Muslim Historian's ToolKit

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In recent times, orientalists and modernists have tried to disprove various aspects of the Islamic History so as to be able to create doubt in Muslims and to also distort aspects of Islam that are protected by a good understanding of Islamic History. The 3 main topics this seminar will address are the following:

1. Dr Jonathan Brown - Critiquing the critique, the Historical-Critical Method (HCM) under scrutiny:

This session will look specifically at the origin of this skeptical lens of understanding Islamic History, why Islamic scholarship has no need of it, and will also prove the veracity of Islamic sources in the face of this specific form of attack. The specifically Western origins of this cynical method of looking back into the past will be uncovered, and Muslim responses will be presented.

2. Dr Ovamir Anjum - Islamic History and the Myth of Decline:

There are multiple claims about Muslim history and its 'decline'. This session will look specifically at the thesis that Islam, its scholarly class, and its intellectual tradition were responsible for the collapse of its major political institutions in late modernity. Tropes such as 'backward Ulema', the printing press and 'despotic rule' will all be discussed

3. Dr Yakoob Ahmed - Decolonizing the Muslim mind:

Muslims, like many other victims of colonial violence, are still suffering the trauma of that brutal enterprise. There have been many attempts by other traditions to escape the imposition of colonial forms of understanding their history - including Marxism, CRT and postmodernism. Is there a uniquely Islamic approach to tackling colonial trauma, and if so, what is it?

This one-day course will attempt to tackle some of the most persistent and difficult challenges Muslim historians face when studying Islamic history from a Western perspective . The presenters are all expert scholars on Islamic History, both secularly and traditionally trained.
The course will be online and a bursary is available for select students.