Al-Jabri: The State in Islam-Between Concept and History

Abstract

In his critical program al-Jabri starts from the assumption that the authority of inherited sources made a group of us see authenticity in the tradition alone and in the return to it, postulating that genuine authenticity—to the contrary— is what we must achieve in the interaction with contemporary universal thought. He further explained that, in the same vein, some believe that “being contemporary” is only being present in European thought, and that “this understanding prevents this and prevents the idea that really being contemporary for us is what we must bring about through our handling of our heritage in the first place.”