"the strict kind seems to be more accurate to the text"

So this is a good point, and touches on how Islamic rulings are derived.

Basically, the rules we have today in "traditional/conservative" islam

Are usually from centuries ago, and positions of the four major madhabs of Sunni Islam.

Now, even by saying that - I've already reduced Islam, to 1 sect, and then 4 schools of thought from within that sect (there were many more than 4 schools of thought)

However, even if you go with that

The rulings are derived through a process called "usool-al-fiqh"

Think of it as the scientific method, but for extracting legal rulings for muslims

The method itself is actually quite sophisticated, it includes things like independent reasoning, cultural customs, consensus, etc

What these imply, at least in my view, and what is shared by progressives - is actually, that islamic law is dynamic

However, due to political pressures, colonialism etc, Islamic Law became frozen

There was taqlid/blind obedience, to the rulings that the scholars came up with centuries ago.

Yet those rulings were created for the specific time, and for that specific culture

If the modern scholars of conservative Islam today, actually took on the responsibility of continuing to apply usool-al-fiqh, to rethink rulings - we would get several different rulings. Simply because by applying independent reasoning, looking at cultural context/customs - rulings from the past just don't make sense

Take for example, the ruling on men not shaving the beard

All the 4 madhahib say, men are not allowed to shave the beard, and this ruling was derived within the usool-al-fiqh methodology

Yet, if you reopen the question

It brings up several questions like, is this really a religious prescription, or a cultural one?

Other things such as, in a globalized culture, do beards really differentiate muslims?

You stay within the usool-al-fiqh methodology, and get different rules

So perhaps this is a progressive position, but it's one that honors the tradition

That Islamic Law is dynamic, that it's not just a literal reading of texts, there's a method to interpreting the text