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List of contents
Contents Preface Preface by the Author 1 Introduction 2 The Pre-Colonial Period 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Cultural Diversity 2.3 The Paradigm of Sharia 2.4 Revivalism 2.5 Conclusion 3 The Nineteenth Century 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Challenge of Modernity 3.3 Rethinking Consensus: The Emergence of New Ulama 3.4 Al-Afghani: The Pioneer of Reformation, Islah 3.5 Rethinking Sunna, Hadith Criticism: The Emergence of a New Exegesis of the Quran 3.6 Rethinking the Meaning of the Quran 3.6.1 Islam and Science 3.6.2 Islam and Rationalism 3.7 Conclusion 4 The Twentieth Century 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Emergence of Political Islam 4.2.1 Egypt 4.2.2 Iran and Iraq 4.2.3 Indonesia 4.3 From Reformation (Islah) to Traditionalism (Salafiyya) 4.4 The issue of the Islamic State 4.5 Politicization of the Quran 4.6 The Intellectual Debate: The Quran as a Literary Text 4.7 Case 1: Cultural Islam in Indonesia: Democracy, Freethinking and Human Rights 4.8 Case 2: The Islamic State in Iran 4.9 Conclusion 5 Selected Thinkers on Islam, Sharia, Democracy and Human Rights 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Muhammed Arkoun: Rethinking Islam 5.3 Abdullah An-Naim: Sharia and Human Rights 5.4 Riffat Hassan and Others: Feminist Hermeneutics 5.5 Tariq Ramadan: European Islam 5.6 Nasr Abu Zayd: Rethinking Sharia, Democracy, Human Rights, and the Position of Women Epilogue Literature Glossary
About the author
Nasr Abu Zayd holds the Ibn Rushd Chair at the University of Humanistics, Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is also Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Leiden. He is former Professor of Arabic literature at Cairo University. In 1995 a Cairo appeals court ordered Abu Zayd to divorce his wife on the grounds of his alleged apostasy. Since then, he has been living with his wife in The Netherlands. His recent publications include: Rethinking the Qur'an: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutics, Utrecht, Humanistics University Press, 2004; Thus spoke Ibn Arabi (in Arabic), The Egyptian National Book Organization, Cairo 2003; "The Dilemma of the Literary Approach to the Quran", ALIF, Issue 22, the American University, Cairo 2003.