Religious renewal in Syria: the case of Mu&hunder;ammad al-&caphunder;;abash.

The Syrian Muhunder ammad al-&caphunder;abash, member of the religious establishment and recently elected to parliament, is the leading figure in a movement of religious renewal in Syria. The Islamic vision he has articulated sheds light not only on the existence of a dynamic religious and inter-religious debate currently taking place in Syria but also on the potential role of Islam in the development of a civil society in Syria that brooks room in the public arena for both the religious and the secular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]