Explaining the Qur’an. A Socio-Scientific Inquiry. Vol. 2
| Author: | Choudhury, Masudul Alam | |
| Year: | 2002 | |
| Pages: | 456 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-6878-1 978-0-7734-6878-8 | |
| Price: | $279.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
Winner of the Adele Mellen Prize for contribution to scholarship
This important work presents a technical study of the Qur’an in light of the epistemology of oneness of God, referred to as tawhid. A unique methodology premised on the unity of knowledge is derived in terms of an interactive, integrative and evolutionary model. To bring out this significant feature, the study encompasses many interdisciplinary fields, including Islamic studies, philosophy of science, mathematical systems, political economy, social contractarianism and the world-system. It includes an extensive comparative approach with Western sciences in these fields.
Reviews
“Professor Choudhury’s learned treatise is one of the excellent works that I have read in the last decade. This encyclopedic work is a critical turning point in the Qur’anic studies. It marked the first scientific analysis in its field. The author has written a superb and a landmark two-volume work that will be a reference to scholars who are concerned with discovering the Qur’anic knowledge for many years to come…..this analysis is comprehensive in its scope and coverage, diligent and conscientious in its research, and comparative in its perspective.” – Dr. Hilmi Zawati, Bishops University, author of Is Jihad a Just War?
“The work presents an original and challenging theory of complexity in understanding social-scientific reality. The text is erudite in a combination of philosophy, mathematics, political economy and sociology. Its thought composition emulates the scholasticism of the Middle Ages Islamic thinkers who wrote on these epistemological themes…. Choudhury claims that it is high time now for the Muslim World to take up this long-awaited leadership and re-live its scholarly past. This is a point that most will agree on. For opening up this challenge in this work as in many of his other ones, Explaining the Qur’an needs to be studied carefully by all around the intellectual world.” – Dr. M. Kabir Hassan, President, Academy of International Business, and LRE Chair Professor of Economic Development and Finance, University of New Orleans
“It is a welcome new venture in the field of exegesis of the Qur’an. It is meant to be a brand new scientific interpretation of Qur’anic knowledge. It is likely to break through the existing deadlocked intellectual horizon and delve deep to unravel new grounds and wider frontiers of knowledge…. Professor Choudhury’s present work has placed before us the possibility of a strong and radical change in Muslim thinking in socio-economic and political fronts.” - Professor Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
“The work presents an original and challenging theory of complexity in understanding social-scientific reality. The text is erudite in a combination of philosophy, mathematics, political economy and sociology. Its thought composition emulates the scholasticism of the Middle Ages Islamic thinkers who wrote on these epistemological themes…. Choudhury claims that it is high time now for the Muslim World to take up this long-awaited leadership and re-live its scholarly past. This is a point that most will agree on. For opening up this challenge in this work as in many of his other ones, Explaining the Qur’an needs to be studied carefully by all around the intellectual world.” – Dr. M. Kabir Hassan, President, Academy of International Business, and LRE Chair Professor of Economic Development and Finance, University of New Orleans
“It is a welcome new venture in the field of exegesis of the Qur’an. It is meant to be a brand new scientific interpretation of Qur’anic knowledge. It is likely to break through the existing deadlocked intellectual horizon and delve deep to unravel new grounds and wider frontiers of knowledge…. Professor Choudhury’s present work has placed before us the possibility of a strong and radical change in Muslim thinking in socio-economic and political fronts.” - Professor Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
Table of Contents
Table of contents:
Foreword by Professor Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
Preface by Rev. Professor Dr. Gregory MacLeod
Introduction
1. Explaining the Qur’an – Introduction. (Appendix: The unity of knowledge in the Qur’anic world-systems versus the pluralism of knowledge in Occidental world-systems)
2. Introducing the Knowledge-Centered Worldview of the Qur’an
3. The Key Concepts in Understanding Qur’anic Methodology
4. A Qur’anic Methodology of Socio-Scientific Investigation (Appendix: the methodology of self-referencing in scientific reasoning)
5. The Instrumentation of Qur’anic Methodology (Appendix: Resolution of the distribution of wealth in the law of inheritance)
6. A Model of the Knowledge-Centered Qur’anic Worldview
7. A Qur’anic Theory of Deontological Consequentialism
8. A Qur’anic Critique of Occidental and Muslim-Rationalist Approaches to the Theory of Knowledge
9. A Contemporary Islamic Revival in the Light of a Qur’anic Revival
10. A Theory of Qur’anic System Design and Its Application (Appendices: 1.- Knowledge-induced interaction, integration and creative evolution; 2 – Proposed curriculum development for the IIE-methodology in the sciences and engineering)
11. Sustainability, Certainty and Development in the Tawhidi Nexus of Relations
12. The Epistemological Foundations of the Theory of Justice in Islam
13. Resource Mobilization and Development Goals for Islamic Banks
14. Wealth and Knowledge
15. The Hereafter as a Topological Super-manifold of Divine Knowledge: Tawhidi Timal Topology and Supermanifold
16. Analytical Relations of the Tawhidi Nexus of Knowledge-Induced Trajectories
17. Conclusions
Glossary of Arabic Terms; Bibliography; Index
Foreword by Professor Dr. Muin-ud-Din Ahmad Khan
Preface by Rev. Professor Dr. Gregory MacLeod
Introduction
1. Explaining the Qur’an – Introduction. (Appendix: The unity of knowledge in the Qur’anic world-systems versus the pluralism of knowledge in Occidental world-systems)
2. Introducing the Knowledge-Centered Worldview of the Qur’an
3. The Key Concepts in Understanding Qur’anic Methodology
4. A Qur’anic Methodology of Socio-Scientific Investigation (Appendix: the methodology of self-referencing in scientific reasoning)
5. The Instrumentation of Qur’anic Methodology (Appendix: Resolution of the distribution of wealth in the law of inheritance)
6. A Model of the Knowledge-Centered Qur’anic Worldview
7. A Qur’anic Theory of Deontological Consequentialism
8. A Qur’anic Critique of Occidental and Muslim-Rationalist Approaches to the Theory of Knowledge
9. A Contemporary Islamic Revival in the Light of a Qur’anic Revival
10. A Theory of Qur’anic System Design and Its Application (Appendices: 1.- Knowledge-induced interaction, integration and creative evolution; 2 – Proposed curriculum development for the IIE-methodology in the sciences and engineering)
11. Sustainability, Certainty and Development in the Tawhidi Nexus of Relations
12. The Epistemological Foundations of the Theory of Justice in Islam
13. Resource Mobilization and Development Goals for Islamic Banks
14. Wealth and Knowledge
15. The Hereafter as a Topological Super-manifold of Divine Knowledge: Tawhidi Timal Topology and Supermanifold
16. Analytical Relations of the Tawhidi Nexus of Knowledge-Induced Trajectories
17. Conclusions
Glossary of Arabic Terms; Bibliography; Index