TheRevival of Islamic Thought

Title: The Revival of Islamic Thought
Author: Ayatullah Murtada Mutahhari
Project Supervisor: Translation Unit, Cultural Affairs Department, the Ahl al-Bayt (¡®a) World Assembly (ABWA)
Translator and typesetter: Mansoor Limba, PhD
Editor: Carol Eastman Ahmadi
Proofreader: Sayyid Baqir Husayni
Publisher: ABWA Publishing and Printing Center
First Printing: 2016
All rights reserved.

Table of Contents
FOREWORD - 9
PREFACE - 11
CHAPTER 1:
IQBAL AND THE REVIVAL
OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT
The absence of the Islamic spirit among Muslims - 24
The logic of a railway train - 30
Solidarity as a sign of life - 32
CHAPTER 2:
PAST AND PRESENT MUSLIM THOUGHT
ON THE ROLE OF ACTION IN MAN’S FELICITY
Pathology - 43
The roots of distortion of our way of thinking about Islam - 44
Action - the bedrock of Islamic training and education - 44
The role of the Umayyads in the emergence of this distortion - 46
Why the idea of holding action in contempt came into being - 46
What is faith [iman]? - 47
The Shi‘ah and murji’iah - 48
Two accounts - 53
Twisted way of thinking - 60
The issue of asylum and sanctuary - 61
Two Prophetic traditions - 62
CHAPTER 3:
DULL VIS-À-VIS VIBRANT THINKING
Physical and spiritual life - 67
Fitrah or the essence of human life - 68
Insight and ability - 70
Life itself as not the same as its characteristics - 71
Self-reliance - 72
Reliance on Allah [tawakkul] as a vibrant and dynamic
concept - 75
Distorted and twisted tawakkul - 75
Asceticism [zuhd] in Islam - 76
Negative asceticism - 76
The issue of guardianship [wilayah] of a tyrant - 79
Asceticism as a spiritual strength and not an economic weakness - 79
Our ascetics - morally bankrupt as well as economically handicapped - 81
Imam ‘Ali (‘a) and productive works - 82
CHAPTER 4:
ISLAMIC THOUGHT ON ASCETICISM
AND ABANDONMENT OF THE WORLD
Asceticism and abandonment of the world - 90
Is asceticism a natural disaffection? - 91
Two types of asceticism unacceptable to Islam - 92
Another misconception about asceticism - 97
The real meaning of asceticism - 102
Aims of Islamic asceticism - 103
1. Self-sacrifice - 103
2. Sympathy - 105
CHAPTER 5:
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ASCETICISM
IN ISLAMIC THOUGHT
Story about Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) regarding sympathy - 118
3. Freedom and liberty - 119
Essential conditions of nature - 119
Conditions within man’s freewill - 120
Habit brings about attachment and attachment leads to captivity - 120
Freemen always lead simple lives - 121
The philosophy of modesty and simplicity in the life of
leaders - 121
Pretensions - limitations, restrictions and captivity - 122
Asceticism of Gandhi - 125
4. Consistency with the demands of time - 126
5. Loss of spiritual pleasures - 129
The enlightened ascetic according to Abu ‘Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) - 132
INDEX - 135