A Dissentient Reformist: Shahab Ahmad and His Oeuvre

  • Muhammad Iqbal Awan PhD Scholar, Government College University, Lahore.
  • Dr. Hafiz Khurshid Ahmad Qadri Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Government College University, Lahore.
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 Having a very short life, he authored a couple of unpublished books, which can be attached well with his cosmopolitan ideas.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

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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.
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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”.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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”.
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Ibid
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Ibid
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Ibid, p 7
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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