Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform

Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform
Author: Edip Yuksel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2009-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780979671579

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The 30 scholars and activists who contributed to this book do not necessarily agree on every issue, however, they all agree on the imperative of a radical reformation in the Muslim world--a reform under the guidance of the Quran with the light of reason.

Critical Muslim 2

Critical Muslim 2
Author: Ziauddin Sardar
Publisher: Hurst
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2012-04-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1849043795

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Ziauddin Sardar argues why Islamic reform is necessary, Bruce Lawrence sees Muslim cosmopolitanism as the future, Parvez Manzoor declares jihad on the idea of 'the political', Samia Rahman gets to the root of Muslim misogyny, Michael Muhammad Knight explains his taqwacore beliefs, Soha al-Jurf has problems with orthodoxy, Carool Kersten suggests that critical thinkers and reformers are often seen as heretics, and Ben Gidley on what keeps Muslims and Jews apart and what can bring them together. Also in this issue: Stuart Sim takes a sledgehammer to the 'profit motive', Andy Simons argues that Jazz is just as Muslim as it is American, Robin Yassin-Kabbab meets the new crop of Iraqi writers in Erbil, Said Adrus visits a Muslim cemetery in Woking, Ehsan Masood confesses he spent his youth reading the extremist writer Maryam Jameelah, Iftikar Malik dismisses pessimism about Pakistan, Hassan Mahamdallie explores what it means to be an American, Jerry Ravetz discovers the Arabic Maimonides, Vinay Lal assesses the legacy of Edward Said, and Merryl Wyn Davies takes a train to 9/11. Plus a brilliant new story from Aamer Hussein and four poems by the celebrated Mimi Khalvati. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.

Islam and the Question of Reform

Islam and the Question of Reform
Author: Benjamin Macqueen
Publisher: Academic Monographs
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2008
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0522856101

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Reform, by definition, is not a complete break with tradition, but a determination by scholars, activists, politicians and critical thinkers to re-claim the tenets of their faith. Muslim communities have historically displayed a tendency to preserve the status quo. By contrast, the individuals and movements in Islam and the Question of Reform are determined-often at great personal risk-to push aside existing political and social elites and the historically accepted interpretations of Islam and its place in society. The perspectives examined in this volume avoid superficial or apologetic examinations of Islam's political and social role. Instead, they meticulously scrutinise the religion's public role, often questioning the validity of dogmas that have acted as tools of empowerment for existing elites for centuries. Islam and the Question of Reform is an engaging book about the evolving and dynamic discourse that surrounds the question of Islamic reform.

Manifesto for Islamic Reform

Manifesto for Islamic Reform
Author: Edip Yuksel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780979671562

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Yuksel reintroduces the actual message of the Quran. He removes the accumulated layers of man-made dogmas and traditions that have attached themselves to the text.

America’s Other Muslims

America’s Other Muslims
Author: Muhammad Fraser-Rahim
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2020-01-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1498590209

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America's Other Muslims: Imam W.D. Mohammed, Islamic Reform, and the Making of American Islam explores the oldest and perhaps the most important Muslim community in America, whose story has received little attention in the contemporary context. Muhammad Fraser-Rahim explores American Muslim Revivalist, Imam W.D. Mohammed (1933–2008) and his contribution to the intellectual, spiritual, and philosophical thought of American Muslims as well as the contribution of Islamic thought by indigenous American Muslims. The book details the intersection of the Africana experience and its encounter with race, religion, and Islamic reform. Fraser-Rahim spotlights the emergence of an American school of Islamic thought, which wascreated and established by the son of the former Nation of Islam leader. Imam W.D. Mohammed rejected his father’s teachings and embraced normative Islam on his own terms while balancing classical Islam and his lived experience of Islam in the diaspora. Likewise his interpretations of Islam were not only American – they were also modern and responded to global trends in Islamic thought. His interpretations of Blackness were not only American, but also diasporic and pan-African.

The Trouble with Islam

The Trouble with Islam
Author: Irshad Manji
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1429906936

