Between Myth and Reality
Theology:
Predetermination & Fatalism. Anthropomorphism. Christ & The AntiChrist. The Mahdi. Gog and Magog. The Logically Absurd as Miracle.
Incorruptibility. The Fear of Death. Life After Death. The Grave. The Sun.
The Bridge. Heaven and Hell.
Law:
Slavery. Preference to Race. Women's rights.
Which of these notions have played a significant role in negatively
shaping your views on Islam?
Would a revision of any of these notions negatively or positively
impact your perceptions of religion?
Progressive Muslim Movement
What does the term not entail?
1. Those who reject Islamic laws due to belief in a spiritual authority who
has abrogated them.
2. Agnostics and ex-Muslims who do not consider the Quran or the
Prophetic practice to possess spiritual or legislative authority.
3. Activists of liberalism who do not critically engage the Islamic
intellectual tradition or the sacred texts or are unconcerned with obeying
religious precepts.
So who are progressive jurists and thinkers?
Those who actively and critically engage the Islamic intellectual tradition,
realize there are differences of opinion on many issues, account for those
differences, and offer an opinion that is in agreement with legal theory
and axioms of the tradition. Their progressiveness is accounted for in the
tradition, while any abrogation is conditional (due to the absence of
certain prerequisites).
How have Muslim societies coped with
economic exploitation and colonialism?
1.Nationalist defiance of the “other”
2. Accepting a worldview that requires power and
domination over the “west.”
3. Massive increases in literacy and direct access to
texts
4. Crises in authority: authoritarian states and
preachers with little legal training
5. Absolutism and cultural particularism in religion
6. Literalism in religion
7. Extreme animosity and hostility toward “others.”
What have been developments in the Muslim
experience since 9/11?
1. Recognition of Wahhabism as a movement distinctly different
and antagonistic to some classical forms of Sunnism. It was a
time in which some Muslim conservatives also went into hiding or
re-invented themselves as liberal apologists for the faith.
2. Heightened fear of criticism and opposition to pax-Americana.
Fear in acknowledging that US foreign policy has been driven by
domestic imperatives related to “consumerism, corporate interest,
and the commodification of people” and support for foreign powers
that overtly violate the civil and human rights of its citizens and
residents. Jingoism is conflated with patriotism.
3. Collective amnesia that many liberal and minority Muslims, were
also the victims of past or ongoing persecution by conservative
and/or radical elements in the Muslim community.
4. An over-emphasis on religious identities in conflicts. Postcolonialist clashes between groups that are disempowered,
impoverished and exploited with the richest and most powerful
entities in the world, in a world ruled by materialism and
commodity, have little to do with religion.
Culture & The Expansion of Religious Thought
T. Kassam: European writers historically projected their own
anxieties on Islam by calling it an inherently violent religion. Does
one detect these biases in the media today?
th century Arabian culture and
Is there an over-emphasis of 7
blanket dismissal of other cultural contributions to Islamic
civilization?
 Are there boundaries to matters related to sources of knowledge
and wisdom?
 Ebrahim Moosa : Some [liberal jurists] believe pre-modern
Muslim epistemology rooted in dialectical theology (ilm al-kalam)
and legal theory (usul al-fiqh) is sufficient if not compatible with the
best in modern epistemologies. With few exceptions, this reflects
the good faith and naivete of some Muslim reformers.
 S. Shaikh: “When confronting patriarchy in a social and cultural
setting it may parade itself under the guise of religion and
tradition.”
Gender
1. Questioning the sexualized heterosexual male's public space
2. Questioning that Islamic feminism necessitates a "difficult
double commitment"
3. Questioning the need to accept the worldviews and
assumptions of medieval male jurists
4. Kecia Ali: a woman's sexual rights were generally excluded from
legal discourses and were not a primary concern.
5. The myth of two genders: The 1 in 2,000 born intersex. The
theological and legal accommodation of intersex folk in medieval
society.
How does Islamic law and theology deal with LGBT folk who would
like to convert to Islam or Muslims born with these biological and
psychological differences to heterosexuals?
Conservative Muslim culture in America
Quite a number of Muslim youth in America are becoming rigidly
conservative and condemnatory of their peers (Muslim and nonMuslim), their parents, and all who are not within a narrow
ideological band of a puritan form of Islam that agrees with the civil
religion of Saudi Arabia.
Many religious youth opt for religion that is anti-intellectual,
negates interpretation and diversity altogether, one that rejects
historical development and cultural context. The issues of
interpretation raised by the humanities and social sciences involve
the sort of nuance and multivalency that more rigid Muslim youth
wish to avoid confronting in understanding Islam itself.
The lack of involvement in the humanities and social sciences by
Muslim youth has been detrimental to the community. The
community is unable to articulate its positions with mainstream
society.
Intimidation, exclusion and expulsion from Islamic centers is
rampant for individuals who are publicly progressive or liberal in
anyway
The culture of conspiracy theories and Islamism has seemed to

Interpretive Communities
“Let me be clear, and perhaps controversial here: “Islam” teaches us
nothing. The Prophet Muhammad does. Interpretive communities do. I
would argue that God does, through the text of the Qur’an.”
”But in the case of texts, there are human beings who read them,
interpret them, and expound their meanings...In all cases, the
dissemination of Divine teachings is achieved through human agency.
Religion is already mediated.”
“Is this just semantics? I do not believe so. My experience, at the level
of both devotional and academic communities, has been that many
people simply ascribe their own (or their own community’s)
interpretations of Islam to “Islam says...” They use such authoritative
— and authoritarian — language as a way to close the door on
discussion. And closing discussions is something we cannot afford.”
- Omid Safi
Professor of Religious Studies
UNC, Chapel Hill