Sciences and religions in the late modern period

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd stresses for his part the notion of “sources” and the factors that contributed to their development over the centuries. He insists that an appreciation of the quintessence of Arab-Muslim civilisation and its components should help go beyond the crowing of fake glory and the bragging over achievements for which our contemporaries can claim neither authorship nor a full grasp of their essence. Forget apologetics: The line taken by Abu Zayd is founded in an inclusive principle. Accordingly the quest for truth involves seeking a range of cultural truths rather than searching for absolute truths offered by the sacred text. He seeks to reinstate the term exegesis that was once favoured to approach the meaning of the sacred text whereas the term explanation was less widespread. He knows that he must, to that end, return it to its neutral sense purging it of the negative connotation it gained as a result of political and ideological conflicts.