Having discussed the views of the various different ways of thinking amongst some of the major traditional scholars of our era, we now embark on a brief overview of the major progressive thinkers.
Before we start, remember that the previous blogs were based on the final law itself i.e. the implicit thinking of the scholars can be inferred from how they reached their conclusions. The thinkers we are going to discuss now, are at a much earlier and less mature stage in their development i.e. they are at the theoretical stage, explaining their theory because they believe that the general traditional approach either needs to change given the changing circumstances, or just does not make sense at all.
I personally have not reached a conclusion on what I believe but inshaAllah this process will help us all understand our religion more deeply. I am going to start with one of the authors that has made me think the most – Muhammad Shahrur. Although some of his works are fantastic, I am going to start by explaining the most famous of his theories.
He uses the verse: “indeed We have revealed the Remembrance [the Qur’an] and We are surely its preservers” to (in contrast to most) say that the Qur’an is as much ours as it was the Qur’an of the previous generations. Therefore, given that each interpretation of each age depends on the particular reality they live in, we have as much right to interpret the Qur’an that reflects our time i.e. we are better placed to understand the Qur’an for our purposes, than earlier generations [so previous commentaries are not binding on us]. In fact, he goes as far as to say we are better placed to interpret the Qur’an given the fact we have developed in philosophy, sciences…etc.
Now given his right to interpret, he makes an important distinction between the Qur’an and Kitab (the title of one his famous works), as well as the difference between Prophet and Rasul. I will skip over these, and move onto two opposite terms that are the pillars of his “Theory of Limits”:
1. Hanifiyya (curvature) – more a deviation from a straight path
2. Mustaqim (straightness)
(he uses many verses of the Qur’an to explain this)
He says that both of these attributes are integral to the message and in particular, curvature is natural and intrinsic to human nature – we see that through physics e.g. motion even of electrons or galaxies are in curves. But at the same time, you need straightness to maintain a legal order in the “non-straight” society (with different cultures, needs…etc.). Nowhere in the Qur'an you can find a single verse which recommends us to pray God to bestow on us “hanifiyya” even though it is praised about Prophet Ibrahim. We don’t need to pray for hanifiyya as it is natural, but we do need to pray for straightness (as it says in Surah Fateha – “guide us/keep us on the straight path”), which is indispensable but not natural.
So the question that we have is: what is the form of straightness that God revealed to complement its curvature? Here Shahrur puts forward the crux of his theory – the Theory of limits (hudud). He says that man moves in curvature within these limits which represent straightness. In the next blog, I will explain this theory in more detail.
Sources:
“The Quran, Morality and Critical Reason” by Muhammad Shahrur
http://www.islam-and-muslims.com/Quran-Morality-Critical-Reason.pdf
Islamic Legal Theories by Wael Hallaq
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