or even human identity. Art and theory clearly have overlapping concerns an at least one common method of operation: that is, looking for and then exposing contradictions in what
appeared at first to be totally unproblematic, coherent and unified whole. In a sense, the conflation of theory and practice came about because of shared responses to common
provocations. The way of Michael Muhammad Knight applies the islamic liberalism in this novel
through the characters fascinated the writer to do a research. In this thesis, the writer wants to conduct an analysis of how the islamic liberalism is reflected in the characters of the novel The
Taqwacores. This topic is important to be discussed, because it is a new issue in literary work that contained religious teaching, especially about islamic liberalism. The community in this
novel, practise islamic teaching but not the real ones. The deviation of religious teachings contained in this novel interests the writer want to analyze the characteristics of islamic
liberalism. The writer uses the Hermeneutical Interpretation theory in doing the analysis. One of the most popular proposers of this theory is Gadamer. Reveal, explain, and translate is the system
of analysis in hermeneutics. Therefore literary criticism also applies this theory as a guide to analyze literary works.
1.2. Problem of the Study
It is important to make the specification of problems which are going to be analyzed. It helps to avoid the ambiguity of the analysis and get the clear description about the object of the
analysis itself. So in this thesis the writer decides some problems that will be analyzed. They are:
1. What are the characteristics of islamic liberalism which reflected in Michael Muhammad
Knight’s The Taqwacores ? 2.
How is the life of the community with the ideology in Michael Muhammad Knight’s The Taqwacores ?
1.3. Objective of the Study
The objectives of the study are to answer the questions or the problems of the study. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are:
1. To describe the characteristics of islamic liberalism which reflected in Michael
Muhammad Knight’s The Taqwacores. 2.
To describe the lives of the community with the ideology in Michael Muhammad Knight’s The Taqwacores.
1.4. Scope of the Study
Generally, Islamic Liberalism can also be found in many fields of knowledge as philosophy, literary works, religion, and science. In order to avoid wider analysis, the writer will
focus on Islamic Liberalism in literary works, especially in characters of a novel. In this thesis, the writer would like to analyze the characteristics of islamic liberalism which reflected in The
Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight. The writer will only focus the analysis on two characteristics of Islamic Liberalism, they are : Believing that truth is relative, open for
interpretations and plural and Believing in the freedom to practice religious beliefs.
1.5. Significance of the Study
This study is expected to provide some significances for the reader as it hopefully can be used :
1. To contribute reading material or information about islamic liberalism particularly for
students who are interested with the same subject. 2.
To enrich the knowledge in literary study especially about Michael Muhammad Knight’s work.
1.6. Method of the Study
