Rethinking Reform

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ṭāhā and the Temporal Reconceptualization of the Authenticity-Modernity Paradigm

Bibliographic Data

ID3159170
AuthorsHarald Viersen (0000-0003-0266-3783, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume14
Issue2
Pages225
Publication date2023-02-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14020225
OpenAlexW4319598706
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

This article looks to reconceptualize the question of reform in modern Islamic society through the work of the Moroccan thinker ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ṭāhā by highlighting how he redefines concepts central to contemporary Arab thought using an alternative temporal perspective. Starting from the observation that discussions on the reform of heritage prominent in contemporary Arab thought display a linear-progressive character that sustains its dichotomous character as a seemingly interminable contest between modernizers and traditionalists, we will discuss Ṭāhā's argument for puncturing the recurring structure of these debates by proposing a conceptualization of time that locates the essence of modernity in an authentic past. Not only does this reconfigure received interpretations of concepts of modernity and authenticity, but it also shows how, given the foundational role that the dominant linear-progressive conception of time plays in structuring Arab-Islamic thought, a reconceptualization of time can open up ways of reconceptualizing this entire debate and the question of reform at the center of it

Aesthetics · Conceptualization · CONTEST · Epistemology · Islam · Linguistics · Modernity · Sociology · Temporalities · Theology · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy · Turkey's Politics and Society

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access