Islam & the English Enlightenment, Untold Story

Islam and the English Enlightenment : New,
'The Untold Story'
[-A4] Large Paperback - 683 pages,
by Zulfiqar Ali Shah,
Published by Claritas.





Description :

The long medieval centuries witnessed the absolute iron fists of the church and its monarchical abusive powers. The Catholic Church, the only religious power during this time, became the largest landowner, employer and powerhouse of Europe.

Such was the socio-political situation which led many Christian reformers of the sixteenth century such as Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin to look inward as well as outward to identify Christian problems and their possible remedies. Islam from the outset had claimed to have come as a rectifier of Christian excesses and a reformer of its historical overindulgences.

Muslims had a long history of anti-Christian polemics culminating century’s long tradition of anti-trinitarianism and biblical criticism. Islamic tradition was also rife with theories and conceptual frameworks for heterodoxy, interfaith and intra-faith toleration. Ottoman and Mughal empires of the 16th and 17th Centuries were a practical witness to the effectiveness of these concepts.

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This remarkable book is an in-depth study into how Islam shaped and enlightened traditional European ideologies which led to reform and revolution across the continent, and how these ideologies would go on to influence the Founding Fathers of America.

 

Reviews : 
 

“Never before to my knowledge has the cross-fertilisation of Western and Islamic ideas been so encyclopedically documented as it is here. In reading Islam and the English Enlightenment, you will never see the relationship between Islam and the West in the same way again.”---ROBERT F. SHEDI NGER Professor of Religion, Luther College.
 

“Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah’s Islam and the English Enlightenment is one of the most profoundly enlightening books I have read in years. Dr. Shah compellingly demonstrates that the thinkers of English Enlightenment were undeniably indebted to Islamic sciences and thought, and that the foundational principles of rationalist thought, scientific inquiry and religious toleration were deeply anchored in the Islamic tradition.”---KHALED ABOU EL FADL.
 

Omar & Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law “This is a book that anyone interested in stepping outside a Eurocentric view of the rise of the West and of the modern age must read.”---MICHAEL A. GILLESPIE.
 

Professor of Political Science & Philosophy, Duke University “Dr. Shah convincingly demonstrates the central role that Islam played in shaping the values and ideas of the Enlightenment reformers such as John Locke and Isaac Newton who had helped to produce the modern world.”---GERALD MACLEAN Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter.

 

 

Zulfiqar Ali Shah received his BA and MA (Hons) in Comparative Religions from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan and his PhD in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Wales, UK. He has taught at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, the University of Wales in the UK, the University of North Florida and Cardinal Stritch University in the US. He is the former president of the Islamic Circle of North America, Shariah Scholars Association of North America, the current Executive Director and Secretary General of the Fiqh Council of North America and Religious Director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

He has authored many articles and books including Anthropomorphic Depictions of God: The Concept of God in the Judaic, Christian and Islamic Traditions. His upcoming ground-breaking books include Islam and French Enlightenment and Islam and the Founding Fathers of America.

 

 

 

Table of Contents : 

---Foreword,
---Introduction.
------Weber's Eurocentrism,
------Critique of Eurocentrism,
------From Dark Ages to Medieval Renaissance,
------Islam and Latin Scholasticism,
------Italian Renaissance,
------Renaissance Art,
------Venice and Islamic World,
------16th Century Protestant Reformation,
------Radical Reformation.

---Chapter [1]. Roman Christianity and It's Socio Poltical Thought,
------Augustinian and Cappadocian Models,
------The Divine Right Chirch and Salvation,
------The Divine Right State,
------Heresy and Divinely Sanctioned Terror,
------Augustine and Religious Coercion.

---Chapter [2]. Islam and the Southern Reformation of Christianity, 
------Islamic Anti-Trinitarianism and its Natural, Republican Implications,
------Islam and Human Salvation,
------Unity in God and Unity of Creatures, 
------Islam and Democracy,
------Islam and English Enlightenment.

