Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism (2 page)

PPRROOGGRREESSSSIIVVEE MMUUSSLLIIMMSS:: OONN JJUUSSTTIICCEE,, GGEENNDDEERR AANNDD PPLLUURRAALLIISSMM

First published by Oneworld Publications, 2003

Copyright
#
Omid Safi, 2003 Reprinted 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008

All rights reserved.

Copyright under Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available

from the British Library

ISBN 978–1–85168–316–1

Cover design by Design Deluxe Cover illustration by Michael Green

Typeset by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, UK Printed and bound in India for Imprint Digital

Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England

www.oneworld-publications.com

NL08

Learn more about Oneworld. Join our mailing list to find out about our latest titles and special offers at:

www.oneworld-publications.com

CONTENTS

List of contributors
vii

Introduction:
The times they are a-changin’
– a Muslim quest for 1

justice, gender equality and pluralism

Omid Safi

Part I

PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE

MM UU SS LL II MM SS AA NN DD CC OO NN TT EE MM PP OO RR AA RR YY

II SS LL AA MM

1. The ugly modern and the modern ugly: reclaiming the beautiful 33
   

   in Islam
   

   Khaled Abou El Fadl
   

2. In search of progressive Islam beyond 9/11 78
   

   Farid Esack
   

3. Islam: a civilizational project in progress 98
   

   Ahmet Karamustafa
   

4. The debts and burdens of critical Islam 111
   

   Ebrahim Moosa
   

5. On being a scholar of Islam: risks and responsibilities 128
   

   Tazim R. Kassam
   

   Part II
   

   PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE MM UU SS LL II MM SS AA NN DD GG EE NN DD EE RR JJ UU SS TT II CC EE
   

6. Transforming feminism: Islam, women and gender justice 147
   

   Sa‘diyya Shaikh
   

   vi
   PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE MM UU SS LL II MM SS
   

7. Progressive Muslims and Islamic jurisprudence: the necessity 163
   

   for critical engagement with marriage and divorce law
   

   Kecia Ali
   

8. Sexuality, diversity and ethics in the agenda of progressive 190
   

   Muslims
   

   Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle
   

9. Are we up to the challenge? The need for a radical re-ordering 235
   

   of the Islamic discourse on women
   

   Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
   

   Part III
   

   PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE MM UU SS LL II MM SS AA NN DD PP LL UU RR AA LL II SS MM
   

10. Muslims, pluralism, and interfaith dialogue 251
    

    Amir Hussain
    

11. American Muslim identity: race and ethnicity in progressive 270
    

    Islam
    

    Amina Wadud
    

12. Islamic democracy and pluralism 286
    

    Ahmad S. Moussalli
    

13. How to put the genie back in the bottle? “Identity” Islam 306
    

    and Muslim youth cultures in America
    

    Marcia Hermansen
    

14. What is the victory of Islam? Towards a different understanding 320
    

of the
Ummah
and political success in the contemporary world

Farish A. Noor

Further Reading
333

Index
341

CONTRIBUTORS

KKEECCIIAA AALLII
is the Senior Research Analyst responsible for Islam with the Feminist Sexual Ethics project at Brandeis University (www.brandeis.edu/de
partments/ nejs/fse). Her work focuses on marriage and divorce in Islamic jurisprudence, particularly on the interdependent but unequal rights of spouses. Current projects include an article on slave marriage in classical Sunni law and a study of how the Prophet’s own practice is utilized in jurisprudence. Aside from her research and writing on Islamic law, she lectures frequently on topics related to women and gender in Islamic discourses and Muslim communities.

KKHHAALLEEDD AABBOOUU EELL FFAADDLL
received his B.A. from Yale University, his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, and Ph.D. from Princeton University. He teaches Islamic law, Immigration law, and national security law. He is the author of several books on Islamic law, including
Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001);
And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001); and
Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001). He is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Fellow in Islamic Law, and Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law.

FFAARRIIDD EESSAACCKK
is a South African Muslim Theologian who studied in Pakistan, the

U.K. and Germany. He has written
Qur’an, Liberation and Pluralism
,
On Being a Muslim
and
The Qur’an: A Short Introduction
, all with Oneworld Publications. He has published on Islam, gender, liberation theology, interfaith relations, and qur’anic hermeneutics. Esack served as a

viii

PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE MM UU SS LL II MM SS

Commissioner for Gender Equality in the South African government and has taught at the Universities of Western Cape, Ohio, and Hamburg, and Union Theological Seminary (New York). He is currently Brueggemann Chair in Interreligious Studies at Xavier University in Cincinnati. Email:
[email protected] Web-page: www.faridesack.com/

MMIICCHHAAEELL GGRREEEENN
is an artist who draws inspiration from a wide range of Eastern, Sufi and Native American spiritual traditions. He has generously contributed the beautiful calligraphic illumination you see on the cover of this book. His work has been previously featured in best-sellers such as
The Illuminated Rumi
, and
The Illuminated Prayer
. He has been a long time devotee of the Sufi master Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. More information about his art can be found at http://artstribe.com/green

MMAARRCCIIAA HHEERRMMAANNSSEENN
is Professor of Theology at Loyola University, Chicago where she teaches courses in Islamic studies and world religions. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where she was a student of Dr. Fazlur Rahman. Her book,
The Conclusive Argument from God
, a study and translation (from Arabic) of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi’s
Hujjat Allah al-Baligha
was published in 1996. She has also contributed numerous academic articles in the fields of Islamic thought, Sufism, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, Muslims in America, and women in Islam. Email: [email protected]

