ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses four prominent proponents of progressive Muslim thought who have systematically engaged with liberation theology and have contributed to its development in the context of the Islamic religious tradition. They include Shabbir Akhtar, a British-Pakistani philosopher and specialist in Christian-Muslim comparative religion; Hassan Hanafi, an Egyptian philosopher and a major theoretician behind the Islamic Left; Farid Esack, a South African theologian who employed Islamic liberation theology as a means to resist and dismantle the apartheid system; and Ali Ashgar Engineer, who developed his liberation theology in the context of political violence between Muslims and Hindus in India as well as in response to the ethnic and communal violence engendered by the caste system. The progressive Muslim scholars whose ideas have engaged in systematic and creative efforts to reinterpret, on the basis of often sophisticated methodologies and hermeneutics, many fundamental concepts of their creed including concepts such as tawhid, jihad, wahy, and mu'min, to name but a few.
