In this book, the Qur’an is the highest reference and the arbiter over everything that has accumulated in jurisprudence, hadith, and exegesis. Shahrur presents it as the text that opens the door to contemporary reading and ijtihad, not as material to be read through the inherited juristic tradition alone.
- The sayings of the Prophet and the Companions are historical documents
- Rebuilding Islamic thought requires liberating knowledge, jurisprudence, and politics by returning to the Qur’an
- Sharia allows human ijtihad
- Sharia opens the field of ijtihad
- Inherited jurisprudence is a human historical construction that does not possess authority equal to the Qur’an
- Inherited jurisprudence does not correspond to the Qur’an
- Inherited jurisprudence is separate from the Qur’an
- Jurisprudence is a human historical heritage that does not possess authority equal to the Qur’an
- Jurisprudence is a human historical understanding
- The Qur’an in contemporary thought reestablishes the understanding of religion on the authority of the Qur’an, ijtihad, plurality, and the civil state
- The Qur’an: a new contemporary reading
- The Qur’an is the highest reference for liberating Islamic thought and building a pluralistic civil Islam
- The Qur’an is a renewed reference that requires contemporary reading and open ijtihad
- The Qur’an is the highest reference
- The Qur’an is read in a contemporary way
- Contemporary reading requires modern sciences
- A contemporary reading of the Qur’an breaks with inheritance and rests on a scientific method
- The pluralistic society develops
- Equality between men and women
- Modern knowledge is necessary for understanding the Qur’an
- The center of Islam is the Word of God
Cross-book concept: See the Qur’an for the unifying thread across the books.