And God Knows The Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses

This is a substantially expanded edition of the original "The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study". This updated edition includes a new introduction and "Afterthoughts" section that captures Dr. Abou El Fadl's latest thinking on and further development of issues he raised in the first book. The "Afterthoughts" section includes the subsections entitled:

Authority and the Determination of Meaning: One God, One Book, and One Meaning

Choosing a Case Study: Pick on Someone Your Own Size

Raising the Bar: Are We Going to Need a Jurist to Go to the Toilet?

The Modern Dynamics and the Islamic Legal Tradition

Lecherous Suspicions: Do You Dare Question the Hijab?

Is Morality a Bad Word?

Beginning with the case study of a Muslim basketball player who refused to stand up while the American national anthem was playing, the author documents the disintegration of the Islamic juristic tradition, and the prevalence of authoritarianism in contemporary Muslim discourses. Anchoring himself in the rich Islamic jurisprudential tradition, Dr. Abou El Fadl argues for upholding the authoritativeness of the religious text without succumbing to authoritarian methodologies of interpretation. Ultimately, the author asserts that in order to respect the integrity of the Divine law, it is necessary to adopt rigorous analytical methodologies of interpretation, and to re-investigate the place of morality in modern Islam.