Liberal Islam Between Texts and its Modern Condition

Abstract

The Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi has become known for what appear to be contradictory statements, for example, defending women’s rights one day and denying them another. Significantly though, such conflicting statements are based on a singular fidelity to Islamic texts. Rather than just explaining the apparent contradictions by referring to the contexts in which such statements are made, the author argues that only by moving beyond contextuality is it possible to capture and understand the power of texts in modern Islamic thought.