What Is Liberal Islam? Faith and Modernity

In assessing the nature of “liberal Islam,” we must ask the fundamental question: What is “Islam”? All too often, it is answered on the basis of misleading assumptions about what is “naturally” the case that liberal Muslims must challenge or as it were “denaturalize” if they are to win the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world. There is an unfortunate and widespread tendency to conflate Islam with attributes, practices, and institutions that are exogenous to it. Thus, “Islam” has become a code word for such a wide range of ideas and things that its true meaning has become almost completely obscured, suppressed, or lost.