AAMMIIRR HHUUSSSSAAIINN
is a member of the Religious Studies Department of California State University, Northridge. Born in Pakistan, Amir was raised and educated in Canada, doing his graduate work at the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Religion. Amir’s doctoral dissertation was on Muslim communities in Toronto. He has published in the areas of Islam and Muslim communities in North America, religion and literature, and religion and film. Amir has been involved for over a decade with interfaith dialogue, most notably with the World Conference on Religion and Peace, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Email:
[email protected] Webpage: www.csun.edu/~ah34999/

AAHHMMEETT TT.. KKAARRAAMMUUSSTTAAFFAA
(Ph.D., McGill University, 1987) is associate professor of history and religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also directs the Religious Studies Program. He specializes in pre-modern Islamic intellectual and social history. His most recent book,
God’s Unruly Friends
(University of Utah Press, 1994), is a study of ascetic movements in medieval Islamic mysticism. His current research focuses on the history of Islamic mysticism, conceptions of the individual in the Islamic world during the thirteenth century, and Islamic perspectives on the concept of religion. Email: [email protected]

TTAAZZIIMM RR.. KKAASSSSAAMM
is Director of the Graduate Studies Program of Religion and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Syracuse University. A historian of religions specializing in the Islamic tradition, her research and teaching interests include ritual, devotional literature, gender, and the cultural heritage of Muslims particularly in South Asia. Her book
Songs of Wisdom and Circles of Dance
(SUNY, 1995) explores the religious songs of the Ismaili Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent. She has twice co-chaired the Study of Islam section of the American Academy of Religion, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Email: [email protected]

SSCCOOTTTT KKUUGGLLEE
is an American Muslim who also goes by the name Siraj al-Haqq. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion, Swarthmore College. His research focuses on the intersections between Islamic law, ethics and mysticism. He has written articles on gender and sexuality in Islamic societies: “Sultan Mahmud’s Make-Over: Colonial Homophobia and Persian-Urdu Poetics” in Ruth Vanita (ed.),
Queering India: Same Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society
(New York: Routledge, 2001), and “
Haqiqat al-Fuqara
: Poetic Biography of ‘Madho Lal’ Hussayn” and “The Mirror of Secrets: Akhi Jamshed Rajgiri” in Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai (eds.),
Same Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000): 136–140 and 145–156. He has written on ethical issues in Islamic law (“Framed, Blamed and Renamed: the Recasting of Islamic Jurisprudence in Colonial South Asia,”
Modern Asian Studies
35(2) (May 2001) 257–313), in addition to articles on Islamic society in South Asia and North Africa. He is currently writing a study of the Sufi jurist from Morocco, Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq, entitled “Rebel Between Spirit and Law.” Email: [email protected]

EEBBRRAAHHIIMM MMOOOOSSAA
teaches Islamic Studies in the Department of Religion at Duke University and has interests in Islamic law and ethics. He is author of the forthcoming book,
Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination
, which reflects his interests in medieval Islamic thought. He has written a range of articles on topics dealing with the Qur’an, Islamic law, and contemporary Islamic thought. His publications include editing and introducing the late Fazlur Rahman’s
Revival and Reform: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism
(Oxford: Oneworld, 1999); “Allegory of the Rule (Hukm): Law as Simulacrum in Islam,”
History of Religions
38(1) (August 1998) 1–24; “The Poetics and Politics of Law after Empire: Reading Women’s Rights in the Contestations of Law,” in
Journal for Islamic and Near Eastern Law
(
JINEL
), UCLA Law School, 1(1), (fall/winter 2001–2) 1–46; “Languages of Change in Islamic Law: Redefining Death in Modernity,”
Islamic Studies
38(3) (1999) 305–42. Email:
[email protected]

x
PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE MM UU SS LL II MM SS

AAHHMMAADD SS.. MMOOUUSSSSAALLLLII
is Professor of Political Science at the American University of Beirut. He was visiting Professor at the Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding at Georgetown University (USA) and University of Copenhagen (Denmark). He received his Ph.D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, M.A. in Liberal Arts from Saint John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and B.A. in Islamic Studies and Languages from Al-Azhar University, Cairo. He is the author of numerous publications, including the following books:
The Islamic Quest for Human Rights, Pluralism and Democracy
;
Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey
;
Moderate and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Quest for Legitimacy
;
Modernity and the Islamic State, Myths and Realities of Islamic Fundamentalism: Theoretical Aspects and Case Studies
;
Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideological and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb
;
A Theoretical Reading In Islamic Fundamentalism
;
Discourse, Islamic Fundamentalism: A Study in Sayyid Qutb’s Ideological and Political Discourse
; and
World Order and Islamic Fundamentalism.
Email: [email protected]

FFAARRIISSHH AAHHMMAADD--NNOOOORR
is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. He has taught at the Centre for Inter-Civilisational Dialogue, University of Malaya and the Institute for Islamic Studies, Freie University of Berlin, and has been a visiting academic fellow at the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), Leiden, Netherlands. He has served as the Secretary-General of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). Author of
Terrorising the Truth: The Demonisation of the Image of Islam and Muslims in Global Media and Political Discourse
(JUST, 1997). He is also a columnist for a number of newspapers and Islamist journals in Malaysia, Pakistan, Britain, and the United States. Email: [email protected]

OOMMIIDD SSAAFFII

is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Colgate

University. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the Study of Islam at the American Academy of Religion. He specializes in the study of the Islamic mystical tradition (Sufism), pre-modern history of the Eastern Islamic world, and post-modern Muslim thought. His forthcoming translation of Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani’s
Tamhidat
is to be published in the Classics of Western Spirituality Series of Paulist Press. He served as the planner and editor of this volume. Email:
[email protected] Web- page: http://classes.colgate.edu/osafi