Muslims  Need a Fresh  Imagination of God—and of Reality

 

Adis Duderija

If there is one idea that could fundamentally transform how Islam is lived and understood in the 21st century, it is this: reality itself is not static. It is relational, dynamic, and in constant becoming. And if that is true, then Islam—like everything else—cannot be reduced to a fixed system of doctrines or laws frozen in time. It must be recognised as an unfolding, participatory process.

This is precisely where progressive Islam, at its most intellectually serious, makes its most important contribution. It is not simply advocating reform, nor merely updating old interpretations to suit modern sensibilities. It is grounded in a far deeper shift—a process-relational understanding of existence that recasts God, revelation, tradition, and ethics as dynamic rather than static realities.

At stake here is not only theological nuance, but the future of Islam as a lived, morally responsive tradition.

 

Beyond a Static Islam

For too long, public and internal Muslim debates alike have been constrained by an unspoken metaphysical assumption: that truth is fixed, fully formed in the past, and simply waiting to be retrieved. This assumption underlies both rigid traditionalism and many modern reactions against it. One side insists on preserving inherited interpretations; the other often rejects them wholesale. Both, however, mistakenly treat Islam as something essentially complete.

A process-relational perspective disrupts this binary. It begins with a different premise: reality itself is not made up of static entities but of processes of becoming, where meaning emerges through relationships and temporal unfolding.

Applied to Islam, this means the tradition is not a closed archive of final answers. It is an ongoing conversation between divine guidance and human experience. Islam is not something that simply is; it is something that continually becomes.

This is not a threat to religious authenticity. It is, in fact, its condition of possibility.

 

Revelation as Ongoing Event

Nowhere is this shift more consequential than in how we understand the Qur’an. Conventional approaches often treat revelation as a completed event—a fixed deposit of divine speech whose meanings are locked in the text. The task of interpretation, then, is to extract those meanings as faithfully as possible.

But a process-relational approach offers a far more compelling account. It sees revelation as dialogical and ongoing: while the Qur’anic text is stable, its meaning unfolds through continuous engagement with changing contexts. Meaning is not simply found—it is co-created through the encounter between text, interpreter, and lived reality.

This does not weaken the authority of the Qur’an. It deepens it. It transforms scripture from a static code into a living source of moral and spiritual guidance.

 

God as Relational, Not Coercive

The process-relational shift does something even more radical: it reimagines God. Classical theology has often emphasised divine omnipotence understood as absolute, unilateral control. God determines; humans obey.

But such a model has always struggled to account for human freedom, moral responsibility, and the persistence of evil. A process-relational theology offers an alternative: God as fundamentally relational and persuasive rather than coercive.

In this vision, divine power does not overwhelm creation but works through it, luring it toward greater justice, beauty, and harmony. Human beings are not passive recipients of divine will; they are active participants in a shared process of becoming.

This has enormous ethical consequences. If God’s guidance is persuasive rather than coercive, then the responsibility for justice rests squarely with us. Faith becomes not submission to a fixed order, but participation in an unfolding moral reality.

 

Ethics as Creative Responsibility

This process-relational vision grounds what might be called an ethics of creative responsibility. Values such as justice, compassion, and human dignity are not arbitrary commands imposed from above. They are woven into the fabric of a relational universe oriented toward flourishing.

From this perspective, moral progress is not a betrayal of tradition but a fulfilment of it. The recognition of gender equality, the affirmation of human rights, and the embrace of pluralism are not concessions to modernity. They are historically situated realisations of deeper ethical truths.

This challenges a deeply ingrained suspicion within some Muslim circles: that change necessarily implies deviation. In a process-relational framework, change is inevitable and necessary. The real question is whether it moves us closer to or further from the ethical horizon of justice and compassion.

 

Tradition as Living Inheritance

What, then, becomes of tradition?

Instead of a fixed body of authoritative rulings, tradition appears as a living inheritance—an evolving field of interpretation shaped by generations of believers. Its authority lies not in its immutability, but in its capacity to generate meaning across changing contexts.

This redefines fidelity. To be faithful is not to replicate past interpretations uncritically, but to engage them creatively and responsibly—to practice what might be called creative fidelity. It is to remain rooted in the ethical aspirations of the past while rearticulating them in light of present realities.

Such an approach also democratises authority. Interpretation becomes a communal, dialogical activity rather than the exclusive domain of a scholarly elite. With this comes greater responsibility—and greater potential for renewal.

 

A Pluralistic and Interconnected World

Finally, the process-relational framework offers a powerful foundation for thinking about religious diversity. If reality is relational and truth is inexhaustible, then no single tradition can claim total possession of it.

This opens the door to a robust, non-relativist pluralism. Different religious traditions can be seen as participating—imperfectly but meaningfully—in a shared process of truth-seeking. Dialogue becomes not a threat but a necessity.

In a world fractured by identity politics and religious exclusivism, this vision is urgently needed. It allows Muslims to remain deeply committed to their faith while engaging openly with others in the pursuit of shared human flourishing.

 

Islam as an Unfinished Project

The implications are clear. Islam is not a closed system to be defended, nor a relic to be updated. It is an unfinished project—a dynamic, relational process in which believers are called to participate.

This is both liberating and demanding. It frees Muslims from the burden of defending indefensible interpretations. But it also places a greater ethical burden on them: to think critically, act responsibly, and contribute to the ongoing becoming of their tradition.

In the end, the choice is not between tradition and change. It is between two ways of imagining reality itself: as static or as alive, as closed or as open, as fixed or as becoming.

 Islam, grounded in process-relational thought, invites us to choose the latter.