Rethinking Islam Today

Bibliographic Data

ID23169772
AuthorsMohamed Arkoun (corresponding author)
Year1998
Pages205-221
Publication date1998-11-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueLiberal Islam (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780195116212.003.0024
OpenAlexW2107650884
ISBN9780195116212
LanguageEN
Citations received14

Mohamed Arkoun (Algeria-France, born 1928) received his doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris and joined the faculty there as Professor of Islamic Thought in 1963. In a series of works since the early 1970s, Arkoun has attempted to reshape Islamic interpretation through the use of contemporary social-scientific, particularly linguistic, methods. “One of the most articulate ... liberal Muslims,”1 Arkoun has embarked on “an intellectual cru sade,”2 engaging Islamic radicals in debate and arguing for pluralism within Islam, acceptance of multiple interpretations of the sacred texts, and a more self-conscious attitude toward one’s own interpretation. The following chapter serves as an introduction to and summary of Arkoun’s work: its style is somewhat more accessible than his French work. age and initiate audacious, free, productive thinking on Islam today. The so-called Islamic revivalism has monopolized the discourse on Islam; the social scientists, moreover, do not pay attention to what I call the “silent Islam”-the Islam of true believers who attach more importance to the religious relationship with the absolute of God than to the vehement demonstrations of political movements.

Islam · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Education and Islamic Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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