The Challenge of Islam in the 21st Century

Abstract

It is a great honor for me to be invited to give the key note address to this very distinguished body. I would like to express my gratitude to the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) and in particular to its distinguished president, my friend Mumtaz Ahmad. The convention is of special significance this year since we are honoring the memory of the great scholar and original thinker, Isma'il al-Faruqi. Twenty years ago he persuaded me to write a small book for his Islamization of knowledge series called Towards Islamic Anthropology published by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIlT) shortly before his tragic death. On hearing of his death in Pakistan, I wrote the following lines which appeared in the daily national newspaper Dawn and in my book Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society On the death of Ismail Faruqi there are many ways to kill an Arab you can shoot them down in public places or torture them to insanity in closed rooms and call them terrorists you can surround their villages- making sure their women and children are inside- ...