‫نحو علم الإنسان الإسلامي: تعريف ونظريات واتجاهات‬

by Akbar Ahmed

يعتبر "نحو علم الإنسان الإسلامي: تعريف، نظريات، اتجاهات" للدكتور أكبر. س. أحمد مدخلاً ضرورياً لدراسة وتقويم الكتابات (الغربية) في مجال علم الإنسان (الأنثروبولوجية) من المنظور الإسلامي. ويعتقد د. أحمد أن هذه الدراسات (الغربية) تقدم للباحث المسلم حجما من المعلومات يستحق التقدير المشوب غير موضوعية، منطلقة من مفاهيم ثقافية خاطئة، تتمحور نظرة استعلاء الغرب العرقية على بقية الأجناس والشعوب. ويحاول المؤلف في هذا الكتاب تقديم نظرة جديدة في دراسات علم الإنسان تعتمد كما وصفها الدكتور اسماعيل الفاروقي في تقديمه للطبعة الإنجليزية: "على الحقيقة دون التأثر بأي مفاهيم مسبقة" .. لأن الإسلام يعتبر الحكمة ضالة المؤمن، فحيثما توجد الدلائل العلمية الصحيحة لأي وجهة نظر على العقل المسلم ا

Genres: Anthropology, Islam

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and is Professor of International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C.Immediately prior, he taught at Princeton University as served as a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He also taught at Harvard University and was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Anthropology. Ahmed was the First Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In 2004 Ahmed was named District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. A former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, Ahmed was a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan and served as Political Agent in South Waziristan Agency and Commissioner in Baluchistan. He also served as the Iqbal Fellow (Chair of Pakistan Studies) at the University of Cambridge. An anthropologist and scholar of Islam. He completed his MA at Cambridge University and received his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has been called "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC.

Reviews

[Burhan]

Islamic Anthropology: Definition Dogma and Direction authored by Dr. Ahmad Akbar aims to provide a Muslims critic of Western Anthropology. The book is divided in to two parts, the first part dedicated to giving an understanding of what anthropology is and the second part to the authors criticism of anthropology. But this doesn’t mean that the author refrains from criticism where it is due in the first part. It should also be noted that the first part constitutes the bulk of this short work. Even though this is the case I found that too much knowledge was crammed in to too little space. At times following the text became arduous because of this density. But it must be noted that the author still does a good job in his task of introducing anthropology. He tries to give solid examples for every topic he is talking about.
The first part is divided in to four sections. The first section defines anthropology and sets to explain its relationship with other sciences. The anthropology that is the topic of this book is social anthropology. The differences between the anthropological schools are also provided. The last topic in the first section of the first part is anthropology and its relation with colonialism. When we take the historical reality that gave birth to western anthropology it is no wonder this is a topic in the introductory section. I believe this topic is even more important for Muslims because much of the Muslim problems have resulted from colonialism. If we understand colonialism, we can understand the root of most of our problems.
In the second section of the first part the author touches upon a hallmark of social anthropology that separates it from sociology, fieldwork. After giving ample examples of such completed field work and some of its principles the author starts explaining the methodological frames Western Anthropology works through. These are the examination of social structure, kinship and political organizations, beliefs and magical organizations, economic anthropology, and social change. I found the authors approach in explaining beliefs and magical organizations to be problematic because he examines the belief of other societies through a positivist and materialistic lens. We know that positivism and materialistic approached are the most harmful to Islam in the age we are living in. If the author had developed or mentioned the need to develop the need to develop a new framework to examine belief systems that will not be biased as materialism is it would help the Islamization of anthropology deeply. But the author either doesn’t acknowledge such a need or simply doesn’t mention it in this book. In regards to what the author mentioned when discussing the social change methodological framework, I think this framework is what Muslims can use the most effectively to understand modernity and minimize its harmful effects. As modernization or in other terms westernization is a type of social change this is apparent.
In the last section of the first part the author mentions the bias and dishonesty of the orientalists. Before this point in the book we see that the author is talking about anthropology as an insider but after this point he starts criticizing it as an outsider.
In the last section the author probes the idea of a Muslim Anthropology. He mentions what Muslim Anthropology would be and its possible usage scenarios that will serve Islam and the Muslims. His suggestion is that we apply the anthropological method to the rich historical accounts that describe the Prophet (saws)’s time and understand the it as a whole. After understanding this blessed society, we can then proceed to implement this model to our own societies. I found myself wondering if anthropology can really understand a society with the written accounts to work with. And even if it could, if the author approaches it with the same approach he used when explaining the belief systems of other societies as mentioned before can he really see things as they were. Nevertheless, I found myself eager to see the results of what the author had proposed. The author proceeds to give a concrete work plan in the last sections of the book.
Overall I found the book to be very successful as it managed to introduce anthropology to me and gave me a mission simultaneously in the span of a mere 70 or so pages. I will surely benefit from the foundation this book has provided me.