Dr. Abou El Fadl's books are all great. This one is a bit like " The Great Theft". He talks about moderate Islam as being true Islam, and takes on the extremists with much knowledge. Alhamdulillah!!!!
Alhamdulillah! Every thinking Muslim must read this!.......2005-02-06
Dr. Khaled Abu El Fadl is brilliant, Mashallah. I read everything of his that I can get my hands on. He possesses an amazing clarity of thought and the ability to explain his ideas to readers in a straight forward and logical way. He supports his arguments with conscise explanations, and gives copious citations and footnotes which show that he really knows where he is coming from and what he is talking about.
"And God Knows the Soldiers" is a much needed look at how the modern puritanical movement in Islam (Wahhabism and it's offshoots)has usurped authority and has blatantly ignored much of the rich discourse from the history of Islamic thought, especially in terms of jurisprudence. Dr. Abu El Fadl intelligently and respectfully attacks the methods used by the contemporary self-appointed authorities, and shows how they are used deviously to homogenize Islam and Muslims, mostly to the detriment of women, but also at the expense of basic moral values.
After reading Dr. Abu El Fadl's works, especially this one, I feel that I have a revived love for the Islamic tradition and a deeper understanding of the message of the Quran and of the actions and behavior of our Beloved Prophet (saw).
If you care about the state of Islam and Muslims in the world today, you must read this book.
Brilliant.......2003-07-16
A brilliant analysis of contemporary muslim discourses on islamic law and morality.
Average customer rating:
|
The Authoritative and the Authoritarian
Joseph Vining
Manufacturer: Univ of Chicago Pr (Tx)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0226856658 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Italian Culture, published by American Association for Italian Studies on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 5454 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Authoritative testimony and authoritarian discourse in Primo Levi's Se questo e un uomo.(Critical Essay)
Author: Jonathan Druker
Publication:
Italian Culture (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: American Association for Italian Studies
Volume: 19
Issue: 1
Page: 41(12)
Article Type: Critical Essay
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
In this seminal work, Khaled Abou El Fadl analyzes the construction of the authoritative and authoritarian in contemporary Islamic discourses. He argues that authoritarian discourses negate the authoritativeness of Islamic religious texts. Drawing upon pre-modern Islamic sources and debates, Abou El Fadl demonstrates the rigor and discipline required to appropriately analyze and construct contemporary Islamic legal discourses. He presents a methodology by which the authoritative is preserved and the authoritarian avoided.
Customer Reviews:
This is a great book........2000-01-13
Al salamu alaikum. This is such an important book that it pains me that many Muslims attack it without understanding it. A perfect example: "Abdullah from USA" in the review below feels perfectly comfortable committing slander against the author, saying he is CIA, when it is obvious from Abdullah's comments that either Abdullah did not read the book, or if he did, did not understand it at all. Abdullah calls Fadl and Jackson "orientalists". If Abdullah knew what "orientalism" means, or knew anything about these scholars, he would have realized how silly his comment truly is! This book calls for intelligence and responsibility in matters of Islamic law, which should be the very basis of a Muslim ummah. It seems that for Abdullah and many other Muslims today, ANY Muslim ummah or political infrastructure will do; forget about the quality of it! This book gives a clear example of what we, as Muslims, should expect of our scholars and the degree of care and effort which should be exerted in issuing fatwas. It is wrong to call someone an Uncle Tom, simply because he criticizes the standards we accept as Muslims today. This book is not anti-ummah. It is pro-intelligence and diligence, true Islamic characteristics. May Allah forgive Abdullah for his arrogance, ignorance and slander, and may Allah help us increase our knowledge and demand more of ourselves in the pursuit of His Truth.
The Uncle Toms of the 21st century.......1999-12-16
Asalamu Alaikum dear readers, It has been a long time since the Muslim ummah has lived without a state and it seems that it maybe even longer with the types of scholars who contributed to this book. It seems that these so-called scholars are perfectly in line with American Policy to delay the establishment of an islamic state. The discourse is academic and lacks the ability to motivate muslims to re-establish Islam. These orientalists, such as Jackson and Fadl don't give the muslims any incentive to work to re-establish the state. In fact the book is very discouraging. I would expect such an attack against the political infrastructure of islam to come from non-muslims. Who knows, these guys may be CIA...May Allah (SBT) protect us from these uncle toms!
