In previous articles, I spoke of some of the ambiguities of the issue of the renewal of religious discourse, and I said that there are vigorous and continuous calls for a renewal of religious discourse. That is understandable by virtue of the urgency and priority of the matter on the agenda of the Arab and Islamic national action at this stage. We saw little progress in terms of renewing or developing or reviving the religious discourse that persisted for centuries. In my opinion, there are several reasons behind the stalemate and pointless noise made about the issue.
From a scientific standpoint, it is difficult to make a breakthrough or a qualitative progress that translates ideas into plans or strategies without a clear road map. Action steps and alternatives need to be determined first. But since no mentionable efforts were made by religious institutions concerned with renewing religious discourse, it seems we will stand still for a while.
The renewal of religious discourse is not about burning books and changing school curricula. It is not about plans to disseminate artistic taste promoted by intellectual and academic elites. It is about integrated efforts requiring enormous energies at all levels in order to re-read the heritage and understand the roots of extremism to be able to track it.
In my modest opinion, renewing religious discourse needs institutional initiatives not official assignments. It should involve scientific research that is financed in a durable way, not scattered and limited individual attempts. Institutional efforts should be made not only at the level of states but the whole Arab and Islamic world should be involved. Integrated plans should be developed and competent researchers engaged in the quest to renew the religious discourse while eradicating the roots of extremism, following objective methodologies approved by religious jurists and scholars and aimed at stopping the extremist monopoly of religious discourse production.
My biggest concern in this regard is the reality of scientific research in the Arab world. In the reality, ignorance spreads and extremists are posing as religious theorists. Scholarly research in the field of religion and jurisprudence sciences is neglected and declining in the Arab world. Therefore this situation will persist until this reality is changed and the need to encourage scientific research is perceived. Promoting research in this sense should be an integral process.
Also, an important challenge facing the renewal of religious discourse is the need to reconcile with the past. To ensure continuous renewal will prevent extremists from arguing that the renewing means to break with the past or move towards secularization. This is a controversial issue in a civilization suffering underdevelopment, extremism, terrorism and anti-Islamic sentiments.
The renewal of religious discourse should not be aimed only at stopping the threat of terrorist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood or Daesh or Al Qaida, but also eradicating their extremist ideology. This is the essence of long-term and durable strategic planning. Eliminating the roots will make the branches fall.
