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	Abstracts / Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge Islamwissenschaft

Andreas Christmann:
Nahu usul jadida li'l-fiqh al-islami

The Damascene Muslim writer and professor of Civil Engeneering Mohamed Shahrour has untertaken the attempt to write a "new Islamic theory of human knowledge and behaviour" which will enable Muslims to break out of what he describes as their current intellectual 'blind alley'. According to Shahrour, existing methodologies, whether in fiqh, tafsir or kalam, are deficient as they lack a sound theoretical foundation which should be established by reference to existing contemporary human philosophies. The greatest contribution to this 'new Islamic theory' was his first work "al-Kitab wa'l-qur'an: qira'a mu'asira" (1990), which Shahrour later on complemented by three further volumes "Dirasat islamiyya mu'asira fi'l-dawla wa'l-mujtama'" (1994); "Islam wa-iman" (1996); "Nahu usul jadida li'l-fiqh al-islami" (2000). Until now, M. Shahrour's theory and methodology has not been sufficiently analyzed, neither have been the reasons why his books have been banned and treated as totally incompatible with Islamic thought.
The aim of this paper is to elucidate Shahrour's conceptual framework. It summarizes my research into possible origins and influences which helped Shahrour's formulation of his "Islamic theory". Special emphasis will be laid on his metaphysical notions of Nature, God, and Man, as they are the cornerstones of his theological thesis. Section (i) of this paper briefly recalls the 'classical' theistic model of God as eternal consciousness that knows but not includes the world (al-Ghazali), a model which Shahrour rejects as too deterministic. Section (ii) presents the author's systematic refutation of monopolaric theism and explains his alternative model of unrestricted freedom of human will which does not contradict Allah's omnipotence. Section (iii) describes the implications of Shahrour's dipolaric metaphysics for his Qur'anic hermeneutics and Fiqh-methodology. Section (iv), then, evaluates Shahrour's theory in the light of 'existing philosophies'. It will be argued that even though Shahrour has received some inspiration from neo-Mu`taziliyya theology, his metaphysical notions are very much inspired by 'process philosophy' as developed by A.N. Whitehead and Ch. Hartshorne, in as much as one can see influences of Hegel's phenomenology, Bergson's anti-teleology and Muhammad Iqbal's panentheism. The paper will conclude with some remarks about the conclusiveness of Shahrour's adaptations.
Mohamed Shahrour may well be controversial in some scholarly circles in the Islamic world, but it is his original contribution that 'process philosophy' and 'dipolaric theism' have been introduced to Arab speaking Muslims and, thus, been further assimilated into an Islamic framework.

Stand 11. Februar 2001