Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah (Arabic: محمد أحمد خلف الله, 1916-1998) was an Egyptian Islamic modernist thinker and writer.
Biography
Early life and education
Khalafallah was born in 1916 in Sharqīyah Province, Lower Egypt. His early education included traditional Islamic schools and a government school. He then studied at Dār al-ʿUlūm. 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.
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. As a pupil of Amin al-Khuli, he stated that one can study the Qur'an from a literary point of view. 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. 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. 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"). He was fired from his teaching position and transferred to the Ministry of Culture.
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.
His doctoral thesis was finally published in 1954.
Later life
Khalafallah had a long tenure at the Ministry of Culture, where he eventually became undersecretary for planning. 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). He died in 1998.
Works
He wrote Mafāhīm Qurʼānīyah ( "Quranic concepts"), published in arabic in 1984, 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"), and Al-Islām wa-al-ʿurūbah (Islam and Arabism).
Notes and references
- ^ عمارة, محمد (1 January 2011). أشهر مناظرات القرن العشرين. الجزء الأول، مصر بين الدولة المدنية والدينية (in Arabic). Al Manhal. ISBN 9796500078472.
- Khalafallah, Muhammad Ahmad, Oxford Islamic Studies On-line, citing The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (page visited on 30 January 2015).
- ^ Shepard, William E. (2009) "Khalafallāh, Muḥammad Aḥmad." The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. : Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference.
- ^ 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.
- Benzine, Rachid (2008). Les nouveaux penseurs de l'islam (in French). Albin Michel. p. 163. ISBN 978-2-226-17858-9.
- Chartier, Marc (1974). "Exégèse coranique" (PDF). Comprendre n° 99 (in French). Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- Chartier, Marc, p. 3.
- Reynolds, Gabriel Said (10 July 2017). "Psychological Readings of the Qurʾan". International Qur'anic Studies Association. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- 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.
- "مفاهيم قرآنية | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- Chartier, Marc, p. 8.
External links
al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim on archive.org (in arabic).
