A deeper examination of the vast theological and legal literature of Islamic history is sure to rid the modern critics of the superficial judgement that Islam is static and incapable of evolution. From 800 to 1100, not less than one hundred theological systems emerged from Islam; a fact which bears ample testimony to the dynamism and elasticity of Islamic thought as well as the constant activity of the early thinkers in order to meet the necessities of an expanding civilisation.
However, it is a fact that the dominant interpretations of Islam are pervaded by rigorous conservatism and thus can no longer provide adequate answers for the younger generation, who tend to possess a mental outlook differing, in important respects, from their predecessors. If Islam is to prove to be a constructive and emancipating source in our time, its interpretations ought to grow organically with fresh knowledge, fresh experiences and fresh challenges. Much of the pathological condition in Islamic thought is due to the fact that our horizons are locked in the past rather than being in touch with our own realities and complexities, thus making past periods of Islam idols by holding onto finite interpretations as if they were infinite and eternally binding upon all unborn generations of Muslims. It is of paramount importance to raise the eyes above past narratives and to understand that the interpretative activity is not an accomplished fact, a thing finished with. Rather, it ought to be in perpetual development, of formation; the creative efforts to suit the fundamentals of Islam to shifting realities continues all the time.
What the world of Islam needs today is not a reformation of Islam as such, but a critical re-reading and a re-orientation of the prevailing religious thought in Islam. In that way the Muslim people might be able to make healthy and novel contributions to Islam, restoring it its original evolutionary and humane outlook, and to their own historical context, promoting values that will go on to form a world in which compassion, justice and creational unity are not mere cherished potentialities, but rather tender actualities in the world-life of the human species.
A deeper examination of the vast theological and legal literature of Islamic history is sure to rid the modern critics of the superficial judgement that Islam is static and incapable of evolution. From 800 to 1100, not less than one hundred theological systems emerged from Islam; a fact which bears ample testimony to the dynamism and elasticity of Islamic thought as well as the constant activity of the early thinkers in order to meet the necessities of an expanding civilisation.
However, it is a fact that the dominant interpretations of Islam are pervaded by rigorous conservatism and thus can no longer provide adequate answers for the younger generation, who tend to possess a mental outlook differing, in important respects, from their predecessors. If Islam is to prove to be a constructive and emancipating source in our time, its interpretations ought to grow organically with fresh knowledge, fresh experiences and fresh challenges. Much of the pathological condition in Islamic thought is due to the fact that our horizons are locked in the past rather than being in touch with our own realities and complexities, thus making past periods of Islam idols by holding onto finite interpretations as if they were infinite and eternally binding upon all unborn generations of Muslims. It is of paramount importance to raise the eyes above past narratives and to understand that the interpretative activity is not an accomplished fact, a thing finished with. Rather, it ought to be in perpetual development, of formation; the creative efforts to suit the fundamentals of Islam to shifting realities continues all the time.
What the world of Islam needs today is not a reformation of Islam as such, but a critical re-reading and a re-orientation of the prevailing religious thought in Islam. In that way the Muslim people might be able to make healthy and novel contributions to Islam, restoring it its original evolutionary and humane outlook, and to their own historical context, promoting values that will go on to form a world in which compassion, justice and creational unity are not mere cherished potentialities, but rather tender actualities in the world-life of the human species.