Islam, like other religions, rests on narratives. The way in which this narrated tradition is received or understood by a generation, or the way it is modified, may determine the meaning of what is left behind for the following generation. At a time when many in the East and the West insist it is high time to stop seeing Islam as willing to go along with contemporary political challenges, Ovamir Anjum gives an alternative reading of the intellectual heritage that motivates such a conclusion.