Get the latest Science News and Discoveries

The Red Mujtahid: Hussein Muruwwa’s Synthesis of Islamic Heritage and Revolutionary Marxism

Hussein Muruwwa (1908-1987) developed a materialist hermeneutics that challenged the false choice between cultural authenticity and revolutionary transformation facing postcolonial Arab intellectuals. His monumental work al-Nazʿat al-Madiyya demonstrates that historical materialism can unlock revolutionary potential within Islamic heritage by treating turath as a dynamic historical product rather than a static spiritual legacy. Against both Orientalist dismissals that portrayed Islam as inherently backward and Salafist idealizations that romanticized an ahistorical golden age, Muruwwa’s dialectical analysis revealed indigenous rationalist and progressive tendencies within Arab-Islamic philosophy. His synthesis proves that postcolonial revolutionaries need not abandon their cultural foundations to pursue radical social change, offering crucial insights into how traditional knowledge systems can serve rather than impede liberation struggles.

None

Get the Android app