Toward Islamic Anthropology

Abstract

In his short book, Toward Islamic Anthropology, Akbar Ahmed addresses two scholarly communities: anthropologists, whose training is based, as he says, on the study of classic sociological works by Western Europeans, and educated Muslim readers whose view of society is based on their study of the Qur'an and classic works in Islamic jurisprudence and philosophy. Being a member of both communities himself, Professor Ahmed is sensitive to the issues that they face. He makes a sincere plea for dialogue between these two communities and puts forward some intriguing recommendations for resolving the disputes that divide them. Ahmed begins with a discussion of "the science of anthropology." This serves as an exposition of his views on the subject and as a general introduction to anthropology for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. His epistemological position, that anthropology is "a branch of empirical, observational science" (p. 14) which seeks "regularities or general laws" (p. 15) is both sensible and in harmony with the rational Islamic philosophical traditions. In fact, Ahmed argues that "If anthropology is a science . . . using ... data collected, for value-neutral, dispassionate analysis ... then [the Muslim scholar] al Biruni [973-1048 A.C.] is indeed an anthropologist." (p. 56) The philosophical realism of both earlier Muslim scholarship and Ahmed's book, which affirms that the social and cultural facts under study have an objective reality, contrasts with the position adopted by "postmodern" ethnologists. Such writers seem to believe that "the ethnographer, like the native, constructs reality" and cast doubt in a nihilistic way on "the reality of ethnography's project altogether." Ahmed's position, then, is not only acceptable to Muslims but is also a much-needed reaffirmation of the scientific ...