About the author:
I have a long time passion for the subject of theology, in particular Islam, interpretation of the Qu'an and spiritual purification:
Education:
During the past 30 years I have studied Islam in four different but complementary approaches:
- Formal traditional studies: I have been studying Islam on a part time basis in the Islamic Seminary (Hauza) of Chizar (Tehran - Iran) from 1984 to 1989, during which I studied classical Arabic, Science of Logic, Principles of Jurisprudence, Jurisprudence and Intra-faith beliefs and debates.
- Self Studies: From 1989 I continued my own independent studies on Islam and Muslims. This included studying the Qur'an, Hadith, Theology (Kalam) and Islamic sects.
- Tutelage: In between 2004 to 2015, I carried out an in-depth studying of the methodological approach of a group of scholars from the Indian sub-continent who were following the scholarly works of a genius scholar of his time, Hamiduddin Farahi (d.1930). In 2006 I continued my study of the Farahi approach, in particular the coherence of the Qur'an, its implications in interpretation (tafsir) of the Qur'an and the approach of deriving religious law from the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah under the supervision of a renowned scholar of the Qur'an and the Islamic law, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi - a pupil of one of the most respected Islamic scholars in the Sub-Continent and a commentator of the Qur'an - Amin Ahsan Islahi (d.1997) who himself was one of the two direct students of Hamiduddin Farahi.
With his patience and his generousity in making himself available to me, and with his exceptionally strong analytical reasoning as well as non-sectarian attitude, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has made me academically forever in-debt to him. However, my studies with him did not result in me becoming one of the staunch followers of his views. I still agree with many of the principles of his thinking, including his hierarchical categorisation of the sources of understanding Islam, his analytical approach to interpretation of the Qur'an and his view of the thematic evolvement of the Qur'an based on the concept of itmam al-hujjah and differentiation between hadith and the Established Sunnah. However, I gradually developed an understanding that was significantly and fundamentally different from his and put me in an entirely different paradigm. This is the understanding that I am now presenting in this website.
- Formal Academic studies: In 2006 I obtained my (second) PhD in University of Edinburgh on the subject of Interpretation of the Qur'an. My PhD was on different approaches to understanding the Qur'an, aiming to systematically formulate the features of the Farahi approach in understanding Islamic concepts and rules. This was done by the use of case studies on four controversial subjects: Hijab, Stoning, Return of Jesus and Apostasy. This formal academic study also familiarised me with the thoughts and viewpoints of some of the contemporary Muslim thinkers and reformists that significantly expanded my views on Islam and religion.
Each of the above approaches to understanding Islam has provided me with a specific perspective to the subject. Each of them has encouraged me to develop a different set of skills. I am trying to apply these and obtain benefit from them in understanding the truth and in teaching and preaching what I believe to be the truth.
I have benefited extensively from great thinkers that I never met, but consider them to be my indirect teachers in studying Islam. To name a few out of many: Muhammad Hussain Tabatabayee (the author of Tafsir al-Mizan), Muhammad Assad (the author of the Message of the Qur'an), Ahmad Qabil (a contemporary Shia jurist), Fazlur Rahman (a reformist Indian - Pakistani scholar) and Hamiduddin Farahi (a scholar that to me was like a treasure who was never fully discovered and is still not fully appreciated).
In parallel with my religious studies, I have a BSc and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Iran and a PhD in Management Science from University of Strathclyde. I have more than twenty years experience of teaching and research within the academia on this subject and am now working as a senior lecturer in Management in University of Glasgow. Despite the apparently very different two subjects (Theology and Management Science) I have found that the two are benefiting from each other. I feel that my studies in engineering and Management Science have equipped me with thinking tools that help me in my attempt to remain logical in analysis of religious subjects and in my attempt to express my religious thought in a reasonable and clear way. On the other hand I can see that my religious studies are benefiting me in improving my abstract thinking and synthesis view in Management and Management Science.
Approach:
My approach to understanding islam (submission to the Truth) and Islam (the path of Muslims in submission to the truth) can be summarised as follows:
A. I consider rationality (aql) and recognision of the foundations of morality (akhlaq) to be the first and the foremost guiding tool that the Almighty has given to the human being. It is rationality that guides human being to the other sources of guidance, including divine books, and it is inbuilt morality that equips the human being with a moral campus, with or without an external guidance. Therefore, to me, any understanding of religion that is against intact rationality and morals cannot be the correct understanding. Even when a divine concept is beyond a human being's rationality, it is still rationality that appreciates this and prompts the human being to accept what is beyond its intellectual reach.
