Secular Islam

ABSTRACT

While he appears to have been a relentless critic of secularism as a liberal ideal, the celebrated Indian poet and philosopher Mohammad Iqbal might also be considered among its more important non-European theorists. Globally one of the most influential Muslim thinkers of the twentieth century, Iqbal started publishing in its first decade, reaching the height of his power and popularity during the inter-war period until he died in Lahore in 1938. He studied philosophy as well as Arabic and Persian thought in Lahore, Cambridge, and Munich, and drew extensively upon European as much as Asian thinkers. I will argue here that Iqbal followed an important tradition of pre-modern philosophy by thinking about the relationship between politics and theology in esoteric terms.     

Islam in Tribal societies

Ahmed, Akbar S., and David M. Hart, eds. Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. vii + 343 pp. including chapter references and index. $21.95 paper.     

African Islam

Book reviewed in this article: Islam in Africa, Nura Alkali, Adamu Adamu, Amal Yadudu, Rashid Motem, and Haruna Salihi, editors Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa, Louis Brenner, editor     

Merging Analytical Traditions

Daniel W. Bromley. Environment and Economy: Property Rights and Public Policy .
Richard E. Cohen, Washington at Work: Back Rooms and Clean Air .     

Dhammapada Traditions and Translations

The Dhammapada is probably the most frequently translated Buddhist text in the world today. This article looks at the history of translations of the Dhammapada since it was first translated into English in the nineteenth century. I start by comparing the little known first English translation by Daniel Gogerly from 1840 with the influential 1870 translation by Max Müller. The paper then examines the main translations which have appeared since the mid-twentieth century. I show how they represent Buddhist, Hindu and other views on the Dhammapada and that they continue to be influenced by the pioneering nineteenth-century translations. I argue that translations of the Dhammapada are conditioned not only by the viewpoints of the translators but also by the existence of a tradition of translating the Dhammapada . Both factors I conclude have contributed to the importance placed on the Dhammapada as a representative Buddhist text.     

Botanical Bosom Serpent Traditions

Abstract

This article surveys examples of ‘botanical bosom serpents’; that is, stories where a plant, or some vegetable element, is said to enter and/or grow in the human body. These can be found in sources—for the most part European—from ancient times onwards. This is a preliminary study, as the topic is one that has been neglected by folklorists and historians of medicine.