Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah

Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah (Arabic: محمد أحمد خلف الله, 1916-1998) was an Egyptian Islamic modernist thinker and writer.[1][2]

Biography

Early life and education

Khalafallah was born in 1916 in Sharqīyah Province, Lower Egypt.[3] His early education included traditional Islamic schools and a government school. He then studied at Dār al-ʿUlūm.[3] He later attended the Faculty of Arts at Egyptian University, which eventually became Cairo University, graduating in 1939. He earned his M.A. in 1942, presenting a thesis on “Al-jadal fīal-Qurʿān” (Polemic in the Qurʿān). This work was published as Muḥammad wa-al-quwā al-muḍāddah (Muḥammad and the Forces of Opposition). Afterward, he took up a position as a tutor at the university.[3]

Thesis controversy

In 1947, Cairo University refused his doctoral dissertation presented to the Department of Arabic entitled The Narrative Art in the Holy Qur'an (al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim), as he suggested that holy texts are allegoric and that they should not be seen as something fixed, but as a moral direction.[4] As a pupil of Amin al-Khuli, he stated that one can study the Qur'an from a literary point of view.[5] The Qur'an uses all rhetorical ways at its disposal, which includes metaphors, biblical and pre-islamic narratives to convince people. In Khalafallah's opinion, historical truth is not the main goal, but rather the religious and ethic sense conveyed by these stories.[6] Khalafallah has been accused to treat the Speech of God as if it was a human product. Yet, he does not question the authenticity of the revelation.[7] He takes up a traditional theme, that of the inimitability (iʿjaz) of the Qur'an - the first title of his thesis was Min asrar al-iʿjaz, ("On the Secrets of the Qurʾan’s inimitability").[8] He was fired from his teaching position and transferred to the Ministry of Culture.[4]

Afterwards, he started a thesis on a non-religious subject and received his doctorate in 1952. He ended his career at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.[4][1]

His doctoral thesis was finally published in 1954.[9]

Later life

Khalafallah had a long tenure at the Ministry of Culture, where he eventually became undersecretary for planning.[3] After retiring, he became engaged with the Egyptian Committee for Asian-African Solidarity and took on the role of vice president of the National Progressive Unionist (Tajammuʿ) party. He also served as the chief editor of the magazine Al-yaqzah al-ʿArabīyah (Arab Awakening).[3] He died in 1998.[3]

Works

He wrote Mafāhīm Qurʼānīyah ( "Quranic concepts"), published in arabic in 1984,[10] al-Qur'ân-wa mushkilat hayâti-nâ l-mu'âsira ("The Qur'an and our contemporary problems"), al-Qur'ân wa l-dawla ("The Qur'an and the State"),[11] and Al-Islām wa-al-ʿurūbah (Islam and Arabism).[3]

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b عمارة, محمد (1 January 2011). أشهر مناظرات القرن العشرين. الجزء الأول، مصر بين الدولة المدنية والدينية (in Arabic). Al Manhal. ISBN 9796500078472.
  2. ^ Khalafallah, Muhammad Ahmad, Oxford Islamic Studies On-line, citing The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (page visited on 30 January 2015).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Shepard, William E. (2009) "Khalafallāh, Muḥammad Aḥmad." The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. : Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference.
  4. ^ a b c Zeid, Nasr Hamid Abou; Zayd, Nasr Hamid Abu; Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū; Zaid, Nasr Abu; Nelson, Esther R. (2004). Voice of an Exile: Reflections on Islam. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-98250-8.
  5. ^ Benzine, Rachid (2008). Les nouveaux penseurs de l'islam (in French). Albin Michel. p. 163. ISBN 978-2-226-17858-9.
  6. ^ Chartier, Marc (1974). "Exégèse coranique" (PDF). Comprendre n° 99 (in French). Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  7. ^ Chartier, Marc, p. 3.
  8. ^ Reynolds, Gabriel Said (10 July 2017). "Psychological Readings of the Qurʾan". International Qur'anic Studies Association. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  9. ^ Chebel, Malek (5 February 2013). Changer l'islam: Dictionnaire des réformateurs musulmans des origines à nos jours (in French). Albin Michel. p. 109. ISBN 978-2-226-28620-8.
  10. ^ "مفاهيم قرآنية | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  11. ^ Chartier, Marc, p. 8.

al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim on archive.org (in arabic).

See also