Mohammed Arkoun's (1928-2010) saying that Islam is theologically Protestant and politically Catholic summarizes a lot of opposing interpretations about the place of the individual in the Muslim community in Islamic societies in the past and present. While Arkoun was secular-liberal in his perceptions of the future of the individual in the current "secular age," modern and contemporary Islamic scholarship diverges on this issue, and tries to secure a balance between the freedoms of the individual and the freedoms of the community as a society based on a solidary (solidaire) social contract. This paper-communication reflects on how Islamic thought navigates this modern achievement and predicament of liberty, and how the community can preserve its ethos in a modern context that sweeps away traditional norms of ethics and conceptions of liberty, while replacing them with secular ethics. Insights from "Islamic feminism" are part of these intellectual and social dynamics Muslim societies and Islamic thought tackle.