hi (un)fortunately first time i hear the name zaiuddin sardar. it's not long enuff after i realize my inescable, but unrepentant muslim root with no deep reading on islam. to me childhood beliefs always haunted me with the world of jinnumma and mysticism interrogating the 'rationality' of my limited scientific knowledge. hence, i dont understand the meaning of reconceptualizing islam so as to flourish the science.
regards Ahmed rafeek j On 6/23/08, damodar prasad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Zaiuddin Sardar's new work "Breaking the Monolith" may be of interest to > many of you. Thsi is a collection of essays,columns and articles published > at several journals. Many of you are familiar with his works- postmodern & > other, why do people hate america and the autobiographical- desperately > seeking paradise. This is a great work. I had written a small piece on > desperately seeking paradise. > > This book deals with the several themes connected with contemporary Islam. > And some of the issues discussed in the book are pet themes of our > discussion. > > Let me quote from the essay "Islam and science": beyond troubled > relationship. Zardar says: "the decline of science in Muslim societies is a > product of the systematic reduction in the meaning of the basic concepts of > Islam"... > > "Most importantly, it is about how the enterprise of science is made > relevant and meaningful, internalized within the ethos and conceptual > framework of Muslim socities. The decline of Islamic science was a product > of combined forces that enginered a conceptual traditon In Muslim > civilization.. Science will only take root in Muslim socities if they can > reorient themselves: reconceptualize Islam itself as a holistic enterprise, > Sciecne will flourish..." > > In Islam and secularsim, he writes : "My travels in the middle east soon > clarified one aspect of the problem. Secularism in the Muslim world > associated with oppression and suppression of tradition and religious > people." ... "If Muslism were to accept secularism, both secularism and > religion had to be reformulated." > > Zardar in this book nuancely depicts the role of Muslim Intellectual. A > detailing of what an "intellectual" is itself a good read. We need to > juxtapose this with Gramsci's and Said understanding of Intellectual > > (meanwhile, what is the opposite of "organic" intellectual? It is not > "inorganic". Reading through group discussions, we now have a new category > which can be termed as "anti-biotic" intellectuals. Not detailing their > charchterstics). > > A critical review of some of the ideas and concepts is required, I think, > reading through this. But it is the ethos underpinning his writings that > makes this an important work. > > But I found something irritating: Even Zardar passively admits that 9/11 is > a watershed in global history. I can understand T. Freidman stating this. Of > course it is an "important" event. But the non-eurpoean and Latin American > socities were experiencing devastations of massive scale from the > impearilsot onslaught through out the century. > > The outlandish apologetics of such devastations are called neo-liberals, > neocons, neoimperialists and one of their contemporary guru is an indian- > deepak lal and soem local lals. > > damodar > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
