American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies

Abstract

The eighth annual meeting of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies was held at Villanova University on May 17-18, 1991. The meeting featured a number of important sessions, ranging in theme from the Islamization of Knowledge to women and the Gulf war. The session on the Islamization of Knowledge was chaired by Charles Butterworth of the University of Maryland, and included the following: 1) Mona Abul-Fadl of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, VA, who spoke on "The Islamization of Knowledge Interpreted: A Muslim Intellectual Response to Modernity"; 2) Tamara Sann of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, who addressed the theme of"Islamic Historicism in Context"; and 3) Theodore P. Wright, Jr., of SUNY, Albany, NY, who discussed "The Islamization of Knowledge in Pakistan." Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi' of Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT, was the discussant. Abul-Fadl started the session by discussing some of the salient features of the Islamization of Knowledge- its history, major themes, and its relationship to modernity. She observed that there is no inherent contradiction between the Enlightenment and Modernity project and the Islamization of Knowledge plan. In a sense, the lslamization of Knowledge is essentially philosophical in nature and, as such, it can sum the substantial achievements of Islamic civilization as well as the contributions of the Western world. Moreover, she stre sed the need for developing a sound methodology that accounts for the intellectual achievements of humanity. As such, the Islamization of Knowledge ...