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Why is it now so vital for Muslims to rethink the Qur’an? Besides the present context of Western Islamophobia, especially after the trauma of September 11th and the aftermath, terrorism operations everywhere in the Muslim as well as the non-Muslim World, which reduced Islam to being radical, violent and exclusive, it should be emphasized how important this invitation to ‘rethink the Qur’an’ is for all Muslims regardless of their ethnic and cultural diversity. I am not here claiming any missionary task to formulate a specific Islam, but rather situating my hermeneutical position.

Durayd Ibn Mu’awiya al-Simma, a hero of noble descent, one of the ˙ foremost poets in the last decades before Islam and an opponent of the Prophet Muhammad recited: “I am of the tribe of Ghaziyya: if the tribe is in error, then I ˙ will err. 6 This binding concept of an unshakable loyalty to the tribe was in the first place a male prerogative. The societies of the Arab peninsula were after all strongly patriarchal societies. The virtue of muruwwa “manliness” showed itself in an unwavering commitment to the tribe, but also in other qualities such as courage and endurance in fighting and sometimes in an almost unlimited hospitality.

The Qur’anic text itself shows us that its message is revolutionary and radical, on the one hand. But the same Qur’anic text also makes us realize that the message is flexible, allowing for gradual change, on the other hand. Its impact depended and depends on the way of its reception and the culture of the recipient. Muslim Qur’anic exegesis has always stressed that the historical background had to be taken into account when interpreting the true meaning and scope of verses and suras. Famous specialized Muslim scholars of Qur’anic exegesis endeavoured to establish the historical and social contexts of certain Qur’anic revelations.