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الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب

Alija Izetbegović,

محمد يوسف عدس (Translator),

عبد الوهاب المسيري (Introducer)

4.46 · Rating details · 9,714 ratings · 1,796 reviews

كتاب «الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب»، هو نتيجة لدراسة واسعة متعددة الجوانب لأبرز الأفكار العالمية في تاريخ البشرية المعاصر. إن ظاهرة نسيان الذات التي تميز بها التاريخ الحديث للعالم الإسلامي، تضع المفكر الشرقي والغربي على السواء في موقف مماثل من هذا الكتاب. فمن خلال الدراسة المقارنة للمقدمات الأساسية والنتائج المترتبة عليها في المجالات الاجتماعية والقانونية والسياسية والثقافية و ...more

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Paperback, 1st Edition, 416 pages

Published January 1st 1994 by مؤسسة بافاريا للنشر والإعلام والخدمات (first published 1980)

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الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب by Alija Izetbegović

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Feb 13, 2011 Julia Simpson-Urrutia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: islamic-thought-and-philosophy

This is a heady distillation of intellectual Muslim thought, demonstrating the kind of man Izetbegovic was. I once gave this book to my father (an agnostic) who said, "He's so intelligent it's scary." Islam Between East and West is a modern treatise on cultures and civilization which attempts to show how so many philosophies have failed to give human beings what they need. Izetbegovic is no coward, and he makes strong assertions: "Every culture is theistic in its essence; every civilization is a This is a heady distillation of intellectual Muslim thought, demonstrating the kind of man Izetbegovic was. I once gave this book to my father (an agnostic) who said, "He's so intelligent it's scary." Islam Between East and West is a modern treatise on cultures and civilization which attempts to show how so many philosophies have failed to give human beings what they need. Izetbegovic is no coward, and he makes strong assertions: "Every culture is theistic in its essence; every civilization is atheistic." By differentiating between culture and civilization, he shows the difference between critically analytical Islamic thought ( a throwback to the Golden Age of Muslim philosophers) and the Christian turning of "the human spirit in upon itself" (witness the convents and monasteries betokening the negation of worldly life). Izetbegovic argues that the Islamic ideal offers firm middle ground between Christianity, which focuses on the spirit, and Judaism, which "represents the 'this-world' tendency." In support of the latter assertion, he writes, "The Jews have never entirely accepted the idea of immortality. . . . The Kingdom of God which the Jews were predicting before Jesus' appearance was to materialize on earth, not in heaven as the Christians believed." This, then, apparently explains why the Jewish nation has tended to focus on external progress: "It seems as if they have been constantly migrating from a civilization on the wane to one on the rise."

Izetbegovic was the farthest thing from a fundamentalist, royalist, or nomad,which in some part explains the tepid interest of the Saudi government when he approached it during the Bosnian War, when Serbs began machine gunning hordes of Caucasian Bosnian Muslims (in front of pits--the educated first) who looked (to the Arabs) more like Westerners than Muslims. He had a secular education and later got involved in activism and then politics.

Izetbegovic does not ignore the East: the exclusive preoccupation with this world as evinced in socialism, communism, fascism, etc. He asserts that materialism shows how if religion, by itself, does not necessarily lead to progress, "science does not lead to humanism and in principle has nothing in common with culture."

Izetbegovic defines culture as "the art of being man," while civilization is "the art of functioning, ruling, making things perfect." Both are indispensable, he says: "Civilization educates; culture enlightens."

He explains education as something that makes human beings more capable but not freer, better, or more human. In many ways, he contends, the progress of education has made mankind less happy, if more given to longevity. He points out that man has the propensity to grow in nobility specifically when faced with adversity, yet science treats man as an animal, and that is why psychology is an accepted science in a material world. But in a scientific world, there can be no equality or brotherhood--that is only possible when we accept that man is created by God. The equality of human beings is spiritual and not a natural, physical or intellectual fact.

