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Epilogue: Critical Reflections in Retrospect and Prospect

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Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History

Part of the book series: Islam and Global Studies ((IGS))

Abstract

This epilogue reflects on each contribution and the volume as a whole in order to locate the broader questions within longstanding, though disparate, disciplinary orientations in the study of Islam. It identifies certain arguments with certain disciplinary formations, while suggesting that the underlying formative discipline may unduly limit the scope of inquiry and innovation possible in this area of study. The epilogue concludes with gestures toward further research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tolerance as used herein is not meant to reflect an aspirational goal, as it is deeply embedded in a politics of domination and regulation. See, Wendy Brown, Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).

  2. 2.

    As it turns out, this attitude has become official US government policy given its recent refusal to continuing funding the University of North Carolina and Duke University Middle East Studies Program, on grounds that it does not sufficiently support the national security interests under Title VI. Erica L. Green, “U.S. Orders Duke and U.N.C. to Recast Tone in Mideast Studies,” The New York Times, September 19, 2019, online at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/us/politics/anti-israel-bias-higher-education.html (accessed September 20, 2019).

  3. 3.

    See, for instance, Griffel’s academic website listing his training in Germany. https://religiousstudies.yale.edu/people/frank-griffel (accessed September 18, 2018).

  4. 4.

    Butterworth completed his PhD in political science at the University of Chicago in 1966, three years before Strauss left the University of Chicago’s Political Science Department.

  5. 5.

    This curious function of usul al-fiqh would arguably require Straussian advocates to recognize the limits of Strauss’ argument about exoteric and esoteric readings of mediaeval texts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Anver M. Emon

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  1. Anver M. Emon
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Correspondence to Anver M. Emon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    R. Charles Weller

  2. Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Anver M. Emon

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Emon, A.M. (2021). Epilogue: Critical Reflections in Retrospect and Prospect. In: Weller, R.C., Emon, A.M. (eds) Reason, Revelation and Law in Islamic and Western Theory and History. Islam and Global Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6245-7_7

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