B. I have learned from the Qur’an, that there are many spiritual paths and routes towards God and that no religious path or ideology is the only or the best path towards God or spiritual advancement.
Accordingly, as a Muslim, and for Muslims:
C. I consider the Qur'an to be the primary source of understanding the matters of faith and the primary source of understanding what is allowed (halal) and what is forbidden (haram) in Islam. I see the Qur'an as a book that was intended to be definite and clear, a book that does not need another 'religious' source to be understood. I also appreciate and differentiate between what can be considered to be very specific guidance of the Qur'an for its primary addressees, what can be considered as specific guidance of the Qur'an for all Muslims, and what can be considered as general guidance of the Qur'an for the human beings in general.
D. I consider the established practices of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), that have reached us by the consensus of generations, as one of the primary sources of understanding the religious law and our practical duties as Muslims (the other source being the Qur'an). This is what I refer to as the Established Sunnah, which is different from Hadith.
E. I see Hadith as a rich source of understanding the history of Islam and the Sirah (way of life) of the prophet (pbuh) and further elaboration on what we learn from the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah. I believe Hadith unlike the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah is not an independent source of religious belief and needs to be understood in the light of the above mentioned sources.
F. I consider much of the form of the non-worship and non-individual shari’ah to be a dynamic one, capable of evolving and changing by the time, to serve its purpose.
I am not at all interested in sectarian debates and I do not allow myself to engage in one. I consider myself to be a member of the community of Muslims, and in a bigger scale, a member of the community of human beings.
All the material in this website is based on the above approach and understanding.
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Rights and Disclaimer:
- Any material from this website can be quoted or published elsewhere provided that the name of the author is clearly mentioned.
- Publication of the material from this website on any other platform does not mean that I am in anyway associated or in agreement with the organisation, individuals or the views behind that platform.
- In English, only the material on this website represents my views and understanding. I am only responsible for the material that is published in this website (exploring islam).
- Considering who the audience of my writings might be, I may make reference to scholars or books that are considered as reliable by that audience. This does not mean that I am necessarily in agreement with the theological stance or the religious views of those scholars or the authors of any of those books.
- I am a freelance writer and speaker on Islam. In my Islamic/religious activities and studies I am not associated with any particular organisations, groups, scholars or individuals.
Farhad Shafti
Updated: June 2019
Education:
During the past 30 years I have studied Islam in four different but complementary approaches:
- Formal traditional studies: I have been studying Islam on a part time basis in the Islamic Seminary (Hauza) of Chizar (Tehran - Iran) from 1984 to 1989, during which I studied classical Arabic, Science of Logic, Principles of Jurisprudence, Jurisprudence and Intra-faith beliefs and debates.
- Self Studies: From 1989 I continued my own independent studies on Islam and Muslims. This included studying the Qur'an, Hadith, Theology (Kalam) and Islamic sects.
- Tutelage: In between 2004 to 2015, I carried out an in-depth studying of the methodological approach of a group of scholars from the Indian sub-continent who were following the scholarly works of a genius scholar of his time, Hamiduddin Farahi (d.1930). In 2006 I continued my study of the Farahi approach, in particular the coherence of the Qur'an, its implications in interpretation (tafsir) of the Qur'an and the approach of deriving religious law from the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah under the supervision of a renowned scholar of the Qur'an and the Islamic law, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi - a pupil of one of the most respected Islamic scholars in the Sub-Continent and a commentator of the Qur'an - Amin Ahsan Islahi (d.1997) who himself was one of the two direct students of Hamiduddin Farahi.
With his patience and his generousity in making himself available to me, and with his exceptionally strong analytical reasoning as well as non-sectarian attitude, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has made me academically forever in-debt to him. However, my studies with him did not result in me becoming one of the staunch followers of his views. I still agree with many of the principles of his thinking, including his hierarchical categorisation of the sources of understanding Islam, his analytical approach to interpretation of the Qur'an and his view of the thematic evolvement of the Qur'an based on the concept of itmam al-hujjah and differentiation between hadith and the Established Sunnah. However, I gradually developed an understanding that was significantly and fundamentally different from his and put me in an entirely different paradigm. This is the understanding that I am now presenting in this website.
- Formal Academic studies: In 2006 I obtained my (second) PhD in University of Edinburgh on the subject of Interpretation of the Qur'an. My PhD was on different approaches to understanding the Qur'an, aiming to systematically formulate the features of the Farahi approach in understanding Islamic concepts and rules. This was done by the use of case studies on four controversial subjects: Hijab, Stoning, Return of Jesus and Apostasy. This formal academic study also familiarised me with the thoughts and viewpoints of some of the contemporary Muslim thinkers and reformists that significantly expanded my views on Islam and religion.
