A Dissentient Reformist: Shahab Ahmad and His Oeuvre
Keywords:
Shahab Ahmad, Satanic Verses, Before Orthodoxy, Qissat al-Gharānīq, Hermeneutics, Conceptualization of Islam.
Abstract
While discussing the modern discipline of Islamic Studies, the name of Shahab Ahmad (1966 – 2015 AD) – an ex-professor of Islamic studies in Harvard University, USA – revolves in the minds. The quality life-span and the contributions of this iconic dissentient scholar is going to be discussed here in this paper. Being a son of a broad minded medical professional couple, he was raised in the shadow of the western educational system, right from his early life. The isolated learning of a Muslim student in non-Muslim institutions parted his thinking from general Muslims. Dissenting in basic Islamic beliefs became his ultimate fashion, as he, confusingly, took the rituals, cultures and customs of a specific area’s Muslims as a subject matter of Islam. Having a very short life, he authored a couple of unpublished books, which can be attached well with his cosmopolitan ideas. Undoubtedly, he was an acknowledged asset of global academia due to his relentlessness and devotion to his work but his dissentient, ambitious and reformist soul made him very anxious to erase even the whole Islamic history and to start it from ‘year zero’. Shahab has contributed literarily with devotion, as he penned a number of books and articles in the field of Islamic history.
References
Beena Sarwar, Shahab Ahmed: A Brilliant Scholar, THE NEWS, 23rd September, 2015
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 2
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of History (14-06-2017), Retrieved 05-03-2019
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 2
Ibid
Obituaries, Shahab Ahmed, Omnia, Caterham School Society, Issue 01, 2016, p 51
Noah Feldman, Extraordinary Scholar Shahab Ahmad Redefined Islamic Faith, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2015
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of History, (14-06-2017) Retrieved 05-03-2019
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, 08th September 2016 Issue
Nora Lessersohn, op.cit.
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, 08th September 2016 Issue
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 09th March, 2019
An intellectual and anthropologist, currently serving as a Dean of Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore.
Beena Sarwar, Shahab Ahmed: A Brilliant Scholar, THE NEWS, 23rd September, 2015
Nora Lessersohn, op.cit.
A British historian and scholar of Islamic history and thought. Currently serving as a Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director of Graduate Studies in Princeton. An author of several books and articles and had been criticized for his anti-Islam findings like “Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World” and “Ancient Religions, Modern Politics”.
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017,Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 327
Ahmed, Shahab, Ibn Taymiyyah and the Satanic Verses, Studia Islamica, No. 87, 1998/2, p 67
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 327
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
The term ‘monograph’ is rooted from ‘monographia’, which is derived from the Greek ‘mono’ (single) and ‘graphia’ (writing), that means “writing on a single subject”. In fact, this is a specialist work of writing on a single topic, often by a single author.
Malice Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol 38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27 and Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/Pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 13-03-2019
ilsp.law.harvard.edu/american-university-cairos-shahab-ahmed-memorial-room/, Retrieved 13-03-2019
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 328
In Memoriam, https;//nes.princeton.edu/news/memoriam/-shahab-ahmed-1966-2015, Retrieved, 13-03-2019
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 208
The former Director General of the Islamic Research Institute of the International Islamic University, Islamabad and a well reputed scholar of Islamic Studies. He taught in several international universities like Princeton University, USA, King ʿAbdul ʿAziz University, KSA, University of Melbourne, Australia, McGill University Montreal, Canada, and Faculty of Shariʿah and Law, International Islamic University, Islamabad. He compiled a number of books and articles like “Islamic Perspectives: Studies in honor of Sayyid Abul Aʿla Mawdudi”, “Living Religions of the World: A Socio-Political Study” etc.
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/Pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 13-03-2019
academia.edu/24901076/what-is-islam-A-Symposium-Memory-of-Shahab-Ahmed_-_Program, Retrieved 13-03-2019
A fatal kind of Blood Cancers often begin in bone marrow or white blood cells. It works when a problem occurs with the development and division of white cells. The affected blood cells do not die when they should. By occupying more space, they stop the healthy blood cells from growing and functioning normally. Chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation are being used for its treatment generally but vary case to case.
Natasha Shahid, The Revisionist, The Friday Times, Sep 25 – Oct 01, 2015, Vol XXVII, No.33
Memorial, M. Shahab Ahmed, 99, Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 05, 2016 Issue
A well-known sociologist and associate professor at Sarah Lawrence College, USA. Being born in Pakistan, she had been graduated from Kinnaird College and got MA from Punjab University, Lahore. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Academic specialization in historical sociology, gender and political economy. She is an author of “Shifting Body Politics: Gender/Nation/State”.
