Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi

  Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi :
Islam and the Enlightenment,
*[A5] Hardback  - 172 pages,
by Samer Akkach,
Makers of the Muslim World Series,
Published by Oneworld, UK.



Description :


Before the wholesale adoption of the European Enlightenment ideas by nineteenth-century Arab and Ottoman intellectuals, Muslim scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had their own intellectual program that indicated their exchanges with the West. It influenced the choices they had made and enabled them to deal confidently with the new emerging ideas. In a sense, it can be said that they had their own enlightenment.



        '' There has arisen in this time a shining planet from the concealment of
           being's closure, and there has appeared an enlightening full moon from
           the sky of witnessed disclosure, and there has broken forth an
           illuminating sun from the presence of the Praised Station.''
                                                              _{---Al-Baytamani, al-Mashrab al-Hani,}


Shaykh 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi [1641-1731CE], may Allah be pleased with him, of Damascus was a key figure of the Islamic enlightenment. Often characterised solely as a Sufi saint, his thought and teachings were of a much wider remit. A contemporary of many major thinkers, scientists, poets, and philosophers of the European Enlightenment, his life and works offer a new perspective on the roots of modernity n the Arab World.



Through fresh readings of his biographical sources and a large body of mostly unpublished works, the author examines Shaykh al-Nabulusi's life and thought, exploring his contribution to the intellectual development of Islam and to the debate over its relationship with science. 


          ''Everyone is born with a natural faith, he says: people are faithful by
            nature and the natural faith is, of course, Islam. But sometimes, this
            nature becomes concealed with misguided concepts & false beliefs
            that turn one into an ''infidel'' kafir in Arabic, from kufr, ''infidelity,''
            which literally means ''concealment.''


An unrivalled biography of a key figure in the history of Islam, this fascinating book also offers an invaluable comparision of how rationalism operated in Enlightenment Europe and the Islamic World.



Table of Contents :


---Preface;
---Acknowledgements;
---Glossary;
---Abbreviations.

---Introduction;
------Unresolved Dilemma,
------Approach.


Part I, His Life: A View from Within;
---Saintly Predictions;
------In the shadow of Controversy,
------The Ottomans,
------Ottoman Damascus,
------The Ottoman Way,
---A Family with One Saint;
------Abd al-Ghani's Great Grandfather,
------Abd al-Ghani's Father,
------Abd al-Ghani,
---Calculated Performance;
---Spiritual Call;
------Contrasting Receptions,
---On the Sufi Path;
------Spiritual Growth and Self-making,
------Alone with Books,
------Notable Absence,
------Productive Absence,
---Journeys.


Part II, His Thought : A View from Without;
---Heavenly Inspirations, Rational Insights;
------Critical Attitude,
------The Treasures of Heritage,
---Faith and Reason;
------The Science of Stars,
------The Pit of Misfortune,
------The Concealed Pearls;
---Enlightenment and the Primacy of Reason;
------Science versus Religion,
---Islam and the Continuity of Tradition;
------Copernicus and Imam al-Suyuti,
------The State of Science,
------Religion versus Science,
---God in a Mechanical Universe;
------Rationalising Causality,
------Effects by Divine Permission,
------Light and the Night of Possibilities,
------Unity of Being,
------Conversing with the Wise,
---The Human Reality;
------Cartesian Dreams,
------Structures of Light,
------Self and Body Fusion,
------God and Self-Effacement,
---Religion and Otherness;
------Islamic Extremism,
------The Truth and the Law,
------Transcendent Unity of Religions,
------Islam as Natural Faith,
------Language and Ethnicity,
---The Emergence of the Public;
------Engaging the Public,
------Unprecedented Exposure,
------Rational Disclosure,


Part III, His Legacy : A View from a Distance;
---Departing Damascus,
---An Advocate of Truth.


---Biographical Sources,
---Selected Bibliography,
------List of Arabic and Ottoman Manuscripts Cited,
------Primary Arabic Sources Cited,
------Secondary Sources and Further Reading,
---Index.

---

Perfectly Bound Hardback : Excellent Quality Print.
*Dimensions : 22.4 x 14cm.