ملخص الجهاز:
Behind the sensational, popular demands for greater adherence to the strictures of the revealed law of Islam lies an issue of fundamental importance: how divine revelation is to be understood and interpreted for political guidance.
Those who developed Islamic political philosophy spoke directly to this issue and did so in a manner that merits the attention of contemporary Muslim activists, scholars interested in Islam, and thoughtful human beings in general.
Now more than ever before it is necessary for both western and Muslim scholars to reconsider the way they speak about political well-being, about the separation between the private and the public or between religious belief and communal doctrine, and about revelation or divine inspiration.
My analysis of the development of Islamic political philosophy, cast in the terms outlined here, thus serves as an important step towards the dialogue we in the West need to begin with our non-western colleagues.