Divine Action in the Thought of Two Progressive Muslim T... - Dr Adis Duderija - SRF Online Oct 2024

Divine Action in the Thought of Two Progressive Muslim Thinkers: Reconciling Revelation with Scientific Causality
Dr Adis Duderija

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the challenge of reconciling divine action with scientific causality through the lens of Islamic theology, focusing on modern reinterpretations of revelation and Prophethood. Traditional Islamic views, which see the Qur'an as the literal Word of God and Muhammad as a passive recipient, are contrasted with the innovative theories of two progressive Muslim thinkers Fazlur Rahman and Abdolkarim Soroush. Rahman’s concept of revelation as a complex process involving Muhammad's active participation, and Soroush's view of Prophethood as an evolving personal experience, offer new perspectives on divine action. These modern interpretations suggest models of divine influence that work through human consciousness and natural processes, potentially bridging the gap between religious belief and scientific understanding. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these theories for
conceptualizing divine action in a scientifically informed worldview.

Adis Duderija is currently Associate Professor in the Study of Islam and Society at Griffith University and formerly Senior Fellow at the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue also at Griffith University. He teaches and researches on Islam and gender, Islamic intellectual tradition and Islam and Muslims in the West. Adis is a first-generation BosnianAustralian. He obtained his PhD in 2010 at the Centre for Muslim States and Societies at the University of western Australia on interpretational methodologies of Qur’an and Sunna in Neo-Traditional Salafism and Progressive Islam. In 2011 the thesis was published by Palgrave in a prestigious books series edited by Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, one of the leading scholars of Islamic theology and law in the USA, and was recently (end of 2013) translated into Arabic. He is an expert on contemporary Islam, especially in relation to the theory of progressive Islam, scriptural hermeneutics of Islamic feminism, Salafism and interfaith theory in Islam.

Recorded at 'Peacocke @ 100 - Science, Causality and God: Divine Action in a Scientific Age' an online conference from the Science and Religion Forum - 28th - 29th October 2024

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