Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and LiberationTariq Ramadan has emerged as one of the foremost voices of reformist Islam in the West, notable for urging his fellow Muslims to participate fully in the civil life of the Western societies in which they live. In this new book, Ramadan addresses Muslim societies and communities everywhere with a bold call for radical reform. He challenges those who argue defensively that reform is a dangerous and foreign deviation, and a betrayal of the faith. Authentic reform, he says, has always been grounded in Islam's textual sources, spiritual objectives, and intellectual traditions. But the reformist movements that are based on renewed reading of textual sources while using traditional methodologies and categories have achieved only adaptive responses to the crisis facing a globalizing world. Such readings, Ramadan argues, have reached the limits of their usefulness. Ramadan calls for a radical reform that goes beyond adaptation to envision bold and creative solutions to transform the present and the future of our societies. This new approach interrogates the historically established sources, categories, higher objectives, tools, and methodologies of Islamic law and jurisprudence, and the authority this traditional geography of knowledge has granted to textual scholars. He proposes a new geography which redefines the sources and the spiritual and ethical objectives of the law creating room for the authority of scholars of the social and hard sciences. This will equip this transformative reform with the spiritual, ethical, social and scientific knowledge necessary to address contemporary challenges. Ramadan argues that radical reform demands not only the equal contributions of scholars of both the text and the context, but the critical engagement and creative imagination of the Muslim masses. This proposal for radical reform dramatically shifts the center of gravity of authority. It is bound to provoke controversy and spark debate among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
ABOUT REFORM | 9 |
What Reform Do We Mean? | 26 |
Copyright | |
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Abû Hanîfah ad-Dîn ahl ar-ra'y al-Ghazâlî alterglobalization answers applied ethics approach Arabic ash-Shâfi'î autonomy challenges coherence complex critical cultural debates dialogue diversity economic elaboration environment established evolution fatâwâ field fiqh framework fundamentals of law fuqaha global Hadith halâl heart higher goals higher objectives human context humankind Ibn Taymiyyah ijtihâd imperative implementation integrated intellectual interpretation involved Islamic ethics Islamic law Islamic medicine Islamic sciences Islamic thought issues istihsân knowledge law and jurisprudence legal rulings light literalist Mâlik maqâsid meaning Medina methodology Muhammad mujtahid Muslim-majority mustahab nature norms philosophy physicians political practice principles Prophetic traditions qiyâs question Quran reading reality reflection reform relationship religion religious remain faithful requires respect revealed scientific scriptural sources shariah social and human societies specific spiritual Sufism Sunnah Tawhid teachings text scholars thinkers tion ulama understand Universe of reference usûl al-fiqh verses Western Muslims women