Muhammad Shahrour (born in 1938 in Damascus) is an Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Damascus who writes extensively about Islam.[1] Shahrour was trained as an engineer in Syria, the former Soviet Union and Ireland.[2] Like other Quran Alone Muslims, he does not consider Hadith, however, he does not belong to the same school as Ahmed Subhy Mansour.
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Shahrour says that traditional scholarship on the Qur'an is unscientific. His interpretation of the Koran supports liberal political positions such as pluralism.[3] He also says that the Koran must be read and understood in relation to ever changing social realities.[2] Shahrour and a dozen or so like-minded intellectuals from across the Arab and Islamic worlds provoked bedlam when they presented their call for a reinterpretation of holy texts after a Cairo seminar entitled "Islam and Reform" in 2004.[4] His thoughts have angered many traditional scholars in Al-Azhar University and has been declared apostate by two of them, Mustafa Al-Shak'a and Farahat Al-Sayeed Al-Mungi.[5]
Books by Muhammad Shahrour:
Shahrour's first book has circulated throughout the Middle East and North Africa. His second and third books have been banned in many countries, but thousands of copies have been published, sold, and circulated under the table. At least thirteen books have been published attacking Shahrour's first book.[6]
“It is easier to build a skyscraper or a tunnel under the sea than to teach people how to read the book of the Lord with their own eyes. They have been used to reading this book with borrowed eyes for hundreds of years”.[7]