The Martin Luther of Islam?: Ismail al-Faruqi’s Impact on Contemporary Islamic Intellectualism مقاله

Editorial The Martin Luther of Islam?: Ismail al-Faruqi’s Impact on Contemporary Islamic Intellectualism Although I did not study under Isma’il al-Faruqi (d. John Esposito and John Voll narrate in their Makers of Contemporary Islam a brief story: “An old Christian acquaintance of al-Faruqi once com- mented that al-Faruqi believed that Islam was in need of reformation and, he believed, al-Faruqi aspired to be its Luther. Editorial iii Reforming the Intellectual Content Although al-Faruqi’s early works on Arabism (‘urūbah) recognized the Mus- lim world’s diverse cultures and may represent his ideas on Islamic thought, it is fair to state that among his many works, those on tawḥīd (God’s unity) were his signature contribution. ” In Al-Tawhid, al-Faruqi opines that Muslims should reject such translations, for in contemporary English these terms carry a Christian and skeptic understanding that embody the “im- plication of untruth, of probability, of doubt and suspicion. The idea of es- tablishing higher education institutions that would integrate traditional Islamic knowledge with the broader contemporary human and social sciences has ar- guably been part of al-Faruqi’s contribution to Islamic intellectualism. At the above-mentioned London conference, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman, the former rector of the International Islamic University, Malaysia, paid a glow- ing tribute to al-Faruqi for having the vision, along with others, to create IIIT and the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in the United States. Islam and Knowledge: Al Faruqi’s Concept of Religion in Is- lamic Thought (London & New York: I.