Liberal Islam A Sourcebook

by Kurzman, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780195116229
• ISBN10: 0195116224
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

"Liberal Islam" is not a contradiction in terms; it is a thriving tradition and undergoing a revival within the last generation. This anthology presents the work of 32 Muslims who share parallel concerns with Western liberalism. Although the West has largely ignored the liberal traditionwithin Islam, many of these authors are well-known in their own countries as advocates of democracy and tolerance. Among these are: Abdulkarim Soroush, a leading oppositional figure in Iran; Nurcholish Madjid, a prominent Indonesian intellectual; Mahmud Mohamed Taha, a religious reformer executed bythe Sudanese government; and 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq, an Egyptian religious scholar whose writings on the separation of church and state have been controversial since the 1920s. In an analytical introduction, editor Charles Kurzman discusses the history of the liberal tradition in Islam and identifiesthe main currents in liberal Islamic thought. This collection will be an important resource for scholars and students of Islam, the Middle East, and international affairs, and will also help to redress the imbalance in our perceptions of the Islamic world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. v
Introduction Liberal Islam and Its Islamic Context	p. 3
Against Theocracy	p. 27
Message Not Government, Religion Not State	p. 29
Legislative Authority	p. 37
Shari'A: The Codification of Islamic Law	p. 49
Democracy	p. 57
The Indonesian Revolution	p. 59
Accountability, Parliament, and Ljtihad	p. 67
Religion and Liberty	p. 73
Christian-Muslim Democracy	p. 85
Participation in Non-Islamic Government	p. 91
Democracy and Shura	p. 96
Rights of Women	p. 99
Nazira Zein-Ed-Din Unveiling and Veiling	p. 101
Politics and the Muslim Woman	p. 107
A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam	p. 112
Qur'An and Woman	p. 130
Islam and the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women	p. 139
Rights of Non-Muslims	p. 143
Minorities in a Democracy	p. 145
Universalism in Islam	p. 155
Religious Liberty	p. 161
The Medina Document	p. 169
The Downhill Path and Defense, Not Surrender	p. 179
Freedom of Thought	p. 185
Humanity and Islam	p. 187
Extremism	p. 196
Rethinking Islam Today	p. 205
Shari'A and Basic Human Rights Concerns	p. 222
The Problem of 'Ulama'	p. 239
The Evolution and Devolution of Religious Knowledge	p. 244
Progress	p. 253
The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam	p. 255
The Second Message of Islam	p. 272
The Necessity of Renewing Islamic Thought and Reinvigorating Religious Understanding	p. 284
Islam and Humanism	p. 295
Islam and Modernity	p. 304
Islam and the Challenge of the Modern World	p. 319
Glossary	p. 329
Index of Qur'Anic Citations	p. 331
Index of Personal Names	p. 335
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