The Qurʾan and Normative Religious Pluralism: A Thematic Study of the Qurʾan By Arif Kemil Abdullah

Abstract

The disturbing events in the Middle East in recent years have inevitably impacted the European continent and unsettled its political and social arrangements. These events are harmful to the Muslims who have resided in Europe for ages; they are also harmful to Islam itself, in that they present the wrong image of it as a hostile, militant and aggressive religion that promotes xenophobia, extremism and terrorism. The book under review offers answers to complex theoretical issues of urgent relevance and related to the core of the Muslim religion. Its explorations are based on thorough, open-minded, critical analysis of classical sources such as the Qurʾān, ḥadīth, and tafsīrs. The author is a Bulgarian Muslim, who studied Qurʾānic science in Jordan, and defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Aberdeen (UK). Therefore he is aware of the ethos of three different regions of the world—the Balkans, the Arab world and the United Kingdom—which enables him to cherish the specifics of these cultures and cultural variety. His mastery of Arabic gives him access to the works of medieval interpreters of the Qurʾān as well as contemporary works of both Arabic and European scholars, which together helps reveal the core meanings of the researched terms in a historical perspective.