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Carl W. Ernst, “Reading Strategies for Introducing the Qur’an as Literature in an American Public University” Published in Islamic Studies (Islamabad) 45:3 (2006), pp. 333-344.

No Muslim encounters the Qur’an for the first time. It is part and parcel of life in Muslim societies from birth to death. In contrast, most Americans and Europeans have no acquaintance whatever with the Islamic sacred text, and it remains an enormous enigma, despite international controversies ranging from Salman Rushdie to Guantanamo. The educational task of introducing non-Msulims to the text of the Qur’an is evidently important, yet most English-language scholarship on the Qur’an either adheres to the forbiddingly technical norms of Orientalist scholarship or else serves an apologetic or polemical theological agenda. What is the best way of introducing readers to Qur’an, who are not likely ever become either specialist on the Qur’an or indeed Muslims? more (pdf) ..

Ebrahim Moosa, “Transitions in the 'Progress' of Civilization: Theorizing History, Practice, and Tradition.” In Voices of Change, ed. Omid Safi. General editor, Vincent J. Cornell Voices of Islam, 5, 115-130. (Westport & London: Praeger, 2007)

Those who think that ‘‘progressive’’ Islam is a ready-made ideology or an off-the-shelf creed, movement, or pack of doctrines will be sorely disappointed. It is not even a carefully calibrated theory or interpretation of Muslim law, theology, ethics, and politics. Neither is it a school of thought. Instead, I would argue that progressive Islam is a wish-list, a desire, and, if at all something, then it is literally, accumulated action, as the word ‘‘progress’’ in the phrase ‘‘a work-in progress’’ suggests. At best it is a practice. more (pdf)..

Ebrahim Moosa, “The Debts and Burdens of Critical Islam” in Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism ed. Omid Safi (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003), 111-127.

Modern Muslim thinkers are not only challenged to be innovative, but they are also simultaneously required to engage with tradition. And yet, the content of tradition is possibly one of the most complex and contentious issues contemporary Muslims face. In the past two hundred years, tradition has been subject to an extraordinary assault both from within Muslim societies as well as from outside. The advent of colonization brought yet another tradition, namely modernity, into a more forceful encounter with Muslim tradition. more (pdf)..

Charles Kurzman, "Liberal Islam: Prospects and Challenges", Middle East Review of International Affairs, vol. 3, No.3, September 1999, 11-19.

Although the focus of research and public perception in the West has been on radical Islamic thought and movements, many Muslims adhere to principles which could be described collectively as "Liberal
Islam." This refers to interpretations of Islam that have a special concern regarding such issues as democracy, separating religion from political involvement, women's rights, freedom of thought, and
promoting human progress. In each case, the argument is that both Muslims and religious piety itself would benefit from reforms and a more open society. more (pdf)..

Charles Kuzman, "Social Movement Theory and Islamic Studies," in Quintan Wiktorowicz, editor, Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004), pp. 289-303.

In the 1970s, social movement theory and Islamic studies underwent parallel paradigmatic revolutions: social movement theory shunted aside collective behavior, and Islamic studies turned against Orintalism. The previously dominant perspectives, largely unchallenged for generations, shared a variety of features in common. Both had their origins in the entry of the masses into the political calculations of Western elites. more (pdf)..

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	Bruce Lawrence, The Qur'an: Books That changed the World, Grove Press, 2008.
	Omid Safi, The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam: Negotiating Ideology and Religious Inquiry, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2006.
	Ebrahim Moosa, Ghazali and Poetics of Imagination, Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2005.