Shabbir Akhtar

Shabbir Akhtar is a British Muslim philosopher, poet, researcher, writer and multilingual scholar. He is on the Faculty of Theology and Religions at the University of Oxford. His interests include political Islam, Quranic exegesis, revival of philosophical discourse in Islam, Islamophobia, extremism, terrorism and Christian-Muslim relations as well as Islamic readings of the New Testament. Shabbir Akhtar is also a Søren Kierkegaard scholar. Akhtar's articles have appeared both in academic journals and in the UK press. Several of his books have been translated into the major Islamic languages.

Early life and education

Shabbir Akhtar was born in Pakistan, raised in Bradford in the United Kingdom and went to Canada for higher education. After studying philosophy (BA and MA degrees) at University of Cambridge, Shabbir Akhtar got his PhD in philosophy of religion from University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (1984), his thesis being "Religion in the Age of Reason: Faith and the Apostasy of Humanism."

Career

*2012 to present – Member of the Faculty of Theology and Religions at Oxford University, UK
*2002 to 2011 – Associate Professor of Philosophy at Old Dominion University, USA
*1994 to 1997 – Assistant Professor of Philosophy at International Islamic University, Malaysia

Shabbir Akhtar's first book, ''Reason and the Radical Crisis of Faith'' (1987), on the possibilities and complexities of upholding faith in a secular society, was described by anti-theist author Keith Parsons as "to be widely read. He argues with insight, wit, and lucidity. His arguments gain a special cogency from the scrupulous fairness with which Akhtar treats those whom he criticizes."

After the publication of '' The Satanic Verses'' by Salman Rushdie, Akhtar represented the Bradford Council of Mosques in the ensuing media interest in the reactions of the Muslim community in the United Kingdom. On 27 February 1989 he published an article in ''The Guardian'', in which he stated: "there is no choice in the matter. Anyone who fails to be offended by Rushdie's book ipso facto ceases to be a Muslim...Those Muslims who find it intolerable to live in a United Kingdom contaminated with the Rushdie virus need to seriously consider the Islamic alternatives of emigration (''hijrah'') to the House of Islam or a declaration of holy war (''jihād'') on the House of Rejection." The article also included the much-quoted sentence: "The next time there are gas chambers in Europe, there is no doubt concerning who'll be inside them."

In the mid-1990s, he taught philosophy in Malaysia but came back disillusioned of the belief that a majority Muslim society would really pursue reason in education.

Recently, he has published books that are philosophical in approach and strident in presenting a certain point of view and trying to lay the foundation of modern Islamic philosophy.Review of Shabbir Akhtar, The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam – Springer
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Publications

Books

*''Be Careful with Muhammad! Salman Rushdie and the Battle for Free Speech'', Jakarta: Bijak, 2020, 187 p.
*''The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul's Letter to the Galatians'', London: Routledge, 2018, 284 p.
*''Islam as Political Religion: The Future of an Imperial Faith'', London: Routledge, 2010, 301 p.
*''The Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam'', London: Routledge, 2008, 400 p.
*''Love in the Wrong Season: Collected Poems'', London: Melisende, 2000, 77 p.
*''Muslim Poetic Imagination'', London: Scorpion, 1992, 87 p.
*''The Final Imperative: An Islamic Theology of Liberation'', London: Bellew, 1991, 116 p.
*''A Faith for All Seasons: Islam and the Challenge of the Modern World'', London: Bellew, 1990, Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1991, 251 p.
*''The Light in the Enlightenment: Christianity and the Secular Heritage'', London: Grey Seal, 1990, 213 p.
*''A Season in the Ghetto: Collected Poems'', London: Regency, 1989, 48 p.
*''Be Careful with Muhammad!: The Salman Rushdie Affair'', London: Bellew, 1989, 136 p.
*''The Mother of Judas Iscariot and Other Poems'', London: Regency, 1988, 36 p.
*''Reason and the Radical Crisis of Faith'', New York: Peter Lang, 1987, 281 p.

