Japanese Contribution to Islamic Studies: The Legacy of Toshihiko Izutsu Interpreted

Author: Anis Malik Thoha

Publisher: IIUM Press

ISBN: 9789675272639

Pages: 370 pp

Weight: 0.564 kg

Year: 2020 (Second Reprint)

Price: RM50

This volume is a selection of papers and essays that have been improved throughly by their respective authors based on the discussion, comments, remarks, suggestions, criticisms etc, transpired at the sessions of the three-day-conference, i.e., the International Conference on Contemporary Scholarship on Islam: Japanese Contribution to Islamic Studies – The Legacy of Toshihiko Izutsu (ICONSIST), 2008, in Kuala Lumpur. It contains 19 essays covering different issues and topics relevant to Izutsu’s works, ranging from worldview (weltanschauung), philosophy, mysticism/sufism, semantics, linguistics and ethics to scientific study of religion. It includes also three articles in Arabic, which evidently show that the interest in Izutsu’s thought and works have gained a good deals of attention among the Arab scholars and readers as well.

Not only are the topics of these articles varied, but so are the methods and approaches adopted by their respective authors. Some fall under the so-called “descriptive approach”, and some is analytical in nature. Still some others are critical and “normative”. However, we believe that this should be academically acceptable as long as all are based on the sound arguments from academic perspective. Needless to say, the book taken as a whole, shall undoubtedly be of a great interest to anyone who wants to study the legacy of Prof. Izutsu’s scholarship on Islam.