With the proliferation of transnational Muslim networks over the last two decades, the religious authority of traditionally educated Muslim scholars, the uluma, has come under increasing scrutiny and disruption. These networks have provided a public space for multiple perspectives on Islam to be voiced, allowing "progressive" Islamic worldviews to flourish alongside more (neo)traditional outlooks.

This book brings together the scholarship of leading progressive Muslim scholars, incorporating issues pertaining to politics, jurisprudence, ethics, theology, epistemology, gender and hermeneutics in the Islamic tradition. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the normative imperatives behind a progressive Muslim thought, as well as outlining its various values and aims.

Presenting this emerging and distinctive school of Islamic thought in an engaging and scholarly manner, this is essential reading for any academic interested in contemporary religious thought and the development of modern Islam.

Adis Duderija is Lecturer, Study of Islam and Society, Griffith University, Australia. His research focuses on Islamic, interfaith and gender issues.

Foreword by Ebrahim Moosa

Introduction

1 The Poiesis/Creativity Imperative

2 The Epistemological Imperative

3 The Imperative of Ethics of Pluralism

4 The Imperative of Islamic Liberation Theology

5 The Search for the Ethical Imperative in Islamic Jurisprudence/Law

6 The Gender-Justice Imperative

7 The Imperative of non-Patriarchal Islamic hermeneutics

8 The Human Rights Imperative

Conclusion