Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur'an (Book report)
The title is a book in the Quranic field, edited by Suha Taji-Farouki and published by Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies as one of the Qur'anic Studies Series. The following is a report of the book.[1]
Overview
• Presents for the first time a representative selection of the voices, methods, concerns, and conclusions of the new Muslim community of interpretation
Description
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.
Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors
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
Author Information
Edited by Suha Taji-Farouki, Lecturer in Modern Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and Research Associate, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Contributors
Asma Barlas has published as a journalist, poet, and short story writer. Her scholarly work includes papers on the Qur'an and Muslim women's rights. Born in Pakistan, she left in the mid-1980s for the USA where she received political asylum.
Andreas Christmann is Lecturer in Contemporary Islam in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Manchester
Ursula Günther is engaged in research at the University of Hamburg on Islam and the transition process in South Africa.
Anthony H. Johns is Emeritus Professor, now Visiting Fellow in the Division of Pacific and Asian History of the Research School of Asian and Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
Navid Kermani is Long-Term Fellow at the Institute for Advanced STudies (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin.
Ronald L. Nettler is University Research Lecturer in Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and Fellow of Mansfield College.
Abdullah Saeed is Associate Professor and Head of the Arabic and Islamic Studies Program at the University of Melbourne.
Suha Taji-Farouki is Lecturer in Modern Islam at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and REsearch Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.
Osman Taştan is Associate Professor in the Department of Islamic Law at Ankara University's Faculty of Divinity.
Farzin Vahdat teaches Social Studies at Harvard University.
Reviews and Awards
Review from previous edition Lay persons and scholars alike will benefit from the tone and the content of this timely volume. - Bruce B. Lawrence, Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Professor of Religion, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina