ABSTRACT
As noted in chapter 4, the second half of the 20th century brought wide-ranging discussions on the issues of sharia, democracy and human rights throughout the Muslim World, but particularly in Egypt, Indonesia and Iran. We have encountered many thinkers who seek to divest Islam of traditionalistic and legalistic interpretation by stressing their own versions of ‘cultural Islam’, ‘enlightened Islam’, and ‘individualistic faith’. For these thinkers the dogmatic Islam established by the conservatives and supported by traditionalists and totalitarian political regimes is outdated; it should be removed and replaced by the ‘real’ spiritual and ethical Islam. In their view, political Islam is nothing but a deviation from the essential existential Islam presented in the Quran and taught by the Prophet. To reach the real humanistic and democratic meaning of Islam, one needs to consider fresh insights and apply modern methodologies. These, in turn, need to be learned, accepted and applied without any constraints and from any available source of knowledge, whether it be Eastern or Western. In the words of the Iranian Abdolkarim Sorouch, knowledge has neither nationality nor copyright. This last chapter aims to follow up on the debate on sharia, democracy and human rights — including also personal autonomy and equality between men and women, that is currently conducted by selected Muslim scholars such as Muhammad Arkoun, Abdullah An-Naim and Tariq Ramadan. Many of them are based outside the Muslim World, in Europe and the usa.
