RE: Islams New Voices See Faith with Critical Eye

salam,

good article, indeed. while maha is right that the progressive muslim movement's *claims* are not new, they are pretty new in the west... where mostly it was rich, traditional families... or dislocated refugees who didn't have the means and/or the energy to speak for oppressed muslims. i'm definitely glad to see people like brother omid... doing good work :)

afdhere

Afdhere Jama
Editorial Director
HURIYAH Publications
S A N F R A N C I S C O
[email protected]
http://www.huriyahmag.com

>From: [email protected] >Reply-To: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: [Progressivemuslimsnetwork] Islams New Voices See Faith with Critical Eye >Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 10:40:17 EST > >Islam's new voices see faith with critical eye >Scholars, activists favor democracy, gender equality >Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer >Monday, January 26, 2004 >©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ > >URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/01/26/MNGP84HMA01.DTL > >In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Muslim scholar Omid Safi found himself mouthing >a >well-worn defense of his faith. > >"Islam is a religion of peace," he would say. "These people (the terrorists) >have nothing to do with Islam.'' > >But it didn't take long for Safi to acknowledge --
first to himself and then >to >other Muslims offering the same sound bite -- that they were not really >telling >the truth, or at least not telling the whole story. > >Long before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Safi and >other Muslim spokesmen realized there was a growing, worldwide network of >Muslim terrorists killing in the name of Allah. They also knew that the >rights >of women and non-Muslims were being routinely denied by Islamic regimes such >as >the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. > >"We have our fanatics just like everyone else,'' said Safi, an assistant >professor of Islamic Studies at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. "We have >to take a stand against Saudi-infected extremism.'' > >Safi is among a small but growing movement of Islamic scholars and activists >calling themselves "progressive Muslims
." They include gay Muslims, peace and >justice advocates, feminists advocating gender equality and Muslims working >to >improve Islamic relations with Jews and people of other faiths. > >Islam, like other religions, changes at a glacial pace. Nevertheless, >progressive Muslims at several California mosques see a significant shift. >Mosques are becoming more democratic and less reliant on the sometimes >extreme >views of imported sheikhs and imams. > >"They used to be given carte blanche authority,'' said Salam al-Marayati, the >executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a leading member >of >the Islamic Society of Southern California. "Now we take a more critical view >of Muslim leadership. We are not blindly obedient.'' > >At the same time, women are starting to find a voice in the male- dominated >world of Islami
c scholars, whose interpretations of the Koran often dictate >how >Muslims practice their faith. > >"There are more women, but not enough,'' said al-Marayati. > >Kecia Ali, a research associate in the Women's Program in Religion Studies at >Harvard Divinity School, said progressive Muslims are not asking for major >changes in Islamic religious practice. > >"We're not looking to stop fasting during Ramadan or praying five times a >day,'' she said. "We are not even opposing segregation of the sexes during >prayer. But we will raise the issue of how women are given the inferior >places >for prayer in many mosques.'' > >Leaders of the progressive movement say they are not questioning the basic >authority of the Koran, the Muslim scriptures revealed to the Prophet >Mohammed >in the seventh century. But they do challenge some early int
erpretations used >to justify strict forms of Islamic law, especially as it relates to women, >Jews, "unbelievers" and criminal justice. > >Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, said >Muslims >who think every line in the Koran must be implemented as law have a >superficial >understanding of the faith. Much of the Koran, he said, is allegorical, and >must be looked at in its historical context. > >"People read a verse that says 'chop off the hand of a thief' and get all >passionate about it,'' he said. > >Moosa, Safi and Ali are all contributors to the manifesto of the new >movement, >a book of essays titled "Progressive Muslims -- On Justice, Gender and >Equality,'' published last year by Oneworld Publications. > >"It's a delicate balancing act,'' said Ali. "We have to both defend Islam >against vir
