Ali Shariati Mazinani was an Iranian revolutionary and sociologist who focused on the sociology of religion. He is held as one of the most influential Iranian intellectuals of the 20th century and has been called the "ideologue of the Iranian Revolution", although his ideas did not end up forming the basis of the Islamic Republic.
The phrase "Islamisation of knowledge" was first used and proposed by the Malaysian scholar Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas in his book "Islam and Secularism" ISBN 983-99628-6-8. Calling it a 'burgeoning enterprize', Vali Nasr equates Islamization of knowledge project with the 'Third worldist world-view of sorts', which, in his opinion, 'is rooted in the reassertion of Muslim religious loyalties in the face of cataclysmic changes which have torn many Muslim societies asunder'. He argues that the project has mostly been shaped 'in the spirit of a political discourse than a level-headed academic undertaking'. It was pioneered by the self-styled thinkers with no expertise in the field they were trying to revolutionize. Rather than advancing Islamic knowledge, it has caused disjuncture between knowledge and faith in Islam.
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding between different religions or beliefs to increase acceptance of others, rather than to synthesize new beliefs.
Ziauddin Sardar is a British-Pakistani scholar, award-winning writer, cultural critic and public intellectual who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futurology and science and cultural relations. The author and editor of more than 50 books, Prospect magazine has named him as one of Britain's top 100 public intellectuals and The Independent newspaper calls him: 'Britain's own Muslim polymath'.
Abdolkarim Soroush (عبدالكريم سروش Persian pronunciation: [æbdolkæriːm soruːʃ]; born Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbagh, is an Iranian Islamic thinker, reformer, Rumi scholar, public intellectual, and a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran and Imam Khomeini International University. He is arguably the most influential figure in the religious intellectual movement of Iran. Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. He was also affiliated with other institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Leiden-based International Institute as a visiting professor for the Study of Islam in the Modern World and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. He was named by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2005, and by Prospect magazine as one of the most influential intellectuals in the world in 2008. Soroush's ideas, founded on relativism, prompted both supporters and critics to compare his role in reforming Islam to that of Martin Luther in reforming Christianity.
There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors.
Risalah is the Arabic word for treatise, but among the Shia, the term is used as shorthand for a Resalah Amaliyah or treatise on practical law. These treatises are also known as collections of juridical edicts or clarifications of questions. They are usually written by a mujtahid as part of the process of becoming a Marja'-e-Taqlid, i.e. a Grand Ayatollah. These books contain the cleric's practical rulings on the application of Islam to daily life. They are arranged according to topics such as ritual purity, worship, social issues, business, and political affairs. In considering each application they outline the principles and texts used to reach a specific ruling. They are used by a Marja's followers to conform their behaviour to Islam.
Kalim Siddiqui, Ph.D. was a Pakistani British writer and Islamic activist.
The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain is a Muslim organisation founded in 1992 in London by Kalim Siddiqui, Director of the Muslim Institute, based on a proposal published in July 1990 under the title The Muslim Manifesto. The Muslim Parliament consists mainly of appointees, including women and young people, and works through specialist committees. Its proposals have attracted public attention and some have been copied by other Muslim groups. Following Kalim Siddiqui's passing in 1996, the Muslim Parliament's leadership passed to Siddiqui's right-hand man, Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui.
The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) is an Islamic research and activist center. ICIT describes itself as "international intellectual center of the global Islamic movement. It consists of individual activists, journalists and academics in all parts of the world who share a common commitment to developing the social and political ideas of the Islamic movement, and promoting them as an alternative worldview to that of Western civilization. Driven by the guidance provided in the Farewell Khutbah, much of the work of ICIT is to produce publications and provide programs that cultivate the Islamic personality, uphold economic justice, and protect social justice."
Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqi was an Islamic scholar, spiritual master, author and preacher from Pakistan. He was a student of Imam of Ahlus Sunnah Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Muhaddith barelwi Rahimahullah. He was leader of the All Malaya Muslim Missionary Society, Singapore.
Hassan Ehsan Masood is a British science writer, journalist and broadcaster. Between 2009 and 2017 he was the editor of Research Fortnight, is currently bureau chief at Nature, and has been teaching international science policy at Imperial College London. since 2008.
Zafar Bangash is a noted Islamic movement journalist and commentator in Toronto, Canada. Bangash is Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), and is former president of the Islamic Society of York Region, a suburb of Toronto. He also served as Imam at the Islamic Society of York Region's Mosque and community centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He relinquished his responsibilities with the Islamic Society of York Region in 2019 to devote full time to research in Seerah (life-history) for the Prophet of Islam. He is a former editor of Crescent International newsmagazine, and a Trustee and formerly assistant director of the Muslim Institute, London, where he worked with Dr Kalim Siddiqui (1931–1996), the founder of the Muslim Institute and Leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain. Bangash is also co-founder of the Muslim Unity Group.
Religious intellectualism in Iran reached its apogee during the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1906–11). The process involved philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and cultural theorists.
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui is an academic and political activist. He was born in Delhi, India, migrated to Pakistan in late 1947 and moved to the UK in 1964.
The Satanic Verses controversy, also known as the Rushdie Affair, was a controversy sparked by the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. It centered on the novel's references to the Satanic Verses of the Quran, and came to include a larger debate about censorship and religious violence. It included numerous killings, attempted killings, and bombings by perpetrators who supported Islam.
Merryl Wyn Davies was a Welsh Muslim scholar, writer and broadcaster who specialised in Islam, and the co-author of books and articles with Ziauddin Sardar. An exponent of Islamic anthropology, she was director of the Muslim Institute, London.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, scholar and politician, whose poetry in the Urdu language is considered among the greatest of the twentieth century, and whose vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British-ruled India was to animate the impulse for Pakistan. He is commonly referred to by the honorific Allama.
Tufail Ahmad is a British journalist and political commentator of Indian origin. He has been the Director of the South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in Washington, D.C. In his recent writings, he was described as a Contributing Editor at Firstpost and as Executive Director of the Open Source Institute (OSI), New Delhi.
Muhammad Alauddin Siddiqui was an Islamic Sufi scholar and social personality.