---Chapter [3]. Seventeenth Century England, Overseas Trade and English Identity Formation,
------Anglican Church and State,
------Charles I and Archbishop Laud's Authoritarianism,
------Overseas Trade and Intellectual Transformation,
------Puritanism, Biblicism and Restorationism,
------Religious Roots of English Revolution,
------Economic Causes of English Revolution,
------Overseas Trade and English Revolution,
------Piracy and Barbary States,
------Capitulations and Muslim Soft Empire,
------The East India Company,
------Trade and Cultural Exchanges,
------Overseas Trading Companies and Domestic Politics,
------Travelogues and Acculturation Process,
------Islamic World and Scientific Revolution,
------Natural Philosophy and Natural Theology,
------Overseas Trade and Scientific Revolution,
------Arabic and Oreintal Manuscripts,
------Overseas Trade and Royal Society,
------Royal Society, Westminster School and Oriental Languages,
------John Beale and Islamophilia,
------Alchemy, Arabs and English Natural Philosophers, 
------Spiritual Alchemy,
------Respublica Mosaica, Prisca Sapientia and Prisca Theologia,
------Near Eastern Knowledge and Biblical Hermeneutics,
------Overseas Trading Companies and Cross-cultural Diffusions,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------The Allure of the Islamic World and English Identity Formation,
------Commonwealth Radicalism,
​​​​​​​------Restoration of Monarchy and Dialectical Struggles,
​​​​​​​------The Glorious Revolution, Anglican Monarchy and Church, 
------Turkish Coffeehouses,
​​​​​​​------Levant Trade and Coffee,
​​​​​​​------The Centers of Dissent,
------Coffeehouses and Stuart Monarchy.

---Chapter [4]. Enlightenment : A Religious Revolution,
​​​​​​​------Enlightenment and Destruction of Old Regime,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------The Anthropomorphic Shift,
------Anti-Trinitarianism and the Enlightenment,
​​​​​​​------Anti-Trinitarianism and Islam.

---Chapter [5]. English Enlightenment and Unitarian Islamic Syncretism,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Muhammad, The Prophet of Enlightenment,
------Overseas Trade, Piracy and Turning Turk.

---Chapter [6]. Islam and the Early English Enlightenment,
​​​​​​​------Henry Stubbe and John Locke: The Pococke and Shaftesbury Pedigrees.

---Chapter [7]. Henry Stubbe and Muhammadan Christianity,
------Stubbe the Father of Muhammadan Christianity,
​​​​​​​------Muhammad, the Protestant Prophet,
​​​​​​​------Muhammadan Christianity and Natural Law,
​​​​​​​------Muhammad, the Machiavellian Prince,
​​​​​​​------Stubbe and English Deism,
​​​​​​​------Stubbe and English Civil Religion.

---Chapter [8]. John Toland and Muhammadan Christianity,
​​​​​​​------Toland and New Testament Criticism,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Toland and Primitive Christanity,
​​​​​​​------Toland and the Gospel of Barnabus,
​​​​​​​------Toland and Mahometan Christianity.

---Chapter [9]. John Locke : The Unitarian Heretic,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Locke and Travel Literature,
​​​​​​​------Muslim's in Locke's Horizons,
​​​​​​​------Locke and Islamic Minimalism,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Locke and Christ's Pre-existence : Some Discussions,
​​​​​​​------Locke's Messianic Christology,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Locke's Islamic Christology,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Locke's Popular Sovereignty,
​​​​​​​------Locke and Religious Tolerance.

---Chapter [10]. Socinianism: The Muslim Bridge,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------The Racovian Alcoran,
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Miguel Servet : The Martyr of Liberty,
​​​​​​​------Servetus and the Qur'an.

---Chapter [11]. John Milton: The Pious Muslim ? 
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​------Milton's Christology,
​​​​​​​------Milton's Scripturalism,
------Milton and Middle Eastern Culture.

---Chapter [12]. Isaac Newton: The Enraged Anti-Trinitarian,
------Newton's Biblicism, 
------Newton and Primitive Christanity,
​​​​​​​------Newton and Early Christian Apologists, 
------Newton and Unitarian Theology,
------Newton and Nicaean Christology, 
​​​​​​​------Newton's Heterodoxy.

---Chapter [13]. English Unitarians : Pinnacle of Islamic Hybrid,
​​​​​​​------Stephen Nye: The Roaring Unitarian, 
------Arthur Bury's Naked Gospel,
------William Freke: The Mystic Unitarian, 
​​​​​​​------Epistle Dedicatory: The Culmination of Unitarian Islamic Imagination,
​​​​​​​------Unitarian's Turkish Faith,
------The English Abdulla Mahumed Omar and "Mahomet No Imposter"
------Historica Monotheistica and Islamic Republicanism.

---Endnotes,
---Bibliography,
​​​​​​​---Index. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dimensions : 23.5 x 15.8 x 5.5cm.