Ahmed Lotfy Rashed's Blog

Seeking and Believing in the Historical Muhammad: PART 3

Interpreting the Prophetic Traditions The “Problem” with Some Sirah Narrations The interpretation of the Satanic Verses incident touches directly on the nature of the Prophet’s revelations as understood by many traditional Muslims. The concept of infallibility is assumed to the extent that ascribing even minor sins to the Prophet (pbuh) are considered blasphemous. For these […]

Seeking and Believing in the Historical Muhammad: PART 2

Understanding the Prophetic Traditions “How Does Truth Happen?” Shahab Ahmad, author of the thought-provoking book – Before Orthodoxy – starts his dissertation with this question to the reader. He uses this generic question to drive to his specific question: given the diversity of Islam, “how does a single position come to be universally established as […]

Seeking and Believing in the Historical Muhammad: PART 1

Introduction You have indeed in the Prophet of God a good example … (Qur’an 33:21) Who was Muhammad ibn Abdullah, peace be upon him? Can we reconstruct his historical life despite the many legends and narrations that have circulated among the early generations of Muslims? How can faith in Islam and its prophet be established […]

Hierarchy without Patriarchy: PART 3

The Status of Women and Men The Case for Complementary Roles Why make the case for complementary roles? On the one hand, there has been a general realization in the turn of the 20th century that fundamental interpretations of Islam have severely limited the status and inclusion of women to the detriment of Islamic culture […]

Hierarchy without Patriarchy: PART 2

The Historical Roles of Women The Early Muslim Era It is important to note that even with Islam’s marriage regulations and stricter controls on gender interactions, these regulations were limited in scope to the domestic family life. Arab women participated actively in society, a habit that necessarily carried over into early Muslim society. Until the […]

Hierarchy without Patriarchy: PART 1

Introduction Women are the twin halves of men. –Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Muslim modernists proudly claim the Qur’an declares women are independent agents, accountable for their own deeds, whether good or bad. They have the same responsibilities to worship God and obey His commandments. Islam granted women rights to contract, to work and earn money, to […]

Qasim Amin’s The Liberation of Women

Qasim Amin’s Primary Arguments As an intellectual and reformer of his time, he believed that one of the issues underpinning the backwardness and exploitation of Egyptian society was the low status of women. He argued that education was the most important key to transforming Egypt from a colonized country to an independent thinking country. National […]

How Postmodern Scholars Should Deal with Financing and Investing

Substance Over Form : ○ Every one of your future clients is part of a system ○ Your job is to identify that system ○ Evaluate it ○ And then help your client’s individual issues directly ○ As well as indirectly, by helping make improvements in the system : ○ Every one of your future […]

How Modern Scholars Deal with Financing and Investing

Emphasizing Premodern Forms Because of the political and social upheavals in the Muslim world due to colonialism and losing power and prestige on the world stage, there has been an Islamic revival aimed at reclaiming this lost heritage. Islamist movements start with the rejection of Western advances, whether in the social or the legal sector; […]

How Classical Scholars Dealt with Financing and Investing

Historical Perspective Muslim scholars and philosophers have always claimed that God does not prohibit that which is good or beneficial.[1] Therefore, when scripture comes down prohibiting something that seems to have some benefit, jurists have argued that the prohibition must necessarily be due to the potential or actual presence of some hidden harm. For example, […]