Innovation and solidarity are essential to make the "Islam of Lights" shine as a religion that brings hope and renewal for humanity and is capable of meeting the challenges of the present and the future, highlighted, on Thursday in Rabat, the philosopher and anthropologist of religions, Malek Chebel.

Having come to present his latest work "Changing Islam" before the Rabat public, at the invitation of the Kalila Wa Dimna Bookstore, the French thinker of Algerian origin explained, in a statement to the MAP, that this modernist conception of Islam which underlies all of his work, proceeds from his conviction that Islam is perfectly compatible with modernity.

"An objective reading of Islam through time and space reveals that Islam is capable of being innovative, of being in tune with history and the present, of anticipating the future and of representing a factor of hope and renewal for humanity", he argued.

This human understanding of Islam proves to be salvific, at a time when the Arab-Muslim world, shaken by the events of the Arab Spring, is asking itself existential questions about its place in modernity and in global power relations as well as about its contribution to the resolution of conflicts and the promotion of peace throughout the world, he notes.

It is not, however, a question of wiping the slate clean of the past, insists Mr. Chebel.

"I believe that on the contrary, we must consider the magnificent heritage that our ancestors bequeathed to us as a point of strength and wealth, a solid base for innovating, reforming and improving the image of Islam. Our ancestors did it for several centuries, why not us?", he enthuses.

Noting that the demographic weight of Islam, its spiritual power and its immense potential for creativity contrast with "the erasure, today, of the Arab-Muslim world from the cultural, economic and strategic scenes", Mr. Chebel expressed the wish to see Muslim scholars and intellectuals meet in a conclave to identify the blocking factors and the means to revive Islam as a "torchbearer of light and beauty".

The writer also said he was delighted to meet, once again, the Moroccan public "which always shows dynamism and good listening quality, and which already knows me by voice as a host of a show on Medi 1 radio".

"The Moroccan public also knows me, through thirty or so books available in bookstores, as an ardent defender of a moderate Islam and its human values promoting peace, tolerance and respect between all religions", he continues.

Born in 1953 in Skikda and currently based in Paris, where he studied and practised psychoanalysis, Malek Chebel has taught in several universities around the world.

He is considered a specialist in the Arab world and Islam, thanks to his works which advocate a liberal Islam and seek, by revisiting history, to demystify some of its aspects (aesthetics, love, politics, etc).

He has published, in thirty years, about thirty works including "The body in Islam", "The Arab-Muslim imaginary", "Amorous dictionary of Islam", "Manifesto for an Islam of lights" and "Islam for Dummies", in addition to a translation of the Quran, in 2009.