BIODATA
Mohamed Haddad currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Comparative Studies of Religion at La Manouba University's Faculty of Humanities, in Tunis, where he has worked since 1995. His writings include ديانة الضمير الفردي ومصير الاسلام في العصر الحديث (Religion of the individual conscience and the fate of Islam in the modern era), Beirut, Dar al-Madar al-Islami, 2007; الاسلام: نزوات العنف واستراتيجية الاصلاح (Islam: impulses of violence and the strategy of reform), Beirut, Dar al-Taliʿa, 2006; البركان الهائل (The massive volcano), Tunis, Dar al-Maʿrifa, 2006; محمد عبده: قراءة جديدة في خطاب الاصلاح الديني (Muhammad ʿAbdu: New reading into the religious reformist discourse), Beirut, Dar al-Taliʿa, 2003; حفريات تأويلية في الخطاب الاصلاحي العربي (Interpretative digging into the Arab reformist discourse), Beirut, Dar al-Taliʿa, 2002. Born in 1963 in Tunisia, Haddad received a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic studies from the Sorbonne in 1994.
SYNOPSIS
An important voice in seeking a reconciliation between the Islamic legacy and modernity, Haddad has adopted a delicate approach in his criticism of Western policies toward the Middle East as negative factors in the Arab cultural debate. His approach is phrased in humanistic terms, with an inherent call to focus on the long run, both in Western-Arab relations, and in the internal evolution of Arab thought.
EXCERPT (Translated)
Haddad indicated in his book about the religion of the individual conscience that the fundamental task of the intellectual in this new dynamic and transforming world is to shape the characteristics of a "second renaissance." In his view, this can happen only if "we abandon the idea of providing copycat approaches in the form of booklets that discuss the struggle of the revolutionary era and the ambitious projects to redefine tradition or superficially apply the contemporary methodologies and philosophies."
In this sense, the mind is required to abandon the "ideological assurances" and instead embrace what Edgar Morin referred to as "the multi-faceted thought" [p.6] as well as the analytical thought. The inherited writings about renaissance and the West must be rejected during revisionism, destruction, separation, and questioning.
Moreover, Haddad admitted that the foundations for "religious reform" are three, "the scientific approach to the religious phenomenon," "Ijtihad," and "religious reform."
– Yusuf ibn ‘Adi, "The Fate of Islam in the Modern World," Al Hayat, November 8, 2008
EXCERPT (Original in Arabic- Link)
أشار الحداد في كتاب «ديانة الضمير الفردي» إلى إن المهمة الأساسية للمثقف اليوم في ظل العالم الحديث وتحولاته وانتقالاته.. هي طرح معالم «نهضة ثانية».. شرط «ان نتخلى عن فكرة تقديم الوصفات العامة في شكل الكتيبات النضالية للعهد الثوري أو المشاريع الفضفاضة لقراءة التراث أو التطبيقات السطحية للمناهج والفلسفات الحديثة» (ص6). وهذا يستلزم ان يتخلى العقل الجديد عن «الاطمئنان الإيديولوجي..» ويقبل ما دعاه ادغار موران «الفكر المتشعب» (ص6)، والفكر النقدي انما رفض السرديات المتوارثة عن النهضة والغرب نحو المراجعة والتقويض والتفكيك والمساءلة..
كما اقر الحداد بأن «الإصلاح الديني» يتأسس على ثلاث مسائل أساسية: «المقاربة العلمية للظاهرة الدينية» و«الاجتهاد» و «الإصلاح الديني».
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