Draft:Ismail Raji al-Faruqi

Ismail Raji al-Faruqi
Name	Ismail Raji al-Faruqi
Personal Details
Birth Place	Jaffa, Palestine
Death Place	Pennsylvania, United States
Students	Template:Vertical list
Religion	Islam
Works	Template:Vertical list

Ismail Raji al-Faruqi (1921–1986) was a Palestinian scholar and thinker specializing in comparative religions. He was among the first to focus on the project of Islamic knowledge and was elected as the first president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought. He was martyred alongside his wife, Lamya al-Faruqi, by stabbing in the United States America on May 27, 1986, corresponding to the 27th night of Ramadan, 1406 AH.

Birth and Upbringing

He was born in 1921 in the city of Jaffa in Palestine into a wealthy family of Palestinian origin. His father worked as a forensic medical judge and intended to raise his son according to the new civil education methods customary among certain wealthy Palestinian families; therefore, he sent him to the Dominican Fathers' School in France (Saint Joseph).

Education

In 1936, he obtained his high school diploma from the Dominican Fathers' School in France (Saint Joseph). Subsequently, he enrolled in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut, earning his Bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 1941. After graduation, he worked in various governmental positions under the British Mandate. With the outbreak of war in Palestine in 1948, he participated in several jihadist operations. However, following the end of the war and the establishment of the Jewish state, he immediately moved to the United States to continue his studies. Between 1949 and 1951 CE, he obtained his Master's degree in Philosophy, and then in 1952, he earned his PhD from Indiana University with a dissertation titled "The Metaphysical and Epistemological Aspects of Values."

Journey to Egypt

Despite having attained the highest academic degrees, al-Faruqi felt a deficiency in his knowledge and understanding. Consequently, he traveled to Cairo, where he spent approximately four years studying Islamic sciences from their primary sources at Al-Azhar, thereby demonstrating his profound comprehension and representation of the Islamic intellectual heritage. He chose Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) as his reference in intellectual matters..

In addition to Islamic influences during his stay in Cairo, he was exposed to certain Nasserist influences for a period and believed in the idea of Arabism for some time. Given the Islamic perspective he had acquired and his historical review of the Arab role in spreading Islam, he believed that Arabs possessed superiority over others. However, he viewed this superiority as distinct from nationalism, which he considered a product of Western thought, believing that Arab superiority existed solely for the purpose of propagating the religion.

Nevertheless, following the failure of Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalist project and the political defeat suffered in the June War (1967), al-Faruqi turned towards Islam, and thereafter never mentioned Arabism in his writings.

Works

Upon completing his education, he returned to the United States and, from the late 1950s onwards, worked as a professor of the philosophy of religions at several universities in America and the West, producing distinguished works in this field. A book by him was published in Arabic titled Al-Milal al-Yahudiyyah al-Mu'asirah (Contemporary Jewish Sects). Additionally, several books were published in English that were not translated into Arabic. Among these works are:

• Historical Atlas of the Religions of the World;
• The Great Asian Religions;
• Christian Ethics;
• The Roots of Zionism in the Jewish Religion;
• Islam and The Problem of Israel.

These books were praised by the scholar Abdelwahab El-Messiri in his encyclopedia (Jews, Judaism, and Zionism) as enabling an understanding of phenomena related to Jews beyond the political sphere.

The remainder of his intellectual output revolves around Islamic civilization, which al-Faruqi compiled in a major encyclopedia titled Atlas of Islamic Civilization. This work was translated into Arabic after his death. Through this book, he sought to articulate the essence and foundation of Islamic civilization, its characteristics, and its distinctions from others, emphasizing the central role of Tawhid (monotheism) in shaping this civilization in all aspects, including material ones.

He published his most important book in English under the title Al-Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life (Tawhid and Its Effects on Thought and Life).

He also authored works focusing on the Islamization of knowledge, counting him among the first theorists of this subject. Some of these works were translated and published by the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the periodical Al-Muslim al-Mu'asir (The Contemporary Muslim).

Al-Faruqi possessed a vast collection of highly significant research and studies in English. After his death, Ataullah Siddiqui compiled some under the title Islam and Other Faiths. Additionally, some of his other books were translated into English by other individuals; for instance, The Life of Muhammad, originally authored by Muhammad Husayn Haykal.

The Spark of the Islamization of Knowledge Idea

During his residence in the United States, Dr. al-Faruqi, alongside his extensive academic and scholarly endeavors, maintained his engagement with the issues of the Islamic world, particularly Islamic sciences. He demonstrated that physical separation from one's homeland does not imply detachment from or indifference toward its concerns, nor does it preclude working on its behalf. Consequently, together with several members of the Muslim Students Association, he founded the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (Jam'iyyat al-'Ulama' al-Ijtima'iyyin al-Muslimin) in 1972 CE, serving as its president from its inception until 1978 CE. Amidst the scholarly discussions and dialogues conducted within this organization, he developed the concept of the Islamization of Knowledge. This idea subsequently led him to establish the International Institute of Islamic Thought in the United States in 1981.

