Mawsuat al-Madhahib al-Fikriyya al-Muasira
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- Dorar Al-Saniyyah website on the Internet dorar.net
Mawsuat al-Madhahib al-Fikriyya al-Muasira (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Intellectual Movements) is an Arabic reference work compiled by a team of researchers under the supervision of Alawi ibn Abd al-Qadir al-Saqqaf, dedicated to defining, analyzing, and critiquing modern secular and philosophical doctrines from an Islamic perspective . It was published in digital format by the Dorar.net foundation in two volumes in Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1433 AH (c. February 2012 CE) .
Scope and Structure
The encyclopedia provides an overview of various contemporary ideologies and intellectual movements, examining their definitions, historical emergence, philosophical foundations, and impact on Muslim societies .
The work opens with introductory chapters defining what constitutes an "intellectual movement" (madhhab fikri) and addressing whether the term "intellectual" (fikr) can be formally applied to Islamic teachings (al-fikr al-islami) . It argues that while human ideologies originate from the faculties of the human mind and empirical or historical experiences rather than divine revelation, Islamic principles derive fundamentally from revelation .
The encyclopedia examines the historical genesis of modern ideologies in Christian Europe, explaining that they arose largely as a reaction to ecclesiastical domination, corruption, and the persecution of early scientific thinkers and dissenters under charges of heresy . It then explores the factors that led to the infiltration and spread of these foreign doctrines into the Muslim world, such as political decline, educational changes, and intellectual defeatism .
Among the specific doctrines and currents addressed across its two volumes are:
- Secularism and Liberalism: Their historical roots, principles regarding the separation of religion from governance and public life, and attempts by modernists—beginning with trends associated with figures like Muhammad Abduh—to reconcile Islamic thought with liberal concepts .
- Marxist Communism and Socialism: Their materialist conception of history, opposition to private property, anti-religious stance, and political manifestations .
- Atheism and Materialism: Their conceptual foundations and divergence from the Islamic worldview .
Method and Sources
The encyclopedia employs a collective research methodology supervised by Alawi al-Saqqaf, synthesizing materials from contemporary Islamic studies on modern doctrines and documenting citations from foundational references in the field, such as the works of Ghalib ibn Ali Awaji . The text adopts a systematic exposition of each ideology's terminology, historical evolution, and core tenets before presenting an Islamic theological critique .
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