Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought

Rating:
Summary: Indispensible
Review: Brown's book is the best introduction to how tradition is being understood and and re-defined in modern Sunni Islamic thought. One would recommend before reading this text having at least some familiarity with the Islamic tradition and modern Islamic history, however. Brown himself demonstrates an excellent familarity with the sources he examines and languages and contexts which produced them. He focuses mainly on the two intellectual powerhouses of modern Islamic thought, Pakistan-India and Egypt. His conclusions demonstrate that paradigms that placed tradition and modernity diametrically opposed to each other (cf. W.C. Smith) are erroneous as tradition can also be a conduit for profound social change as is the case with Islamic tradition. Moreoever, he argues forcefully that modern approaches to tradition and religious authority are born out of a confidence that Islam is growing stronger, not from a fear that it is threatened by a tide of modernity and progress.

Rating:
Summary: Indispensible
Review: Brown's book is the best introduction to how tradition is being understood and and re-defined in modern Sunni Islamic thought. One would recommend before reading this text having at least some familiarity with the Islamic tradition and modern Islamic history, however. Brown himself demonstrates an excellent familarity with the sources he examines and languages and contexts which produced them. He focuses mainly on the two intellectual powerhouses of modern Islamic thought, Pakistan-India and Egypt. His conclusions demonstrate that paradigms that placed tradition and modernity diametrically opposed to each other (cf. W.C. Smith) are erroneous as tradition can also be a conduit for profound social change as is the case with Islamic tradition. Moreoever, he argues forcefully that modern approaches to tradition and religious authority are born out of a confidence that Islam is growing stronger, not from a fear that it is threatened by a tide of modernity and progress.