Egyptian author dwells on religious reform in new book
Saturday 08/February/2020 - 05:26 PM
Mohamed Shaath
The renewal of religious discourse continues to raise controversy, especially in the absence of consensus on the mechanisms and tools of this renewal.
Whether Islamic heritage should be erased as part of this renewal or be used is also emerging as a focal point in discussions about the renewal.
In his book about the renewal of religious discourse, Mohamed Abdelfattah Amar calls for improvising a new discourse that benefits from the past in dealing with developments in the present.
The new religious discourse, Amar says, has to derive from the pure teachings of the Islamic religion and respect the new realities of Muslims.
Content
The author draws lines of demarcation between mechanisms of religious discourse, on one hand, and its content, on the other.
Renewal as an issue, he says, is not new to Islamic jurisprudence. He adds that renewal has to take place in the light of some regulations. Amar underscores the importance of initiating the renewal with the aim of serving the interests of Muslims, not anything else.
Elements
In the third chapter of the book, Amar tackles the elements of religious discourse. The presence of different sources of the discourse is dangerous, Amar says.
He adds that the presence of many sources of the discourse makes it difficult for Muslims to determine who they should follow.
Traditional mechanisms
Amar specifies the fourth chapter of his book for the traditional mechanisms of religious discourse.
In the fifth chapter, he dwells on criticism against religious discourse, its mechanisms and its language. He also tackles criticism to the content of the discourse.
Current religious discourse, Amar says, has failed in addressing the current problems of Muslims because it overlooks the realities of Muslims and the changes happening in their life.
