Islamic Reformism and Christinaity. A Critical Reading of the Works of Muhammad Rashid Rida and his Associates (1898-1935)

Doctoral Thesis

The present work is a critical study of the dynamics of Muslim understanding of Christianity during the late 19th and the early 20th century in the light of the polemical writings of the well-known Syro-Egyptian Muslim reformist Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935) and his associates. It is observable that neither Muslim nor Western scholars paid due attention to his views on Christianity. No full-scale study of his perspectives on that subject has been undertaken so far. Although there are scattered and brief remarks in some individual studies on some of his works on Christianity, investigation is still needed by focusing on his polemics and answers to the social, political and theological aspects of missionary movements among Muslims of his age. The base of our analysis in the present study encompasses Rida’s voluminous publications embodied in his magnum opus, the journal al-Manar (The Lighthouse). The core of these writings on the Christian beliefs and scriptures consisted...Show moreThe present work is a critical study of the dynamics of Muslim understanding of Christianity during the late 19th and the early 20th century in the light of the polemical writings of the well-known Syro-Egyptian Muslim reformist Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935) and his associates. It is observable that neither Muslim nor Western scholars paid due attention to his views on Christianity. No full-scale study of his perspectives on that subject has been undertaken so far. Although there are scattered and brief remarks in some individual studies on some of his works on Christianity, investigation is still needed by focusing on his polemics and answers to the social, political and theological aspects of missionary movements among Muslims of his age. The base of our analysis in the present study encompasses Rida’s voluminous publications embodied in his magnum opus, the journal al-Manar (The Lighthouse). The core of these writings on the Christian beliefs and scriptures consisted of polemic and apologetic issues, which had already existed in the pre-modern Islamic classification of Christianity. However, al-Manar polemicists have added to their investigations many modern aspects largely influenced by Western critical studies of the Bible. There is no documented public debate (munazarah) between Rida and his contemporary missionaries. But al-Manar developed certain sorts of arguments drawn from critical studies about biblical texts, church history, political confrontations in the period of colonialism, and evidence of what it perceived as the wrong picture portrayed by missionaries (and some Christian Arabs) of Islam.Show less

Rashid Rida

Al-Manar

Islam and Christian missions

Islamic polemics on Christianity

Islamic Reformism

Tawfiq Sidqi

The fatwas of al-Manar

Arab Christians