Examines the writings of ten Muslim intellectuals, working in the Muslim world and the West, who employ contemporary critical methods to understand the Qur'an. This volume situates and evaluates their work and responses to it among Muslim and non-Muslim audiences.

This volume examines Muslim intellectuals from the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, the USA, and Europe who employ contemporary critical methods to interpret the Qur'an, arriving at conclusions that challenge those of the past. It offers a framework for understanding their work and responses to this among Muslim and Non-Muslim audiences, and illustrates the diverse struggles in which they recruit the Qur'an, read through the lens of their modernist or post-modernist positions. Pointing to the emergence of a new trend in Muslim interpretation characterised by direct engagement with the word of God and the embrace of intellectual modernity in the context of an increasingly globalized world, it presents and analyses for the first time a representative selection of its voices, methods, and conclusions.