The thing that most distinguishes ‘primitive peoples’ or those dubbed ‘pre-historic’ is the relationship of the unconscious that binds them to their social habits and institutions. Oral societies, according to Levi Strauss, are distinguished by their unconscious infrastructure, and the thinking that these societies produce from this constitutes ‘collective thought’, while literate societies exercise critical thought.[1]
You often use the term ‘decadence’ yet the historian of science Rāshid Rushdī rejects the concept of decadence in view of the fact that Islamic science continued without interruption from the 10th century until the present-day. So how do you define decadence?[1]
The reader might well be surprised to hear Mohamed Arkoun telling him that the setting down of the Arab Islamic heritage only began in earnest during the Abbasid period – that is, at least a century and a half after the emergence of Islam. This means that truly reliable records from the Umayyad period are few in number and fragmentary – contrary to what we have hitherto believed.
The story of the Isrā’ and the Miʽrāj[1] is one that frequently excites much debate due to the contradictory expressions, obscurities and considerable incoherences voiced by proponents from the various tendencies and schools. The story of the Isrā’ is referred to in the Qur’ān: Glorified be He Who carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place of Worship to the Far Distant place of worship the neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might show him of Our tokens! [Qur’ān XVII,1]
You often use the term ‘decadence’ yet the historian of science Rāshid Rushdī rejects the concept of decadence in view of the fact that Islamic science continued without interruption from the 10th century until the present-day. So how do you define decadence?
The reader might well be surprised to hear Mohamed Arkoun telling him that the setting down of the Arab Islamic heritage only began in earnest during the Abbasid period – that is, at least a century and a half after the emergence of Islam. This means that truly reliable records from the Umayyad period are few in number and fragmentary – contrary to what we have hitherto believed.
The story of the Isrā’ and the Miʽrāj
