Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qur’anic Commentaries

Abstract

larities between Sabri’s concept of ḥukm al-Islām and Qutb’s concept of ḥākimiyya, Hammond (235–7) argues that Qutb was more likely to have been influenced by Sabri than by others (such as, e.g., the German political philosopher Carl Schmitt, as Khaled Abou el-Fadl has argued). However, the book presents no evidence that Sabri had a direct influence on Qutb; there is no evidence, for example, of Qutb citing any of Sabri’s works, let alone embracing his concepts, apart from the fact that both ‘attended same salons’ in Cairo, and some of Sabri’s publications were supported by al-Banna (236). The evidence presented for Mustafa Sabri’s influence on Sayyid Qutb is not persuasive. Second, some chapters devote disproportionately little space to discussion of the views of the three chosen intellectuals. For example, while Chapter 5 promises to discuss the views of Akif, Sabri and Kevseri regarding the modern nation-state, it is in fact less about them and more about the origins of the political Islamist movement in Egypt. Third, while the last chapter discusses modern Islamic though in Turkey, and specifically how Said Nursi’s views and followers influenced republican Islam and the trajectory of Islamism, Hammond fails to discuss whether and how students and followers of Akif, Sabri and Kevseri such as Ali Ulvi Kurucu, Mehmet Ihsan Efendi and Mustafa Runyun, amongst others, may have influenced present-day Islamic thinking. Overall, Late Ottoman Origins of Modern Islamic Though offers a refreshing analysis of the views of Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Mustafa Sabri and Zahid Kevseri, who have indeed been ‘largely erased via disciplinary conventions’ (265) but who play a significant part in broader Islamic intellectual history with their influential anti-modernist and anti-Salafist views. This is a must read for those interested in modern Islamic thought.