The political language of the Koran

In his new book, Abdennur Prado offers a renewed reading of the Koran, from the perspective of liberation. Beyond the usual discourse on the compatibility (or not) between Islam and democracy, a thorough reading reveals that the Muslim holy book is an appalling today. The rejection of tyranny and the oppressed-oppressor dialectic join the consideration of man as the Caliph of the creation, co-responsible for all matters affecting the community.

In the Quran, politics is an extension of an ethical message of liberation. The ethical is political and personal liberation leads inevitably to confrontation with the powers that be. It follows the mandate of combating all forms of oppression, whether economic, cultural, racial, political or economic.

The book addresses controversial issues such as apostasy and religious pluralism, the prohibition of usury or the jihad. Interfaith utopia defends the rights of homosexuals, the ecological paradigm and culture of peace. Islamophobia is positioned as the ideology of empire, and Eurocentrism underlying complaint in most Western discourses on Islam.

In short, this is a book that shows that a free and democratic reading of the Quran is possible, here and now. A popular reading and committed to the democratization of religious knowledge, regardless of any constituted power.