Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
This is a useful anthology of the new-reform Muslim thinkers who have extremely interesting and open ideas about where Islam is moving. Many are also active theologians trying to push Islam in certain directions. From Mohammed Arkoun, the Algerian living in France, to AbdelKarim Soroush, the Iranian theologian, to Leila Ahmed and Amina Wadud who do fascinating theological work on place of women in Islam, this book is a window on to the enormous amount of muted but highly sophisticated theological exegesis taking place, often in non-Muslim majority countries where it is sometimes easier for radical Islamic thinkers to work undisturbed.
Tell us about The New Voices of Islam. What has happened to Islamic thought in the aftermath of 9/11?
It’s hard to talk about this without generalising but I think we see Islam becoming more popular and social and less political. There’s also been a great deal of really sophisticated new thinking about how Islam fits in the post-9/11 world. The New Voices of Islam by Mehran Kamrava is a useful anthology of the new-reform Muslim thinkers who have extremely interesting and open ideas about where Islam is moving. Many are also active theologians trying to push Islam in certain directions. From Mohammed Arkoun, the Algerian living in France, to AbdelKarim Soroush, the Iranian theologian, to Leila Ahmed and Amina Wadud who do fascinating theological work on place of women in Islam, this book is a window on to the enormous amount of muted but highly sophisticated theological exegesis taking place, often in non-Muslim majority countries where it is sometimes easier for radical Islamic thinkers to work undisturbed.
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Turi Munthe is CEO and founder of Demotix – www.demotix.com – the multiple-awardwinning open newswire, with over 3,000 reporters in 190 countries around the world. Turi is English-French-Swedish and was brought up in London. He has been a publisher, editor, think-tank analyst (Middle East policy), lecturer, journalist and talking head. He has written for many of the world’s leading English-language newspapers, appeared on CNN, BBC, NBC, al-Jazeera, Asahi. He edited The Saddam Hussein Reader: Selections from Leading Writers on Iraq.
