Posted on 08/30/2004 6:50:52 PM PDT by naturalman1975
Muslims and non-Muslims have a role to play in the reform of Islam, writes Irshad Manji.
I am a Muslim refusenik. That doesn't mean I refuse to be a Muslim; it simply means I refuse to join an army of automatons in the name of Allah.
I have not walked away from my faith and become a secular North American as so many of my fellow Muslims have done. But I remain a struggling Muslim because of the many human rights abuses in Islamist - note that I do not say Islamic - regions: the treatment of women, the Jew-bashing, the slavery. It is precisely because I believe in the universality of human rights that I do not believe any culture, any ethnicity, any religion ought to be immune from scrutiny.
Had I grown up in an Islamic country, I'd probably be an atheist in my heart. It's because I live in the West, where I can think, dispute and delve further into any topic, that I've learned why I shouldn't give up on Islam just yet.
I've thought lately that I should have called my book "The Trouble With Islam today". Because my book reminds my fellow Muslims that there was once in Islam a tradition of independent thinking. This is ijtihad. It sounds a lot like jihad to non-Arab ears, and indeed comes from the same root, to struggle. But unlike violent struggle, ijtihad is all about independent thinking and independent reasoning.
Not solely because of September 11, but more urgently because of it, we've got to end Islam's totalitarianism, particularly the gross human rights violations against women and religious minorities.
Many Muslims say these restrictions are not true Islam. I sympathise. I would like to believe they are right. But such a distinction wouldn't have impressed the prophet Muhammad, who said that religion is the way we conduct ourselves towards others, not theoretically, but actually. I am not referring just to terrorism - which only a thin minority of Muslims engage in - but to our denial, complacency and passivity in the face of that terrorism.
We must ask the questions. And both Muslims and non-Muslims have a crucial role to play in getting us there. Moderate Muslims, like moderate Christians and Jews, shouldn't be afraid to ask: what if our holy scripture isn't perfect? What if it's inconsistent, even contradictory? What if it's riddled with human biases? The prophet Muhammad relied on scribes to jot down the words he heard from God. Sometimes the prophet himself had an agonising go at deciphering what he heard. What's wrong with saying so?
What's wrong with not saying so is this: if we Muslims can't bring ourselves to question the peaceable perfection of the Koran, then we can't effectively question the actions that flow from certain readings of it.
I know many non-Muslims fear being accused of racism when they ask for explanations of Islam. But what you are actually doing is showing faith in the capacity of Muslims for reasoning. The incentive for dialogue in the Muslim world comes about because non-Muslims are asking the questions.
All religions have their nasty bits. But only in the Islamic world is literalism becoming mainstream. Because the Koran comes after the the Torah and the Bible, it is said to be the final word of God, that nothing can come after it. Even moderate Muslims believe this. But this supremacy complex is dangerous - not because moderate Muslims are going to start throwing bombs at infidels, but because most Muslims do not yet know how to debate and analyse. This is because they have never been introduced to the possibility of questioning aspects of their holy book.
Yet there must be healthy criticisms if we want to live fatwa-free lives. My faith is secure enough to ask questions - dogma, on the other hand, is not. After so much exploring, my personal interpretation of the Koran leads me to three recurring messages: first, only God knows fully the truth of anything; second, God alone can punish unbelievers; third, our resulting humility sets us free to ponder God's will, without any obligation to toe a dictated line.
"Let there be no compulsion in religion," says a voice in chapter two of the Koran. "Unto you your religion, unto me, my religion," says another voice in chapter 109. In between, there's this: "If God had pleased, he would have made you all one people, but he has done otherwise."
I am not denying that Muslims are subject to discrimination. I have experienced this myself, when during the first Gulf War I was marched out of a government building (in Canada) for no stated reason. I know many Muslims in the West feel under siege. But we also need to acknowledge that in the West we who do speak out need not fear being stoned, jailed, raped or murdered at the hands of our governments.
This is a very precious gift our lives in the West have given us. And I ask you, my fellow Muslims, in the name of God, what are we doing with this gift?
This is an edited extract of the closing address of the Melbourne Writers' Festival at the Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday night. The Trouble with Islam is published by Random House.
"-Why Muslims in the West should speak out on human rights-"
Because it's the right thing to do!
This woman's heart is in the right place, but her unorthodox beliefs on Islam are unlikely to change anything (is Frank Griswold really going to change Christians who are serious about their religion?).
And even the convert to Christianity I know would likely tell you that the radical Islamists do not represent your average Muslim, not by a long shot. And more than radically fundamental Christians represent Christians in general.
Am I right, LibreOuMort?
I would believe that, especially since most of the terrorist leaders are bourgeois. I suspect that most Muslim laity simply aren't aware of certain aspects of their faith.
It really is high time for US Muslim's to take a stand about the radicals that are perpetrating so much hate. Defending your religion doesn't mean you can't speak out about the extreme radical segments of any religion, and the US Muslims have not done that.
I should mention, though, that this woman claims not to be "secular," but she openly repudiates basic tennants of the doctrinal and moral teaching of Islam. She's a feminist, she's a lesbian, and she has publically stated that she would question whether the Qu'ran is the literal word of God.
If you are defending orthodox Islam as taught by the Prophet, it might:
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Surah 9:29).
Can't get much clearer than that.
Why speak out now?
Because you know the rest of the civilized world is getting sick of Islam? Because you fear that your death cult will be eradicated? Be afraid. We know now. Talking isn't going to do you much good.
It's about time Islam FELT fear instead of just causing it.
No, this woman is a nice nominal Muslim. She's not likely to influence the religion, but don't be hard on her individually.
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