Izetbegovic uses art as proof of the existence of the soul--it matters not that the artist himself should be a believer in God. His argument? Art, he offers, is a spiritual rather than material act; the flip side to this argument is that "A human being is not the sum of his different biological functions, just like a painting cannot be reduced to the quantity of paint used." This book proves that in our modern time, there have been exceedingly erudite Muslim thinkers, far from the inflexible psychosis of fundamentalism. ...more

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Dec 01, 2017 Murtaza rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2017, favorites

In the Islamic conception of the world, mankind is unique among creation for serving as the vice-regent of the divine within the material world. While all created things are by nature obedient to the divine will and thus “Muslim,” only humans have the ability to choose whether to rebel or submit themselves to the natural order. Through their possession both an inner and outer life, humans potentially serve as the vehicle through which the divine attributes are projected into the material world, In the Islamic conception of the world, mankind is unique among creation for serving as the vice-regent of the divine within the material world. While all created things are by nature obedient to the divine will and thus “Muslim,” only humans have the ability to choose whether to rebel or submit themselves to the natural order. Through their possession both an inner and outer life, humans potentially serve as the vehicle through which the divine attributes are projected into the material world, providing what we could describe as a moral influence upon a creation that would otherwise be deterministic and even mechanical.

This book by Alija Ali Izetbegovic, former President of Bosnia, is a reflection on Islam as the “middle path” between living purely for the corporeal or metaphysical worlds. Whereas Christianity tries to counsel an unworldly “pure religion” and materialist ideologies like Marxism try to counsel an equally impractical “pure materialism,” Islam is unique for charting a course that melds both exterior and interior realities – both of which humans need to feel fulfilled and at peace with existence. In Islam, humans are encouraged to engage with both the material and divine worlds in equal measure. This philosophy of the religion is embodied in the very act of Islamic prayer, which combines physical activity with meditative reflection. Izetbegovic’s conception of Islam is a consistent echo of Muhammad Asad, Ibn Arabi and a long line of Islamic philosophers reaching back into early antiquity who explained the attraction and practicality of Islam. Properly conceived, Islamic practices offer simultaneously spiritual salvation and a means for ordering the world for mankind’s wellbeing, merging both spheres of existence into a healthy balance.

Over the course of the book, Izetbegovic conducts a comparative analysis of modern materialist ideologies with religious thought. Of great interest to me was his sympathetic take on nihilistic literature, often wrongly condemned as anti-humanistic. Nihilism arose in Western thought as a consequence of the “death of God” in Western epistemology. Suddenly, man no longer had a home in a world that now seemed alien, frightening and strangely “unnatural” to a being that materialists claim is nothing more than a biological product of the earth.

Religion was the origin of the idea that all human beings inherently have rights and are inherently equal in creation. While the ghost of the idea of inherent human dignity and value continues to animate allegedly “secular” modern ideologies, this is a contradiction that is under constant siege by capitalism, socialism and technological advance. Deprived of the warmth of the concept of inherent human value and the natural dignity and purpose afforded by belief in divine creation, the world seems a potentially bleak and terrifying place – a predicament that nihilistic writers like Camus suggested raised the possibility of suicide as a natural response.

According to Izetbegovic, this view of mankind as essentially a stranger in the world marks nihilism as an essentially religious yearning – the religion of those disappointed in not finding the divine. Both nihilism and religion effectively recognize the existence of a soul and an essential human foreignness to the world. The difference is religion claims to have found a way out, while nihilism does not. The difference between such a view and that held by strict philosophical materialists is significant.

Izetbegovic cites Plato in his description of the idea of the body as the “grave of the soul,” and that, “an ethical man is not afraid of death…to truly think and live means constant preparation to die.” In Islam, submission to God and an acceptance of an external locus of control regarding worldly events is the only way out of the anxiety and unsatisfied yearning of human existence. But despite this, Islam does not denigrate the world. Indeed it encourages humans to take their enjoyment from what is made lawful to them, a message embodied in the Quran and life of the Prophet Muhammad which is often wrongly attacked by critics as an expression of sensualism and an insufficient “pure religiosity” within Islam.

