Journal of Islamic Studies > Volume 27, No. 3, 2015

Critique of Humanism / Ahmad Ibn-Mohammed Allaheeb

This research is concerned with studying the term ''humanism'' and its impact on Western and Islamic cultures. It aims to elaborate the humanistic approach to dealing with religious texts and to elaborate the close intellectual relationship between East-oriented and West-oriented humanism advocates. The research follows the inductive and deductive methodologies. Among the research results are: the concept of "humanism" originated in the ancient Greek culture, as represented by the Greek philosopher Protagoras and by his statement "Man is the measure of all things" ; it is the main source of the European philosophies of the Renaissance; and it has a great impact on the Orientalists. Among the important recommendations of the research are: due attention should be paid to the promotion of sound Shari'ah sciences; the righteous Salaf approach should be promoted and made comprehensible to all segments of society by all means possible, as a precautionary preventive measure for protection from going astray; there should be communication with advocates of humanism in order to identify misconceptions, and to purely promote Islamic guidance and call, without aiming to score points against them.