Religious pluralism is a way of thinking that states that all religions are equal, meaning all religions are true. It is based on the idea of liberalism which is based on wild freedom.

In short, pluralism claims that no religion is the most correct. It is also referred to as the liberalization of belief. Faith believes that all religions are equally true, and is a path to the same God.
Ulil Absar Abdallah who is the supervisor of the Liberal Islam Network in Indonesia claims that "All religions are equal. Everything leads to the path of truth. So, Islam is not the truest religion"
Frans Magnis Suseno states that the religion varies, especially from the point of view of its laws. Only, what is presented by religious pluralism is the recognition of other religions or confirming their truth.

Hermeneutics and religious pluralism

The Liberal Islamic group in criticizing the Quran, uses the hermeneutic interpretation method which is "to understand the discourse just as well as even better than its creator"
Hermeneutics is a method used by religious pluralists in interpreting the Qur'an. It means criticism (textual criticism) or interpretation of the Qur'an according to current convenience, leading to a distorted interpretation.

Muhammad Arkoun is among those who think that the al-Quran should be interpreted with such a method, with the impression that the al-Quran is not holy, and not noble. He claimed that the Qur'an is just like any other book, which is analyzed and studied, to suit a particular situation.

This Hermeneutic Method used to be used by Western Thinkers to interpret the Bible. This is because there are many ambiguities in the book. Thus, this method is tried to be applied in the interpretation of the Quran, on the grounds that the content is just a theological fantasy (الخيال الديني) claims Lutfi Syaukani.

He further claimed that the history of the writing of the Quran itself is full of various chaotic situations and cannot be separated from debates, contradictions, intrigues and fabrications.
Alphonse Mingana asserted that;
"The time has come for us to criticize the text of the Quran as we do with the Hebrew-Aramaic Jewish scriptures and the Greek Christian scriptures"

Farid Esack and the interpretation of hermeneutics

His name is no stranger in the world of Hermeneutics and religious pluralism. In the agenda of interpreting the Quran with Hermeneutics, he can be said to be in line with Hasan Hanafi, Fazlur Rahman and Muhammad Arkoun.

Their deviant interpretation method is focused on producing a reading that is oriented towards the spirit of the Qur'an which is of universal value (صالح كلك زمان ومكان). The universal value that is meant is the value of freedom (الحريقة), humanistic values, the value of justice (العدالة), equality (المسووعة), and human rights (حقوق النصان).
Farid Esack is one of the individuals who uses this kind of approach which is aligned with other holy books supposedly in the name of universality. It is said to build a theological foundation (bridge between religions) to create cooperation to build a more humane society.

Among Esack's works that talk about this is 'al Quran, Liberation and Pluralism'. In this work, he himself stated that his Hermeneutic method refers a lot to Francis Shcussler-Fiorenza.

If we observe his work, we will find that his writing is based on reception hermeneutics which is popular in the Bible tradition [10]. It means to what extent the verses in the holy books can solve society's problems.

Date of Input: 10/01/2024 | Updated: 10/01/2024 | asmunir