Hassan Hanafi

Hassan Hanafi (Arabic: حسن حنفي; 23 February 1935 – 21 October 2021) was a professor and chaired the philosophy department at Cairo University.[1][2] He was a leading authority on modern Islam.[2][3]

As a young man motivated by a revolutionary political activism, Hanafi associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.[4][1] Later Hanafi studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.[1] From 1967, he was a professor of philosophy in Cairo, as well as a visiting professor at universities in France, the United States, Belgium, Kuwait and Germany. He has been categorized as among "the big names" of the post-1967 Arab intellectual tradition.[5]

Early life

Hanafi was born into an artistic family in Cairo, Egypt.[4] In his youth he studied the violin, which he continued to play later in his life.[4]

Philosophy

Hanafi was a disciple of the phenomenologist Osman Amin,[6] and published a trilogy[7] in which he used Husserl's methods to reconstruct classic Islamic philosophy and to critique the sources and development of European consciousness.[6]

Hanafi's interpretation of Islam has been described as socialist and he elaborated on the concept of an "Islamic Left", interpreting Islam in a socialist manner, or else a "third way."[8] He promoted an interpretation of Islam supporting the development of a global ethics.[9] In his later works Hanafi argued that Islam needed to be understood in way that facilitates human freedom and progress.[2][10] As summarized by scholar Mohammed Hashas:

"...some of the renowned defenders of socialism for Arab nationhood would become leading scholars of what has come to be known as the 'Islamic left', a concept that first appeared in the first issue of the Islamic Left Magazine, 1981, by the philosopher Hassan Hanafi (b. 1935), as part of his project 'the third way' of reading the tradition and modernity, a way that is neither fully Euro-modern nor fully Islamico-traditionalist; it is implicitly secular-mundane, since it reads the sacred in the light of the sociopolitical needs of people; it is creed revolutionized to be lived (mina-lʻaqīda ilā thawra), as one of the volumes of the project is entitled" (2018, 271).[8]

Hanafi acted as an adviser to the InterAction Council, a coalition of 26 former prime ministers and presidents.[11] He was also a member of the Association for Intercultural Philosophy, which encourages a dialogue among philosophers from all over the world. He was one of the original signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.[12]

Hanafi is also remembered for his published scholarly debates with contemporary philosopher Mohammed Abed al-Jabri.[5]

He won a number of academic awards during his lifetime.[13][14]

Controversy over his apostasy

Hanafi's book "An Invitation for Dialogue" was accused by conservative Islamic scholars as heresy and apostasy.[15]

His liberal opinions about Islam infuriated conservative Islamic scholars and Azhar. For example, he stated that the name of the God should be changed to "Transcendence". Conservative scholars from al-Azhar refuted that Hanafi was distorting Islam.[16] There was a fatwa, an Islamic opinion issued by Islamic scholars, that condemned Hanafi as an apostate. This raised controversy in Egypt, as many liberals disagreed with the charge that Hanafi was an apostate.[17]

Legacy

In an Egyptian magazine he declared that his main disciples in Egypt are Nasr Abu Zayd, Ali Mabrouk, and Kareem Essayyad.

The scholar Carool Kersten notes that Hanafi's intellectual influence extends beyond majority Arabic-speaking countries and includes Indonesia,[18] where among the local intelligentsia, Hanafi represented "a particular brand of Arab intellectuals known as turāthiyyūn—‘heritage thinkers’."[19]

Death

Hannafi died on 21 October 2021, aged 86.[20][14][13]

Select bibliography[5][18]
  • al-yasār al-islāmī wal-waḥda l-wataniyya [The Islamic Left and National Unity] (Cairo: N.H., 1981).
  • al-yamīn wal-yasār fī al- fiqr addīnī [The Right and the Left in Religious Thought] (Damascus: ḍar allaa addin, 1996).
  • Contemporary issues, (Cairo, 1977)
  • Religious dialogue and revolution (Cairo, 1977).
  • Tradition and modernism, Arab Center for Research and Publication, (Cairo: Arab Center for Research and Publication, 1977)
  • "The relevance of the Islamic alternative in Egypt" Arab Studies Quarterly 4, 54-74. 1982.
  • Qadhāyā Mu'āshirat Fi'Fikrina Al-Mu'āshir (Beirut: Dārut-Tanwīr lith-Thibā'atin-Nasyr, 1983).
  • Ad-Dîn Wat-Tsaurah Fi Mishr, 1952-1981 (Cairo, 1987).    
  • Min Al-'Aqīdah Ilā Al-Thawrah: Al-Muqaddimāt Al-Nazariyyah [From Dogma to revolution] (Cairo, 1989).
  • Theosophy and phenomenology: Islamic studies (Cairo, 1989).
  • East-West dialogue (with Al-Jabiri) (Cairo, 1991).
  • Generations dialogue, (Cairo: Dar Keba, 1998)
  • From transfer to creativity (Cairo: Dar Keba, 2001).
  • "From Orientalism to Occidentalism', Encounters in Language and Literature 1(2), 7-16. 2012.
  • "'As-Salafiyyāt Wa Al-'Ilmāniyyāt Fi Fikrina Al-Mu'āshir', Al-Azminat 3(15), 15-47. 2016.

