Islam: Past, Present & Future

"I think the future of all three monotheistic faiths is intertwined and interconnected. This point is strongly made by Hans Küng whose book is my next recommendation: Islam: Past, Present and Future. Küng is undoubtedly the most enlightened Catholic philosopher of our time. This is a monumental work: it covers the evolution and development of Islam, the present crisis of Muslim civilisation, and looks at what Küng calls ‘possibilities for the future’. Islam is the last in a trilogy which has also covered Judaism and Christianity. And Küng is simply brilliant in making connections between the three monotheistic faiths and highlighting the areas of convergence. Küng is extremely thorough. So he looks at the future of Islamic law, the future of Muslim politics and ‘Islamic state’, the possibilities of an Islamic economic order, the future of the Islamic way of life, and even the images of hope that Muslims themselves have produced. He thinks that Islamic law should and would change in the future to meet the challenge of human rights, gender equality, and the rights of minorities, by developing a new ethical framework of rights and responsibilities. He predicts that Muslim politics will acquire ‘secularity’ without totally embracing secularism, and Islamic economics, including the banking system, will evolve further as a major system of commerce based on ethical principles. What I really like about this book is Küng’s passionate belief that the differences between Islam and the West are more apparent than real, and that the religious divide between Islam and the other two Abrahamic faiths can be readily bridged. The deadly threats that humanity faces, he argues, require us to demolish the walls of prejudice, stone by stone. He would argue that it is a necessary requirement for our future survival."