Islamic studies

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the study of Islam in modern academia. For the traditional study of Islam defined and practiced by Muslim Islamic scholars, see Islamic sciences.
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Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam,[1] which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies.[2][3] Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world.[4] In this multidisciplinary program, scholars from diverse areas (history, culture, literature, art) participate and exchange ideas pertaining to the particular field of study.[5]

Many academic Islamic studies programs include the

modern history, legal history and sociology
.

Overview

Scholars in the field of Islamic studies are often referred to as "Islamicists" and the discipline traditionally made up the bulk of what used to be called

Tübingen University
).

A recent

9/11 of Islamic studies in higher education and also provides an international overview of the state of the field.[7]

History

Ilkhanate Empire ruler, Ghazan, studying the Quran
Portrait of a painter during Reign of Mehmet II (1444-1481)
A Persian miniature of Shah Abu'l Ma‘ali a scholar.

The first attempt to understand

Christological heresy) was within the context of 19th-century Christian European Oriental studies
.

In the years 1821 to 1850, the

Royal Asiatic Society in England, the Société Asiatique in France, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in Germany, and the American Oriental Society in the United States were founded.[8]

In the second half of the 19th century, philological and historical approaches were predominant. Leading in the field were German researchers like

Ignaz Goldziher 's work on the prophetic tradition.[8]

Orientalists and Islamic scholars alike preferred to interpret the history of Islam in a conservative way. They did not question the traditional account of the early time of Islam, of Muhammad and how the Quran was written.[8]

In the 1970s, the

historical-critical method.[9][10]

Themes

History of Islam

Main article: History of Islam

To understand the history of Islam provides the indispensable basis to understand all aspects of Islam and its culture. Themes of special interest are:

Textual Studies

Theology

Mysticism

Main article: Sufism

Sufism (تصوف taṣawwuf) is a mystic tradition of Islam based on the pursuit of spiritual truth as it is gradually revealed to the heart and mind of the Sufi (one who practices Sufism).According to Renard (2021) quoted by Green the meaning of Sufism is “a strong method of Muslim’s knowledge and practice bringing proximity to or meditation with God and believed that it came from Prophet Muhammad from generation to generation who followed him” (P.8). The etymological term Suf has mysticism to the educational notion of asceticism. The ascetics and mystics have different and separate roles in each setting, and everyone needs to search the context of a given Sufi’s own time for reasons as to why he/she was known as a Sufi. Sufism is not that, they do not follow the Islam properly it’s just that they spend more time with God. It is an individual way of studying.[12]

It might also be referred to as

esoteric knowledge
.

Law

Main articles: Sharia and Fiqh

Islamic jurisprudence relates to everyday and social issues in the life of Muslims. It is divided in fields like:

Key distinctions include those between fiqh, hadith and ijtihad.

Philosophy

Main article: Islamic philosophy

Islamic studies scholars also deal with the long and rich tradition of philosophy as developed by Muslim philosophers.

It is divided in fields like:

Sciences

Main articles:
Islam and science

Islamic studies scholars are also active in the history and philosophy of science. Significant progress in science was made in the Muslim world during the Middle Ages, especially during the Islamic Golden Age, which is considered a major period in the history of science.

  • Timeline of Islamic science and engineering
  • Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
  • Astronomy in medieval Islam
    • Islamic astrology
  • Inventions in medieval Islam
  • Mathematics in medieval Islam
  • Medicine in medieval Islam
    • Ophthalmology in medieval Islam
  • Physics in medieval Islam
  • Psychology in medieval Islam

Scholars also study the relationship between

Islam and science, for example in the application of Islamic ethics
to scientific practice.

  • Qur'an and science
  • Islamic creationism

Literature

The Jamia Qurania Arabia Lalbagh institute in Bangladesh has a large stock of Islamic literature in Arabic, Bengali, Persian and Urdu.
Main article: Islamic literature

This field includes the study of

Azerbaijanian and Uzbek
.

Architecture

Main article: Islamic architecture

Muslim culture in the course of the history of Islam
. Hence the term encompasses religious buildings as well as secular ones, historic as well as modern expressions and the production of all places that have come under the varying levels of Islamic influence.

Art

Main article: Islamic art

Arabesque, and calligraphic designs. Unlike the strong tradition of portraying the human figure in Christian art, Islamic art is typically distinguished as not including depictions of human beings.[14] The lack of portraiture is due to the fact that early Islam forbade the painting of human beings, especially the Prophet, as Muslims believe this tempts followers of the Prophet to idolatry. [citation needed] This prohibition against human beings or icons is called aniconism. Despite such a prohibition, depictions of human beings do occur in Islamic art, such as that of the Mughals, demonstrating a strong diversity in popular interpretation over the pre-modern period. Increased contact with the Western civilization may also have contributed to human depictions in Islamic art in modern times.[citation needed
]

Comparative religion

Main article: Islam and other religions

Islamic comparative religion is the study of the relationship between Islam and other religions.

  • Islam and Christianity
  • Islam and Jainism
  • Islam and Judaism
    • Judeo-Islamic philosophies (800 - 1400)

Economics

Main article:
Islamic economic jurisprudence

Islamic economics studies how economics may be brought in accordance with Islamic law.

  • Islamic banking
  • Islamic economics in the world

Psychology

Main article:
Islamic psychology

Islam and modernity

One field of study deals with how Islam reacts on the contact with Western modernity.

Journals

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1441127884
    .
  2. ISBN 9781544379371
    . Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  3. ISBN 9780253039835
    . Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  4. ^ Hillenbrand, Carole. "What is Islamic studies?". The British Academy. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  5. ^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed. (2008) [1987]. Islamic Spirituality - Foundations. Routledge. p. 9, note 1. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  6. ISBN 978-0140289237
    .
  7. ^ "International Approaches to Islamic Studies in Higher Education: A report to HEFCE". 2008. p. 66. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  8. ^ a b c The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World: Islamic Studies - History of the field, Methodology
  9. ^ Alexander Stille: Scholars Are Quietly Offering New Theories of the Koran, The New York Times, 2 March 2002
  10. ^ Toby Lester: What Is the Koran?, The Atlantic, January 1999
  11. ^ For example "Introduction to Islamic Theology (TH-553)". Hartford Seminary. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  12. ISSN 2169-2289
    .
  13. ^ Zayed, Tareq M. "Knowledge of Shariah and Knowledge to Manage 'Self' and 'System': Integration of Islamic Epistemology with the Knowledge and Education". Academia.edu. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  14. ISBN 978-0-19-981257-8
    . Retrieved 9 Dec 2022. Figural representation is virtually unused in Islamic art because of Islam's strong antagonism of idolatry. It was important for Muslim scholars and artists to find a style of art that represented the Islamic ideals of unity (tawhid) and order without figural representation
  15. ^ "Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam". www.hum.huji.ac.il. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit". Ssus.ac.in. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  17. ^ "Journal of Islam in Asia". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  18. ^ Society, American Journal of Islam and. "American Journal of Islam and Society". www.ajis.org.

Bibliography

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