Seyed Jamal and the Third Way for the Islamic Society to Enter the New Age

Seyed Jamal ed-Din Asad Abadi is one of the most influential contemporary reformists in the Muslim world. In answering the main question of the Islamic world in encounter with the west on how to enter the new age in addition to maintaining Islamic identity, his broad view in understanding the status of the Muslim world led him attempt to choose a third way between the dilemma of either modernity or tradition at issue for his contemporary thinkers. In this regard, the present study reviewed this subject using a descriptive-analytical method and the results indicated that the main creativity of Seyed Jamal was to distinguish between the concepts of “religion” and “tradition” on the one hand, and “culture” and technology” on the other hand. He attempted to remove the obstacle of traditionalism and Salafism from his way without being condemned to heresy (Bid’ah) and westernization. Moreover, he tried to sustain Islamic identity and religious authority and open a new third way between modernity and tradition for the Islamic societies to enter the new age.