Universal/Particular Beliefs and Values

Abstract

In Chapter Six, Valk, Albayrak and Selcuk focus on beliefs and values that are often regarded as universal but are interpreted and enacted in different ways in different contexts. Notions of justice, equality and openness, for example, are understood in considerably different ways in different times and places. This poses a challenge for Islam, as it does for any religious worldview, particularly when its sacred text appears to use specific language in some of its injunctions. This chapter focuses on how Qur’anic texts and injunctions could or ought to be interpreted and understood in regard to these universal beliefs and values. It confronts the complex issue of how to interpret ancient texts revealed in a certain time and place in light of changing contexts and circumstances.