Bakir Saleh: Sunnism in a Time of Crisis, Gebunden

Klappentext

The first full-length academic study of ' Abdull ah al-Harar i (d. 2008), a major yet understudied Sunni scholar whose life and thought illuminate the theological and institutional struggles that have shaped modern Sunnism .

While much scholarly attention has been devoted to Wahhabism and Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb al-Tahrir, no comparable analysis has examined al-Harari's project to defend and revitalize the classical Sunni tradition rooted in Ash'ari-Maturidi theology, the four legal schools, and Sufi ethics.

Drawing on unpublished Arabic sources, oral testimonies, and doctrinal writings, Bakir Saleh reconstructs al-Harari's intellectual formation in Harar, Ethiopia, his public debates with Wahhabi-influenced preachers, his exile and travels, and his eventual establishment of the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (AICP) in Lebanon. Through this biographical and historical lens, the book situates al-Harari's defence of tanzih (divine transcendence) and use of ta' w il (interpretive hermeneutics) within the larger Ash'ari commitment to theological balance between reason and revelation.

The study also examines al-Harari's polemics against contemporary Islamist ideologues such as Sayyid Qutb and movements like Hizb al-Tahrir, highlighting how his interventions sought to counter both literalism and indiscriminate takfir (excommunication), which he viewed as destabilizing Sunni unity. By analysing these debates within their socio-political and intellectual contexts, Saleh demonstrates how al-Harari's teachings aimed to restore coherence to a fractured Sunni identity and to safeguard tradition against extremism and ideological manipulation.

In tracing al-Harari's global institutional legacy through the AICP's educational and outreach networks in the Middle East, North America, and Europe, the book reveals how a contested yet influential scholar sought to articulate a modern Sunni orthodoxy that could withstand fragmentation while remaining faithful to its classical foundations.