The Theory of the Islamization of Knowledge

The faltering efforts of previous reform movements profoundly influenced al-Faruqi and other Muslim scholars residing in the West. Their presence in the West enabled them, on one hand, to recognize the backward state of Islamic societies and, on the other, to perceive the extent of the contradiction between Western and Muslim conceptions of knowledge. According to them, none of the earlier reformers could have endured this contradiction: "It was our generation that discovered this contradiction by living through it. However, what pains the spirit is the violation of the Islamic worldview within the universities of the Islamic world; therefore, we warn the Islamic world regarding this calamity and, for the first time in history, seek to develop a plan to counteract the consequences of this misconception and restore Islamic education to its proper approach."

Founding of the International Institute of Islamic Thought

In 1981, he founded the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Washington, D.C., and served as its president from its establishment until his death in 1986. The founders of this institute argued that the crisis afflicting the Islamic Ummah is fundamentally an intellectual crisis, and that political, economic, and social crises are merely its consequences. They presented a vision that can be described as unique. Adopting a critical stance toward Western knowledge, al-Faruqi pioneered (at least in the Arab world) the strategy known as the "Islamization of Knowledge," thereby confronting the visions, structures, and foundations of these two perspectives.

The Philosophy of Western Knowledge

Al-Faruqi was among the first to examine the philosophical foundations of Western knowledge and compare them with Islamic foundations. Through this comparison, he concluded that undeniable differences exist, and given these discrepancies, Western knowledge cannot be accepted wholesale as Islamic. The Western perspective holds that the unseen cannot serve as a source of knowledge; science is valid only concerning objective facts perceptible by the senses, free from any moral or value orientations, with its ultimate aim being the fulfillment of human material needs.

The Philosophy of Islamic Knowledge

In contrast, Islamic knowledge, which al-Faruqi regarded as based on the principle of the "Unity of Truth," posits that God Almighty is the source of all knowledge. His divine revelation, along with His attributes, encompasses certain cosmic signs (objective facts). There exists no contradiction between revelation on one hand and reason and science on the other; rather, reason is a gift from God to humanity. Humans are thus obligated to align the directives of revelation with the laws governing nature. He argues that a barrier exists preventing Islamic knowledge from slipping into the denial of God's existence, the plundering of nature, or the proclamation of human dominion over nature. The framework of values and ethics derived from revelation serves as a source of knowledge and science. These ethics pertain to society and the nation, as ethics constitute a set of controls governing the relationship between the individual and the broader community; consequently, their scope of application cannot be limited solely to the individual sphere.

Islam and Other Religions

Al-Faruqi, with his expertise in the philosophy of religion, made a prominent contribution to clarifying Islam's perspective on other religions. Based on Islamic understanding, the phenomenon of prophethood is comprehensive and recurrent, occurring according to time and place; God Almighty will not hold people accountable unless He has sent them a messenger.

Islam views the monotheistic religions of Judaism and Christianity as sharing, in a sense, a monotheistic essence with itself: "Islam does not see in Judaism and Christianity views that contradict its own and must therefore be tolerated; rather, they are two religions revealed by God and His revelation to humanity. Their status is not political, cultural, or civilizational, but religious. Islam is unique in this regard, as no other religion in the world makes belief in the truth of other religions a prerequisite for its own faith and testimony to the people."

Islam has respected followers of both monotheistic and non-monotheistic religions and, within the Islamic state, has granted rights to all adherents of monotheistic and non-monotheistic faiths. Everyone may remain upon their own belief or discuss it with others; they may also reject the invitation to Islam and remain upon their own creed. They may practice their own religious, traditional, and doctrinal rites as long as these remain within their own sphere and do not extend to the general public.

His Intellectualism and Open-Minded Perspective

Dr. al-Faruqi held an open and comprehensive view of Islam, reflecting his awareness of contemporary conditions. He sought to establish a new relationship between the Islamic world and the rest of the world, avoiding bigotry and repulsion. His ideas exerted a clear intellectual influence on a number of young scholars from the second generation of Islamic studies, including Ibrahim Zain and Louis Safi. His ideas were characterized by openness, particularly toward the "other," as he regarded others as human beings possessing full human rights, regardless of their religion or gender.

Death

On May 27, 1986, corresponding to Ramadan 1406, al-Faruqi and his wife Lois were killed in their home in Pennsylvania. An African American man broke into their apartment and stabbed them to death. Joseph Louis Young confessed to the crime, was sentenced to death, and died of natural causes in prison in 1996. During the commission of the crime, the murderer reportedly shouted that revelation had been sent down to him commanding him to kill al-Faruqi. Evidence suggests Mossad was involved in this murder, as one day before the killing, a Jewish individual claiming expertise in Islamic studies visited the murderer and established contact with him.

Hisham al-Talib from the Institute of Islamic Thought stated: "For several years while the murderer was imprisoned, I attempted to contact him, but meetings were prevented until he died of illness, and the case was completely closed."

Status of the Institute

Following the events of September 11, the institute was raided by U.S. security forces, who seized all documents, computers, and several tons of paper. Its staff were subjected to severe harassment. Although they paid enormous legal fees to defend themselves against the charges, they were unable to secure full acquittal.

See Also

Islamization of Knowledge

External Links

[Ismail Raji al-Faruqi](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL175450A/Isma%CA%BFil_R._Al-Faruqi) at the [Open Library](https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A9)