“There is no question but that under muhammad, Arabian society made a remarkable leap forward in social complexity and political capacity. When the structure that took shape under the prophet was extended by the early caliphs to provide the organizing principle for a world empire, the results is something that for its time and place is remarkably modern. It is modern in the high degree of commitment, involvement, and participation excpected from the rank and file members of the community. It is a modern the opennes of its leadership positions to abbility judged on universalistic grounds and symbolized in the attempt to institutionalize a non-hereditary top leadership. Even the earlist times certain restrains operated to keep the community from wholly exemplifying these principles, but it do so closely enough to provide a better model for modern national community building than might be imagined,”
Namun, pertanyaan yang muncul kemudian ialah apakah Bacaan (:Qur’an) yang turun 14 abad lalu itu masih relevan untuk menjawab persoalan dan tantangan masa kini dan masa depan? Sebab, konteks persoalan yang dihadapi antara dahulu dan saat ini sudah sedemikian berbeda. Contoh saja gagasan Syahrur tentang milkul yamin yang sempat menjadi kontroversi di negara-negara Islam.
Dahulu, ketetapan milkul yamin diperbolehkan dengan pertimbangan nilai kemanusiaan sebagai esensi utama, yakni agar para budak juga bisa merasakan kenikmatan berhubungan intim sebagai kebutuhan pokok manusia. Namun, saat ini, perbudakan telah dihapuskan. Artinya, bisa dikatakan bahwa gagasan milkul yamin tidak lagi berlaku. Sebab, secara konteks, konsep milkul yamin tidak terpenuhi lagi locus-nya. Memberlakukan kembali konsep milkul yamin sama saja dengan memundurkan peradaban manusia.
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