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"I have to be honest with you. Islam is on very thin ice with me....Through our screaming self-pity and our conspicuous silences, we Muslims are conspiring against ourselves. We're in crisis and we're dragging the rest of the world with us. If ever there was a moment for an Islamic reformation, it's now. For the love of God, what are we doing about it?" In blunt, provocative, and deeply personal terms, Irshad Manji unearths the troubling cornerstones of mainstream Islam today: tribal insularity, deep-seated anti-Semitism, and an uncritical acceptance of the Koran as the final, and therefore superior, manifesto of God. In this open letter to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, Manji asks arresting questions. "Who is the real colonizer of Muslims - America or Arabia? Why are we all being held hostage by what's happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis? Why are we squandering the talents of women, fully half of God's creation? What's our excuse for reading the Koran literally when it's so contradictory and ambiguous? Is that a heart attack you're having? Make it fast. Because if more of us don't speak out against the imperialists within Islam, these guys will walk away with the show." Manji offers a practical vision of how the United States and its allies can help Muslims undertake a reformation that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities, and fosters a competition of ideas. Her vision revives Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking. This book will inspire struggling Muslims worldwide to revisit the foundations of their faith. It will also compel non-Muslims to start posing the important questions without fear of being deemed "racists." In more ways than one, The Trouble with Islam is a clarion call for a fatwa-free future.

Reformation of Islamic Thought

Reformation of Islamic Thought
Author: Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2006
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 905356828X

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After September 11, Islam became nearly synonymous with fundamentalism in the eyes of Western media and literature. However widely held this view may be, it is at odds with Islam’s rich political history. Renowned Egyptian scholar Nasr Abû Zayd here considers the full breadth of contemporary Muslim writings to examine the diverse political, religious, and cultural views that inform discourse in the Islamic world. Reformation of Islamic Thought explores the writings of intellectuals from Egypt to Iran to Indonesia, probing their efforts to expand Islam beyond traditional and legalistic interpretations. Zayd reveals that many Muslim thinkers advocate culturally enlightened Islam with an emphasis on individual faith. He then investigates the extent of these Muslim reformers’ success in generating an authentic renewal of Islamic ideology, asking if such thinkers have escaped the traditionalist trap of presenting a negative image to the West. A fascinating and highly relevant study for our times, Reformation of Islamic Thought is an essential analysis of Islam’s present and future.

Radical Reform

Radical Reform
Author: Tariq Ramadan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2009-02-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0195331710

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In this new book, Tariq Ramadan argues that it is crucial to find theoretical and practical solutions that will enable Western Muslims to remain faithful to Islamic ethics while fully living within their societies and their time. He notes that Muslim scholars often refer to the notion of ijtihad (critical and renewed reading of the foundational texts) as the only way for Muslims to take up these modern challenges. But, Ramadan argues, in practice such readings have effectively reached the limits of their ability to serve the faithful in the West as well as the East. In this book he sets forward a radical new concept of ijtihad, which puts context -- including the knowledge derived from the hard and human sciences, cultures and their geographic and historical contingencies -- on an equal footing with the scriptures as a source of Islamic law.

Religion as Critique

Religion as Critique
Author: Irfan Ahmad
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2017-11-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469635100

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Irfan Ahmad makes the far-reaching argument that potent systems and modes for self-critique as well as critique of others are inherent in Islam--indeed, critique is integral to its fundamental tenets and practices. Challenging common views of Islam as hostile to critical thinking, Ahmad delineates thriving traditions of critique in Islamic culture, focusing in large part on South Asian traditions. Ahmad interrogates Greek and Enlightenment notions of reason and critique, and he notes how they are invoked in relation to "others," including Muslims. Drafting an alternative genealogy of critique in Islam, Ahmad reads religious teachings and texts, drawing on sources in Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, and English, and demonstrates how they serve as expressions of critique. Throughout, he depicts Islam as an agent, not an object, of critique. On a broader level, Ahmad expands the idea of critique itself. Drawing on his fieldwork among marketplace hawkers in Delhi and Aligarh, he construes critique anthropologically as a sociocultural activity in the everyday lives of ordinary Muslims, beyond the world of intellectuals. Religion as Critique allows space for new theoretical considerations of modernity and change, taking on such salient issues as nationhood, women's equality, the state, culture, democracy, and secularism.

New Thinking in Islam

New Thinking in Islam
Author: Katajun Amirpur
Publisher: Gingko Library
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 190994274X

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In Rethinking Islam, Katajun Amirpur argues that the West’s impression of Islam as a backward-looking faith, resistant to post-Enlightenment thinking, is misleading and—due to its effects on political discourse—damaging. Introducing readers to key thinkers and activists—such as Abu Zaid, a free-thinking Egyptian Qur’an scholar; Abdolkarim Soroush, an academic and former member of Khomeini’s Cultural Revolution Committee; and Amina Wadud, an American feminist who was the first woman to lead the faithful in Friday Prayer—Amirpur reveals a powerful yet lesser-known tradition of inquiry and dissent within Islam, one that is committed to democracy and human rights. By examining these and many other similar figures’ ideas, she reveals the many ways they reject fundamentalist assertions and instead call for a diversity of opinion, greater freedom, and equality of the sexes.