Agency, Rationality, and Morality: A Qur’anic View of Man
About this ebook
This treatise provides a reading of the Qur’anic view of man as insan against a background of the preoccupations of modernity. The author critiques the rapid devolution of society divorced from spiritual tradition in the modern context. The emphasis is on rationality, freedom, and morality and the goal is the reintegration of man and the recovery of community through a reconciliation of self and the rediscovery of the essential meaning of divine guidance in so far as it relates to human life in this world. Taking the Qur’an as a divine discourse of many tiers and depths, the work singles out aspects of the discourse on creation and takes it as a pivot for developing a view of moral man and moral community, with the focus remaining on the former. The main message is one of relevance, urgency, and opportunity. The urgency and the opportunity lie with man, and the relevance shines through the light of the eternal message and comes from God.
About the author
Mona Abul-Fadl (1945-2008) Abul-Fadl gained a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London before becoming professor at Cairo University. She was also a Fulbright scholar at the Old Dominion University in Virginia and an exchange scholar at the Center for Research and Study of Mediterranean Societies (CRESM) in France before joining IIIT to become a close and long-standing associate of the Institute. Indeed Abul-Fadl’s work was first noticed by former IIIT president and late renowned scholar Professor Ismail Raji al Faruqi. Impressed by the scope of her reading, knowledge of Western thought and tradition, and ability to critique these both from Western and Islamic perspectives, al Faruqi was keen for Abul-Fadl to use her skills and knowledge to further the development of the Institute’s Western Thought Project. Active in inter-cultural dialogue, Abul-Fadl took full responsibility for the Project following the latter’s assassination, and started processing materials which had been collected under al Faruqi’s supervision whilst also beginning to cover new ground herself.
