Summary
Title: Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism
Author: edited by Omid Safi
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
ISBN: 185168316X
Pro:
• Includes articles by several female Muslim scholars
• Easy to read and understand without being superficial
• Does not pretend that there is an “ideal” Islam, independent of actual Muslims
Con:
• No systematic treatment of how to approach the Qur’an or Hadith
Description:
• Response to both apologists and fundamentalists about the “true” nature of Islam
• Argues for a progressive response to both Islamic radicalism and Western modernism
• Challenges the idea that Islam and modernity are incompatible
Book Review
Unfortunately, those who would argue that Islam is compatible with a liberal modernity have not had much of a chance to make their argument — Westerners aren’t always interested in listening, and Islamic extremists are likely to threaten their lives for adopting a different understanding of Islam. Nevertheless, they do exist and some of their ideas are collected in the recent book Progressive Muslims, edited by Omid Safi.
Book Review
An Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Colgate University in New York State, Safi’s purpose is to humanize Muslims for the non-Muslim and non-Muslims for Muslims, to hold Muslim societies and individual Muslims accountable to basic standards of justice and equality, and to insist that Islam not become a facade either for modern ideologies like Marxism or totalitarian ideologies grouped under the name Islamism.
Being progressive, for Safi and the others, means engaging in an ongoing critique of both Muslim and Western cultures. They employ the term ijtihad for this, a critical engagement and reinterpretation of both tradition and modernity which relies upon a person’s own independent reasoning abilities. Common themes in the book include justice for women, justice for gays, and a pluralism that recognizes the equal worth of members of other religious traditions.
One of the most infuriating aspects of most apologies of Islam is the attempt to argue that there is an ideal and pure Islam out there, independent of the actions of individual Muslims. Adopted by both Muslims and non-Muslims, this suggests that there is nothing wrong with Islam as such, only something wrong with how certain individuals have understood it.
Thus, Islam is relieved of any actual responsibility for anything bad happening (but is allowed to take credit for good things). I am extremely happy to report that not only do the authors of this book not do this, but it is explicitly dismissed as a viable position. Omid Safi writes in the introduction:
- “For better or for worse, in truth or in ignorance, in beauty or in hideousness, we call for an engagement with real live human beings who mark themselves as Muslims, not an idealized notion of Islam that can be talked about apart from engagement with those real live human beings. Even if we take Islam in the most ordinary sense of submission to the Divine, there can be no Islam without the humanity who is doing the submitting.”
- [...]
- “Furthermore, I find myself less and less patient and satisfied with assertions that “Islam teaches us...” This seems to me to be an attempt to bypass the role of Muslims in articulating this thing called Islam. 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.”
I’ve quoted the above at length to say: Bravo! It’s about time someone said that — and I would further add that the same is true of other religious traditions, like Christianity and Judaism. I, too, am unsatisfied when people, whether believers or atheists, try to argue that “Christianity says...” or “Islam teaches...” True, there are ideas and practices which are easier or more difficult to ground in the different traditions; but in the end, there is no single ideal Islam, Christianity, or Judaism out there which serves as the model upon which actual faith communities are founded.
