Where East Meets West : Appropriating the Islamic Encounter
The fate of civilization lies in the balance of culture, not power. This penetrating work argues that the terms of the culture of our times will determine the future of politics and societies. Islam continues to be, as much as it was in the past, at the hub and crossroads of contemporary civilization. The difference, from a historical perspective, lies in the West’s control of the political setting, the primary factor in qualifying the terms of today’s civilization, and in setting its pace and direction accordingly.
The modern West takes pride in its rational liberalism, yet for all its reverent skepticism, it is not at all sure how it can handle its growing human problems. As such it makes sense to recall a timeless exhortation of natural wisdom, confirmed in divine revelation, handed down over the generations and understandable to all, in both East and West. It needs to be taken seriously on the agenda of any future encounter between the East and West which presumes to address the future ecology of a moral global economy. When the individual has become a measure unto himself, the community dissolves, or at least, its matrix is severely undermined. In the meantime, there is nothing that can secure the individual against his own excesses. In forgetting their Creator, their origin, and their destiny, God has made them oblivious of themselves.
Dr. Mona Abul-Fadl
Mona Abul-Fadl (1945-2008) Abul-Fadl gained a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London before becoming professor at Cairo University. She was also a Fulbright scholar at the Old Dominion University in Virginia and an exchange scholar at the Center for Research and Study of Mediterranean Societies (CRESM) in France before joining IIIT to become a close and long-standing associate of the Institute. Indeed Abul-Fadl’s work was first noticed by former IIIT president and late renowned scholar Professor Ismail Raji al Faruqi. Impressed by the scope of her reading, knowledge of Western thought and tradition, and ability to critique these both from Western and Islamic perspectives, al Faruqi was keen for Abul-Fadl to use her skills and knowledge to further the development of the Institute’s Western Thought Project. Active in inter-cultural dialogue, Abul-Fadl took full responsibility for the Project following the latter’s assassination, and started processing materials which had been collected under al Faruqi’s supervision whilst also beginning to cover new ground herself.
