Kojiro Nakamura

Kojiro Nakamura (中村 廣治郎, Nakamura Kōjirō, 1936 – 5 December 2023) was a Japanese scholar of Islam. He was professor emeritus of Islamic studies at both Tokyo University and Oberlin University.[1][2] Tokyo University's Department of Islamic Studies was the first such department in Japan, established in 1982 with Nakamura appointed its first professor.[3]

Nakamura translated and commented on portions of Al-Ghazali's Revival of Religious Sciences, his most important work, for the Islamic Texts Society in 1992.[4][5] Much of Nakamura's effort had been spent on analysis of al-Ghazali's works, a number of which Nakamura has translated to the Japanese language.[6] Nakamura's Islam and Modernity also focuses on what he held are four main streams of modern Islamic thought in order to frame Islamic studies within the wider field of religious studies.[7] He also served as a conference chair at the first al-Manar conference organised by Routledge.[8]

Nakamura received his PhD from Harvard University in 1970.[9]

Nakamura died from a subdural hematoma on 5 December 2023, at the age of 87.[10]

  1. ^ Toshihiko Izutsu, The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology, pg. vi. New Westminster: The Other Press, 2006. ISBN 9789839154702
  2. ^ "Note on Contributors." Taken from Religion and Society: An Agenda for the 21st Century, pg. 280. Eds. Gerrie Ter Haar and Yoshio Tsuruoka. Volume 5 of International studies in religion and society. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2007. ISBN 9789004161238
  3. ^ Orient, vols. 35-37, pg. 9. Maruzen Company, 2000.
  4. ^ Annemarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam, pg. 265. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. ISBN 9780791419823
  5. ^ The Islamic Quarterly, vols. 27-29, pg. 131. London: Islamic Cultural Centre, 1983.
  6. ^ Religion and Society, pg. 281.
  7. ^ Shoko Watanbe, Report: Seminar “Secularization, Religion, State”, 6th session. University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy, 18 June 2009. Accessed 12 December 2013.
  8. ^ Stephane A. Dudoignon, Komatsu Hisao and Kosugi Yasushi. Intellectuals in the Modern Islamic World: Transmission, Transformation and Communication, pg. xiii. London: Routledge, 2013. ISBN 9781134205981
  9. ^ http://www.univ-tebessa.dz/fichiers/lib/011097415.pdf (Archived 18 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine)
  10. ^ "イスラム学者の中村廣治郎氏死去". Sankei. 17 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.