Feminist activists and theologians are sought-after advisors at international level. One of the most high profile of these is Amina Wadud. She talks about a "gender jihad" – the battle for gender equality – and says that Islam actually aims to overcome the patriarchal system, not strengthen it. She claims that the Koran provides her with convincing arguments to support her views.

It is ironic therefore to see that the very system that was based on the criteria of dismantling the organised Church, Elitism of all sorts and Superstitions and the establishment of Egalitarianism, Equality, Justice and ‘Knowledge-based working’ of society should in just a couple centuries later revert to the same old precepts of religion that again put a hood on intelligent inquiry and a just society and was based on “we will follow in the footsteps of our ancient forefathers”. It has pushed a large portion of world’s population of Muslims in the Dark ages now for a thousand years.

Those who oppose Sufism deceptively pose a question – is Sufism same as Islam? Then why Sufism, Islam is enough and is Sufism against Islam? Then we do not need Sufism. In fact one can pose such questions for every trend. For example is Wahhabism same as Islam? Then we need Islam, not Wahhabism or Is Wahhabism against Islam? Then we need Islam, not Wahhabism. …

In Islam, justice is a most fundamental value; it connotes one of Allah’s names also. Allah’s name is Aadil (Just). The Quran repeatedly emphasises justice and even goes to the extent of saying justice is closest to piety (Taqwa) and so “do justice”, it commands, as it is closest (aqrab) to piety. But many of our theologians think piety lies in offering prayers and fasting alone whether it results in just conduct or not. They say all Islamic laws are most just but then differ, like others, on the definition of justice. …

The council, noting that the Prophet Muhammad was an orphan, supports adoption, citing a Quranic verse enjoining us to practice islaah, or "to make better," the condition of orphans. It says: "And they ask you about orphans. Say: Making things right for them (islaah) is better." (2:220) The women argue that adoption encourages “the protection and promotion of healthy minds.” Indeed. Perhaps it protects kids from becoming terrorists as well. …

Instead of kindness, compassion, mercy, generosity and love of mankind, ordinarily westerners tend to characterise Islam by such features as violence, terrorism, intolerance, authoritarianism, oppression of women, etc. There are two reasons for this grave misconception: their ignorance of the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet (PBUH); and the irresponsible attitude of certain Muslims. …

At the time of the Prophet then the concept of Sunnah was associated quite naturally with him, and , except from  its ‘ibadat component,  seemed to  have been  understood primarily as a general,  ethico-religious and , in Medina, politico-administrative , concept based upon righteous customary  practice that partially reflected some of the  pre-Qur’anic customs and practices not contrary to Qur’anic worldview. The legislative component of Sunnah, which in no doubt existed, was , in consonance with the nature of the Qur’an as the “most trustworthy mirror of the prophet’s outlook and teaching” ,  also primarily  conceived in religio-moral rather than positivistic terms. These religious and moral teachings, in fact, functioned as a reference point for legal evaluation. ...

It is a well-known fact that Qur''an, Sunnah and to a large extent hadith have been used as the principal sources of Islamic thought from its very genesis. The claims of the utmost importance in following the Qur''an and Sunnah, and hadith as their primary interpretational vehicle, as the most authentic and legitimate, if not the only, epistemological and methodological parameters governing Muslim intellectual discourses have been echoed throughout the entire Islamic intellectual experience. ...

During the pre-classical period of Islamic thought the Qurʾān and Sunnah discourse was considered to be organically intertwined or symbiotically interdependent as these two sources were conceptualized as a single, coherent hermeneutic unity. Furthermore, they were not textually fixed and were often understood as more abstract ethico-religious concepts whose purpose was to facilitate the benefit t of the community....

There is nothing against the assumption that the Companions and disciples wished to keep Prophet’s sayings and rulings from being forgotten by reducing them in writing” and that “it can be assumed that the writing down of Ḥadith was a very ancient method of preserving it. At the time of the Prophet, writing down the Ḥadith, however, was rather a random and individualised undertaking. The number of Ḥadith must have been rather limited, for Rahman writes, “the only need for which it [Ḥadith] would be used was the guidance in the actual practice of the Muslims and this need was fulfilled by the Prophet himself.”...

The dilemma is perhaps best described with the following question often asked by the traditionalists to discredit the views of the ''''Qur''''an only ‘groups and defend their own position of indispensable value of Ahadith literature in Qur''''anic understanding and thus securing it a position of a primary source of Islamic jurisprudence and Shari’a. The question being: How do you perform namaz/Salat if there were no Ahadith to guide us on these issues?''''...

If Quran is a text, Hadees is an explanation. If principles have been described in Quran, Hadees has the development of its components. People who say, they will understand’ what Sharia is only through Quran are misguiding themselves. Anyone who has tried to understand the Quran without the help of scholars has got misguided on every step. On certain occasions these people could not understand the Ayat as these were beyond the understanding of common human beings and these Ayat seemed to contradict their ‘observations’ and ‘experiences’. .. 

The aim of this article is to help overcome what this author has elsewhere on this website described the interpretational promiscuity or lack of interpretational consciousness among Muslims, both scholars as non –scholars, who often consider certain views taken by them to be Qur’anic or based on Sunna without even being aware of the interpretational assumptions   their views are based on and the interpretational implications they have. The article describes some major differences in interpretational assumptions governing what I call here pre-modern and modern Muslim approaches to interpretation of Qur’an and Sunna. -- Dr. Adis Duderija for NewAgeIslam.com

Sufism has a deep influence on the Pashtun society and a large number of Sufi shrines dot the landscape of Pashtun dominated areas. Sahibzada Amir Muhammad, a Kabul-based Sufi preacher, claims that although suppressed by the Taliban, Sufism is re-emerging in Afghanistan. -- Zia Ur Rehman

Face value acceptance of the episode of Satanic Verses and other colorful, dramatic, and vindictive accounts of the Classical Sira (the Prophet’s early biography) stand shirk, kufr and nifaq (hypocrisy) in present day objective vocabulary.

 Islamic theology must be treated historic critically because of its undeniable historical moorings;

the eternal and universal paradigms of the Qur’an must be regarded as the font of guidance for all humanity for all times.  -- Muhammad Yunus, NewAgeIslam.com