Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Quran

Suha Taji-Farouki (editor)
Paperback, 356 pages
9780197200032

This volume examines Muslim intellectuals from the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, the USA, and Europe who employ contemporary critical methods to interpret the Qur'an, arriving at conclusions that challenge those of the past. It offers a framework for understanding their work and responses to this among Muslim and Non-Muslim audiences, and illustrates the diverse struggles in which they recruit the Qur'an, read through the lens of their modernist or post-modernist positions. Pointing to the emergence of a new trend in Muslim interpretation characterised by direct engagement with the word of God and the embrace of intellectual modernity in the context of an increasingly globalized world, it presents and analyses for the first time a representative selection of its voices, methods, and conclusions.

Contents
1. Introduction, Suha Taji-Farouki
2. Fazlur Rahman: a framework for interpreting the ethico-legal content of the Qur'an, Abdullah Saeed
3. Nurcholish Madjid and the interpretation of the Qur'an: religious pluralism and tolerance, Anthony H. Johns and Abdullah Saeed
4. Amina Wadud's hermeneutics of the Qur'an: women rereading sacred texts, Asma Barlas
5. Mohammed Arkoun: towards a radical rethinking of Islamic thought, Ursula Günther
6. From revelation to interpretation: Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and the literary study of the Qur'an, Navid Kermani
7. Post-revolutionary Islamic modernity in Iran: the inter-subjective hermeneutics of Mohamad Mojtahed Shabestari, Farzin Vahdat
8. Mohamed Talbi on understanding the Qur'an, Ronald L. Nettler
9. Hüseyin Atay's approach to understanding the Qur'an, Osman Tastan
10. 'The form is permanent, but the content moves': The Qur'anic text and its interpretation(s) in Mohamed Shahrour's al-Kitab wal-Qur'an, Andreas Christmann
11. Modern intellectuals, Islam, and the Qur'an: the example of Sadiq Nayhum, Suha Taji-Farouki