Islamic Protestantism has been used to describe movements advocating for reformation in Islam, on a parallel to the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

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Parallels between Islam and Protestantism have long been made. Some thinkers of the Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

 "tended to make Mohammed almost a good Protestant and in any event a perceptive opponent of the Curia Romana".

The Iranian author Hashem Aghajari

Hashem Aghajari

Hashem Aghajari also Seyyed Hashem Aghajari is an Iranian historian, university professor and a critic of the Islamic Republic's government who was sentenced to death in 2002 for apostasy for a speech he gave on Islam urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics...

 argued for Islamic Protestantism in 2002, as a criticism of the theocratic Islamic state, describing it as: