WATCH: ‘On the Margins: The Life and Contribution of Muhammad Asad’ - 2025 Ibn Rushd Lecture

View this email in your browser AUGUST 2025 Click here to watch the 10th Annual Ibn Rushd Lecture: 'On the Margins: The Life and Contribution of Muhamad Asad' The Muslim Institute 10th Ibn Rushd lecture. Wednesday 30th July, Artworkers Guild, Bloomsbury, central London. "Why is it that, even after finding my place among the people who believe in the things that I myself have come to believe, I have struck no root?"  Muhammad Asad, The Road to Mecca. The Austro-Hungarian Jewish convert to Islam, Muhammad Asad (1900-92), was one of the most remarkable Muslim thinkers of the last century. Best known for his iconic autobiography, The Road to Mecca, Asad's long career stretched almost the entire twentieth century and offers a window into many social, political and intellectual trends of modern Islam. Asad wrote widely in many genres of Islamic thought, from Qur'an translation to hadith commentary, political theory to Islamic law, and made notable contributions to each. Yet, Asad remains a marginal figure whose ideas have not received the interest and attention they deserve. Many of his works remain little-known today and some of his most important contributions—on anti-Zionism, or Islamic legal reform—have been entirely overlooked. His magnum opus, The Message of the Qur'an, reveals a mastery of the Islamic intellectual tradition that has yet to be recognized or examined. Over three decades since his death in 1992, we still await a comprehensive biography of Asad in English. All these issues, and more, are addressed in this 2025 Muslim Institute Ibn Rushd Annual lecture. Dr Josef Linnhoff combines a biographical sketch of Asad with a close look at some of his most important works. Linnhoff sheds light on overlooked aspects of Asad's thought, challenge some misconceptions around Asad, and explore his complex relationship with the Muslim community of his day, asking why Asad found himself "on the margins," in his own time and in the years since. The result is a deeper understanding and appreciation of the life and legacy of one of the most important, if neglected, Muslim thinkers of recent times. Josef Linnhoff holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Edinburgh (2020). He is Editor-in-Chief and Research Fellow at The Institute for Advanced Usuli Studies ("The Usuli Institute") in Columbus, Ohio. He has published on various aspects of the life and thought of Muhammad Asad and is Editor of the forthcoming volume – The Life, Thought and Legacy of Muhammad Asad: Essays on Modern Muslim Reform – which will be published by Edinburgh University. ******************************************** Date for your diary: Annual Muslim Institute Winter Gathering Friday 28 November – Sunday 30 November 2025. Sarum College, Salisbury.   The theme for 2025 will be 'By Any Means Necessary': Muslims, Politics And Power In The 21st Century. Details to follow.   ********************************************   ALSO: Watch: Video summary of the Muslim Institute Community Empowerment Fund 2025: 'The Wholesome Retreat'. Watch the Second Ibn Sina Lecture: Modern Medicine and the Legacy of Ibn Sina held in Bradford City Hall on 31 May 2025 and view the photos here. Watch the 9th Annual Ibn Rushd Lecture: The History of Muslim Women in Britain held in July 2024, the Inaugural Annual Ibn Sina Lecture held in April 2024 at Leeds Civic Hall, and the book launch held in March 2024 of the new ground-breaking The Qur'an: A Verse Translation. CM 54: LIBERALISM IN THIS ISSUE: Robin Yassin-Kassab is unsure about his liberal identity, Andrew Brown performs an autopsy on liberalism, Azeem Ibrahim defends liberal polity, Richard Wood examines the roots of American 'liberal democracy', Zora Hesová and Tereza Hendl ask whatever happened to the liberal legacy of Vaclav Havel, Abdullah Erikat desires to be himself, Boyd Tonkin observes the liberalism of Amartya Sen, Maryam al-Mahammad looks at Syria through the liberal lens, James Brooks takes down the professional managerial class, Ghazal Tipu builds a female-only mosque, John Lietchy takes a poetic walk through a remarkably illiberal period, Bruce Lawrence dissects the difference between 'Islam-after' and 'Islam-in' liberalism, and our list of ten undesirable consequences of liberalism. Also in this issue: Zain Sardar  contemplates extinction and ignorance, Mansur Ali explores the 'Islamic Secular, Maria Jastrzębska reads two collections of poetry, Wendy Tan's birds of paradise, short stories by Fatema K. and Ali Afshar, poems by Basman Derawi and Michal Rubin, and Ebrahim Moosa's Last Word on Palestine.   Free to Muslim Institute fellows. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews. Critical Muslim is edited by Ziauddin Sardar. To order this issue and subscriptions click here info@musliminstitute.org  |  www.musliminstitute.org Muslim Institute, 82 Tanner Street, London, SE1 3GN Copyright © 2025 Muslim Institute, All rights reserved. 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