TY  - BOOK
ED  - Coury, Ralph M.
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018//
TI  - Sceptics of Islam: revisionist religion, agnosticism and disbelief in the modern Arab world
T3  - Library of modern Middle-East studies 178
PB  - I.B. Tauris
CY  - London
KW  - Islam
KW  - Controversial literature
KW  - History and criticism
KW  - Religious thought
KW  - Arab countries
KW  - 19th century
KW  - 20th century
AB  - Arab debates about the critical relationship between religion and modernity began in the early nineteenth century. Such debates are now integral to the struggle for power between a variety of political groups and their opponents, and are vital to understanding the modern Middle East. This unique volume introduces the writings of the Muslim and Arab Christian revisionist 'free-thinkers' who have tried to redefine the relationship. It challenges the deeply entrenched idea that the contemporary Islamic world has been impermeable to a critique of religious ideas and practices. Authors from the nineteenth century to the present are included. Some are avowed believers, even if they adopt positions many might regard as heretical; others are openly agnostic and atheistic. Despite their differences, all have been united in disputing the fundamentalist idea that life should conform to a system of values and law based on the Quran. They have also rejected the religious 'liberalism' that has been the chief opposition to traditionalism. The book's originality lies in its evaluation of the social and cultural impact of these radical thinkers
SN  - 1784533378
LA  - English
N1  - edited by Ralph M. Coury
ID  - 882947435
ER  -