The Political Teachings of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi

The Political Teachings of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi

What Dr. Riyad Asvat’s book, Sufism, The Living Tradition, did in revealing Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi’s paramount influence on the intellectual life of contemporary Islam, his new work, The Political Teachings of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi, does in uncovering his perhaps even more important role of re-evaluating and disclosing the true nature of the politics and commercial practices of Islam, the way that they have been subverted by the capitalist hegemony of the present age, and the unique possibility they offer for a viable future for a balanced and just human society. After tracing and amplifying the ​Shaykh’s analysis of the formation of the original Islamic polity and its commercial underpinnings, and their historical development, Dr Asvat then builds on the Shaykh’s trenchant critique of the political and economic unfurling of the modern world, showing in detail its destructive effects on many aspects of the world we live in. The book ends with Dr. Asvat giving a complete exposition of Shaykh Abdalqadir’s “coherent existential methodology, inwardly and outwardly, to activate Islam and, by so doing, displace the value system of the current world order.”

Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley

The Authors

Dr. Riyad Asvat received his PhD from the University of Melbourne where he lectured in Islamic Studies. His publications include: The Political Philosophy of Shaykh Abdalqadir al-Sufi; Economic Justice and Shari‘a in the Islamic State; Commercial Transactions of the Sarrafs (Moneychangers) and Awqaf al-nuqud (cash waqfs) in the Ottoman Caliphate; and Sufism – The Living Tradition: Sufi Epistemology Encounters Modernity in the Tariqa of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Sufi. He has presented papers on the work of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi at several international conferences. Currently his focus is on Islamic trade and commerce – mu‘amalat al-tijariyya.

Abdassamad Clarke has a BSc in mathematics and physics from Edinburgh University. He accepted Islam at the hands of Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi and at his suggestion studied in Cairo. He is co-editor with the late Abdalhalim Orr of the 2nd edition of Banking – the Root Cause of the Injustices of Our Time, and author of Follow the Money – a Muslim Guide to the Murky World of Finance.