Disability & Society

Disability & Society , 2013

This paper traces religious scriptural conceptualization and praxis of disability through pre-monotheistic Hellenic, Judeo-Christian, Islamic and eastern religious contexts. Secular-rationalistic conceptualization of disability through the medical model is discussed and situated within its origins of Judeo-Christian ethics. This is especially relevant in the history of eugenics. Universalization through the social model of disability is contrasted with the increase of faith-based organizations in development practice that bring their own religious world-views. I argue that understanding historical scriptural conceptualizations of disability are important to understand current trends in international development that affect persons with disabilities.

Journal of Disability & Religion

De Natura Fidei: Rethinking Religion across Disciplinary Boundaries. Ed. Jibu Mathew George. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Authorspress., 2021

How does disability constitute religion? The proposed paper intends to trace the simultaneous development of the concepts of religion and disability and their interdependence. Drawing on the recent epistemic advances made by the field of disability studies, the paper will critically examine the diverse ways in which disablement is configured as a theological concept as well as within praxis of ritualistic traditions. In due course the paper will investigate notions of zakaat/charity/dana; the historical correlation between religious institutions of the development of institutions related to disability care: the leprosarium, the dargah and the psychiatric asylum.

Disputatio philosophica, 2018

This article gives an overview of how disability, or more broadly the phenomenon of 'physical/mental otherness', was represented in the Islamic tradition. It is argued that the pre-modern Islamic tradition had a significantly different approach to this phenomenon than the approaches produced in the post-industrialization modern world. This study is divided into two main sections. The first section examines the question of terminology and its seminal role in framing both pre-modern and contemporary deliberations on Islam and disability. The second section reviews how people with disabilities were represented in a number of scholarly disciplines within the Islamic tradition. Besides giving the reader an overall idea about disability in the pre-modern Islamic tradition, the article also gives extensive references to modern studies on Islam and disability so that the reader gets acquainted with modern scholarship in this emerging field of study. Academic studies examining disability in Islam are still strikingly few in number and one can only speak of an emerging field of study in its embryonic phase. However, Islam and disability proved to be an attractive topic for early career researchers especially those working on their PhD dissertations in both Western and Middle Eastern Universities. Some of these dissertations found their way to the world of academic publications and, besides other studies conducted by senior researchers, compose now a substantial part of an increasingly distinct genre on disability in the Islamic tradition. These studies cover a wide range of scholarly disciplines including Islamic theology (ʿaqīda) jurisprudence (fiqh), belles-lettres (adab), and history

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, 2011

A growing number of recent academic publications and theological treatises have dealt with Christian theology, disability and handicapped individuals. In this groundbreaking book, Mohammed Ghaly provides a pioneering work in Islamic studies addressing Muslim perspectives on disability. Following the introduction, the book consists of nine chapters divided into two parts. The first part deals with Islamic theology, and especially the problem of theodicy and how this theologically challenging concept has been understood and answered by various theologians in Islamic history, as well as in more recent periods. Here we find contradictory opinions and answers to the problem of theodicy. Some Muslim theologians argue that disability is a punishment for sins committed, while others argue that disability and various forms of handicap should be seen as a test in this world, the disabled individual consequently receiving benefits in the next life. As with most theological concepts and arenas of thought, it is clear from Ghaly's thorough examination that Muslim theologians and philosophers have been divided on this issue. But even with the contradictory conclusions and answers, Muslim theologians had to come up with guidance on the treatment of handicapped and disabled individuals who were Muslim. This challenge is the main focus of the second part of the book, which deals with Islamic jurisprudence and practical theology. This contains chapters on, among many things, human dignity and disabilities, the ethics of writing on people with disabilities, their employability, their medical treatment and financial aid for them. Even though Ghaly's thesis is an impressive piece of work that

In this essay I will be assessing the contribution of the Old Testament to a positive description of disability today. I will approach this by examining current attitudes today towards people with disabilities (PWD). I will outline some of the positive and negative attitudes found in the Old Testament and then focus in on the Levitical practices through Melcher’s use of signs and then apply this to a more positive area of the Old Testament in Ecclesiastes. I will then seek to compare the two using Raster’s Anthropic Zones. These will be held in tension to provide a more positive description of disability from the Old Testament.

The purpose of this study is to seek a first-hand understanding of the Islamic position and attitude towards disability by examining the primary sources of Islamic teaching-the Qur'an and the life example of the Prophet Muhammad as preserved in his sayings and teachings (Hadith). The major purpose of this paper is to describe how Islam approaches blind people with justice, equality, independence, and full membership in society. We search the Qur'an for references to such terms as blind, mute, deaf, lame, weak, orphan, destitute/needy, and wayfarer. Concept of disability, in the conventional sense, is not found in the Qur'an. Rather, the Qur'an concentrates on the notion of disadvantage that is created by society and imposed on those individuals who might not possess the social, economic, or physical attributes that people happen to value at a certain time and place. The Qur'an places the responsibility of rectifying this inequity on the shoulder of society by its constant exhortation to Muslims to recognize the plight of the disadvantaged and to improve their condition and status.

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 2014

This article explores disability in the Old Testament. The discussion takes its starting point in a number of domains and arenas where disability was visualized and investigates the significance and meaning that can be attached to these domains in relation to the problem of inclusion and exclusion. The analysis highlights complex and contradictory phenomena, where the interpretation was not given but rather dependent on the cultural context and different mechanisms at work.