Each of the above approaches to understanding Islam has provided me with a specific perspective to the subject. Each of them has encouraged me to develop a different set of skills. I am trying to apply these and obtain benefit from them in understanding the truth and in teaching and preaching what I believe to be the truth.
I have benefited extensively from great thinkers that I never met, but consider them to be my indirect teachers in studying Islam. To name a few out of many: Muhammad Hussain Tabatabayee (the author of Tafsir al-Mizan), Muhammad Assad (the author of the Message of the Qur'an), Ahmad Qabil (a contemporary Shia jurist), Fazlur Rahman (a reformist Indian - Pakistani scholar) and Hamiduddin Farahi (a scholar that to me was like a treasure who was never fully discovered and is still not fully appreciated).
In parallel with my religious studies, I have a BSc and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Iran and a PhD in Management Science from University of Strathclyde. I have more than twenty years experience of teaching and research within the academia on this subject and am now working as a senior lecturer in Management in University of Glasgow. Despite the apparently very different two subjects (Theology and Management Science) I have found that the two are benefiting from each other. I feel that my studies in engineering and Management Science have equipped me with thinking tools that help me in my attempt to remain logical in analysis of religious subjects and in my attempt to express my religious thought in a reasonable and clear way. On the other hand I can see that my religious studies are benefiting me in improving my abstract thinking and synthesis view in Management and Management Science.
Approach:
My approach to understanding islam (submission to the Truth) and Islam (the path of Muslims in submission to the truth) can be summarised as follows:
A. I consider rationality (aql) and recognision of the foundations of morality (akhlaq) to be the first and the foremost guiding tool that the Almighty has given to the human being. It is rationality that guides human being to the other sources of guidance, including divine books, and it is inbuilt morality that equips the human being with a moral campus, with or without an external guidance. Therefore, to me, any understanding of religion that is against intact rationality and morals cannot be the correct understanding. Even when a divine concept is beyond a human being's rationality, it is still rationality that appreciates this and prompts the human being to accept what is beyond its intellectual reach.
B. I have learned from the Qur’an, that there are many spiritual paths and routes towards God and that no religious path or ideology is the only or the best path towards God or spiritual advancement.
Accordingly, as a Muslim, and for Muslims:
C. I consider the Qur'an to be the primary source of understanding the matters of faith and the primary source of understanding what is allowed (halal) and what is forbidden (haram) in Islam. I see the Qur'an as a book that was intended to be definite and clear, a book that does not need another 'religious' source to be understood. I also appreciate and differentiate between what can be considered to be very specific guidance of the Qur'an for its primary addressees, what can be considered as specific guidance of the Qur'an for all Muslims, and what can be considered as general guidance of the Qur'an for the human beings in general.
D. I consider the established practices of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), that have reached us by the consensus of generations, as one of the primary sources of understanding the religious law and our practical duties as Muslims (the other source being the Qur'an). This is what I refer to as the Established Sunnah, which is different from Hadith.
E. I see Hadith as a rich source of understanding the history of Islam and the Sirah (way of life) of the prophet (pbuh) and further elaboration on what we learn from the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah. I believe Hadith unlike the Qur'an and the Established Sunnah is not an independent source of religious belief and needs to be understood in the light of the above mentioned sources.
F. I consider much of the form of the non-worship and non-individual shari’ah to be a dynamic one, capable of evolving and changing by the time, to serve its purpose.
I am not at all interested in sectarian debates and I do not allow myself to engage in one. I consider myself to be a member of the community of Muslims, and in a bigger scale, a member of the community of human beings.
All the material in this website is based on the above approach and understanding.
---------------------------------------------
Rights and Disclaimer:
- Any material from this website can be quoted or published elsewhere provided that the name of the author is clearly mentioned.
- Publication of the material from this website on any other platform does not mean that I am in anyway associated or in agreement with the organisation, individuals or the views behind that platform.
- In English, only the material on this website represents my views and understanding. I am only responsible for the material that is published in this website (exploring islam).
- Considering who the audience of my writings might be, I may make reference to scholars or books that are considered as reliable by that audience. This does not mean that I am necessarily in agreement with the theological stance or the religious views of those scholars or the authors of any of those books.
- I am a freelance writer and speaker on Islam. In my Islamic/religious activities and studies I am not associated with any particular organisations, groups, scholars or individuals.
Farhad Shafti
Updated: June 2019
