[lit-ideas] Sunday Review
- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 18:17:18 -0400
"The Trouble with Islam Today" by Irshad Manji
As she affirms in the afterword, the author experienced some
objection to her initial 2003 title: "the problem with Islam" from
some muslims as they said "it's not a problem with islam as much as
it is a problem with muslims.". She counters this with "actually, I
can't say 'the problem with muslims'" since it's actually a problem
in the way in which a faction of some muslims interpret islam as a
religion in the world today. So... she corrected her title to reflect
what she really means.
A few months ago, I appealed to the list for an 'objective' history
of Israel and the surrounding area. Weirdly enough, this is the
closest I've come so far. Manji is an other other other, being the
Canadian child of some displaced refugees from Uganda -- during the
Amin years -- and she's a woman (definitely 'other' in the world of
islam) as well as a [out] lesbian. But... gladly, she doesn't wear
any of these on her sleeve. She's not a radical or activist, she just
wants sensible behaviour and people's acceptance -- for everyone.
She calls herself a "Muslim-Refusenik". "That doesn't mean I refuse
to be a Muslim; it simply means I refuse to join an army of
automatons in the name of Allah." This book is clearly addressed to
fellow muslims -- she often refers to her audience as the collective
'you' meaning "you other muslims who are reading this book."
While blanket feminism is not her main cause, islamic women's
well-being -- emotional, physical AND spiritual -- is a major issue
and is mainly what she is talking about. She doesn't pull punches
when describing her upbringing and her [traditionally] islamic father
who was apparently a very violent and unapologetic man. She also
doesn't take it easy on all the other islamic men, and many islamic
men in general, who DO march in lockstep as automatons in the name of
Allah. Ironically, but perhaps, happily, she notes late in the book
"had I grown up in a Muslim country, I'd probably be an atheist in my
heart. It's because I live in this corner of the world, where I can
think, dispute, and delve further into any top, that I've learned why
I shouldn't give up on islam just yet." Clearly for Irshad, Canada's
fostering of a multi-cultural attitude has worked better than if she
were to have stayed in a Muslim country.
Ms. Manji's main quest is to understand the Qu'ran's "real" ambiguity
and give it a better reading than her madrassa did when she was
growing up. She makes some interesting distinctions of typical
translations of the arabic words that she at least feels are
'incorrect'. Little things that might mean the difference between
blind-faith, radical islamicism and understanding the true spirit of
Islam. She writes: "It's drilled into us that God is great! -- Allahu
Akbar!" Only, when she educated herself, she learned the actual
meaning "God is greatER. Greater than His creatures, yes, but that's
no a statement of our inconsequence. At bottom, the cry of 'Allahu
Akbar' is a reminder to balance our agency with humility."
Another critical notion that she learned from a muslim scholar is the
notion of "Ijtihad" which is the 'Islamic tradition of independent
reasoning, which he claimed allowed every Muslim, female or male,
straight or gay, old or young, to update his or her religious
practice in light of contemporary circumstances." This is quite a
revelation, especially coming from probably THE most [notoriously]
unprogressive of religions. Not only are non-muslim people
misdirected, but apparently a good portion of Muslims themselves are
unaware of this. She labels one particular chapter "Operation
Ijtihad" and lays out some things that some Muslims might think about
changing in their overall religious views.
She also coins a term "Foundamentalism" which, specifically for
"desert Arabs" is a "fixation on the [undisputed] founding moment of
their religion". She blames this fixation for closing the "gates of
ijtihad" and narrowing the [big-T] Truth and "bloating their mandate"
as they converted the essence of arab Islam from one of scholarship
to one of soldiership. This particularly backwards, and quite
circular argument is that "beware of new things, for every new thing
is an innovation and every innovation a mistake."
So... This book, in the end, for me, as a non-Muslim and overall,
non-religious, still did a good job of giving me hope that there are
lots of rational Muslims out there and that there are some that don't
hate Jews and Christians (Irshad's trip to Israel is reported as fair
and balanced -- not in a Fox News way either), and at the same time
she scolds some Muslims, hers is a pep talk to "today's" Islamic
adherents. Reading this book increased my acceptance of and
decreased my abhorrence to the Isalmic religion. There is "Trouble
with Islam Today", but it's not quite what some might think.
The Foreward of the book is three pages, short and not all sweet, by
a Muslim scholar Dr. Khaleel Mohammed [an Imam] and he begins with
"Let us face a simple fact: I should hate Irshad Manji... She
threatens my male authority, and says things about Islam that I wish
were not true. She has a big mouth and fact upon fact to corroborate
her analysis... but when I look into my heart and engage my mind, and
I come to a discomfitting conclusion: Irshad is telling the truth.
And my God commands me to uphold the truth -- which means I have to
side with her."
Now, if only those who have the power -- mullahs, imams, ayattolahs
etc. could read this book and others like it with an open mind to Ijtihad.
Paul
_________________
[insert pithy quote here]
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Leamington, ON. Canada
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