Presentation

This thesis compares and contrasts the responses of Hasan Hanafi (Egypt, b. 1935), Muhammad `Abid al-Jabiri (Morocco, b. 1936) and Nurcholish Madjid (Indonesia, b. 1939) to the slogan "Back to the Qur’an and the Sunna," a slogan that many modern Sunni reformers consider as the ideal solution to the decline of Islam in the modern age. The comparison is analyzed in the light of H&dotbelow;anafi’s three dimensional Islamic reform project known as Heritage and Modernity ( Al-Turath wa al-Tajdid). Their responses to the factors that have led to the decline of Islam in the modern age will be compared from the perspective of the first and second dimensions of his project, which examine the implications of the classical Islamic and Western heritages, respectively, for the reform of Islam. It is, however, in the context of the third dimension of Hanafi’s project, which deals with the theory and practice of interpretation, that we will examine their hermeneutics of the return to the Qur’an and the Sunna. In the process we will demonstrate how their respective backgrounds, political influences and concerns have led each of them to adopt a position that is, at one and the same time, radical and traditional.

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