What Makes a “Muslim Intellectual”? On the Pros and Cons of a Category Jan-Peter Hartung Nineteenth Century mufakkirūn Ideology ʿulamāʾ Structural Change Analytical Category Object Concept At its core, this essay contains a substantiated plea for bringing about conceptual clarity to the notion of "Muslim intellectual", which the frequent and highly ideologically charged public usage of this term seems to distort. In search for a sound analytical concept of "intellectual" first, relevant sociological and philosophical deliberations are highlighted, indicating that both of their notions differ to such an extent that their applicability to academic pursuit must be doubted. Yet, by discussing some considerations by a Study of Islam open to the approaches of the Social Sciences a possible framework for an analytically meaningful concept of "Muslim intellectual" is presented. At the same time, however, arguments are presented for why those contemporary Muslim thinkers who are usually credited with being "Muslim intellectuals" would hardly fit the analytical criteria for such label. Philipps-Universität Marburg Marburg Deutschhausstraße 9, 35037 Marburg 2013 2013-05-01 2018-01-31 Text article urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0003-2013-36-10364 eng 2714728-9 1 1 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0003/article/download/1036/989 10.17192/meta.2013.1.1036 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0003/2013/36/1036