In his reading of the Quran, Asghar Ali Engineer emphasises the egalitarian promise of politics in Islam. A truly Islamic politics is defined in terms of liberation of the underprivileged masses which, according to him, is part of the Quranic project. He has critiqued the global politics of Islamic revivalism from this perspective and sought cooperation across Islamic and secular ideological lines in maximisation of justice and human progress. In this article, his championing of this alternative "Islamic" politics, which is universally relevant and can also be supported by rights groups who, rather than getting alarmed, may find enough reasons to make common cause with, is discussed.
