Contemporary Muslim approaches to the study of religion : a comparative analysis of three Egyptian authors

Despite significant differences in the why, how and what of their interpretations of religious, our three authors (Muhammad Abu Zahrah, 'Abd-Allah Diraz and Ahmad Shalabi) understand religions, and in Diraz's case the religious phenomenon in general, through categories specific to an Islamic worldview. Their use of Western scientific methods to apprehend the study of religion is not systematic. It varies from Abu Zahrah's limited use to Shalabi's exuberant use, both being highly subservient to polemical intentions. Only Diraz shows familiarity and appreciation for scientific methods, without however subscribing to the epistemology of science which underlies them. The resulting relationship between the scientific study of religion and the Islamic study of religion, as epitomized in the fusion of my own commitments to the former and my authors' commitments to the latter, proves ultimately irreconcilable. Our respective epistemologies remain answerable to different centres of authority; the subjective self in the first instance and the objectified God, Allah, in the second