Introducing the book: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Islam
Book title: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Islam.
A scholarly study of the theory of the political interpretation of religion in contemporary Islamic thought, its creedal and philosophical roots, and its harmful effects on Islamic movements and the circumstances of Muslims.
Author: Shaykh Abd al-Haqq al-Turkmani.
Publisher: Center for Studies in the Interpretation of Islam, Leicester, Britain
Year of publication: 1438 AH/2017 CE
Hardback; number of pages: 276
The subject of the book:
Why did God create us? Did He create us for worship, or to develop the earth and establish a particular political and social system? Is worship a relationship between the servant and his Lord, or a “means” not intended for its own sake? What is the position of practical rulings and social legislation within the levels of religion?
This in-depth scholarly study addresses these central questions concerning the foundation, end and objective of religion, in light of which beliefs, intentions, purposes and actions are determined.
The study offers correct answers in the light of the Qur’an, the Sunnah and the explanations of Islamic scholars. It introduces ancient and modern philosophical and intellectual views that contradict Muslim beliefs and undo the bonds of their religion one by one. It then uncovers the renewed appearance of those esoteric philosophies in contemporary Islamic thought through the theory of the political interpretation of Islam: the theory that constructed the creedal and intellectual structure of Islamic movements and has directed their views and actions for roughly a century. Serious scholarly and practical deviations resulted. Generations of Muslim youth grew up with them, and their understanding of the realities of worship, religion and Islamic law changed radically, making it easy for Islamic movements to employ them. When they discovered those movements’ inability and failure to establish Plato’s Republic and build the virtuous city, they turned to immersion in politics, declaring societies unbelieving, violence and terrorism. “Suicide operations” became the logical alternative to that failure to achieve religion’s end and objective from the prophetic mission until the present day!