Muslim scholar says questions good for faith, but can lead to trouble

Published: 2004-05-14

ROME (CNS) -- Asking questions is an important part of being a religious believer, but asking them out loud might get a person in trouble with religious authorities, said a Muslim scholar who spoke from experience. Nasr Abu Zayd, an Egyptian Quran scholar living and teaching Islamic studies in the Netherlands, spoke May 14 at Rome's Catholic-run Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. His work on exploring ways to apply modern methods of interpretation and textual criticism to the Quran led an Egyptian court to declare Abu Zayd a heretic in 1995 and to order him to separate from his wife. Under Egyptian law, a Muslim woman cannot be married to a non-Muslim man. The couple decided to move to the Netherlands. Abu Zayd told the Rome gathering he did not want to talk about the case. "It is something I would like to put behind my back and move on," he said. Besides, he told the mostly Catholic audience, "it is a fairly normal experience in the life of every culture."

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