Between Myth and Reality

1. Between Myth and Reality Theology: Predetermination & Fatalism. Anthropomorphism. Christ & The Anti-Christ. 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?

2. 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).

3. How have Muslim societies coped with economic exploitation and colonialism? • Nationalist defiance of the “other” • Accepting a worldview that requires power and domination over the “west.” • Massive increases in literacy and direct access to texts • Crises in authority: authoritarian states and preachers with little legal training • Absolutism and cultural particularism in religion • Literalism in religion • Extreme animosity and hostility toward “others.”

4. 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. Post-colonialist 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.

5. 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? • Is there an over-emphasis of 7th century Arabian culture and 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.”

6. 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?

7. Conservative Muslim culture in America • Quite a number of Muslim youth in America are becoming rigidly conservative and condemnatory of their peers (Muslim and non-Muslim), 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 have lost favor since the 1990s.

8. 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