New Books Network 13:1 - Sherman Jackson Part I
Oct 17, 2025
Sherman Jackson, a leading scholar of Islamic thought and the King Faisal Chair at USC, dives deep into his new book, The Islamic Secular. He challenges the notion that secularism is an external concept to Islam. Jackson discusses the importance of reclaiming the term 'secular' for Muslim self-understanding and critiques traditional academic frameworks. He proposes a modern take on Islamic studies, advocating for the relevance of non-jurists in the scholarly conversation while navigating the philosophical nuances between 'Islamic' and 'Islamicate.'
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Sharia's Jurisdiction And The Islamic Secular
- Sharia provides authoritative rulings on acts but does not supply practical metrics like efficiency or effectiveness for worldly decisions.
- Jackson calls the non-revelatory deliberative space 'the Islamic secular' distinct from the Western secular.
Reclaiming 'Secular' From Western Hegemony
- Jackson argues Muslims must reclaim and redefine 'secular' from Western monopoly to avoid self-limiting taboos.
- He urges letting Islam speak on its own terms using its legal and intellectual tradition.
Read Jurists' Practices, Not Just Prophetic Examples
- Study how classical jurists actually negotiated practical issues rather than only citing prophetic examples.
- Use juristic discourse to understand how Islamic law handled technical policy questions historically.
