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October 17, 1997
Presentation by Prof. NAKAMURA Kojiro
"Islamic Interpretations of F. Rahman"
Place: Bungakubu Annex, University of Tokyo
We had the first meeting of "Thinkers" on October 17, 1997. It goes without saying that, in order to study "contemporary Islamic thought," it is essential to study thinkers and mem of ideas. This meeting began our series on contemporary Islamic thinkers, with a presentation by Prof. NAKAMURA Kojiro on Fazlur Rahman.
After stating issues related to his reserach stance on Islamic Studies, he presented Rahman's life and ideas as well as his contributions to contemporary understanding of Islam, putting his life within the historical context of South Asia and Pakistan after independence. He also presented Rahman's academic contributions after he moved to the United States. He cited examples of Rahman's unique interpretations on various issues, elaborating the question of reinterpretation of Qur'an and Sunnah and its methodology.
After this detailed presentation, we were engaged in a very stimulating discussion, and Rahman's understanding of modernity and evaluation of modernism were discussed among other topics.
How the Islamic world encounters the questions of modernity and contemporary social conditions has been one of the most serious themes for Islamic thinkers since the 19th century. Rahman committed to this question from modernist point of view, or what he called "neo-modernism," and his works are very important in this respect. In the meeting, his influence in Turkey and Indonesia was also discussed.
Prof. TAKESHITA, the leader of Unit 1, gave us some real pictures of Rahman's life and ideas from personal encounters. This added to the meeting a valuable dimension which only participants could appreciate.
This meeting was very fruitful and successful, as Prof. TAKESHITA said, and we will continue this series with many other important thinkers.