Liberalism and progressivism within Islam or simply Islamic liberalism or Islamic progressivism are a range of interpretation of Islamic understanding and practice, it is a religiously left-leaning view, similar to Christian and other religious progressivism. Some Muslims have created a considerable body of progressive interpretation of Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as progressive (Arabic: الإسلام التقدمي al-Islām at-taqaddumī) or liberal Islam. Some scholars, such as Omid Safi, differentiate between "progressive Muslims" (post-colonial, anti-imperialist, and critical of modernity and the West) versus "liberal advocates of Islam" (an older movement embracing modernity). Liberal Islam originally emerged from the Islamic revivalist movement of the 18th–19th centuries. Leftist ideas are considered controversial by some traditional fundamentalist Muslims, who criticize liberal Muslims on the grounds of being too Western and/or rationalistic.
The methodologies of liberal and progressive Islam rest on the re-interpretation of traditional Islamic sacred scriptures (the Quran) and other texts (the Hadith), a process called ijtihad. This reinterpreting can vary from minor to fundamental, including re-interpretation based on the belief that while the meaning of the Quran is a revelation, its expression in words is the work of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his particular time and context.