THE APPROACH OF LIBERAL ISLAM: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

Abstract

In this study, the basic arguments of liberal Islamic thought are examined and the limits, possibilities and limitations of a political thinking and regulation shaped around these ideas are evaluated. In the first part of the study, different conceptualizations of liberal Islam were discussed and after revealing the problems inherent in these conceptualizations, a new conceptualization was proposed. In the second part, within the scope of liberal Islam approach, the thoughts of the thinkers of the Liberal Islam Network (Jaringan Islam Liberal/Liberal Islam Network) from Indonesia and the Sudanese thinker Abdullahi An-Naim are discussed. The arguments and propositions that these thinkers resorted to while grounding the secular liberal democracy thought in relation to Islam and liberalism were revealed and examined under various headings. In the last part of study, while evaluating the liberal understanding of these thinkers within the scope of political liberalism, how the liberalism built within the framework of this understanding/thinking transformed into comprehensive liberalism and the problems caused by this transformation were discussed. In addition to these, this study also includes criticisms of the thinkers' perspectives shaped around the political. Within the framework of these criticisms, the emphasis on the founding role of the political always provides an opportunity for an alternative political thinking.