This is a very impressive book and deserves great attention.......1999-08-31
The book, is an intelligent manner, presents the complexity of Islamic thought and aspects. It adds that Islam is not a religion of traditions, of a certain culture,or view. Although it is a religion with a clear struture,it requires us to observe issues with the intelligent thought and knowledge the religion deserves. This book should defenitely be read by anyone with interest in Islam.
Brilliantly simple. Brilliantly complex. Simply brilliant........1999-05-04
This deceptively short work is one of the most important, if not the most important, book on Islam and Islamic law today. Despite its rather modest and unassuming appearance from its cover as a published work, and its deceptively "self-explanatory" title (people assume they know what the book is about without reading it), this book is a powerhouse of intellect, reason and enlightenment. Its implications are broad and conclusions painfully self-evident; so much so that it has drawn significant controversy and resistance from those unwilling to bear the weight of accountability that Abou El Fadl so eloquently demonstrates that Islamic law requires. Far from the contemporary presumption that Islamic law takes a black and white position on most issues, as most activists and self-declared scholars would have people believe, the book captures centuries-old legal traditions, debates and reasoning, and applies their implications to a contemporary situation. The result is clear and startling. Islamic law is simultaneously subtle, dynamic, balanced and humanistic; and it is based in morality, reason and responsibility. In fact, this book is much more than a work on Islamic law; it is a testament to the rich and sophisticated Islamic heritage of which it is a product, and which sadly, is in scarce existence today. Readers will find themselves either immediately hooked or quickly overwhelmed by the exacting logic, penetrating reasoning, and rich legal expertise which the author demonstrates and obviously masters. Would-be scholars and activists would be wise to rethink their own representations of Islamic law, given the new standard of scholarship illustrated and dictated by the examples set forth in this book. Anyone with an intellect will not settle for less. It is true that this book will change your perceptions of Islamic law. This is a must-read for anyone interested in developing their intellect in this field of study. It is one of those books where each time you pick it up, you learn something new, even if you have read it many times before. It is a work to be studied, reflected upon and discussed. Anyone who does not readily see the importance and far-reaching implications of this work simply did not understand it to begin with.
It is a spectacular and an enlightening book.......1999-04-19
It is always amazing that people who are authorities in Islamic law welcomed the book and thought very highly of it. However, there are people who are not qualified in the field of Islamic law, yet they try to attack the book and its author. It is a spectacular and an enlightening book...read it and you will not think of Islam the same way.
Average customer rating:
|
Authoritative and the Authoritarian.
Joseph Vining
Manufacturer: Vining, Joseph. The Authoritative and the Authoritarian. The University of Chicago Press, 1986. 261pp. Quality paperback. Yellow line across bottom edge, else VG condition.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SJKXY6 |
Amazon.com
As a boy, Brian Greene read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and was transformed. Camus, in Greene's paraphrase, insisted that the hero triumphs "by relinquishing everything beyond immediate experience." After wrestling with this idea, however, Greene rejected Camus and realized that his true idols were physicists; scientists who struggled "to assess life and to experience the universe at all possible levels, not just those that happened to be accessible to our frail human senses." His driving question in The Fabric of the Cosmos, then, is fundamental: "What is reality?" Over sixteen chapters, he traces the evolving human understanding of the substrate of the universe, from classical physics to ten-dimensional M-Theory.
Assuming an audience of non-specialists, Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. For the most part, he succeeds. His language reflects a deep passion for science and a gift for translating concepts into poetic images. When explaining, for example, the inability to see the higher dimensions inherent in string theory, Greene writes: "We don't see them because of the way we see…like an ant walking along a lily pad…we could be floating within a grand, expansive, higher-dimensional space."
For Greene, Rhodes Scholar and professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, speculative science is not always as thorough and successful. His discussion of teleportation, for example, introduces and then quickly tables a valuable philosophical probing of identity. The paradoxes of time travel, however, are treated with greater depth, and his vision of life in a three-brane universe is compelling and--to use his description for quantum reality--"weird."
In the final pages Greene turns from science fiction back to the fringes of science fact, and he returns with rigor to frame discoveries likely to be made in the coming decades. "We are, most definitely, still wandering in the jungle," he concludes. Thanks to Greene, though, some of the underbrush has been cleared. --Patrick O'Kelley
Book Description
From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists and author the Pulitzer Prize finalist
The Elegant Universe, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.
Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.
Customer Reviews:
Enough with the stupid pop-culture references.......2007-10-01
As other reviewers have pointed out, the book tends to unnecessarily incorporate stupid pop-culture references to make the material seem more accessible to the layperson. Instead of making the material more accessible it seems extremely contrived and insults the intelligence of the reader. References to the Kwik-E-Mart, Mulder and Scully, and all of the other hoohah this book contains obscure the reader from what is essentially a fine work. Brian Greene's writing and explanatory power is unbelievable and it is a shame that the publisher probably insisted on the pop-culture references.
The book was definitely worth the purchase for its clear explanations of extra dimensions and the arrow of time. However, I did feel the portions dealing with time travel and black holes to be of lesser quality than writings by other authors like Michio Kaku. I recently read Kaku's "Parallel Worlds," and this book back to back and would say that if you're purchasing one book I would side with Kaku. This book contains much more on time than "Parallel Worlds" but the other topics covered are pretty much identical.
Excellent book!! not written like an encyclopedia.......2007-08-16
I found this book to be excellent. The author really understands how to take a complex subject like this and not make it read like a tedious textbook, also without dumbing it down to the point you feel like a 2 year old.. excellent read. Fascinating. Highly reccomend
This book is great.......2007-08-11
This book is great but I do not know if audio version is the best choice.
I would like to re-read some parts and see the releated illustrations. I believe it makes it easier to understand.
einstein for dummies.......2007-07-12
makes a very complicated subject readable for the layman.
it seemsthat the more science advances the more mysterious the
world becomes.
for me it reveals Gods creation as even more amazing as time
goes by
h.g.
Marvelous (if occasionally uneven) presentation of marvelous physics.......2007-07-11
I read the first half of _The Elegant Universe_, but I didn't finish it. I think it was because I felt that Greene was giving too much string theory without enough justification for giving me so much string theory. This may sound like an odd complaint, but it makes sense if you compare the earlier book with The Fabric of the Cosmos. Greene spends more time walking through..well..the fabric of the cosmos, and when he does get to string theory, it makes more sense why.
I actually found the string theory portion of the book (section 4 out of 5) less interesting than the first sections, which give a lot of experimentally based information about really, really crazy things in general relativity and quantum mechanics (inflation, entanglement, the time "loaf," quantum uncertainty, multiple pasts, entropy, symmetry, etc.). Greene is very good at explaining what these experiments & theories mean on an intuitive level. Sometimes too good. (Some of the examples using Bart Simpson, etc. are a little slower than necessary, but never egregiously so.) There are plenty of moments in the text that hurt your brain, however, so if the material is new to you, the presentation will not detract.
One of the best features of the book is the leitmotiv of time's arrow. Greene keeps returning to the problem of time: why does it only flow in one direction, when physical law seems to suggest that it could just as well flow in both directions? The answer (as far as we know) is entropy, and he uses time and entropy to tie his narrative together.
The last section of the book (section 5) is a pastiche, and some of it seemed disjointed. But the book ends on a fascinating reflection on the composite, non-fundamental nature of spacetime, and he does encourage his reader to check out Lee Smolin's theory of quantum loop gravity, which is a counter to string theory.
Having recently read Dawkin's _God Delusion_, I took note of the fact that Greene also declares himself (toward the end of the book) as a determinist-materialist-monist. I was struck by how infinitely less aggressive Greene's representation of this position is.
A great read!
Product Description
From Brian Greene, one of the worlds leading physicists, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene uses these questions to guide us toward modern sciences new and deeper understanding of the universe. From Newtons unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einsteins fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics entangled arena where vastly different objects can bridge their spatial separation to instantaneously coordinate their behavior or even undergo teleportation, Greene reveals our world to be very different from what common experience leads us to believe. Focusing on the enigma of time, Greene establishes that nothing in the laws of physics insists that it run in any particular direction and that times arrow is a relic of the universes condition at the moment of the big bang. And in explaining the big bang itself, Greene shows how recent cutting-edge developments in superstring and M-theory may reconcile the behavior of everything from the smallest particle to the largest black hole. This startling vision culminates in a vibrant eleven-dimensional multiverse, pulsating with ever-changing textures, where space and time themselves may dissolve into subtler, more fundamental entities. Sparked by the trademark wit, humor, and brilliant use of analogy that have made The Elegant Universe a modern classic, Brian Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating vision of the Universe.......2005-10-30
This thought-provoking book has a wider perspective than Greene's Elegant Universe, in which he expounded on String Theory. Fabric Of The Cosmos discusses the latest findings in theoretical physics in a style accessible to the ordinary reader.
