No previous full-scale study has been undertaken so far to study the polemical writings of the Muslim reformist Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā (1865-1935) and his associates in his well-known journal al-Manār (The Lighthouse). The book focuses on the dynamics of Muslim understanding of Christianity during the late 19th and the early 20th century in the light of al-Manār’s sources of knowledge, and its answers to the social, political and theological aspects of missionary movements in the Muslim World of Riḍā’s age. The basis of the analysis encompasses the voluminous publications by Riḍā and other Manārists in his journal. Besides, it makes use of newly-discovered materials, including Riḍā’s private papers, and some other remaining personal archives of some of his associates.
Umar Ryad, Ph.D. in Islamic Studies (2008), University of Leiden, has studied at Al-Azhar and Leiden University. He is assistant-professor at the Leiden Institute of Religious Studies. His research includes the modern history of Muslim-Christian relations, developments of Muslim reformist thought and transnational Muslim movements in inter-war Europe.
“…excellente étude…”
J. Dean in
REVUE D’HISTOIRE ET DE PHILOSOPHIE RELIGIEUSES 92.2 (2012), 297-298.
All those interested in the emergence of Islamic reformism in the modern time, the history of Christian missions in the Muslim World, Muslim polemics on Christianity, and interreligious dialogue.