- Muhammad Shahrur
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Muhammad Shahrour (born in 1938 in Damascus) is an Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Damascus who writes extensively about Islam.[1] Shahrour was trained as an engineer in Syria, the former Soviet Union and Ireland.[2] Like other Quran Alone Muslims, he does not consider Hadith, however, he does not belong to the same school as Ahmed Subhy Mansour.
Contents
Positions
Shahrour says that traditional scholarship on the Qur'an is unscientific. His interpretation of the Koran supports liberal political positions such as pluralism.[3] He also says that the Koran must be read and understood in relation to ever changing social realities.[2] Shahrour and a dozen or so like-minded intellectuals from across the Arab and Islamic worlds provoked bedlam when they presented their call for a reinterpretation of holy texts after a Cairo seminar entitled "Islam and Reform" in 2004.[4] His thoughts have angered many traditional scholars in Al-Azhar University and has been declared apostate by two of them, Mustafa Al-Shak'a and Farahat Al-Sayeed Al-Mungi.[5]
Publications
Books by Muhammad Shahrour:
- AI-Kitab wa 'l-Qur 'an: Qira 'a Mu 'asira (The Book and The Qur'an: A Contemporary Reading) (1990)
- Dirasat al-Islamiyya al-Mu 'as Ira fi 'l-Dawla wa '1-Mujtama'a (Contemporary Islamic Studies on State and Society),
- Al- Islam wa'l-Iman (Islam and Belief).
- Nahoi ossole jadida - Fikeh Al Maraa (Towards New Roots - Jurisprudence & Women) (2001)
- Tajfif manbea alirhap (Drying the Sources of Terrorism) (2008)
- The Reformist Islamic Thinker Muhammad Shahrur:In the Footsteps of Averroes
- The Qur'an, Morality and Critical Reason - The Essential Muhammad Shahrur (2009)
Reactions
Shahrour's first book has circulated throughout the Middle East and North Africa. His second and third books have been banned in many countries, but thousands of copies have been published, sold, and circulated under the table. At least thirteen books have been published attacking Shahrour's first book.[6]
Notable quote
“It is easier to build a skyscraper or a tunnel under the sea than to teach people how to read the book of the Lord with their own eyes. They have been used to reading this book with borrowed eyes for hundreds of years”.[7]
References
- ^ The New Voices of Islam: Reforming Politics and Modernity : a Reader By Mehran Kamrava
- ^ a b Tolson in US News 2001
- ^ Context Magazine
- ^ New York Times
- ^ http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/show_news.php?main_id=6739
- ^ Shahrour: The Divine Text and Pluralism in Muslim Societies
- ^ Article 19
External links
Categories:- Islamic politics and Islamic world studies
- Syrian academics
- Muslim reformers
- People from Damascus
- Living people
- 1938 births
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