The book contains a short summary of string theory. In brief, this theory proposes that particles like quarks, electrons et al. are not dots but minute filaments of vibrating energy that produce various particle properties. Superstring Theory reconciles general relativity with quantum mechanics in a single theory, making it a strong candidate for Einstein's elusive Unified Theory.
The author explores the two most prominent concerns of modern physics: The historical development from Galileo and Newton to Einstein and Hawking, and the very latest theories that arose from this development.
Chapter 12 is basically a summary of The Elegant Universe, whilst the following two chapters explore the possibilities of experimentally testing the string theory.
The irreconcilable gap between the theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics is a central theme of the book. General relativity is valid only for large objects, whilst quantum mechanics explains the subatomic activity of matter/energy. Since the two are incompatible, Greene maintains that a theory of quantum gravity must be developed, one that holds true for both small and large objects.
In the chapters Time And The Quantum and Entangling Space, the author looks at quantum mechanics and the strange phenomena of entanglement. He rejects Niels Bohr's dualistic interpretation of the world of facts and the world of probabilities, postulating a hidden reality composed of 9 spatial dimensions and 1 of time.
Fabric Of The Cosmos is a most engaging investigation of cutting edge ideas in physics and cosmology. It is highly stimulating and far more readable than Elegant Universe. I highly recommend this brilliant work.
Product Description
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE comes the widely anticipated new book that unearths the strange and startling layers lying beneath the everyday world - and reality as we know it. In his characteristically witty and accessible prose, Greene explores the nature of space - from Newton's static realm, through Einstein's fusion of space and time, to recent breakthroughs suggesting that ours may be one of many island universes moving through the multi-dimensional fabric of space. We are introduced to the volatile world of quantum physics, paradoxical nature of time - which, according to the laws of physics, does not necessarily need to run in any one particular direction - and made to wonder: is there a unified theory of the universe?
Customer Reviews:
Nothing short of amazing!.......2005-06-18
Having to split my time between college and work doesn't give much opportunity to read for luxury and I'm very glad I purchased this book on CD. Green manages to explain everything in a very redundant, but extremely entertaining manner. He will repeat an explanation of a concept two or three times, each time using a different and unique comparison to common, every day events. This way, even a listener who doesn't have a degree in Physics can still feel like they have a confident grasp on the subjects contained in the book.
Most of all, Greene explains concepts, ideas and theories in a way that excites the listener. Probably because when Greene narrates, he is truly excited himself.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Kliatt, published by Kliatt on November 1, 2004. The length of the article is 417 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality.(Audiobook Review)
Author: Sunnie Grant
Publication:
Kliatt (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2004
Publisher: Kliatt
Volume: 38
Issue: 6
Page: 55(1)
Article Type: Audiobook Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- Antonio Gaudi: Master Architect
- Appleton & Lange Practice Tests for the USMLE Step 3 (Appleton & Lange Review Book Series)
- Appleton & Lange Review for the USMLE Step 1
- Architecture as Signs and Systems: For a Mannerist Time (The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization)
- Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies
- Caribbean Architecture: Exclusive Designs by Gianfranco Fini in Marina Casa de Campo
- Cases and Materials on Corporations Including Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies: Including Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies (American Casebook)
- Cases and Materials on Ec Competition Law
- Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets
- Commercial Regulation and Judicial Review
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
- How To Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies
- Cracking the SAT II: Biology E/M, 2001-2002 Edition
- Dynamics of Bone and Cartilage Metabolism, Second Edition: Principles and Clinical Applications
- History: Fiction or Science
- Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock
- Love for Sale
- Pulling Your Paintings Together
- Domestic Architecture of H.T. Lindeberg
- Deer Farming in North America: The Conquest of a New Frontier
The Great Theft : Wrestling Islam from the Extremists
Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law
The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books
The Place of Tolerance in Islam
Conference of the Books
