Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies

The term ‘religion’as a discursive term occupies a dominant, but neglected feature of Muslim intellectual reflections since the 19thcentury. Intellectuals from Mu?ammad ?Abduh (he diedin 1905) to recent scholars like Na?r ??mid Ab? Zayd (he diedin2010) have used religion as a critical term to devel...

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Main Author: Abdulkader Tayob
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa 2018-07-01
Series:Journal for the Study of Religion
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/312
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author Abdulkader Tayob
author_facet Abdulkader Tayob
author_sort Abdulkader Tayob
collection DOAJ
description The term ‘religion’as a discursive term occupies a dominant, but neglected feature of Muslim intellectual reflections since the 19thcentury. Intellectuals from Mu?ammad ?Abduh (he diedin 1905) to recent scholars like Na?r ??mid Ab? Zayd (he diedin2010) have used religion as a critical term to develop a critique of tradition and modernity, and a strategy for renewal. This discourse may becompared with the study of religion since the 19thcentury that has also used religion to develop a perspective on the religious history of humankind. In this contribution, I argue that the two intellectual traditions that have employed religion–Kantian and the modern Islamic–point to very different ways of relating to the world, to the self and the ‘other’, and to the political condition of modernity. Rather than using the hegemonic Western tradition to make a judgment on the modern Islamic, I use the latter to point to the former’s peculiar proclivities. Using the modern tradition among Muslim intellectuals, I invite an inquiry into both from each other’s positions.
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spelling doaj-art-55896d40bc2c4db981504437f3f60f892025-01-29T09:01:41ZengAssociation for the Study of Religion in Southern AfricaJournal for the Study of Religion1011-76012413-30272018-07-01312Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies Abdulkader Tayob The term ‘religion’as a discursive term occupies a dominant, but neglected feature of Muslim intellectual reflections since the 19thcentury. Intellectuals from Mu?ammad ?Abduh (he diedin 1905) to recent scholars like Na?r ??mid Ab? Zayd (he diedin2010) have used religion as a critical term to develop a critique of tradition and modernity, and a strategy for renewal. This discourse may becompared with the study of religion since the 19thcentury that has also used religion to develop a perspective on the religious history of humankind. In this contribution, I argue that the two intellectual traditions that have employed religion–Kantian and the modern Islamic–point to very different ways of relating to the world, to the self and the ‘other’, and to the political condition of modernity. Rather than using the hegemonic Western tradition to make a judgment on the modern Islamic, I use the latter to point to the former’s peculiar proclivities. Using the modern tradition among Muslim intellectuals, I invite an inquiry into both from each other’s positions. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/312Islamic modernism,Islamic reformreligious studies,religion,Talal Asadpostcolonial
spellingShingle Abdulkader Tayob
Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
Journal for the Study of Religion
Islamic modernism,
Islamic reform
religious studies,
religion,
Talal Asad
postcolonial
title Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
title_full Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
title_fullStr Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
title_full_unstemmed Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
title_short Decolonizing the Study of Religions:Muslim Intellectuals and the Enlightenment Project of Religious Studies
title_sort decolonizing the study of religions muslim intellectuals and the enlightenment project of religious studies
topic Islamic modernism,
Islamic reform
religious studies,
religion,
Talal Asad
postcolonial
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ReligionStudy/article/view/312
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