Date Posted: Monday, February 09, 2004

Pioneer in Muslim Christian relations 

Ismail Ragi al-Faruqi’s untimely death (murdered with his wife, Lois Lamya al-Faruqi, a scholar of Muslim art) on May 24, 1986, cut short the life of a creative mind, productive scholar, and provocative colleague. He was a pioneer in the development of Islamic studies in America and in inter-religious dialogue internationally, and an activist who sought to transform the Islamic community at home and abroad.

Faruqi’s Palestinian roots, Arab heritage, and Islamic faith made the man and informed his life and work as a scholar. Issues of identity, authenticity, acculturation, and Western political and cultural imperialism, so common in recent years, were continuous themes in his writings, though he addressed them differently at different stages in his life. His early emphasis was on Arabism as the vehicle of Islam and Muslim identity. He would draw on these sources intellectually, religiously, and aesthetically throughout the rest of his life.

From Arab Nationalist to Islamic Scholar-Activist

During the 1950s and 1960s, al-Faruqi sounded like an Arab heir to Is­lamic modernism and Western empiricism with his emphasis on Islam as the religion of reason par excellence. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he progressively resolved this struggle with his identity, assuming the role of an Islamic scholar-activist. Reflecting on this transitional period, he remi­nisced: “There was a time in my life . . . when all I cared about was proving to myself that I could win my physical and intellectual existence from the West. But, when I won it, it became meaningless. I asked myself: Who am I? A Palestinian, a philosopher, a liberal humanist? My answer was: I am a Muslim!”

Islam then replaced Arabism as the primary focus and reference point. A projected series of books on Arabism was replaced by books on and articles on Islam. Instead of Arabism and society, it was now Islam and culture, Islam and society, Islam and art, and Islamization of knowledge. Islam was presented as an all-encompassing ideology, the primary identity and source of unity of an otherwise diverse worldwide community of believers and the guiding principle for society and culture. Intellectually, it was epitomized in such works as Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life and in his last publication, The Cultural Atlas of Islam, which he coauthored with his wife. 

Training a New Generation

A major focus of al-Faruqi’s work was the education of a new generation of Muslims, schooled in modern methods, but Islamically oriented. Believing that many of the problems of the Muslim world are due to its elites and the bifurcation of education in Muslim societies, he addressed this problem in a variety of ways, combining thought with action, and ideology with its institutionalization and implementation. He traveled extensively and regularly to the Muslim world, lecturing to Muslim youth groups and carefully recruiting students for his program at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Organizationally, al-Faruqi was a leader in the Muslim Student Association, a founder and president of associations of Muslim professionals such as the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, and chairman of the board of trustees of the North America Islamic Trust. He also established and chaired the Islamic Studies Steering Committee of the American Academy of Religion, the largest professional association of professors of religion. 

In his last years, several projects in particular typified his “mission”, consuming the major portion of his time and energies. He established the American Islamic College in Chicago and served as its first president. At the same time, he realized a long held dream when, in 1981, he created the International Institute for Islamic Thought in Virginia.

Islamic activism had to move beyond opposition to implementation. At the heart of his vision was the Islamization of knowledge. He published several pieces, including Islamization of Knowledge and Islamizing the Social Sciences; organized and participated in international conferences on the Islamization of knowledge in such countries as Malaysia and Pakistan; and served as an advisor to both Muslim governments and Islamic organizations, and as a consultant to universities from Africa to Southeast Asia.  

In recent decades, the world of Islam has had a number of prominent intellectuals who have combined the best of educations in Western universities and Islamic heritage, and attempted both to explain Islam to non-Muslim audiences and to contribute to the contemporary interpretation and understanding of Islam among Muslims. The growing importance of a Muslim presence in America is reflected by the fact that the United States has also provided a context for this endeavor. 

Al-Faruqi was among its most prominent representatives not only in the process of knowing (Religious reinterpretation and reform) but also of doing. In his publications, scholarly colloquia, classroom teaching, ecumenical dialogues, and other activities, he wrote, spoke, and acted with the clarity and conviction of one who has a vision and mission. He was among the vanguard of Muslim intellectuals who settled in America, but then reversed the process of knowledge transformation (from Muslim countries to the West). His vision, ideas, and impact were multi-layered. They were transmitted through his writings, his Muslim students (as well as non-Muslim students) who returned to teach and work in government ministries throughout the Muslim world, and the organization and institutions he funded and led. 

He provided an important intellectual foundation for both the scholar-activists of the 1970s and 1980s and the emerging intellectual generation at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Ismail al-Faruqi was indeed a maker of contemporary Islam.