Architects of Civilisation

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Certain individuals stand out in every age as formative thinkers and agents of change. Such foundational figures help shape the structure of a civilization. Knowledge of their lives and deeds may offer food for thought and insight for our own time. This IAIS monthly series provides simple portraits of great Islamic scholars and authorities who were architects of civilisation in their day.

Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī

Written by Eric Winkel
Friday, 20 January 2012 11:00
Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī was born in 1145 H /1732 CE in Belgaon, India, in Karnataka near Goa, and died in 1205/1790. As a young man he migrated to Yemen, to the city of Zabīd along the coastal road to al-Hudaydah, but lived most of his life in Cairo. He was a Naqshbandī Sufi who followed the Ḥanafī legal school, and knew Arabic, Turkish and Persian. His most outstanding work is the Arabic dictionary Tāj al-‛Arūs /The Bride’s Crown.......... [click here to download the full article in pdf]

‛Ā’ishah (R.A.): Mother of the Believers

Written by Eric Winkel
Monday, 05 December 2011 10:00
‛Ā’ishah , younger daughter of the prominent Qurashite Abū Bakr (who became the first caliph) and wife of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace upon him) is central to the ‘enterprise’ that is Islam. Her teachings among the first generation of Muslims and her hadith testimony is crucial for understanding lived Islam, especially as it relates to the intimate and private realms. For this reason, she was also surrounded by controversy. Even her biographical details are highly disputed. Did she marry at nine years old, as explicit hadith evidence has it?......... [click here to download the full article in pdf]

Bediüzzaman SAID NURSI

Written by Karim Crow
Monday, 01 August 2011 10:00
Few Muslims of the twentieth century have made as great an impact on their countrymen and upon Islamic renewal than the Ottoman intellectual and spiritual activist 'Mulla Said‘ known as Beddiüzzaaman 'Wonder of the Age‘ for his penetrating intelligence. The preservation of contemporary Turkish Muslim identity owes its validity largely to Nursi‘s untiring labors and model non-violent activity. His collected letters Risale-i Nur /Epistle of Light seek to demonstrate through clearly reasoned arguments and easily understood stories and comparisons, that Islamic revelation offers a rational explanation of existence and how the universe functions, while the truth of religion corroborates and reinforces modern scientific discoveries. Some Muslims view him as the saintly 'Renewer‘ for the 14^th /20^th century........ [click here to download the full article in pdf]

Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi

Written by Tengku Ahmad Hazri
Friday, 29 July 2011 10:00
SHĀH WALĪ ALLĀH OF DELHI (1703–1762), was a reformist scholar and mystic philosopher of the Indian subcontinent. Praised by Muhammad Iqbal as the first Muslim scholar to “rethink the whole system of Islam without completely breaking with the past”, Walī Allāh‟s intellectual project evinces a deep concern to re-enchant every minutiae of life with glitters of the transcendent. His mission to reform the intellectual and socio-political conditions of his time led him to embark upon an ambitious agenda of illuminating the inner meanings of Islam, through a new discipline of ʿilm asrār al-dīn /the „science of the subtle meanings of religion‟. Underlying the versatility and eclecticism of his writings is a coherent vision affirming diversity within Unity in a civilisational context......... [click here to download the full article in pdf]

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