Beena Sarwar, Shahab Ahmed: A Brilliant Scholar, THE NEWS, 23rd September, 2015
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time? The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 8
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 73, 97,103
Noah Feldman, Extra Ordinary Scholar Shahab Ahmed Redefined Islam, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2015.
Ibid
Amir Hussain, Book Review, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam by Shahab Ahmed, Journal of the American Academy of Religions, p 1151
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol,38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 210
bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-20/an-extraordinary-scholar-redefined-islam, Retrieved 21st March, 2019
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of history, (14-06-2017), Retrieved 05-03-2019
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA
Ahmed, Shahab, The Satanic Verses Incident in the Memory of the Early Muslim Community: An Analysis of the Early riwāyahs and Their isnāds, Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1999
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Khalil, Andani, Book Review What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic by Shahab Ahmed, ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS, 2016, p 3
Ebrahimmoosa.com/2015/09/23/tribute-to-professor-shahab-ahmed-1966-2015/amp/, Retrieved 15th March, 2019
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ibid
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 126, 127, 137
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 209
Ibid, p 209, 210
Ahmed, Shahab, Ibn Taymmiyyah and The Satanic Verses, Studia Islamica, No 87(1998)/2, p 117, 119
Ibid
Shahab, Rapoport, Ibn Taymmiyah and His Times, 2010, Oxford University Press, Karachi, p 43
Imran Iqbal, Ibn Taymmiyyah and His Times by Yossef Rapoport and Shahab Ahmed, De Welt des Islams, Vol 54, Issue 2 (2014), p 281
Michael E. Pregill, I Hear Islam Singing; Shahab Ahmed’s What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, Harvard Theological Review, Jan 2017, 110 (1), p 150
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 4
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 32
Nasir, Wasim, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic by Shahab Ahmed, Intellectual Discourse, 24: 1 (2016), p 190
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 519
Ibid, p 516
Michael Pregill, Shahab Ahmed’s “What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic” as a Disciplinary Critique, Harvard Theological Review, 24th January, 2017
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 123
Ibid, p 540
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 1
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 4
Ibid, p 7
Peter Webb, Shahab Ahmed; Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, Journal of Arabic Literature, 49 (2018), p 167
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 269
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 3
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 209, 210
Malice Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol,38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 2
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of History (14-06-2017), Retrieved 05-03-2019
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 2
Ibid
Obituaries, Shahab Ahmed, Omnia, Caterham School Society, Issue 01, 2016, p 51
Noah Feldman, Extraordinary Scholar Shahab Ahmad Redefined Islamic Faith, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2015
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of History, (14-06-2017) Retrieved 05-03-2019
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, 08th September 2016 Issue
Nora Lessersohn, op.cit.
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, 08th September 2016 Issue
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 09th March, 2019
An intellectual and anthropologist, currently serving as a Dean of Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore.
Beena Sarwar, Shahab Ahmed: A Brilliant Scholar, THE NEWS, 23rd September, 2015
Nora Lessersohn, op.cit.
A British historian and scholar of Islamic history and thought. Currently serving as a Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director of Graduate Studies in Princeton. An author of several books and articles and had been criticized for his anti-Islam findings like “Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World” and “Ancient Religions, Modern Politics”.
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017,Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 327
Ahmed, Shahab, Ibn Taymiyyah and the Satanic Verses, Studia Islamica, No. 87, 1998/2, p 67
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 327
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
The term ‘monograph’ is rooted from ‘monographia’, which is derived from the Greek ‘mono’ (single) and ‘graphia’ (writing), that means “writing on a single subject”. In fact, this is a specialist work of writing on a single topic, often by a single author.
Malice Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol 38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27 and Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/Pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 13-03-2019
ilsp.law.harvard.edu/american-university-cairos-shahab-ahmed-memorial-room/, Retrieved 13-03-2019
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 328
In Memoriam, https;//nes.princeton.edu/news/memoriam/-shahab-ahmed-1966-2015, Retrieved, 13-03-2019
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 208
The former Director General of the Islamic Research Institute of the International Islamic University, Islamabad and a well reputed scholar of Islamic Studies. He taught in several international universities like Princeton University, USA, King ʿAbdul ʿAziz University, KSA, University of Melbourne, Australia, McGill University Montreal, Canada, and Faculty of Shariʿah and Law, International Islamic University, Islamabad. He compiled a number of books and articles like “Islamic Perspectives: Studies in honor of Sayyid Abul Aʿla Mawdudi”, “Living Religions of the World: A Socio-Political Study” etc.
