Science and Civilization between Islam and Christianity

A translation of a seminal work by Muhammad Abduh.

This book is a translation of Muhammad Abduh’s Al-Islam wa-l-Nasraniyya maa al-Ilm wa-l-Madaniyya (Science and Civilization between Islam and Christianity). Abduh was an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar, theologian, and reformer of Al-Azhar—Egypt’s oldest university and a renowned seat of Islamic learning—who died in 1905. His impact on modern Islam cannot be overstated. In fact, much of modern Muslim thought has, in one way or another, been a reaction to his ideas. Although he is the subject of numerous English studies, only one treatise of his has been translated into English: Risalat al-tawhid (Theology of Unity) by Ishaq Masaad and Kenneth Cragg, in 1966.

Far too little attention has been paid to the treatise translated here and its impact on the Islamic theology of Christianity. This first English translation fills a serious gap in the genre of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations.
 

Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) was a religious scholar, jurist, and liberal reformer, who led the late nineteenth-century movement in Egypt and other Muslim countries to revitalize Islamic teachings and institutions in the modern world. As mufti (Islamic legal counselor) for Egypt, he effected reforms in Islamic law, administration, and higher education and, although resisted by conservatives, broke the rigidity of Muslim ritual, dogma, and family ties. His writings include Treatise on the Oneness of God and a commentary on the Quran.

Mohamed Gamal Abdelnour is a faculty member at Al-Azhar University (Cairo) and a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy, University of York, United Kingdom. He holds an MA in Catholic theology and a PhD in comparative theology.

Umran Khan obtained a BA in Arabic and history from SOAS, University of London. He works as an Arabic-English translator, editor, and proofreader. He also writes on Islamic history and politics and teaches Arabic and Islamic history at the Hounslow Jamia Masjid & Islamic Centre. He is currently the program manager at Al-Salam Institute, London.

Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem is an Egyptian Islamic studies scholar and the King Fahd Professor of Islamic Studies at the SOAS University of London. He is the editor of the Journal of Qur'anic Studies.

David Thomas is emeritus professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham and a priest in the Church of England.