Book Contributions

*'Prophet Warning: Justification, Retribution and Salvation in Islam – A Comparative Study’, in P. Koslowski (ed.), The Anxiety of End-Time (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2012).
*‘The Revival of Philosophy among Muslims’, in D. Cheetham and R. King (Eds.) Contemporary Practice and Method in the Philosophy of Religion (London: Continuum/T&T Clark, 2008).
*‘The Dialogue of Islam and the World Faiths: The Role of Speculative Philosophy’, in P. Koslowski (ed.), Philosophy Bridging the World Religions (Boston, Mass.: Kluwer Academic, 2003).
*‘The Limits of Internal Hermeneutics’ and ‘Critical Quranic Scholarship and Theological Puzzles’, in H. Vroom and J. Gort (eds.), Holy Scriptures in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, 1997).
*‘The Possibility of a Philosophy of Islam’, in O. Leaman and S.H.Nasr (eds.), The Routledge History of Islamic Philosophy (London: Routledge, 1995).
*‘Relationships Between Muslim Parents and Children in a Non-Muslim Country’, in M. King (ed.), God's Law versus State Law (London: Grey Seal, 1995).
*‘The Future of Christian-Muslim Relations’, in D. Cohn-Sherbok (ed.), The Canterbury Papers, (London: Bellew, 1992).
*‘The Limits of Liberalism’ in Bhikhu Parekh (ed.), Free Speech (London: Commission for Racial Equality, 1990).
*‘Art or Literary Terrorism?’, in D. Cohn-Sherbok (ed.), The Salman Rushdie Controversy in Interreligious Perspective (Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1990).

Book Reviews

*
Religion in the Age of Rage: The Uses and Abuses of Faith
', The Muslim World Book Review, 40:3, 2020.
*
The Twin 'Terrors': Political Islam and the Shari'ah
', The Muslim World Book Review, 39:1, 2018.
*‘At War with Modernity’ by D. Pryce-Jones, Muslim World Book Review, Vol.14, No. 1 (1993), pp. 4–5.
*‘Where East meets West’ by M. Abul-Fadl and ‘Cultural Schizophrenia’ by D. Shayegan, Muslim World Book Review, Vol.13, No.3 (1993), pp. 25–27.
*‘The Arab Christian’ by Kenneth Cragg, Muslim World Book Review, Vol.13, No.1 (1992) pp. 49–50.
*‘Islam in a World of Diverse Faiths’ by Rabbi D. Cohn-Sherbok, Muslim World Book Review, Vol.12, No.2 (1992), pp. 30–32.
*‘The Uneasy Alliance: Religion, Refugee Work, and US Foreign Policy’ by Bruce Nichols, Ethics, Vol. 100, No.1 (1989), p. 225.
*
Review of Theism by Clement Dore
', The Journal of Religion, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 451–452

Journal articles

A Path Straightened Out: Perspectives on Human Nature in the Qur’an
, ''Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research'' (2020).

Can an Islamic Natural Theology Explain God’s Silence Today?
, ''Renovatio'', Fall 2019, pp 1–14.

Finding and Following Jesus: The Muslim Claim to the Messiah
, ''Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research'' (2018).

The Dialogue of Islam and the World Faiths: The Role of Speculative Philosophy
, ''Philosophy Bridging the World Religions'', Kluwer Academic Publishers (2003), pp 21–37.

The possibility of a philosophy of Islam
, ''History of Islamic Philosophy (Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman)'', Routledge (1996), pp 2065–2077.

An Islamic Model of Revelation
, ''Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations'', Vol.2, No.1 (1991), pp. 95–105.

Faust and the New Idolaters: Reflections on shirk
, ''Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations'', Vol.1, No.2 (1990), pp. 252–260.
*"Miracles as Evidence for the Existence of God", ''Scottish Journal of Religious Studies'', Vol.11, No. 1, Spring (1990), pp. 18–23.

Is there an Epistemic Parity Between Faith and Rejection?
, ''The Southern Journal of Philosophy'', Vol.26, No.3 (1988), pp. 293–305.
*"The Virtues of Fundamentalist Exegesis", ''Scottish Journal of Religious Studies'', Vol.9, No.2 (1988), pp. 41–49.

Religious Messages and Cultural Myths
, ''Sophia'', Vol.25, No.3 (1986), pp. 32–40.

Non-academic articles

Akhtar, Shabbir (1 October 2020).

. The Jakarta Post.

References

External links

Shabbir Akhtar - Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Shabbir
1960 births
Living people
British philosophers
Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom
British writers of Pakistani descent
British poets
Philosophers of religion
Kierkegaard scholars