Lamahat fi al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya
- Author died
- 1424 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Risālah
Lamahat fi al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya (Glimpses into Islamic Culture) is a foundational treatise on Islamic cultural theory, civilization, and contemporary intellectual challenges by the scholar Omar Odeh al-Khatib (d. 1424 AH / 2003 CE). Completed in Riyadh in 1392 AH / 1972 CE, the book is designed to provide students and researchers with a clear grounding in Islamic thought, society, and identity.
Composition and Purpose
Al-Khatib completed the manuscript on 15 Safar 1392 AH (March 31, 1972 CE) in Riyadh. In his introduction, the author states that the work was prepared in response to an urgent educational need to guide readers toward the authentic foundations of Islamic culture. He defines Islamic culture as the living embodiment of the Muslim community that shapes its identity, governs its course in life, and encompasses its core beliefs, heritage, and social order.
The author conceived the work as a defense against intellectual and cultural campaigns aimed at alienating Muslims from their faith. Beyond imparting purely academic information, he sought to cultivate critical discernment, enabling readers to distinguish between sound principles and harmful imported ideologies while grounding themselves in the Quran, the Sunnah, and classical and contemporary Islamic scholarship.
Structure and Contents
The work comprises an introduction and six major chapters:
- Chapter One: The General Meaning of Culture (Fi al-Madlul al-'Amm li-l-Thaqafa): Examines the concept of culture across civilizations, the linguistic and semantic definitions of culture in Arabic and Western languages, and the relationship between culture, society, and civilization.
- Chapter Two: Islamic Culture (Fi al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya): Analyzes the foundations of Islamic culture—namely definitive divine guidance, a comprehensive spiritual methodology, and innate human disposition (fitra)—as well as its distinctive characteristics, such as holistic coherence, moral purpose, positivity, and universality.
- Chapter Three: Islamic Culture and Hostile Forces (Al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya wa-l-Quwa al-Mu'adiya): Details ideological challenges confronting Islam, examining historical patterns of opposition from the Umayyad and Abbasid eras through the Crusades, and addressing modern forms of cultural distortion.
- Chapter Four: Plans of Missionaries and Orientalists (Khitat al-Mubashshirin wa-l-Mustashriqin): Explores Western colonial expansion, missionary educational strategies, and the history and motives of Orientalist studies (religious, colonial, political, scientific, and commercial).
- Chapter Five: Islamic Culture and the Horizons of Human Life (Al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya wa-Afaq al-Hayat al-Insaniyya): Discusses intellectual and moral cultivation, the balance between the individual and society, the concept of governance and political responsibility, humanitarian principles in times of peace and war, jihad, international treaties, and comparisons between Islamic law and modern public international law.
- Chapter Six: On Islamic Creed (Fi al-'Aqida): Highlights the impact of creed ('aqida) on individual behavior, societal cohesion, and civilizational vitality, examining monotheism (tawhid) and the dangers of contemporary secular alternatives.
Editions and Reception
The book has been published in multiple editions by Mu'assasat al-Risala in Beirut, including a third edition in 1399 AH / 1979 CE and a fifteenth edition in 1425 AH / 2004 CE.
Scholars of contemporary Islamic studies have recognized Lamahat fi al-Thaqafa al-Islamiyya as a standard reference in its field; Omar Sulayman al-Ashqar singled it out as one of the finest and most well-crafted works written on Islamic cultural studies.
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