What do you think about the kind of religious reformation as proposed by Afghani and Abduh?
Yes, religious reformation is necessary besides reformation in other fields. In the religious discourse, fikh must not be used as an oppressing instrument. Religion should not support despotism. My book on authoritative and authoritarian fatwas criticizes the misuse of religion for such objectives. Religious reformation must be based on remembering God. This is not a simple point. Many consider that progress will be achieved by increasing the number of legal restrictions and the enforcement of Islamic law or (precisely) part of the Islamic school of thought. To me, the foundation and the principle of religion are about remembering God, which is very personal and regarded with morality. We have to be accustomed to live with moral ideals. No civilization can be based on pragmatism. Every civilization is primarily established upon idealism or dreams. That moralist dream puts you in a noble position. We also have to lead society towards the principle of gentleness (‘al-hilm ). It is imposs
