Moses, Torah & Tomorrow: the Qur’an, Judaism and Renewal of Islamic Thought

Moses, Torah & Tomorrow The Qur'an, Judaism and the Renewal of Islamic Thought The Qur'an speaks about Moses more than any other prophet. It speaks of the Torah as divine revelation, recounts the history of the Children of Israel, praises some among them and strongly criticises others. It also presents Islam as part of the same history of Abrahamic revelation while claiming that the Qur'an is its final and authoritative criterion. These claims raise difficult questions. What exactly does the Qur'an say about Moses, the Torah, Judaism and the Jews? Which criticisms are directed at particular communities and circumstances, and which express universal theological or moral principles? What is meant by taḥrīf - the alleged alteration or distortion of earlier revelation? And how should Muslims understand the Qur'an's relationship to a living Jewish tradition that has its own account of revelation, covenant, Torah and religious continuity? Moses, Torah & Tomorrow approaches these questions without caricature or evasion. Jewish objections to Qur'anic assertions are presented in their strongest and most intellectually serious form, followed by the responses developed by Muslim scholars from the classical tradition to contemporary thought. Qur'an and authentic Sunnah are distinguished from later interpretation, while theological claims are distinguished from historical and textual claims. But the book has a larger purpose. Muslims today live in societies shaped by secularism, democracy, science, historical criticism, individual rights and religious pluralism. Must Islamic thought be reconstructed to meet these challenges? Or does Islam possess within its own intellectual tradition the resources necessary for renewal? Drawing on concepts such as tajdīd, ijtihād and maqāṣid, the book explores a middle path between rigid literalism and uncritical modernism: renewal without rupture, openness without relativism, and reason without abandoning revelation. Beginning with Moses and the Torah and ending with the future of Muslim thought, this is ultimately a book about how a revelation-centred civilisation can engage other faiths, confront difficult questions and enter tomorrow with intellectual confidence.