REFORMATION OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT pdf download

Reformation Of Islamic Thought – a critical historical analysis Nasr Abu Zayd

REFORMATION OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT

For many non- Muslims across the world, Islamic culture and religion are now closely associated with authoritarian rule, cruel traditions and human suffering.

Sadly, these non- Muslims actually share Muslim fundamentalists’ convictions that the ‘real Islam’ is simply incompatible with modernity, democracy and respect for human rights.

It is not hard to show that in reality ‘Islam’ and the Muslim World present a variegated, dynamic mosaic.

Recent brands of fundamentalism are merely a segment of the full spectrum of evolving Islamic thinking, movements and practices.

Nor is it difficult to find Muslims who are peaceful and progressive, and who are actively tackling contemporary issues of social justice, pluralism and female equality in their societies.

 However, it is much harder to find Muslim activists who are also well-informed by systematic and critical reflections of Islamic tradition, including the Islamic foundational texts (i.e. The Quran and the Sunna, the Prophet’s Tradition).

 As a result, their intentions are often dismissed by literalist interpreters of both Muslim and non-Muslim origin as disrespectful of the Muslim heritage, superficial or apologetic.

 The present study, which is written at the invitation of the Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) by the eminent Egyptian scholar Nasr Abu Zayd, is the outcome of precisely such a well-informed reflection of Islamic tradition.

 It shows that early on, Muslim reformist thinkers from Egypt and Iran to Indonesia have tried to divest Islam of traditionalistic and legalistic interpretations, and have tended to stress the values of a cultural, ‘enlightened’ and dynamic Islam.

 Many of their contemporary successors reject the dogmatic Islam supported by conservatives and authoritarian political regimes; they want it replaced by a modern, spiritual and ethical Islam.

Unfortunately, the paradigm of modernity as a Western product and the equation of democracy and human rights with West¬ ernisation still prevail outside these intellectual circles.