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Book: Muhammad Abduh

Muhammad Abduh (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009).



 


A volume in the series Makers of the Muslim World.

ISBN: 1851684328

List price: $40 / £30 (hardback)

Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), Mufti of the Egyptian Realm, was a jurist, religious scholar, political activist, and freemason who strived to span the divide between Islam and the West. Advocating a more modern conception of Islam, grounded in rationalism, Abduh believed the rigid structures of Islamic culture were holding back what was essentially a logical and fluid religion. Regarded by some as a sage who rejuvenated Islam and by others as a renegade who instigated its corruption, Abduh’s attempt to reconcile the two cultures is fiercely contested to this day.

Asserting that he was as much a patriotic Egyptian as Islamic reformer, Mark Sedgwick examines the life and thought of the great Mufti and explores his lasting influence on Islamic culture. Drawing on a wealth of new sources and the latest research, this is the only modern biography of this controversial and enigmatic figure.

 



Middle East edition:
Muhammad Abduh: A Biography
published by AUC Press, Cairo.

ISBN: 9789774163319
List price: LE 120 (paperback)

 


Table of contents

 

Preface

1 THE STUDENT

Tanta
Cairo
Afghani
Graduation

2 INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS

Muhammad Abduh’s Teaching
Politics
Freemasonry
The Opposition Press
Intervention
Defeat

3 URABI AND EXILE

Muhammad Abduh the Editor
Muhammad Abduh and Urabi
Triumph and Renewed Defeat
Exile
Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Islam
To Paris

4 PARIS

Muhammad Abduh and Wilfrid Blunt
Al-Urwa al-wuthqa

5 BEIRUT

The Break with Afghani
In Search of an Occupation
Risalat al-Tawhid

6 THE RETURN TO EGYPT

The National Courts
The Azhar Council
Appointment as Mufti
Law Reform

7 THE MUFTI

The Azhar Lectures
Newspapers
Education

8 THE FATWAS

Financial Fatwas
The Transvaal Fatwa
Muhammad Abduh’s Methodology
Muhammad Abduh’s Intentions

9 ADVERSITY

Opposition in the Press
Deteriorating Relations with the Khedive
Reactions to the Transvaal Fatwa
Resignation
Death
The Enemy of God?

10 THE AFTERMATH

Public Life
Islam
Views on Muhammad Abduh
Conclusion

Glossary
Further reading
Bibliography
Index

 


Companion website

 

 


Comments

 

  • "An accessible and concise introduction to the life and work of Muhammad ?Abduh. It is useful in teaching on modern Islam at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels." Oliver Scharbrodt, review, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies.
  • "New light on the thought of the Imam." Jamal Zaida, "Shaykh Muhammad Abduh: A New View from Western Scholarship" (in Arabic),  Al-Ahram (Cairo).
  • "Remarkable [for] its clarity. The chronological approach gives a direct view into the amazing life of a remarkable individual who became one of the most powerful Muslims of his time." Lisa Kaaki, "What did Muhammad Abduh do?" ArabNews.com.

 


Reviews

 

 

Interviews

 

 

 

 


Israel Schrenzel