“As Islamic liberalism waned, and resistance arose against the West and its influence, that very resistance started to replace genuine religiosity as the basis of Islam. The creators and the followers of this trend—Islamism—began to define Islam not as a… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share Image
“Gerber, who studied seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ottoman court decisions, points to examples of Ottoman muftis (official jurists) who, despite being paid by the government,… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“As Islamic liberalism waned, and resistance arose against the West and its influence, that very resistance started to replace genuine religiosity as the basis… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
I think forcing people to uncover their head is as tyrannical as forcing them to cover it. — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“The medieval Islamic world . . . offered vastly more freedom than any of its predecessors, its contemporaries and most of its successors. —Bernard… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“According to Gerber, the Shariah principle here was unmistakably individualist: “The rights of the state are depicted as opposed to the rights of the… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“Moreover, unlike the classical period, in which the Shariah was a check on the powers of the executive, it now became an instrument of… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
Turkey has never been colonized, so it remained as an independent nation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
The Qur'an not only lacks any earthly punishment for someone who abandons Islam, it even includes verses that imply that such a change of… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“The Qur’an promoted work and trade and defined commercial profit as “God’s bounty.”38 The Prophet, himself a merchant, is on the record with such… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
In the 19th century, when Muslims were looking at Europe as an example, they were independent; they were more self-confident. In the early 20th… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“The Prophet brought a message relevant for all ages, in other words, but he lived a life of his own age.” — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“Other problems in the Shariah, such as misogyny, come from the fact that Islamic law incorporated a great many medieval attitudes, customs, and traditions… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“The Christians’ “exaggerated fear of sex” continued until modern times, whereas Islamdom remained more sex-friendly until, again, modern times. Even the more conservative scholars… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
“Some liberal theorists have seen a parallelism between this function of Islamic law and the “natural law” tradition of Europe, on which the liberal… — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
The Arab Spring has heightened the ideological tension between Ankara and Tehran, and Turkey's model seems to be winning. — Mustafa Akyol Copy Share
