"The neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth

used to quip that he read the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Suppose that all religious believers, including Christians and Muslims, adopted his style of reading. What would they find in the Bible or the Koran - and in the newspaper? Is sacred literature relevant to contemporary global concerns of social injustice, poverty, unemployment and violence? Which of the texts - the sacred or the fallible - should set the agenda for our modern anguish? Should one read the biblical and koranic imperatives 'into' the headlines? Or should the headlines be read backwards into the eternal books of God? Is scripture the record of God's dealings with men and women? Are our dealings with each other the necessary context for God's plan for liberating the oppressed through the appointment of Moses and Muhammad?

 -Shabbir Akhtar, The Final Imperative: An Islamic Theology of Liberation, pg. 9