In the modern world, the religious worldview has been degraded and confused. Indeed, some ardent materialists are in practice self-sacrificing metaphysicians, while some ostensibly religious people are obsessed with materialism. The family unit has been degraded in the name of society, but society itself has been degraded by corrupt elites, leaving ordinary people nowhere to turn for comfort or support. On top of this, modern epistemologies have been obsessed with the creation of worldly utopias that essentially reduce man’s capacity for both moral or immoral action, not by nurturing mankind’s conscience but instead through basic drills and penalties. This effort may achieve some success at simply controlling the masses, but it reduces humans to nothing more than cogs in a machine or animals subject to discipline, albeit animals possessing the tool of rationality.

It seems that with developments in technology and capitalism we are fast headed towards such a degrading future for mankind, whether we are aware of where are going or not. As Aldous Huxley predicted, human beings are beginning to merge with their technologies and become something other than “humans” in the traditional sense. This was arguably predicted as far back as Ibn Arabi and is reflected upon here in light of recent technological and social developments by Izetbegovic. Whereas religion sees life as a grand drama, modern civilization sees it as the processing of a soulless machine, where human beings are nothing more than inputs and outputs. Any surviving trace of the idea that all life has a supreme meaning and inherent value is a residue of religion, whereas ideologies like Marxism accord rights only on the basis of demands (hence its silence on the suffering of animals).

Izetbegovic concludes with the fascinating argument that the Islamic worldview of “balance” lives on in the West, specifically in the Anglo-American tradition which retains both moral and materialistic components. Nations with Catholic histories have held onto the old dichotomy between the “Kingdom of Man” and “Kingdom of Heaven”, oscillating between the two during different periods in history and never succeeding in balancing them. Within the Anglo tradition, however, we see a retention of “the middle way” that integrates both and potentially allows for both a fruitful worldly and spiritual existence. With an eventful thirty years distance since this book was published its unclear how much of this balance remains in existence, but he argues convincingly that its roots helped stimulate the development of the Anglo world.

This was a beautiful and nourishing book that I appreciated on both a spiritual and intellectual level. It is hard to live either in a world of pure religion or a world of pure materialism. Human beings are not built for either extreme. The idea of Islam as a balanced path between the two, a philosophy embodied in its most basic acts of prayer, fasting and charity, is a comforting vision of a world in which the various components of human existence have been brought into harmony. Izetbegovic ends the book with an ode to the Islamic worldview and the idea of submission to the divine will as the solution to the existential dilemmas of modern man. It’s a beautiful message to end on. ...more

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Mar 01, 2014 Tim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: islam, islam-history, islam-politics, islam-western-islam

One of the greatest Islamic concepts that is all but completely obscured in today’s reactionary Western media is the fundamental idea of “The Middle Way”. This idea is lost on extremists as well, who are just as reactionary in the way they view the world as some can be in the West. Past all the cultural trappings of the way Sharia has been constructed, past the use of religion as cover for underlying grievances and perceived slights, past the misunderstanding of the deeper truths for which relig One of the greatest Islamic concepts that is all but completely obscured in today’s reactionary Western media is the fundamental idea of “The Middle Way”. This idea is lost on extremists as well, who are just as reactionary in the way they view the world as some can be in the West. Past all the cultural trappings of the way Sharia has been constructed, past the use of religion as cover for underlying grievances and perceived slights, past the misunderstanding of the deeper truths for which religion-as-institution only serves as a symbol, “the middle way” is precisely that space where humanity exists. It’s a forgiving space, a place of freedom that allows room for error and it’s where we actually find authentic truth.

