Voices of Islam (228 page)

Fazlur Rahman (1919–1988):
A British-trained scholar of Islam, Rahman highlighted the importance of educational systems in the reinvigora- tion of Islam. For the last 20 years of his life he taught at the University of Chicago, beginning a long legacy of exiled Muslim intellectuals who took up teaching posts in Europe and North America. A fierce critic of both fundamentalism and Sufism, Rahman is usually acknowledged as the doyen of Islamic modernism in the latter half of twentieth century. Unlike many modernists, Rahman was profoundly steeped in the tradition of Islamic philosophy, especially that of Mulla Sadra of Shiraz (d. 1632
CE
).

PROGRESSIVE ISLAM

One of the most significant developments in modernist Islamic thought in the last generation has been the various understandings of Islam that go under the rubric of ‘‘progressive Islam.’’ Fully immersed in postmodern cri- tiques of modernity, progressive Islam both continues and radically departs from the 150-year-old tradition of liberal Islam. Many nineteenth- and early twentieth-century modernists generally displayed an uncritical, almost devo- tional, identifi with modernity, and often (though not always) bypassed discussion of colonialism and imperialism. Progressive understand- ings of Islam, on the other hand, are almost uniformly critical of colonialism, both in its nineteenth-century manifestation and in its current variety.

Introduction
xxiii

Progressive Muslims develop a critical and non-apologetic ‘‘multiple cri- tique’’ with respect to both Islam and modernity. This double engagement with the varieties of Islam and modernity, plus an emphasis on concrete social action and transformation, are the defi ing characteristics of progressive Islam today.

Unlike their liberal Muslim forefathers (who usually were fore
fathers
), progressive Muslims represent a broad coalition of female and male Muslim activists and intellectuals. One of the distinguishing features of the progressive Muslim movement as the vanguard of Islamic (post)modernism has been the high level of female participation and leadership. This is particu- larly the case in Western countries where a majority of Muslims who self- identify as progressive are woman. The majority of progressive Muslims also highlight women’s rights as part of a broader engagement with human rights.

Progressives measure their success not in developing new theologies, but rather by the amount of ground-level change for good that they can produce in Muslim and non-Muslim societies. As a number of other prominent authors and I have noted in the volume
Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gen- der, and Pluralism,
this movement is characterized by a number of themes: striving to realize a just and pluralistic society through critically engaging in Islam, a relentless pursuit of social justice, an emphasis on gender equality as a foundation of human rights, a vision of religious and ethnic pluralism, and a methodology of nonviolent resistance.
3

Muslim Libera(c)tion

Progressive Muslims perceive themselves as the advocates of human beings all over the world who through no fault of their own live in situations of pov- erty, pollution, oppression, and marginalization. A prominent concern of progressive Muslims is the suffering and poverty, as well as the full humanity, of these marginalized and oppressed human beings of all backgrounds who are called
mustad‘ifun
in the Qur’anic context. The task of progressives in this context is to give voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless, and con- front the ‘‘powers that be’’ who disregard the God-given human dignity of the
mustad‘ifun
all over this Earth. Muslim progressives draw on the strong tradition of social justice within Islam from sources as diverse as the Qur’an and the Hadith (statements of the Prophet Muhammad) to more recent spokespersons such as Ali Shari‘ati. The Qur’an itself specifically links fight- ing for the cause of God (
Sabil Allah
) to the cause of
mustad‘ifun.

The methodological fl of progressive Muslims is apparent in their pluralistic epistemology, which freely and openly draws from sources outside of Islamic tradition, so long as nontraditional sources serve as useful tools in the global pursuit of justice. These external sources include the liberation

xxiv
Introduction

theologies of Leonardo Boff, Gustavo Gutie´rrez, and Rebecca Chopp as well as the secular humanism of Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, and others. Progressive Muslims are likely to combine a Qur’anic call for serving as ‘‘wit- nesses for God in justice’’ (Qur’an 42:15) with the task of a social critic to ‘‘speak truth to the powers.’’

