Contemporary Islamic discourse between tolerance and intolerance

Abstract EN

The reason to choose this research stems from the ongoing crisis which Islamic discourse is suffering from.

In the last three decades the conception of Islamic context and all that it entails has been related to violence more than tolerance, to war more than peace, to aggression more than stability.

One of the most solid factors that led to the crisis of Islamic discourse is the confusion and gap between classical Arabic language and modern standard Arabic.

Quran was written in classical Arabic language, and early Islamic scholars wrote their commentaries and exegeses in classical Arabic language.

Modern and contemporary scholars, however, wrote in modern standard Arabic.

The gap and difference between the two languages brings about a difference in both meaning and significance.

As a result, the problem of misunderstandings arose and led to misinterpretation and misconception.

The questions of my research proposal derive their importance from the religious linguistic context.

In other words how could we perceive this context in a right way, the significance of the religious terms and how the usage in religious discourse can be used in political and social contexts? I will use here in my proposal paradigms of contemporary discourses which strongly affected the social and political life, not only in the Islamic world, but also in the world around.

The extremist movements are based on misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Quranic text; hence this led directly to promote an Islamic discourse based on violence and discrimination in socio-political life.