A Young Muslim’s Guide to the Modern World

Abstract

This book is an expository philosophical and intellectual ‘map’ for young Muslims who may find themselves mesmerized and confused by philosophical, intellectual, and practical aspects of modernity so they may orient their thought to provide their own answers to philosophical and intellectual challenges as a young person in the Modern World. It primarily aims at Muslim youths, presumably undergraduates who face the forces of modernity from their educational and social life. This book is relatively short compared to other Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s works. It is only about 260 pages from cover-to-cover minus the Index section.  In addition, this book is also for those who want to have an overview of Nasr’s philosophical deliberation on challenges of modernity and its possible answers seen from an Islamic perspective. This book is arguably the simplest introduction to Nasr’s thought because it is framed for the viewpoint of the young who is trying to find his or her ways in the Modern World. Thus breadth, clarity and simplicity in terms, topics, and examples can be seen throughout this book and not details, footnotes and nuances. The experience of reading it is akin to having a tour over a certain Islamic philosophical overview as a young person to explore the wealth of past Islamic philosophy and thought. The book aims to prepare the young Muslim minds to intellectually and philosophically respond to modern challenges first in their practical life and then cultivate a discipline of thought and commitment to learn so they could engage in intellectual discourses with regards to fundamental questions of philosophy – theology of tawhid, epistemology of meaning, and metaphysics of meta-reality in later life. This book is also an implicit preliminary exposition against meaninglessness due to exclusivist, positivistic, and empirical materialism that pins its fundamental axioms of knowledge in the domain of the material and observable universe