Mustafā Mahmūd

Mustafa Mahmoud

Mustafā Mahmūd ( Arabic مصطفى محمود, DMG Muṣṭafā Maḥmūd ; * 1921 ; † 2009 ) was an Egyptian thinker, philosopher and doctor .

Education

Mustafa Mahmud was considered a gifted student. He showed a preference for the natural sciences , so his father had a small laboratory set up for him in which he carried out experiments . There he produced carbon dioxide , sulfur dioxide and soaps , dissected frogs and developed means of combating insects . He dropped out of college after a teacher beat him. After three years he took it up again, studied medicine at the university and graduated in 1953.

Professional background

Mustafa Mahmud worked as a brain surgeon after completing his studies. In 1960 he gave up this work and devoted himself to literary writing. He worked for a while for the Egyptian magazine Rose al-Yūsuf , where he also published his short stories . He had a show on Egyptian television in the 1980s and 1990s called Science and Faith .

Thinker and philosopher

When he was 13 or 14 years old, Mahmud began to ask about the “secret of life and death”, about the originator, about the original cause. The experiments in his small laboratory, the dissection of frogs, the medical studies and the corpses in the morgue , in front of which he stood pensive for hours, influenced his consciousness and always confronted him with the question of the "secret of life and death". In his search for this “secret”, Mahmud questioned everything. He only believed in material things. During the 1960s, after a series of newspaper articles in which he let his mind wander, and after the publication of his book Allah wal-Insan (God and Man), Mahmoud was accused of heresy . Then prompted President Gamal Abdel Nasser , a court case against him. The book was confiscated and Mahmud was acquitted by the court. After 30 years Mahmud returned to the faith and wrote several books in which he justified this about-face. In his book Aš-šāfāʿā (The Prophet's Intercession on Judgment Day), published in 2000 , he gave a new interpretation of this Islamic concept, which sparked a heated debate about the book.

Publications (selection)

Understanding The Qur'an: A Contemporary Approach ISBN 159008022X Kalimat as-sirr (The Secret Words). al-Qāhira: Dār Aḫbār al-Yaum. 1998. ISBN 9770806943 . Al-Islam Al-Siyasi Wa-Al-Marakah Al-Qadimah (Political Islam and the coming battle) ISBN 9770804037 Qiraah Lil-Mustaqbal (Reading for the future) ISBN 9770800376 Al-Sual Al-hair ISBN 9770226114 Haqiqat Al-Bahaiyah (Truth about Al-Bahaiyah) (1985) ISBN 9770215023

Marxism and Islam (1984) ISBN 9770209694 Ayyuha Al-Sadah - Ikhlau Al-Aqniah (Dears, take the masks out) (1984) ISBN 9770209015 Al-Islam - Ma Huwa (What is Islam?) (1984) ISBN 9770211109 Hal Huwa asr Al-Junun (Is it the Madness Time?) (1983) ISBN 9770204994 Min Amrika Ila Al-Shati Al-akhar (From America to the other coast) (1982) ISBN 977020255X Dialogue Antara Muslim Dan Atheis (1981) ISBN 9971770210 Ukdhubat Al-Yasar Al-Islami (The Lie about the Islamic Left Groups) (1978) ISBN 9772474042 A conversation with my friend, the atheist and Islam ... what is it? Munich SKD Bavaria Verlag und Handel, 1997, ISBN 3-926575-42-5

literature

• Stephan Conermann: Muṣṭafá Maḥmúd (born 1921) and the modified Islamic discourse in modern Egypt. Berlin Verlag Schwarz, Kiel 1996, ISBN 3-87997-252-4
• Mustafa Mahmud: reḥlāti mināl šāk ilāl imān (My journey from doubt to faith), Cairo 1982.

Web links

• Alexandria Library (PDF file; 199 kB)