Qur'an Liberation and Pluralism - by Farid Esack (Paperback)

About the Book

Set in the context of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, this challenging book discusses the issues of injustice and interreligious dialogue from the Islamic point of view. Farid Esack is an internationally known scholar, speaker and social activist. He is particularly concerned with issues of gender equality, religious pluralism and justice.

Book Synopsis

The demise of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s followed an unprecedented unity in struggle against oppression from members of different faith traditions. This work details how South African Muslims were brought into conflict with the Qu'ran, which denied virtue outside Islam, and so did not allow them to co-operate with other oppressed groups. It reflects on passages from the Qu'ran and provides interpretations which support solidarity for change, combining social history, politics and theology.

From the Back Cover

The demise of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s followed an unprecedented unity in struggle against oppression from members of different faith traditions. Determined as South African Muslims were to participate with the rest of the oppressed in solidarity against apartheid, this brought them into conflict with interpretations of the Qur'an that denied virtue outside Islam, and left them searching for a theology that would allow them to both co-operate against injustice and be true to their faith. In this challenging account, Farid Esack reflects on key qur'anic passages used in the context of oppression to rethink the role of Islam in a plural society. He exposes how traditional interpretations of the Qur'an were used to legitimize an unjust order, and demonstrates that those very texts used to support religious intolerance, if interpreted within a contemporary socio-historical context, support active solidarity with the religious Other for change.

Review Quotes

This book establishes Esack as one of the few liberation theologians in contemporary Islam.-- "Journal of the American Academy of Religion"

This book focuses on the imperative of real, engaged cooperation between groups of various religious backgrounds for the goals of establishing a just society that addresses the central needs of each community.-- "Review & Expositor"

About the Author

Farid Esack is Senior lecturer in Religion at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and is an internationally known scholar, speaker and social activist.