This book offers a unique comparative exploration of the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity. The idea of ‘tradition’ has enjoyed a variety of senses and definitions in Islam and Christianity, but both have cleaved at certain times to a supposedly ‘golden age’ of tradition from the past. In comparing the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity, this book explores the following key themes: the roles of authority, fundamentalism, the use of reason and ijtihad (independent thinking). It suggests that there has been a chain of thinkers from classical Islam to the twentieth century who ... More

This book offers a unique comparative exploration of the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity. The idea of ‘tradition’ has enjoyed a variety of senses and definitions in Islam and Christianity, but both have cleaved at certain times to a supposedly ‘golden age’ of tradition from the past. In comparing the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity, this book explores the following key themes: the roles of authority, fundamentalism, the use of reason and ijtihad (independent thinking). It suggests that there has been a chain of thinkers from classical Islam to the twentieth century who share a common interest in ijtihad. Drawing on past and present evidence, and using Christian tradition as a focus for contrast and comparison, the book highlights the seemingly paradoxical harmony between tradition and ijtihad in Islam. It draws on a variety of primary and secondary sources including contemporary newspaper and journal articles, documents and letters, adding immediacy to the text, which proposes a new vocabulary for the articulation of Islam, offers original comparisons between Salafism and Lefebvrism, and articulates the yearning amongst today's Muslim and Christian traditionalists for a revival of a ‘golden age’ from whence, they believe, all good traditions derive.