ulent stereotypes and offer a critique that acknowledges the >oppressive practices and ideas within Islam.'' > >One of the most radical calls for change comes from Irshad Manji, the >Canadian >author of "The Trouble with Islam -- A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her >Faith.'' > > >Manji, 35, said Islam needs to "give a new generation of Muslims permission >to >think.'' > >"Muslims in the West are hybrids, and we resent being asked to choose between >Islam and the West,'' said Manji, who was recently in San Francisco to >promote >her book. "We are living in a new world.'' > >Manji, a self-described "liberal Muslim,'' is also a lesbian and very >media-savvy. She has hosted two Canadian TV shows, "QueerTelevision'' and >"Big >Ideas,'' a TVOntario program aimed at college students. She appeared in The >Chronicle's newsroom last
week with a female driver, a bald bodyguard and a >forceful but flexible attitude. > >"I'm openly gay, but not arrogantly gay,'' Manji said. "I acknowledge that my >(lesbian) relationship might not be OK with Allah.'' > >Among the labels applied to the telegenic Canadian are "Osama bin Laden's >worst >nightmare'' and "a female Salman Rushdie.'' > >Rushdie, the celebrated British author, lived for nearly 10 years under a >kill-on-sight fatwa issued by Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini, who was >offended >by Rushdie's 1989 novel "Satanic Verses." Manji said she has been the target >of >"concrete threats via e-mail'' but knows of no fatwa issued against her. > >"Rushdie's book was fiction, and the five pages that were controversial were >from a dream sequence,'' she said. > >In her book, Manji accuses her fellow Muslims of being "s
piritually >infantile.'' > >"Muslims were imposing martial law and bludgeoning each other's freedoms >before >European colonialism took off,'' she writes. "To this day, Muslims use the >white man as a weapon of mass distraction -- a distraction from the fact that >we've never needed the 'oppressive' West to oppress our own.'' > >Manji argues that Muslims need to foster "the spirit of inquiry'' and a >"culture of tolerance'' in the practice of their faith, while turning away >from >religious fundamentalism and spiritual tyranny. "What must be stripped from >Islam is its desert strain of tribalism, which takes the act of closing ranks >to a crushing level,'' she writes. > >Manji's ideas got a mixed reaction last week from Bay Area Muslims. "I don't >buy her argument about there being no discourse in Islam,'' said Helei >Omaria, >ex
ecutive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa >Clara. >"It's a big world, and there are a lot of opinions. She is just a drop in the >bucket.'' > >Another leader in the South Bay Muslim community, Hisham Abdullah, said Manji >and other liberal reformers have raised some valid issues. > >"People are not as open to debate and re-evaluation as has been the case >historically in Islam,'' said Abdullah, who works in the pharmaceutical >industry and holds a degree in Islamic law. "There is intimidation of the >masses. People tend to say that the right way is the strictest way.'' > >Maha El Genaidi, who does community relations work for the Bay Area Islamic >Network, said she had not read Manji's book, but didn't think there was >anything that new about the message. > >"The so-called progressives aren't saying anythin
g all that different from >traditional scholars,'' she said. "There has always been a diversity of >interpretations in Islam.'' > >But Souleiman Ghali, president of the San Francisco Islamic Society, said he >agrees with many of the points raised by Islam's in-house critics. > >"We need to open up and listen and learn how to take criticism,'' Ghali said. >"The danger is not discussing these things.'' > >Ghali said he has raised the issue of women's rights in his Tenderloin >mosque, >but often meets resistance from "the immigrant community and traditional >people >from the Middle East.'' > >"Saudi Arabia has had the money and the leverage to spread their version of >Islam in America,'' he added. "Many people have adopted that version of >theology.'' > >Several leaders in the progressive movement are -- ironically -- looking to
>Iran as a possible model for a new kind of Islamic society. Opposition to the >authoritarian power of Muslim clerics in that Islamic state has in recent >years >sparked widespread calls for secular reform. > >"Iran provides the best hope for progressive Islam,'' Manji said. > >Moosa, the Duke professor, agreed. > >"The shortest way to Islamic liberalism,'' he said, "is through Islamic >fundamentalism.'' > >E-mail Don Lattin at [email protected].

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