New Mu'tazilite Theology in the Contemporary Age. The Relationship between Reason, History and Tradition

The rediscovery of rational thinking starts, in the contemporary age, during nineteenth century Nahdah with authors such as Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1195/ 1817–1267/1889), al-Afghani (1216/1838–1275/1897), Khayr al-Din (1198/ 1820–1267/1889) and others, who drawing up a different theological analysis, were taking a standpoint deployed towards a vigorous rationalism. S. Ahmad Khan in his Tafsir al-Quran (published in parts from 1880-1904) argues for the need to radically renew Muslim theology and focuses on the reconciliation between critical reason and modern science. There can be no conflict between the Word of God and his work. The same author had also attempted to metaphorically interpret those verses of the Word which literally could contradict reason and science. “The Koran is the most perfect of God’s words because it contains the dogma of divine unity, the Taw|†d, but it would be impossible to find in it all the aspects that are evident in the contemporary age.”