Customer Reviews

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam

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Get any other edition at all of Iqbal's critically important work. This 2009 production from the ridiculously named "Dodo Press" suffers from terrible textual problems presumably resulting from 1) translation of one electronic text format to another and 2) no proofreading! For example, on the bottom of page 2, Qur'an is rendered "Qur'«n" --presumably the source text had a diacritic character for the long a, but the text has been corrupted. Qur'«n continues, page after page, and the problem gets worse as longer names of people, titles of books, and quoted passages come in from Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.

This is a good and innovative book that will be of interest to most modern day educated muslims who are fed up with the dogmatic outlook of their religion. Non-muslims will not find it interesting because it is primarily written by a muslim for his fellow muslims. The main messages of the book are the following. First, this universe is dynamic and so is God. He is the Creator and is constantly busy in creation. Second, God has given man complete freedom of choice and man is not restricted by his destiny. Third, muslims have made a big mistake by discontinuing the evolution of Islamic law and by confining themselves to four major (Sunni) schools of law. Since the world is constantly changing, we need constant evolution of Islamic law to keep pace with the world. Modern democracy can go a long way in achieving this goal and the concept of 'caliphate' can be replaced by the concept of 'republic'. Fourth, mystic religious experience is not only possible but is the only way to find the Ultimate Reality.
At times the author is lost in philosophical jargon and makes a simple point look very complicated. Most of the big talk in the book is based on mere theory (or whim). Nonetheless, the book offers some food for thought and courageously challenges the status quo. No wonder then that according to Wikipedia this book is banned in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed Iqbal was a brillant philosopher as well as famous poet. In this book, he lays out a strong case that religious thought in Islam has been in stagnation for some 500 years, and this does a disservice to the real and dynamic meaning to the Quran. Iqbal was writing at a time when he was trying to both (a) inspire fellow Muslims in India, circa 1930s) to rise to the occasion to defend their religious and political rights as an independent India was going to emerge, and (b) to promote pan-Islamic conscientiousness and cooperation- a type of League of Nations. While the text of the book is complex, he presents fascinating arguments and backs his assertions with numerous references and interpretations of the Quran as well as from noted Islamic and western scholars. Iqbal argues that the Quran offers Muslims an opportunity for a journey in person growth and spirituality which is unique and evolutionary, and yet unites the faithful in a deep spiritual communion with God. Although a demanding reading trek, the effort to study, rather than just try to read, this book, all said done, is very worthwhile.

If you want to understand the Quran, its spirit, and it dimensions and want to know it at the highest possible level, you need not go any further than this. "The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam" is years ahead of its time, and after a few hundred years the world or humanity at large will be at a mental plain to understand it in it's totality, because it leads you to the glory and capacity of Islam not as a religion but as a social order, that is why the first sentence in the book claims, and i qoute "the Qur'an is a book which emphasizes 'deed' rather than 'idea'"

This is the greatest book that I have read on Islamic philosophy. It reflects the depth of the authors deep insight into metaphysics. One might not agree with all what Iqbal has to say but one things for sure he difinitely teaches you how a modern muslim should think. The way that he has critically analysed some of the modern theories in science and metaphics is truly amazing and simply ineffable. I strongly recommend that this should be read by every muslim.

This book is by far one of the most valuable and insightful readings I've benefitted from thus far. Iqbal's insight (especially during his period of time) is unexplainable. His analysis of Western thought and philosophy, replacing it with his own deep conclusions has given me a totally different outlook on life. By far, he is the greatest thinker of the 20th century.

Aprox. 60 years after his death Iqbal still has a powerful effect on the Muslim mind. A must read for every Muslim.

Like any other work of Dr. Iqbal, without a doubt this book is an extra-ordinary peice of work for every soul capable of "thinking". At times, somewhat difficult to grasp too.