Islam: Past, Present and Future

Introduction: Against a Clash of Civilizations A. Origin I. A controversial religion II. Problems of the beginning B. Centre I. God's word has become a book II. The central message III. The central structural elements C. History I. The original Islamic community paradigm II. The paradigm of the Arab empire III. The classical paradigm of Islam as a world religion IV. The paradigm of the Ulama and Sufi D. Challenges of the present I. Competition between different paradigms II. Which Islam do Muslims want? III. The Israel-Palestine conflict IV. New approaches to theological conversation V. Speculative questions VI. From biblical criticism to Qur'anic criticism? E. Possibilities for the future I. Islamic renewal II. The future of the Islamic legal order III. The future of Islamic state order and politics IV. The future of the Islamic economic and social order V. Islam: a picture of hope