The Supermarket of Tafseer and The Noah’s Ark

I envision Islam nowadays as akin to a supermarket with hundreds and even thousands of stores inside. There we find a store where Islam a la Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid) is sold. In another store we find Islam as interpreted by Cak Nur (Nurkholis Majid). In another store filled with “imported packages” and surrounded by students, especially youngsters, we find Islam as interpreted by Ustadz Ja’far Umar Thalib. Other stores sell Islam a la Hassan Hanafi, Mohamed Arkoun, Abid Al Jabiri, Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid, Abdullahi Ahmed Anna’im, Sayyid Qutb, Yusuf Qardlawi, Ali Syari’ati.