See also

Notes
  1. Navarro, Alain (2 October 2006) "Egypt professor compares Koran to supermarket" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Middle East Online
  2. Khuri, Richard K. (1994) "A Critique of Hassan Hanafi Concerning his Reflections on the Scarcity of Freedom in the Arab-Muslim World" page 88 In Mardin, Şerif (ed.) (1994) Cultural transitions in the Middle East E.J. Brill, Leiden, pp. 86-115, ISBN 90-04-09873-9
  3. Fornet-Betancourt, Raúl (1999) "Hassan Hanafi (Cairo, Egypt)" Quo vadis, Philosophie?: Antworten der Philosophen: Dokumentation einer Weltumfrage Wissenschaftsverlag Mainz, Aachen, Germany, page 138, ISBN 3-86073-694-9, in German
  4. Murphy, Caryle (2002) "Chapter 11: New Thinking in Islam" Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience Scribner, New York, page 220, ISBN 0-7432-3743-9
  5. Islam, state, and modernity : Mohammed Abed al-Jabri and the future of the Arab world. Francesca Maria Corrao, Zaid Eyadat, Mohammed Hashas, Abdou Filali-Ansary. New York, NY. 2018. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-137-59760-1. OCLC 1032725872.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa (2002) "Phenomenology and Contemporary Islamic Thought Phenomenology World-wide: Foundations, expanding dynamisms, life-engagements: a guide for research and study Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, page 320, ISBN 1-4020-0066-9
  7. Hanafi, Hasan (1965) Les méthodes d'exégèse: essai sur la science des fondements de la compréhension "ʻIlm Uṣul al-fiqh" République arabe unie, Conseil supérieur des arts, des lettres et des sciences sociales, Cairo, Egypt, OCLC 2894354; Hanafi, Hasan (1980) L'exégèse de la phénoménologie: l'état actuelle de la méthode phénoménologique et son application au phénomène religieux Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, Cairo, Egypt, OCLC 11867001; Hanafi, Hasan (1988) La phénoménologie de l'exégèse: essai d'une herméneutique existentielle à partir du Nouveau Testament Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop, Cairo, Egypt, ISBN 977-05-0917-5
  8. Hashas, Mohammed (2018), Eyadat, Zaid; Corrao, Francesca M.; Hashas, Mohammed (eds.), "The Arab Possible State: From al-Tahtawi to al-Jabri", Islam, State, and Modernity, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 271–302, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59760-1_14, ISBN 978-1-349-95155-0, retrieved 29 December 2021
  9. Olsson, Susanne. 2006. Islam and the West in the Ideology of Hasan Hanafi. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
  10. Murphy, Caryle (2002) "Chapter 11: New Thinking in Islam" Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience Scribner, New York, page 219, ISBN 0-7432-3743-9
  11. "Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities" Archived 11 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine InterAction Council, 1 September 1997, page 10
  12. "Signatories" Archived 17 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine official website of "A Common Word"
  13. "The great philosopher and thinker Hassan Hanafi passed away at the age of 86". Middle East in 24 English. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  14. "Leading Egyptian philosopher Hanafi dies at 86". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  15. http://www.arabwestreport.info/?q=node/3749 (Arab West Report Art. 27, Week 20/2000, 10 – 16 May)
  16. http://www.arabwestreport.info/?q=node/4809 (Arab West Report Art. 11, Week 25/2001, 20 – 26 June)
  17. http://www.arabwestreport.info/?q=node/14399 (Arab West Report Art. 2, Week 51/1997, 19 – 25 December )
  18. Manshur, Fadlil M. (12 February 2021). "Hasan Hanafi, new theology and cultural revolution: An analysis of cultural intensification". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 77 (4). doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6190. ISSN 2072-8050. S2CID 233323270.
  19. Kersten, Carool (2018), Eyadat, Zaid; Corrao, Francesca M.; Hashas, Mohammed (eds.), "Al-Jabri in Indonesia: The Critique of Arab Reason Travels to the Lands Below the Winds", Islam, State, and Modernity, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 149–167, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59760-1_8, ISBN 978-1-349-95155-0, retrieved 29 December 2021
  20. El Sayed, Mohamed (21 October 2021). "حسن حنفي الأعمال الكاملة له والكتب للفيلسوف المصري". shbabbek.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 21 October 2021.
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