Traditional Islamic Thought in Ottoman Syria in the Late XIX – Early XX Centuries (Based on the Works of Sheikh Yusuf al-Nabhani)

Article in Elibrary

Keywords: Islam; Ottoman Empire; Yusuf al-Nabhani; Abdul-Hamid II; sufism; traditionalism; taqlid

To cite this article

Dmitry R. Zhantiev Traditional Islamic Thought in Ottoman Syria in the Late XIX – Early XX Centuries (Based on the Works of Sheikh Yusuf al-Nabhani). // Lomonosov Oriental Studies Journal. 2015. N 1, p.21–29

Dmitry R. Zhantiev (Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Abstract

The represented article is devoted to the analysis of the activities and the ideological legacy of the Syrian Islamic scholar Yusuf bin Ismail al-Nabhani (1849–1932) who represented conservative trend in the Islamic thought of the Ottoman Empire. For sheikh al-Nabhani and his followers the modern age was neither associated with modernization nor with Islamic reforms. Al-Nabhani fundamentally rejected such approaches towards Islam, considering the system of Islamic Sciences complete and universal. In this, his views corresponded with the policy of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II. However, al-Nabhani can hardly be considered only as a guide to the governmental course.