?Abd al-Malik, who came to prominence during the second civil war of early Islam, ruled the Islamic empire from 692 until 705. Not only did he successfully suppress rebellion within the Muslim world a
Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) is widely regarded as the founder of Islamic modernism. Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and political activist, he sought to synthesise Western and Islamic cultural value
Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949) was the founder and lifelong leader of the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun), one of the most influential political organisations in the contemporary Arab world. Fr
Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (1855-1902) was one of the most articulate and original proponents of the reformist ideas underlying modern Islamic thought, as well as an early precursor of Arab nationalism
Almost four decades after his death Elijah Muhammad (1897?1975) remains by far the most influential African American Muslim. Leader of the Nation of Islam movement for over thirty years and a mentor t
Mulla Sadra (572-1640) is perhaps the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last four hundred years. The author of over forty works, he sought to bring to life t
Ibn Tufayl (1105?1185) was an Andalusian courtier, philosopher, Sufi master, and royal physician to the Almohad Caliphs. He inspired the 12th-century Andalusian revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy and
'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Amr al-Awza'i (c.707-774) was Umayyad Syria's most influential jurist, part of a generation of scholars who began establishing the first formal structures for the preservation and d
Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) of Damascus was one of the most prominent and controversial religious scholars of medieval Islam. He called for jihad against the Mongol invaders of Syria, appealed to the fou
Muhammad ibn ?Abd al-Wahhab (1703?1792) aroused great controversy in his lifetime. More than two centuries after his death, he still elicits strong views. For some he is the model of a pious religious
In 1928, Nazira Zeineddine al-Halabi wrote a book called Unveiling and Veiling, an indictment of patriarchal oppression in which she boldly stated that the veil was un-Islamic. Considered by many an a
Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani (1879 - 1957) was a political activist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of Gandhi during the struggle for India's independence. Humane and fiercely dedicated, he campaigned
Christopher Melchert examines the forefather of the fourth of the four principal Sunni schools of jurisprudence, the Hanbali. Upholding the view that the Qur'an was uncreated and the direct word of Go
Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767-820) was one of Islam's foundational legal thinkers. Shafi'i considered law vital to social and cosmic order: the key obligation of each Muslim was to obey God, and
