Muhammad Shahrur and the Printed Word

Abstract

Until 1996, six years after the publication of Muhammad Shahrur's Proposal for an Islamic Covenant, his sense of public was as austere as that expressed by Immanuel Kant in his famous essay on the Enlightenment. Kant argued that the printed word, unlike direct speech, offers the 'public' the possibility of judging ideas independently from the status or authority of their authors. Muhammad Shahrur acknowledges his lack of credentials in Islamic scholarship. Despite this deficiency, his courage in entering an arena of public discussion, previously reserved for trained jurists, has incited strong interest in his ideas among many educated speakers of Arabic throughout the world.