The middle way as the path between two extremes is a profound idea. It can be seen in everything from the resolution of opposites which true unity implies to the deep desire for a “balanced” life, to ultimately allow for a more, not less, inclusive vision of reality. The more we run to any extreme, the more we run directly into what we’re trying to avoid, and away from a unified worldview.

This has perhaps been my greatest lesson from studying Islam. The particular language of the tradition has been one in which I’ve come to see at least a glimpse of universality. I fully acknowledge that given other life circumstances, this view of universality could have just as easily evolved from another tradition. But what it’s caused me to see is that ultimately however we describe our particular philosophy of life, the semantics we use are not as important as the truth itself.

This is more of a reflection than a review of the book, but I believe it’s consistent with the message Izetbegovic is trying to convey. Islam between East and West is one form of a middle position, which can be described as that between culture and civilization, science and religion, rational philosophy and mysticism in metaphysics. We tend towards extremes, and as Arthur Koestler and from another position the Perennialists also describe, we have evolved into civilized worldviews which eliminate a part of the whole.

Islam is the religion of ONE, of unity. To fully understand truly Islamic concepts in our time, it might be necessary to actually remove the term “Islam” or “Muslim” from the discussion. It might definitely be necessary to completely avoid anything resembling traditional Sharia or Islamic law. Due to cultural baggage from all sides, these terms can carry connotations today which they were never meant to imply. To realize unity, we must be inclusive, not exclusive. Izetbegovic does a masterful job of incorporating the best examples from our philosophical, scientific, political, mystical and religious traditions to show that however we’re viewing life, it’s from one perspective only, and is at best a partial truth.

He certainly has definite positions in regards to science, political philosophies such as Marxism and yes religion itself as Islam, but his approach is one of humility, which sees the best in our various traditions and acknowledges that there is no room for dogmatism in a unified position. The space where humanity resides is fluid, and is one where there must be room for error just as there must be room for incorporating all forms of wisdom – those from areas we can explain and those mystical ones that seem to allude us as well.

This book was written nearly thirty years ago, but is probably more timely and more needed today than it was then, even in spite of some of the dated political references. It’s a refreshing view on some deeply polarizing ideas, and I returned to it after first reading it two years ago.
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Jan 02, 2011 Scribble Orca added it · review of another edition

Shelves: unfinished

All I can say, book, is that we're off to a rocky start.

"There are only three integral views of the world: the religious, the materialistic, and the Islamic(1)." p. 25

First footnote:

"(1)In this book, the term religion has the meaning it has in Europe - that is, faith as an esoteric experience which does not go beyond a personal relationship with God and as such expresses itself only in dogmas and rituals. Accordingly, Islam cannot be classifed as a religion. Islam is more than a religion for it ...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Hamza rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, islam, religion

It's difficult to really write a review for this book. It deals with Islam not as a typical "religion" per se, but as a comprehensive way of life that deals with both the spiritual and societal. Mr. Izetbegović contrasts Christianity, which is purely spiritual in his view, with Marxism and other related movements, which are purely societal in his view. In this same way, he describes the difference between culture and society, the view of man as a soul vs. as a unit of society, and many other dis ...more

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Dec 18, 2011 Amr Haroun rated it it was amazing

if you wanna dig deep read it , only for who wants to think

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Oct 30, 2020 Shuaib Choudhry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A real diamond of a book, perhaps my favourite ever, such is the eloquence, depth and breadth of this treasure. He covers the creative heights of fiction and art to the genius of the logicians and philosophers, but they all come unstuck in the inconsistency present in their own worldview, except perhaps Nietzsche who took the ideas which form the bed rock of most modern western nations and showed their ultimate logical conclusion in nihilism. Many times I have personally heard that Islam is a re A real diamond of a book, perhaps my favourite ever, such is the eloquence, depth and breadth of this treasure. He covers the creative heights of fiction and art to the genius of the logicians and philosophers, but they all come unstuck in the inconsistency present in their own worldview, except perhaps Nietzsche who took the ideas which form the bed rock of most modern western nations and showed their ultimate logical conclusion in nihilism. Many times I have personally heard that Islam is a religion of the middle path or the religion of moderation and it is something I could definitely feel but could not quite convey it to people. No one has illustrated it in as beautiful a manner that Alija Izetbegovic does by showing that man himself is the one that sits at middle of endless dichotomies: religion and science, spirituality and materialism, spirit and matter , subject and object, concrete-unique and abstract-general and many more. It's only Islam and it's ideals and duties, congruent to man, sitting at the middle of these bottomless contradictory dichotomies.