As is the case with many feminists and African American scholar-activists, progressives do not accept the dichotomy between intellectual pursuits and activism. Whereas many (though not all) of the previous generations of mod- ernist Muslims were defi by a purely academic approach that refl ted their elite status, progressive Muslims realize that the social injustices around them are reflected in, connected to, and justified in terms of intellectual dis- courses. They are, in this respect, fully indebted to the critiques of Edward Said. A progressive commitment implies by necessity the willingness to remain engaged with the issues of social justice as they unfold on the ground level, in the lived realities of Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

Progressive Muslims follow squarely in the footsteps of liberation theolo- gians such as Leonardo Boff, who in his
Introducing Liberation Theology
deemed a purely conceptual criticism of theology devoid of real commitment of the oppressed as ‘‘radically irrelevant.’’
4
He recognized that
liberac¸a˜o
(lib- eration) links together the concepts of
liber
(‘‘free’’) and
ac¸a˜o
(‘‘action’’): There is no liberation without action. The aforementioned
Progressive Mus- lims
volume states: ‘‘Vision and activism are both necessary. Activism without vision is doomed from the start. Vision without activism quickly becomes irrelevant.’’

This informed social activism is visible in the many progressive Muslim organizations and movements, including the work of Chandra Muzaffar with the International Movement for a Just World in Malaysia, the efforts of Farid Esack with HIV-positive Muslims in South Africa, and the work of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi with groups such as the Iranian Children’s Rights Society. Progressive Muslims are involved in an astonish- ing array of peace and social justice movements, grassroots organizations, and human rights efforts.

Toward an Islamic Humanism

At the heart of the progressive Muslim interpretation of Islam is a simple yet radical idea: every human life, female and male, Muslim and non- Muslim, rich or poor, ‘‘Northern’’ or ‘‘Southern,’’ has exactly the same intrinsic worth. The essential value of human life is God given and is in no way connected to culture, geography, or privilege. A progressive Muslim agenda is concerned with the ramifications of the premise that all members of humanity have the same intrinsic worth because each member of humanity has the breath of God breathed into them: ‘‘And I breathed into humanity of

Introduction
xxv

my own spirit’’ (Qur’an 15:29; 38:72). This identification with the full human nature of all human beings amounts to nothing short of an Islamic Humanism. In this global humanistic framework, progressives conceive of a way of being Muslim that engages and affirms the full humanity of all human beings, that actively holds all responsible for a fair and just distribution of God-given natural resources, and that seeks to live in harmony with the natural world.

Engaging Tradition

Progressive Muslims insist on a serious engagement with the full spectrum of Islamic thought and practices. There can be no progressive Muslim move- ment that does not engage the textual and material sources of the Islamic tra- dition, even if progressives themselves debate which sources these should be and how they ought to be interpreted. Progressives generally hold that it is imperative to work through inherited traditions of thought and practice: Sunni, Shiite, Sufi juridical, philosophical, theological, mystical, poetical, ‘‘folk Islam,’’ oral traditions—all must be engaged. In particular cases, they might conclude that certain preexisting interpretations fail to offer Muslims suffi guidance today. However, they can only faithfully claim such a position after—and not before—a serious engagement with tradition.

Social Justice, Gender Equality, and Pluralism

Justice lies at the heart of Islamic social ethics. Time and again the Qur’an talks about providing for the marginalized members of society: the poor, the orphan, the downtrodden, the wayfarer, the hungry, and so on. Progressive Muslims believe that it is imperative to translate the social ideals of the Qur’an and Islamic teachings in a way that those committed to social justice today can relate to and understand. For all Muslims, there is a vibrant memory of the Prophet talking about the true believer as one whose neigh- bor does not go to bed hungry. Progressives hold that in today’s global vil- lage, it is time to think of all of humanity as one’s neighbor.

Progressive Muslims begin with a simple yet radical stance: the Muslim community as a whole cannot achieve justice unless justice is guaranteed for Muslim women. In short, there can be no progressive interpretation of Islam without gender justice. Gender justice is crucial, indispensable, and essential. In the long run, any progressive Muslim interpretation will be judged by the amount of change in gender equality it is able to produce. Gender equality is a touchstone for the broader concerns for social justice and pluralism. As Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner stated, ‘‘Women’s rights
are
human rights.’’

xxvi
Introduction

Progressive Muslims strive for pluralism both inside and outside of the
Umma.
They seek to open up a wider spectrum of interpretations and practi- ces marked as Muslim, and epistemologically follow a pluralistic approach to the pursuit of knowledge and truth. In their interactions with other religious and ethnic communities, they seek to transcend the arcane notion of ‘‘toler- ance,’’ and instead strive for profound engagement through both common- alities and differences.

Progressives and Jihad

The pervasive discourse of jihad has become thoroughly associated with Islam, to the point that one may legitimately ask whether the term can be redeemed. Both Muslim extremist groups such as Al Qaeda and Western Islamophobes in fact do use the term to mean a holy war. On the Muslim side, one can point to the public statement of Usama Bin Laden: ‘‘In compli- ance with God’s order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The rul- ing to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country
...
.’’
5
Scholars of Islamic law have been quick to point out that this alleged ‘‘fatwa’’ violates both the letter and the spirit of Islamic law. At the same time, one has to acknowledge that Bin Laden supports his own recourse to violence through the discourse of jihad. This same sentiment is reflected in the Western Islam- ophobic side, where many Christian Evangelicals are recasting centuries-old polemics against Islam in a new guise.

Progressive Muslims counter both the Muslim extremists’ and the Western Islamophobes’ defi of jihad. Instead, they hold firmly to the notion that jihad is key, not in the sense of holy war and violence, but rather in its root meaning of resistance and struggle. In this regard, progressives in the Muslim community emphasize the responsibility to engage the wider social order by confronting injustice and inequality, while always remembering that one must do so in a nonviolent way. In doing so, they are the heirs of Muslim visionaries such as the Sufi Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (‘‘Washing away blood with blood is impossible, even absurd!’’) as well as exemplars of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dalai Lama. This new understanding of jihad, which seeks to uphold resistance to well- entrenched systems of inequality and injustice through nonviolent means, is one of the key contributions of progressive Muslims. Building on the com- ments of religious fi such as the Dalai Lama (in his Nobel acceptance speech), they recognize that even terms like ‘‘peace’’ are insuffi when peace is not connected to justice and the well-being of humanity. The goal is not simply peace in the sense of the absence of war but rather a peace that is rooted in justice.

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xxvii

Also revealing their indebtedness to American voices of social justice, many progressive Muslims are inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For these Muslims, King embodies speaking out for justice from the depths of a reli- gious commitment, from the midst of a faith community to that community and beyond. Thus, he is a great source of inspiration for many progressive Muslims who want to be voices of conscience speaking not in the wilderness but in the very midst of society. Progressives thus seek to be voices for global justice speaking fi and powerfully to the Powers that Be, while perpet- ually affirming the dignity of all human beings.

AN ISLAMIC REFORMATION?

Modernist Muslims are often asked whether their project constitutes an ‘‘Islamic reformation.’’ They answer the question in both the affi

and the negative. It is undeniably true that there are serious economic, social, and political issues in the Muslim world that need urgent remedying. Much of the Muslim world is bound to a deeply disturbing economic structure that provides natural resources (oil, and so on) for the global market, while at the same time remaining dependent on Western labor, technological know-how, and staple goods. This economic situation is exacerbated in many parts of the modern Muslim world by atrocious human rights situations, crumbling edu- cational systems, and worn-out economies. Most modernist Muslims would readily support the reform of all such institutions.