Before I broach the main part of the subject, I would like make some introductory observations to clarify the purpose and contours of this study.

1) When I speak about religion in this study, I do not mean it in the sense of a purely spiritual phenomenon associated with the lives of the few, such as saints, mystics, and some philosophers. By religion I mean a tremendous power that penetrates the core of our lives, that influences our essential mental and psychological structures, that determines our way of thinking about and reacting to the world in which we live, and that forms an integral part of the behaviors and habits with which we grew up.

Therefore, we shall consider religion as the complex of doctrines, regulations, ceremonies, rituals, and institutions that circumscribe the life of a human being, in some cases almost entirely. Religion also comprises a large number of stories, myths, tales, and opinions about the emergence of the world its events, and those who played a role in steering those events. Religion enters the innermost life of the great majority of people in this manner and not as a pure spiritual essence that touches, in fact, only the few. [A 13]

2) When writing about faith or belief in this study, I do not mean the faith of the elderly or the phenomenon of naive, simple surrender that characterizes the position of most people in everything that touches on their religion. I am concerned here with a contemporary person (let us call him “X”) who inherited Islam with all its doctrines, stories, myths, and tales as an essential part of his intellectual and psychological formation. Since “X” is self-aware and enjoys some degree of sensitivity, he attempts to examine closely the foundations on which his inherited doctrines rest as a condition of accepting them. He also tries to elucidate the extent to which these doctrines are compatible with other convictions he has acquired from sources outside that tradition. Thus, “X” must confront the following question: Can I persist in accepting these inherited doctrines when they are not consistent with the other convictions I have acquired without betraying the principle of intellectual integrity and without sacrificing the unity of my thoughts and their internal cohesion