The author is aiming to provide a perspective of an Islamic outlook of the world. He starts with the premise that every philosophy can be reduced to two systems, the religious or the materialistic. Except one, Islam, which is a synthesis of both, thus ideally suited for man. The table he provides at the end of book is a superb rendering of this dualism. Islam means the call to create a man harmonious in his soul and body. Islam is a permanent searching for a state of inward and outward balance. A way of life that is a moderation between these two perspectives on life. Man is inherently inconsistent, never solely logically consistent, and so one needs a dualistic philosophy which takes this nature of man into account. Islam provides this. Another way to see this is through Godel's incompleteness theorems and it's consequences for humans and machines which are in essence abstract logical systems. Man is not mechanistic in this sense and that's because he has a spirit and this is what provides him with a creativity and hence intelligence beyond a mechanistic conception of these notions. I feel this is what Alija is trying to get across as the core theme of his message. Islam provides the only logically consistent way of life which takes the inherent nature of man into account, the materialist and the spiritual. Civilisation is the material exchange between man and nature, culture the spiritual exchange. These recurring dualisms are antagonisms and man's dualism show that man is a being of discord.

The perspicacious author provides a sharp critique of education or technical education like science which is much more concerned with learning and applying but rarely contemplating. It's a perceptive look at the modern scientific method. "Science discovers, art creates" is a truly exceptional phrase and shines a light on the façade of science; the fact that it does not encourage creativity but in fact encourages conformity. Only once enough evidence, disproving current dogmas, has accumulated do geniuses, who think outside the current mode, get accepted and change the whole lens with which people view the world. Thomas Kuhn in his seminal book The Structure of Scientific revolutions provides much more detail then what I have given a taste of here. But this highlights the link to creativity within science and Kuhn's paradigm shifts. Science is focussed so much on logic and thus working within the current paradigm, creativity is lost and scientific progress stagnates once the revolution has passed. Scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts only come about through contemplative thinking, when one critically thinks about the systems in which they are working in/with. One needs both for the progress of society and man.

Creativity is a purely human quality and only humans create in a unique fashion, and this comes about because of the core human essence of the soul and the inherent freedom it was endowed with. This freedom allows us to choose between what's right and wrong and is the basis of free will. And the uncertainty that comes about from this free and unique choice gives colour to the world and diversity in life, which link beautifully with the ideas of The Grammatical Man, by Jeremy Campbell. Architecture, uniquely perhaps, is a balance between creativity and functionality and as such is the middle ground between the two. Thus it is harmonious to an Islamic ideal of art and perhaps partly explains why the zenith of Islamic art or cultural expression has been architecture. This marriage between the functional and the beautiful typifies Islam, combining the mathematics of geometry with the richness of colour. It also partly explains my fascination with architecture combining my yearning for mathematical expression with my need for human creative expression.

The first two-thirds of the book I would recommend to anyone who is interested in learning about good critiques of some very popular philosophical systems and mainly deals with the duality of world views that religion and materialism provide and how they manifest themselves when you take their foundational conceptions to their ultimate logical aim. This book goes right to the core of what it means to be human by exploring the very human notions of morality, law, art, ethics and history to probe social, psychological, political and cultural questions in a comparative and dialectical manner resulting in a comprehensive study of philosophies and world views. And then the final third tackles those very questions, which contemporary thought systems came undone by, and shows how Islam provides a way out of those internal conflicts that beset man. It's an incredibly stimulating book, from a spiritual and an intellectual perspective and one I'm sure to come back to many times over for the rest of my life, because for me this book is truly timeless. ...more

