Language, Religion and Modernity: Zaki Naguib Mahmoud's Islamic Rationalism Philosophy

Abstract

This article aims to reveal the idea of renewing Islam in the minds of Zaki Naguib Mahmud. The manifestation of Zaki Naguib Mahmoud's ideas is very relevant in the contemporary Islamic world. However, narrow interpretations of religious texts dominate creativity and innovation in Islamic thought. Therefore, this study focuses on the basic ideas of Islamic renewal used by Zaki Naguib Mahmoud. Through literary studies and semantic analysis of Zaki Naquib Mahmoud's works, language (al-Qur'an and Hadith) was the primary source of Islamic scientific knowledge, religion as an open interpretation and modernity as a complex reality be correlated with a rational and innovative nature.