Read Online Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism by Omid Safi - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Omid Safi
Tags: Religión, General, Social Science, Islam, Political Science, Ethnic Studies, Islamic Studies, Islam and Politics, Islamic Law, Islamic Renewal, Religious Pluralism, Women in Islam, Comparative Politics
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morality
will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained – Now everywhere is war – war. 29
The statement that “Islam is a religion of peace” must not be allowed to become a license to avoid dealing with the grinding realities of social, political, and spiritual injustice on the ground level. To do so is to sell out our humanity, and to abandon our cosmic duty to embody the Qur’anic call for implementing justice ( ‘adl ) and realizing goodness-and-beauty ( ihsan ). Our great challenge as progressive Muslims is to find a non-violent means of resisting the powers that be, and to speak truth to them. At the same time, we must aim to bring about a just and pluralistic society in which all of us can live and breathe, and realize the God-given dignity to which we are entitled as human beings. We do not grant this dignity to one another: it belongs to all of us simply because, as the Qur’an teaches us, all of us have the Divine spirit breathed into us.
CC OO NN CC LL UU SS II OO NN
It is superficial to talk about a conclusion to the progressive Muslim project, since it is clearly only at its beginning. Yet let me offer a final thought here: in the visionary song that frames this essay, Bob Dylan talks about how the “waters around you have grown.” The Qur’an likewise talks about a prophet, Noah, who found his community surrounded by rapidly rising waters. Like Noah, we must accept that we will soon be drenched to the bone. And like Noah, we repeat the prayer:
wa qul rabbi: anzilni munzalan mubarakan, wa anta khayru ’l-munzilin
And say: “O My Lord, lead me to a blessed landing, for you are best of deliverers.” 30
Let us remember that Noah’s task did not end when he got on the ark, but continued after he landed on the ground. We ask God to lead us to a blessed landing station, one from which our work will continue. The road there starts here, at this very moment, with every one of us.
May we all have the courage, the vision, and the compassion to heal this fractured world. 31
Wa ilayhi raji‘un
“And we are perpetually returning to God”
endnotes
*I am deeply grateful to all the friends who have looked over this essay in its various incarnations, and provided me with invaluable suggestions for refining it. Rob Rozehnal took time out of a very busy phase of his life to unselfishly provide me with not one but two sets of comments. Kecia Ali, Scott Kugle, Tara van Brederode, and Tazim Kassam all provided very insightful feedback. Nasrollah Pourjavady graciously pointed out the quotes from Rumi’s Masnavi and Hazrat ‘Ali. Their friendship and kindness is a constant reminder of the fact that none of us walks alone on this path.
Lyrics are from Bob Dylan’s official web site, http://www.bobdylan.com/. This song appeared in Dylan’s 1964 album, also titled The Times They Are A-Changin’ . That version is classic, revolutionary, and powerful. Also worth listening to is the more tender live version on Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1–3 (released 1991). In the second version Dylan sings, “If your spirit to you is worth savin’. . . .”
I am here indebted to miriam cooke’s discussion of “multiple critique” in her insightful work Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism through Literature (New York: Routledge, 2000). Sa‘diyya Shaikh’s essay in this volume also brings up this concept, and I am grateful to both of them.
Wahhabism is a reactionary theological movement that originated in eighteenth-century Arabia. It remained an undistinguished intellectual movement for a long time, until it was adapted as the ideology of the ruling Sa‘ud family, who came upon the incredible wealth of oil resources. Subsequently, this previously trivial ideology was armed with the financial resources to export its vision all over the Muslim world. The essay by Khaled Abou El Fadl in this collection is very useful in demonstrating the ways in which Wahhabism and Salafi
will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained – Now everywhere is war – war. 29
The statement that “Islam is a religion of peace” must not be allowed to become a license to avoid dealing with the grinding realities of social, political, and spiritual injustice on the ground level. To do so is to sell out our humanity, and to abandon our cosmic duty to embody the Qur’anic call for implementing justice ( ‘adl ) and realizing goodness-and-beauty ( ihsan ). Our great challenge as progressive Muslims is to find a non-violent means of resisting the powers that be, and to speak truth to them. At the same time, we must aim to bring about a just and pluralistic society in which all of us can live and breathe, and realize the God-given dignity to which we are entitled as human beings. We do not grant this dignity to one another: it belongs to all of us simply because, as the Qur’an teaches us, all of us have the Divine spirit breathed into us.
CC OO NN CC LL UU SS II OO NN
It is superficial to talk about a conclusion to the progressive Muslim project, since it is clearly only at its beginning. Yet let me offer a final thought here: in the visionary song that frames this essay, Bob Dylan talks about how the “waters around you have grown.” The Qur’an likewise talks about a prophet, Noah, who found his community surrounded by rapidly rising waters. Like Noah, we must accept that we will soon be drenched to the bone. And like Noah, we repeat the prayer:
wa qul rabbi: anzilni munzalan mubarakan, wa anta khayru ’l-munzilin
And say: “O My Lord, lead me to a blessed landing, for you are best of deliverers.” 30
Let us remember that Noah’s task did not end when he got on the ark, but continued after he landed on the ground. We ask God to lead us to a blessed landing station, one from which our work will continue. The road there starts here, at this very moment, with every one of us.
May we all have the courage, the vision, and the compassion to heal this fractured world. 31
Wa ilayhi raji‘un
“And we are perpetually returning to God”
endnotes
*I am deeply grateful to all the friends who have looked over this essay in its various incarnations, and provided me with invaluable suggestions for refining it. Rob Rozehnal took time out of a very busy phase of his life to unselfishly provide me with not one but two sets of comments. Kecia Ali, Scott Kugle, Tara van Brederode, and Tazim Kassam all provided very insightful feedback. Nasrollah Pourjavady graciously pointed out the quotes from Rumi’s Masnavi and Hazrat ‘Ali. Their friendship and kindness is a constant reminder of the fact that none of us walks alone on this path.
Lyrics are from Bob Dylan’s official web site, http://www.bobdylan.com/. This song appeared in Dylan’s 1964 album, also titled The Times They Are A-Changin’ . That version is classic, revolutionary, and powerful. Also worth listening to is the more tender live version on Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1–3 (released 1991). In the second version Dylan sings, “If your spirit to you is worth savin’. . . .”
I am here indebted to miriam cooke’s discussion of “multiple critique” in her insightful work Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism through Literature (New York: Routledge, 2000). Sa‘diyya Shaikh’s essay in this volume also brings up this concept, and I am grateful to both of them.
Wahhabism is a reactionary theological movement that originated in eighteenth-century Arabia. It remained an undistinguished intellectual movement for a long time, until it was adapted as the ideology of the ruling Sa‘ud family, who came upon the incredible wealth of oil resources. Subsequently, this previously trivial ideology was armed with the financial resources to export its vision all over the Muslim world. The essay by Khaled Abou El Fadl in this collection is very useful in demonstrating the ways in which Wahhabism and Salafi
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