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May 01, 2010 Ebadur rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What a book, what a book! A real treasure, I really haven't read something by a Muslim author writing in the contemporary period as in touch with what's going on, creative and brilliant. I think the dichotomy created throughout the book sometimes was a bit too simplistic (in order to argue for Islam's "bipolar unity"), but otherwise I really enjoyed this. The author is amazing in his comprehensiveness and the various sources he draws from. Thanks to Dr. Jackson for recommending this to me, inspi ...more

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Apr 02, 2018 lifeofsadnan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

NOT FOR CASUAL READING. this book took me forever to get through. i'd open it, read 2 pages, and fall asleep. the language is complicated and it can get fairly dense/repetitive at times.

but learning wise, it is a great read. alija touches on many points - the creation of man, evolution, art/architecture/music, the modern world, morality, faith, god, the list goes on. even though I feel like i'll need to come back to it later to appreciate it fully, I feel like it's given me a good insight into t ...more

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Mar 09, 2019 Humza rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Islam Between East and West begins with the following verses from Alamma Iqbal’s Javid Nama:

"Though it is from the East that the sun rises,
showing itself bold and bright,
without a veil, it burns and blazes with inward fire
only when it escapes from the shackles of East and West.
Drunk with the splendor it springs up out of its East
that it may subject all horizons to its mastery,
its nature is innocent of both East and West,
though in origin, true, it is an Easterner."

It seems to me that what fo Islam Between East and West begins with the following verses from Alamma Iqbal’s Javid Nama:

"Though it is from the East that the sun rises,
showing itself bold and bright,
without a veil, it burns and blazes with inward fire
only when it escapes from the shackles of East and West.
Drunk with the splendor it springs up out of its East
that it may subject all horizons to its mastery,
its nature is innocent of both East and West,
though in origin, true, it is an Easterner."

It seems to me that what follows in the remainder of the book is an elaboration of the meaning of these words. Throughout “Islam between East and West”, I found myself thinking back to Iqbal’s “Reconstruction of Religious Thought” because of the very evident influence of this work had on the author. Both crafted responses that aimed to satisfy the curiosity of the Westerner and settle the faith of the Muslim. This book brought down to earth long abstracted concepts such as time and space in the Islamic cosmology I had wrestled to grasp. Having led an extremely rich and interesting life himself, Izetbegović takes the reader on a journey through western literature, art, history, politics, and even science to show how all are ultimately manifestations of man’s yearning for ultimate truth. Particularly valuable is his “Table of Opposites” in the appendix. Here he divides worldviews into the “religious,” “Islamic,” and “materialistic.” Izetbegović elaborates on each of these broad categorizations in chapters such as “Drama vs Utopia,” “City vs Countryside,” and “Prayer vs Production.” Referencing everything from Dostoevsky to Renaissance sculptures, Izetbegović explores the worlds of western intellectual/religious life and Islam and ultimately decides upon them being simultaneously distinct, yet united (along with all traditions) in shared aspiration for truth.

In one my favorite passages, he skillfully traces Darwinian evolution’s impact upon society and belief within the context of the aforementioned schemas. After presenting the opposing worldviews of “pure religion” and “pure materialism” and demonstrating that they are essentially negatives of one another, Islam is presented as a “bipolar unity” that contains aspects of both while being neither. This section of the book nicely ties together the preceding portions and demonstrates how the Islamic worldview is not simply an average of the two extreme worldviews, but rather a synthesis in which Islam presents a reality inevitably containing some of the truths man has come to “on his own accord.” This book compelling forwards that Islam defies man-made categorization and is indeed a unique “bipolar unity.” Although the book can wade into abstraction at times, Izetbegović does an excellent job of providing real-world examples and evidence to convincingly make his case. Alongside Muhammad Asad and Iqbal, Alija Izetbegović has surely secured himself a place as an essential guide to whom anyone seeking to understand Islam in the modern age must turn. ...more

