Islamic Intellectual Tradition

The purpose of this chapter is threefold: (i) it explores the continuing relevance of Islamic theology, jurisprudence and advise-to-ruler literature in the efforts of the contemporary Muslim world to address the challenges of political legitimacy, (ii) it assesses the richness, flexibility and rigidly of Islamic intelligentsia and (iii) it illustrates the spectrum of orthodox positions adopted by the majority of Muslims. To neatly map out the unbridgeable gaps and points of contact between liberal and Islamic traditions, this chapter identifies the representative positions so that in the following chapters I can assess how far away the points of contact between Islamic doctrinal tradition and PL are from the Islamic mainstream outlook.