Wikipedia ((exclusive)) — Dr Fazlur Rahman

Fazlur Rahman (Islamic scholar) Fazlur Rahman Malik (Urdu: فضل الرحمان ملک; September 21, 1919 – July 26, 1988), commonly known as Fazlur Rahman , was a Pakistani-born Islamic scholar, philosopher, and modernist reformer. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in Islamic modernism, hermeneutics, and educational reform. Rahman served as a professor of Islamic thought at the University of Chicago and as the chief advisor to the Government of Pakistan on Islamic affairs under President Ayub Khan. | Born | September 21, 1919 Hazara, British India (now Pakistan) | | :--- | :--- | | Died | July 26, 1988 (aged 68) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | | Nationality | Pakistani, American | | Alma mater | University of the Punjab (MA) University of Oxford (PhD) | | Era | 20th-century philosophy | | Region | Islamic philosophy, Modernism | | Main interests | Qur’anic hermeneutics, Islamic law, education, ethics | | Notable ideas | "Double movement" theory, historical-contextual approach to the Qur’an, revival of ijtihad |

Biography Early life and education Rahman was born in 1919 in the Hazara region of British India (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan) into a deeply religious family. His father, Maulana Shihab al-Din, was a renowned scholar of Islamic law and Sufism. Fazlur Rahman memorized the Qur’an at an early age and studied Arabic, Persian, logic, and fiqh under his father. He earned a Master’s degree in Arabic from the University of the Punjab (Lahore) in 1942 and proceeded to the University of Oxford, where he completed a PhD in 1949 on the philosophy of Avicenna (Ibn Sina). His doctoral dissertation, later published as Avicenna’s Psychology , is still regarded as a seminal work in Islamic intellectual history. Academic career After teaching at the University of the Punjab and Durham University (UK), Rahman was appointed in 1961 as the Director of the Central Institute of Islamic Research in Karachi, Pakistan. In 1963, he became the chief advisor on Islamic affairs to President Ayub Khan. During this period, he proposed a series of modernist reforms, including reinterpreting sunnah as a living, dynamic tradition rather than a static corpus of reports ( hadith ). His reformist ideas provoked fierce opposition from traditionalist ulama , leading to political controversy and public protests. In 1968, Rahman resigned and left Pakistan. He moved to the United States and joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as a visiting professor. In 1969, he was appointed as the Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Islamic Thought at the University of Chicago, where he remained until his death in 1988.

Philosophical contributions The "Double Movement" theory Rahman’s most influential hermeneutical method is the "double movement" theory , presented in his major work Islam and Modernity (1982). The theory comprises two stages:

Moving from the present to the Qur’anic era : The scholar identifies the general moral and legal principles behind a specific Qur’anic ruling by understanding the historical context of revelation ( asbab al-nuzul ). Moving from the Qur’anic era back to the present : The same general principles are applied to contemporary situations through fresh ijtihad (independent reasoning). dr fazlur rahman wikipedia

This method, Rahman argued, allows the Qur’an to remain normative without being frozen in 7th-century social conditions. Critique of classical hadith Rahman controversially argued that the massive corpus of hadith (prophetic traditions) collected in the 9th century CE was often forged or historically unreliable. He proposed that the living sunnah (practice) of the early Muslim community—not isolated reports—should be the primary source of guidance after the Qur’an. This stance brought him into sharp conflict with traditional hadith scholars. Educational reform In Islam and Modernity , Rahman critiqued the bifurcation of education in Muslim societies into secular (modern) and religious (traditional) streams. He called for an integrated curriculum where modern knowledge is internalized from an Islamic worldview, and classical Islamic disciplines are reinterpreted using modern critical methods.

Major works

Avicenna’s Psychology (1952) – An edition and translation of Ibn Sina’s Kitab al-Najat . Prophecy in Islam: Philosophy and Orthodoxy (1958) Islamic Methodology in History (1965) The Philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā (1975) Islam (1966, 2nd ed. 1979) – A general introduction to Islamic beliefs and practices. Major Themes of the Qur’an (1980) – A thematic commentary focusing on God, man, society, and eschatology. Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition (1982) – His most programmatic work on reform methodology. Fazlur Rahman (Islamic scholar) Fazlur Rahman Malik (Urdu:

Legacy and criticism Influence Rahman’s students include many influential scholars of Islam: Ebrahim Moosa (University of Notre Dame), Tariq Ramadan (Oxford), Abdullah Saeed (University of Melbourne), Vincent Cornell (Emory), and M. A. Muqtedar Khan (University of Delaware). His ideas shaped the neo-modernist movement in Islamic thought. Criticism Traditionalist scholars, such as Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi and Sayyid Abul A‘la Maududi , accused Rahman of undermining the authority of the sunnah and reducing the Qur’an to a historical document. Some critics called him a "neo-Mu‘tazilite" for his rationalist approach. In Pakistan, he was labeled a heretic ( zindiq ), and protests forced his exile. Later reassessments Contemporary scholars have noted that Rahman anticipated many themes of post-colonial hermeneutics and contextualist approaches to scripture. His work is increasingly studied in reformist circles in Indonesia, Turkey, and North America.

Personal life Rahman married twice and had three children. He remained a practicing Muslim throughout his life, performing daily prayers and fasting during Ramadan. He died of a heart attack on July 26, 1988, in Chicago and was buried in the city’s Muslim cemetery.

Selected bibliography

Rahman, F. (1980). Major Themes of the Qur’an . Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica. Rahman, F. (1982). Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sonn, T. (1991). Between Qur’an and Crown: The Challenge of Political Legitimacy in the Arab World . Boulder: Westview Press. (Includes analysis of Rahman’s influence)

See also