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May 04, 2013 MM rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: islam, re-read, philosophy, christianity, favourites, psychology

Thought-provoking and insightful, this is a book well worth reading regardless of religious background. Alija Izetbegovic is an erudite and intelligent man whose analysis of reality touches on every aspect of existence: from life to morality to art to law and back again, all focussing on the inherent dualism in humans of spirit and matter. Rather than being a cliche, run-of-the-mill "Islam and Science" book, Izetbegovic thankfully does not once try to find a so-called "scientific miracle" in the ...more

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Dec 01, 2015 Midya Rahman rated it it was amazing

the book s great,
it gives a very accurate idea about human nature, polices, and many revolutionary movements;
also a wise comparison for science, art...

the writer is deep minded and intelligent that he could provide opinions for many wide subjects one would not predict a politician would care about,

the book is not about Islam, it is about all religions, it is about the creation of universe itself

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Aug 06, 2019 Hafidha rated it it was ok

This book is an utter clutter of unorganized thoughts and poor arguments, sometimes even obnoxious; it keeps bouncing everywhere, it gets hard to follow at times, I am surprised at the positive reviews it has gotten, but I can understand why though, I guess inject Islam in whatever and its devoted adherents will follow.

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Jan 23, 2020 Roumen Bezergianov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A great philosophical work, with the first half of the book reviewing the history of philosophy and the main differences between humanistic and materialistic philosophy. The second half of the book focuses on Islam, and its way of integrating humanistic and materialistic concerns, of reconciling these differences.

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Feb 03, 2015 محمد عبد العزيز added it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M49UK... ...more

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Sep 24, 2018 Fatima Karim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

really so beautiful book. I recommend to read.

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Aug 25, 2020 Safa rated it really liked it

Great book indeed. if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? ...more

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Apr 25, 2016 Asma Mabrouk rated it it was amazing

(Y)

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Mar 30, 2019 Z. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This work served as Alija Izetbegovic's doctoral dissertation and has become a foundational text for a deep understanding of human being mind sets. The book is a journey through different schools of thoughts, where it shows where the humanity failed and where it succeeded.

It's a deep understanding of leading world views (West/Capitalism/religion - East/Socialism/materialism) shows why such philosophies have failed to give human beings what they need, the whole book is meant to offer the position This work served as Alija Izetbegovic's doctoral dissertation and has become a foundational text for a deep understanding of human being mind sets. The book is a journey through different schools of thoughts, where it shows where the humanity failed and where it succeeded.

It's a deep understanding of leading world views (West/Capitalism/religion - East/Socialism/materialism) shows why such philosophies have failed to give human beings what they need, the whole book is meant to offer the position and role of Islam in the context of this sharp ideological conflict between "East and West”.

The author addresses intellectually the parallelism or dualism of various concepts such as Culture and Civilization, Moral and Utopia, Society and Community, Morals and Religion, rill and Upbringing, Art and Religion, Art and Science, Religion and Revolution, etc),

It’s well known that internal and the external worlds as two parallel lines that never cross philosophically, yet both of them are existed in the human beings. By differentiating between the idealism of religion and the atheism of materialism Izetbegovic argues that religion and materialism, are two poles which only Islam can reconcile and bring about their synthesis.

He explains how materialism claims that humans are not free and only subjects to their environment and natural development and cannot be equal from that perspective (always stresses what is common to animals and humans). On the other hand religion stresses what makes them different; for example the concepts of freedom, dignity, equality and responsibility can only come from the religious perspective.

If we understand Izetbegovit well, religion/Christianity is true but only half-way; materialism/Socialism is also true but also half-way, where as Islam being a synthesis of religion and materialism and the unity of "religion and materialism”.

In terms of his behaviour and existential witness, Izetbegovic remained faithful to most of the ideas and views expressed in this work.

