Souad T Ali – författare

In this notable work, Souad T. Ali examines the seminal writings of Egyptian reformist scholar Ali'Abd al-Raziq, often regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic secularism, and his controversial argument that the caliphate should be considered a human innovation, rather than a religious imperative. 'Abd al Raziq contended that Islam is ""a religion, not a state; a message, not a government,"" a major departure from the traditional view that religious and political spheres are intertwined and inseparable in Islam. Opponents denounced 'Abd al-Raziq's ideas as a foreign corruption imported from the West. Ali's careful, objective, and scholarly examination of 'Abd al-Raziq's work, however, reveals that his arguments are not based in Western thought. Rather, they sit firmly within the dictates of Islam's sacred texts, particularly the Quran and Hadith, and also enjoy considerable support from the historical record. This analysis critically challenges prevalent misinterpretations of Islam that have endured for centuries. Ali recognizes the varied models and discourses that have arisen throughout different epochs, especially so the role that Western intervention has played in placing the question of Islam's modernity at the forefront of intellectual debate. Throughout, the study emphasizes the atmosphere of openness and tolerance that is a requisite for free, intelligent debate.

This critical and timely volume brings marginalized voices to the center of religious studies, theological and spirituality discourses. The volume is co-edited by two scholarly friends, one a Jew, the other a Muslim and both Feminists. The main thread of the essays are the contextualization of different ways religion plays out in subjugated contexts. The articles are an act of resistance. They speak truth to distortions and stereotyping. The act of scholarship and the retrieval of subjugated knowledge is a rebuke to repression.Articles are written by prominent professors such as Rosemary Radford Ruether and emerging scholars in the fields of Religious Studies, Theology, Feminist Theology, Jewish Studies, Holocaust studies, Muslim Studies, Chinese Studies, Latinx Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Women History, Disability Studies, Feminist Studies, Religion and Ecology, Queer Studies, Womanist Studies, and Religion.