The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Encountering Traditions)

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1930) is Muhammad Iqbal's major philosophic work: a series of profound reflections on the perennial conflict among science, religion, and philosophy, culminating in new visions of the unity of human knowledge, of the human spirit, and of God. Iqbal's thought contributed significantly to the establishment of Pakistan, to the religious and political ideals of the Iranian Revolution, and to the survival of Muslim identity in parts of the former USSR. It now serves as new bridge between East and West and between Islam and the other Religions of the Book. With a new Introduction by Javed Majeed, this edition of The Reconstruction opens the teachings of Iqbal to the modern, Western reader. It will be essential reading for all those interested in Islamic intellectual history, the renewal of Islam in the modern world, and political theory of Islam's relationship to the West.

This major philosophic work by one of the most important Muslim and Western religious philosophers of the 20th century continues to exert an important literary, religious, and political influence today.

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), beloved poet of the modern state of Pakistan, was also one of the most important Muslim and Western religious philosophers of the 20th century. Javed Majeed is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at King's College, London.