Prophethood, and the challenge to the pillars of society

In this Prishtina Talks presentation, Gerdi Demneri reads a key moment in the sira of the Prophet — the passage of the Islamic call from the private sphere into the public one — and sets it against the situation of Albanian Muslims in Albania and Kosovo today.

Following closely the first three years of the secret call, the Prophet's hesitation before going out on the hill of Safa, and the harsh reaction of the Quraysh elite once the prophetic message challenged not only the theology but the political, economic and social injustices of Meccan society, Demneri argues that the Meccan Qur'an offered an alternative vision for every aspect of society.

In the second half he sets the Quraysh proposal of an “Islam confined to the private sphere” beside the prevailing understanding of secularism articulated by figures such as Pirro Misha, Rexhep Meidani and Baton Haxhiu — and compares it with the philosophical criticism of that understanding by Charles Taylor, Jürgen Habermas and José Casanova.

Some of the points covered: 📌 The difference between nabi and rasul, and why the first three years were an individual call 📌 The Prophet's hesitation before going out on the hill of Safa 📌 Why the Quraysh elite reacted only once the “pillars of society” were touched 📌 The Meccan Qur'an as an alternative political, economic and social vision 📌 The Quraysh proposal of an Islam confined to the private sphere 📌 Secularism according to Pirro Misha, Rexhep Meidani and Baton Haxhiu 📌 The philosophical criticism of that secularism by Taylor, Habermas and Casanova

📍 Prishtina Talks