Perceptions of Islam in European Writings

Ahmad Gunny

Description

PERCEPTIONS OF ISLAM IN EUROPEAN WRITINGS is part of the wider study of Islam and the West: a history of European, mainly French and English, intellectual responses to Islam from the seventeenth century onwards. It focuses on the nineteenth century. Studies on Islam and the West have so far tended to be dominated by nonMuslim writers. This study, therefore, attempts to put forward a scholarly, Muslim, point of view, on a subject which has acquired increasing importance in our time. Relying on primary European and Islamic source materials, it remains firmly committed to the notion of fidelity to European thought. It paves the way to a constructive dialogue between equals, Islam and the West.
AHMAD GUNNY first joined the Civil Service in Mauritius. Posted to London, he served at the Mauritius High Commission as Second Secretary and later became First Secretary. Educated at Leeds, Oxford and London Universities, he was awarded a Ph.D in French, London. For many years he taught French at Liverpool University, becoming Reader there before being elected Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. In Oxford he gives Seminars on Islam and the West at Colleges of the University, OCIS and Maison Francaise. Among his works are: Voltaire and English Literature (Oxford, 1979), Images of Islam in Eighteenth-Century Writings (London, 1996) and critical editions of Voltaire texts, including De l'Alcoran et de Mahomet, in Complete Works (Oxford, 2002).
THE ISLAMIC FOUNDATION is an educational and research organization devoted to making Islam a living reality in our age. For this purpose, it aims to improve human communication and develop a better understanding of Islam among all peoples of the world, Muslim and non-Muslim, so as to galvanize man to the message and ideal of One God and the unity of mankind, as brought by all the Prophets of God throughout the ages, last of whom was the Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be on him). The Foundation has research units in Islamic Economics, Christian-Muslim Relations, and Literature for Children. Its regular publications include Muslim World Book Review containing an Index of Islamic Literature (quarterly), Encounters: Journal of InterCultural Perspectives (bi-annually) and Review of Islamic Economics (bi-annually). Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Leicestershire, UK, a subsidiary of the Foundation, awards MA/ MPhil/ Ph.D degrees, Post-Graduate Diploma and Certificate in Islamic Studies in partnership with the University of Portsmouth and Loughborough University.