Qur'anic interpretation.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)

SIR: In his article (November 2007) Fr Herman Roborgh outlines, as I understand it, the Farahi-Islahi school of thought's approach to Qur'anic interpretation in relation to Islam as a political movement (one that takes into account historical context) and asserts that this is the correct approach. He concludes by stating that "the followers of Islamism" and "the many militant schools of Islamic jihad" make the mistake of neglecting the historical context. By using the words Islamism and militant schools the implication seems to be that it is only fringe groups that neglect the historical context and that therefore the Farahi-Islahi approach is representative of the accepted mainstream Islamic tradition. The problem is that no empirical evidence is given to support this view.

In addition, there are theoretical reasons for believing that it' is not the accepted mainstream Islamic tradition. Most importantly, and surprisingly, no mention is even made of the rule called ijtihad, which during the early Islamic centuries allowed the exercise of independent judgment on problems for which the Qur'an and the Hadith (the traditions of ...