[The Liberal Approach to Islam and Its Contractions with The Sunni] Pendekatan Liberal terhadap Islam dan Percanggahannya dengan Manhaj Ahli Sunah Waljamaah

Modernism has a great influence on contemporary human civilization. Modernization not only brings about changes in advancement of science and technology, but also challenges the credibility of religious institutions and authorities through ideologies based on secular philosophy. In the Muslim context, the “renewal” or “reform” movement, known as Liberal Islam, has emerged to give a new interpretation of Islam, deconstructing the manhaj of Ahli Sunah Waljamaah and reconstructing a new methodology in accordance with liberalism framework. Through the method of document content analysis, this paper aims at analysing the thoughts of Liberal Islam, in particular; its critical study of the history of Muslim intellectualism and its reinterpretation of the Qur’an based on hermeneutics. The results of the study show that the Liberal Islam approach is completely in conflict with the manhaj of Ahli Sunah Waljamaah which is founded on the basis of wasatiyyah, just (‘adl) and adab. The Sunnis approache has been able to put a balance between the literal-exclusive and liberal-inclusive approaches in the interpretation of Islam throughout the history of Muslim intellectualism. In conclusion, the Liberal Islam thoughts must be rejected as declared in the decision of the Malaysia Fatwa Council. Modenisme telah memberi pengaruh yang besar ke atas tamadun manusia zaman kini. Modernisasi bukan hanya membawa perubahan dalam bentuk kemajuan sains dan teknologi, tetapi turut mencabar kewibawaan institusi dan autoriti agama melalui pelbagai aliran berasaskan falsafah sekular. Dalam konteks umat Islam, gerakan “pembaharuan” atau “refomasi” yang dikenali sebagai Islam Liberal muncul memberi tafsiran baharu terhadap agama Islam, iaitu dengan merombak manhaj Ahli Sunah Waljamaah dan membina metodologi baharu selari dengan kerangka liberalisme. Melalui pendekatan analisis kandungan dokumen, makalah ini menilai pemikiran Islam Liberal, khususnya penelitian kritis terhadap sejarah intelektualisme umat Islam dan pentafsiran kembali al-Quran menggunakan kaedah hermeneutik. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa pendekatan Islam Liberal bercanggah sama sekali dengan manhaj Ahli Sunah Waljamaah yang sabit serta bersifat wasatiyyah iaitu adil-beradab. Ahli Sunah Waljamaah berupaya mengimbangi antara literal-ekslusif dan liberal-inklusif ketika berdepan dengan pelbagai aliran pemikiran menyeleweng sepanjang sejarah umat Islam. Disebabkan itu, pemikiran Islam Liberal perlu ditolak oleh umat Islam di Malaysia selari dengan keputusan fatwa