Book Talk: The Islamic Secular by Dr. Sherman Jackson

Announced by the University of Pittsburgh

Description:
In his latest book, Dr. Sherman Jackson contends that the basic point of the secular in the modern West is to “liberate” certain pursuits–the state, the economy, science–from the authority of religion. This is also assumed to be the goal and meaning of “secular” in Islam. Dr. Jackson argues, however, that that assumption is wrong, and conclusively demonstrates this point through extensive historical and scholarly analysis. Furthermore, Dr. Jackson argues that, as opposed to the key roles secularization plays in the Western secular, the Islamic Secular is a complement to religion: in effect, a “religious secular.” Nowhere, Dr. Jackson argues, are the practical implications of this more impactful than in Islam’s relationship with the modern state. Join Dr. Sherman Jackson and Dr. Nader Hashemi for what is sure to be a fascinating discussion on Dr. Jackson’s latest book, The Islamic Secular, and how the authentic conception of the Islamic Secular impacts the relationship between Islam and the modern state.

Speaker:
Dr. Sherman Jackson is the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture, and Professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC). He was formerly the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Visiting Professor of Law and Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Dr. Jackson received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. From 1987 to 1989, he served as Executive Director of the Center of Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt. He is the author of several books, including Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn al-Qarâfî (E.J. Brill, 1996), On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî’s Faysal al-Tafriqa (Oxford, 2002), Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection (Oxford, 2005) Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering (Oxford, 2009), and most recently Sufism for Non-Sufis? Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah al-Sakandari’s Taj al-‘Arus (Oxford, 2012), Initiative to Stop the Violence: Sadat’s Assassins and the Renunciation of Political Violence (Yale: 2014), and, most recently, The Islamic Secular (Oxford, 2024).