Toward

Islamic
Anthropology
DEFINITION, DOGMA,
AND DIRECTIONS

Akbar S. Ahmed
Director General, National Center for Rural Development, and
Director, Center of Social Sciences and Humanities, University Grants
Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

International Institute of Islamic Thought

Herndon, Virginia, U.S.A.
1406 A.H.11986 A.C.
 Contents

PART O N E

I. Introduction: Page
A. The Science of Anthropology
B. Anthropology and Other Sciences of Man
C. Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter

11. Anthropological Fieldwork

111. Theoretical Frames in Western Anthropology

A. Social Structure
B. Kinship and Political Organization
C. Beliefs, Magic and Religion
D. Economic Anthropology
E. Processes of Social Change

IV. The Orientalist Anthropologist

PART T W O

V. Islamic Anthropology
A. The Problem of Definition
B. Muslim Societies
C. Society During the Time of the Prophet

VI. Conclusion
A. Recommendations
B . Conclusion