Böcker i In Translation: Modern Muslim Thinkers-serien

Published as 'Dal?l al-Muslim al-?az?n il? muqtada-l-sul?k f?'l-qarn al-?ishr?n' in 1983, this book remains a timely and important read today. It explores the interaction between pre-Islamic tradition and modern supporters of continuity, reform and change in Muslim communities.

This book is a translation of Aziz al-Azmeh's seminal work Al-'Ilmaniya min mandhur mukhtalif that was first published in Beirut in 1992.

This book could easily be called 'A Guide for the Modern Muslim', for someone to whom the sentiments of his or her ancestors resonate but who cannot accept the canonised formulas of a stultified education. Charfi spells out what, for him, is the essential message of Islam, followed by a history of its unfolding through the person of the Prophet Muhammad, who was a visionary seeking to change the ideals, attitudes and behaviours of the society in which he lived. The message and its history are delineated as two separate things, conflated by tradition. Charfi's reflections cross those horizons where few Muslim scholars have dared until now to tread. He confronts with great lucidity those difficult questions with which Muslims are struggling, attempting to reconsider them from a moral and political perspective that is independent of the frameworks produced by tradition."e;