The Reformist Islamic Thinker Muhammad Shahrur: In the Footsteps of Averroes
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http//en.qantara.de/files/478/3056/49cca3873b7d0_s3.JPG
Muhammad Shahrur's work is a comprehensive attempt to reconcile the religion of Islam with modern philosophy as well as the rational worldview of the natural sciences. According to Shahrur, jurisprudence in the name of God is a farce benefiting only those wanting to maintain political power. Loay Mudhoon introduces this contentious reformist thinker
Muhammad Shahrur "The religious inheritance of Islam must be critically read and interpreted anew."
Although many Muslims would reject out of hand the notion of reform with respect to Islam, as they regard the faith to be fundamentally perfect as it stands and not capable of being improved, let alone reformed, Muhammad Shahrur, the Syrian engineer and interpreter of the Koran, sees himself first and foremost as a reformist thinker.
Shahrur also regards himself as part of an avant-garde of Islamic "revivers." For him, the key recognition is that there is only one God, but many paths to reach him. And since the very beginning of his reformist work almost 20 years ago, he has clearly and vehemently pleaded for Muslims to turn to the revealed text themselves as the true criteria of divine truth instead of being "subservient to the authority of Islamic law."
"Religious reforms are necessary"
Within the macropolitical context, Shahrur goes a step further and calls for a fundamental critique of Islamic culture and religion on the basis of a diagnosis of contemporary circumstances. According to Shahrur, there can be no real political reform in Islamic countries without first far-reaching religious reforms.
After all, he notes, Islam is for all intents and purposes the sole dominating normative force in the Arab world. "The religious heritage must be critically read and interpreted anew. Cultural and religious reforms are more important than political ones, as they are the preconditions for any secular reforms."
http//www.deenresearchcenter.com/Blogs/tabid/73/EntryId/55/The-Reformist-Islamic-Thinker-Muhammad-Shahrur-In-the-Footsteps-of-Averroes.aspx
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This is a translation and summary of all his work (mostly his first 3 books), and also an overview by prof. Christmann of Shahrur's approach and how it is received. It is very very good.