The spaciousness of humanity and faith | Abdulwahab Al-Messiri

Abdel Wahab Al-Messiri chose a group of Western and Muslim thinkers from Europe, the Arab world, and Islamic Asia, who are preoccupied with the national, ethnic, and religious concerns of their peoples, and who are not among those thinkers living in ivory towers far from the realities and problems. This study reveals that these thinkers are more open and receptive to ideas derived from other civilizational experiences, and more willing to detach themselves from literal adherence to the religious text without considering the spirit and essence, despite their keenness not to deviate from the constants of religion. The study also answers a question that has long haunted Dr. Al-Messiri about the common intellectual denominator among these thinkers despite their differing cultural and civilizational backgrounds. The answer lies in the humanistic tendency that affirms that the human self has existence, effectiveness, and independence within the comprehensive view of existence and beyond existence. Dr. Al-Messiri's choices are governed by a clear and coherent logic of a mind engaged and capable of benefiting from every human creation that supports the value of the human being and at the same time criticizes any thought opposed to humaneness.