Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey

Introduction The Political Context The sociology of Turkish Rationalists Defining Islamic Rationalism Explaining the Cases: Historicists and Universalists The Structure of the Book Chapter 1: The Fundamentals: Qur’an and Hadith The rationalists on Qur’an Historicists on the Nature of Qur’an Historicists Interpreting Qur’an Universalists on the Nature of Qur’an Universalists Interpreting Qur’an The rationalists on Hadith The Status of Traditions Criticizing the Hadith Literature The Debate on Methodology Chapter 2: Law: Demystifying Shari‘a The Nature and the Status of Shari‘a Cases: A Rationalist Interpretation of Shari‘a Corporal Punishment Slavery Apostasy Jihad The Status and Rights of Women in Islam The Law of Inheritance Polygamy Divorce Marriage with non-Muslims Beating Women Women’s Testimony Veiling Who is a good Muslim? A Moralistic Theory of Piety Shari‘a in Practice: Comprehensive Sunnah Islam and Politics: Towards a Theory of Opposition Chapter 3: History: “De-Islamizing” Islamic History Turkish Rationalists on History and Causality Revisionism on the History of Qur’an Revisionism on Muhammad’s Life Revisionism on the Early Islamic History Chapter 4: Politics and Society: What went wrong? The Mainstream Theory of Decay The Rise of Sunni Orthodoxy Al-Ghazali: The Triumph of Anti-Rationalism Ash‘arism: The Paradigmatic Root Al-Shafi‘i: “The Villain” The Umayyads: The Practical Distortion of Islam Sufism: Popularization of Anti-Rationalism Contemporary Islamic Social Movements: A False Theory of Revival Conclusion