The thing I liked most about this book is that it proofs the fact that it has always been _ possible in Islamic history to offer a provocative and an intellectual answer to the call of Islamic universalism even when the - author is not familiar with traditional Islamic sciences! Alija Izetbegovit did not study Islam formally or systematically, nor-as already mentioned-did he know Arabic. He was just hard-working and self-taught person. ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 Peshawa Jalal Muhammad rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

this book , written secretly and hidden for a while before publishing it, is the definitely one of the best modern philosophical, spiritual and sociopolitical approach towards Islam and it's position within modern ideologies and ideas. as the title suggests the book is am analysis of islam through the ultimate form of life as viewed by man : Duality .
Bigovic does a great job explaining science and art , religion and materialism, culture and civilization, facts and valued , soul and psyche and s ...more

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Apr 24, 2018 Haneen rated it really liked it

this work should be put on a shelf in the louvre or sth, and it can't be read just once! one of the many points that triggered my mental conscious was the similarity between religion & art in general; the art in it's search of what's humanity is like it kinda became a god's seeker, even though the reality has agnostic artists, that doesn't change a thing! it goes back to our nature as a contradicted human beings, humans were always in need of a way to communicate spiritually unlike animals who a ...more

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Dec 02, 2020 Imaneeh rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've read this year I highly recommend it, and it doesn't talk just about Islam but about the civilisation and phylosophy in general and everything is quoted which I really liked, the analysis of the matter was logical and objective which is great, you should read it ...more

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Feb 15, 2019 Hussam Alkaabi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Interesting, but overrated...

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Jun 03, 2019 Islam Gamal rated it it was amazing

In my opinion, This book is a must read for every Muslim to stand tall against the world now days.

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Feb 13, 2020 Nahla Fathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mind blooming and thought provoking
Highly recommended .

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Jul 13, 2020 Osama Zubair rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Alija rahimahullah does a good job presenting the Islamic worldview in comparison to a Christian and materialistic worldview.

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Jul 22, 2020 Muhamed Halilovic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

MASTERPIECE THAT SINGLEHANDEDLY BRINGS TO KNEES ALL ATHEISTIC AND PHILOSOPHIC BULLSHIT OF WESTERN DUMB, LOST, ARROGANT, RACIST, INHUMAN MOTHERFUCKERS STARTING WITH ZIZEK AND GOING BACKWARDS.

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Aug 28, 2020 Islam Jaber rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great book! The author is well educated.

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Dec 31, 2020 Abdul Quader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Good book to read.

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Jan 09, 2021 Osama Noor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It explains psychological peace to the Muslim community and how to deal with material and spiritual matters to Islam

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Egyptians Good Re...: * مناقشة أكتوبر: كتاب الاسلام بين الشرق والغرب	12	393	Apr 10, 2015 04:25AM
سطور ثمينة	1	16	Apr 06, 2015 09:56AM
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نادي حياة أجمل: الإسلام بين الشرق والغرب	1	26	Jul 18, 2014 09:29AM
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About Alija Izetbegović

Alija Izetbegović

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Alija Izetbegović bosanskohercegovački i bošnjački političar i prvi predsjednik samostalne Republike Bosne i Hercegovine.

Nakon prvih višepartijskih skupštinskih izbora u Bosni i Hercegovini 1990. godine, izabran je za predsjednika Republike Bosne i Hercegovine kao predstavnik Stranke demokratske akcije iz redova bošnjačkog naroda, do 1992. godine.

Rođen u porodici zemljoposjednika, koji su se dose ...more

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“إن المجتمع العاجز عن التدين ، هو أيضا عاجز عن الثورة.” — 791 likes

“إن أي تلاعب بالناس حتى ولو كان في مصلحتهم هو أمر لاإنساني، أن تفكر بالنيابة عنهم وأن تحررهم من مسؤولياتهم والتزاماتهم هو أيضا لا إنساني.” — 558 likes

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