RIDA, RASHID (1865–1935)

Rashid Rida was the most prominent disciple of Muhammad ?Abduh and one of the most influential scholars and jurists of his generation. Rida was born near Tripoli, in present-day Lebanon. His early education consisted of training in traditional Islamic subjects and a brief, disenchanting exposure to the secular curriculum of the Ottoman government school in Tripoli. His reformist views began to form in 1884–1885 when he was first exposed to Jamal al-Din Afghani's and ?Abduh's journal al-?Urwa al-wuthqa (The firmest grip). In 1897, Rida left Syria for Cairo to collaborate with ?Abduh. The following year he launched al-Manar, first a weekly and then a monthly journal comprising Qur?anic commentary (begun by ?Abduh, continued by Rida, but never completed) and opinions on pressing legal, political, and social issues of the day. Like ?Abduh, Rida based his reformist principles on the argument that the shari?a consists of ?ibadat (worship) and mu?amalat (social relations). Human reason has little scope in the former and Muslims should adhere to the dictates of the Qur?an and hadith. The laws governing mu?amalat should conform to Islamic ethics but on specific points may be continually reassessed according to changing conditions of different generations and societies. Unlike ?Abduh, Rida narrowed the salaf (the "pious ancestors" as authoritative interpreters of Islamic tradition) to include only the Prophet's companions and immediate successors.

See also?Abduh, Muhammad.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Charles C. Islam and Modernism in Egypt: A Study of the Modern Reform Movement Inaugurated by Muhammad ?Abduh. New York: Russell and Russell, 1968.

Kerr, Malcolm H. Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad ?Abduh and Rashid Rida. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966.

Sohail H. Hashmi