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Alumni Progress List, schools.aucegypt.edu/huss/aric/Pages/Alumni.aspx, Retrieved 13-03-2019
academia.edu/24901076/what-is-islam-A-Symposium-Memory-of-Shahab-Ahmed_-_Program, Retrieved 13-03-2019
A fatal kind of Blood Cancers often begin in bone marrow or white blood cells. It works when a problem occurs with the development and division of white cells. The affected blood cells do not die when they should. By occupying more space, they stop the healthy blood cells from growing and functioning normally. Chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation are being used for its treatment generally but vary case to case.
Natasha Shahid, The Revisionist, The Friday Times, Sep 25 – Oct 01, 2015, Vol XXVII, No.33
Memorial, M. Shahab Ahmed, 99, Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 05, 2016 Issue
A well-known sociologist and associate professor at Sarah Lawrence College, USA. Being born in Pakistan, she had been graduated from Kinnaird College and got MA from Punjab University, Lahore. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Academic specialization in historical sociology, gender and political economy. She is an author of “Shifting Body Politics: Gender/Nation/State”.
Beena Sarwar, Shahab Ahmed: A Brilliant Scholar, THE NEWS, 23rd September, 2015
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time? The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 8
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 73, 97,103
Noah Feldman, Extra Ordinary Scholar Shahab Ahmed Redefined Islam, Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2015.
Ibid
Amir Hussain, Book Review, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam by Shahab Ahmed, Journal of the American Academy of Religions, p 1151
Malise Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol,38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 210
bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2015-09-20/an-extraordinary-scholar-redefined-islam, Retrieved 21st March, 2019
Shahla Ahmed, Dr., What is Islam? Session 3, QMUL School of history, (14-06-2017), Retrieved 05-03-2019
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA
Ahmed, Shahab, The Satanic Verses Incident in the Memory of the Early Muslim Community: An Analysis of the Early riwāyahs and Their isnāds, Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1999
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 333
Khalil, Andani, Book Review What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic by Shahab Ahmed, ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS, 2016, p 3
Ebrahimmoosa.com/2015/09/23/tribute-to-professor-shahab-ahmed-1966-2015/amp/, Retrieved 15th March, 2019
Muhanna, Elias, How Has the Islamic Orthodoxy Changed Over Time?, The Nation, Jan 11-18, 2016 Issue
Ibid
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 126, 127, 137
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 209
Ibid, p 209, 210
Ahmed, Shahab, Ibn Taymmiyyah and The Satanic Verses, Studia Islamica, No 87(1998)/2, p 117, 119
Ibid
Shahab, Rapoport, Ibn Taymmiyah and His Times, 2010, Oxford University Press, Karachi, p 43
Imran Iqbal, Ibn Taymmiyyah and His Times by Yossef Rapoport and Shahab Ahmed, De Welt des Islams, Vol 54, Issue 2 (2014), p 281
Michael E. Pregill, I Hear Islam Singing; Shahab Ahmed’s What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, Harvard Theological Review, Jan 2017, 110 (1), p 150
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 4
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 32
Nasir, Wasim, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic by Shahab Ahmed, Intellectual Discourse, 24: 1 (2016), p 190
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 519
Ibid, p 516
Michael Pregill, Shahab Ahmed’s “What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic” as a Disciplinary Critique, Harvard Theological Review, 24th January, 2017
Ahmed, Shahab, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, 2016, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA, p 123
Ibid, p 540
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 1
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 4
Ibid, p 7
Peter Webb, Shahab Ahmed; Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, Journal of Arabic Literature, 49 (2018), p 167
Ahmed, Shahab, Before Orthodoxy; The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, 2017, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts, p 269
Nora Lessersohn, CURRICULAM VITAE, Mohammed SHAHAB AHMED, Harvard University, p 3
Sarah Eltantawi, In Memoriam; Shahab Ahmed, ʿal-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, 24 (2016), p 209, 210
Malice Ruthven, More Than A Religion, London Review of Books, Vol,38 No.18, 08th September 2016, p 27
Published
2023-06-26
How to Cite
Muhammad Iqbal Awan, & Dr. Hafiz Khurshid Ahmad Qadri. (2023). A Dissentient Reformist: Shahab Ahmad and His Oeuvre. Jihat Ul Islam, 16(2), 46-66. https://doi.org/10.51506/jihat-ul-islam.v16i2.565
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Articles
Copyright (c) 2023 Jihat ul Islam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
