Mohammed Abed al-Jabri Quotes
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri was a Moroccan philosopher, long associated with Mohammed V University in Rabat, and one of the most influential Arab thinkers of the late twentieth century. His four-volume Critique of Arab Reason offered a sustained genealogy of the structures of classical Arab-Islamic thought, distinguishing the bayan tradition of Arabic linguistic science, the irfan tradition of Sufi gnosis, and the burhan tradition of Greek-influenced demonstrative philosophy, and called for an Arab modernity rooted in the rationalist legacy of Andalusian Averroism. The quotes below are attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, organized by topic.
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri on Knowledge
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Attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri:
“Arab reason has three faces: the bayan of language, the irfan of mysticism, and the burhan of demonstration.”
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Attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri:
“Modernity for the Arabs begins not in imitation of Europe, but in the Andalusian rationalism of Averroes.”
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Attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri:
“A tradition is alive only when its rationalism is recovered against its own dogmatism.”
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Attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri:
“The critique of reason is the only path to the renewal of culture.”
Mohammed Abed al-Jabri on Politics
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Attributed to Mohammed Abed al-Jabri:
“Democracy is not foreign to the Islamic political imagination; it is one of its possibilities.”