Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism (52 page)

are actually working. I want to pass board-certification exams by my own merit and not through pull or bribes. I want to become a wonderful doctor, practice real medicine, pay taxes, make a good living, drive a big car on decent roads, and eventually live in the Ansel Adams section of New Mexico and never come back to this wretched town, where doctors are as numerous as fleas and practice is cutthroat, and where the air outside is not even fit to breathe.” The consul gave him a visa.
33

It is important to remember that the vast majority of Muslims in North America are immigrants or the children of immigrants. They – we – came to North America precisely because of the opportunities that were available here and not available, for whatever reason, in the country of origin.

A month after the September 11 attacks, while watching television, I came across Pat Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network doing a segment on Christians in Pakistan. He too spoke about Islam as a “dangerous religion,” and re-visited his comments from some years earlier that there was something wrong with any American, particularly an African-American, who would convert from Christianity to Islam. He then went on to speak about the superiority of Christianity, especially with regard to what he saw as violence in Islam as contrasted with peace in Christianity.

Along with other Muslim and non-Muslim academics who teach Islam, I have received emails since September 2001 from colleagues who teach at institutions across the United States who have talked about the rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric from certain Christian groups. And I have seen glimpses of this during my talks. At one of the many churches at which I spoke, one of the audience members asked me why I thought I worshipped the same God that he worshipped. He mentioned to me that his minister had taught him that Muslims worshipped a different god than the One God worshipped by Jews and Christians. And having heard from his minister what Muslims believed, no argument from me, a believing Muslim, could persuade him otherwise.

After the attacks, there was a remarkable flow of magazine and newspaper articles, television and radio programs, websites, books, and lectures discussing Islam and Muslims. A tremendous number of opportunities were created for interfaith dialogue, particularly for those who had never participated. The question remains: what models of religious pluralism can we call upon today to guide us through these opportunities for dialogue?

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In the United States and Canada, there have been tensions since 2001 between Jewish and Muslim communities, typically over Israeli–Palestinian relations. In cities such as Los Angeles, formal dialogue broke down between Muslim and Jewish groups, although individual Muslims and Jews continue to engage in

dialogue. Some Jewish groups have removed themselves from Christian–Jewish dialogue when that dialogue has become critical of Israeli colonization of Palestine. For example, in April 2002 the Canadian Jewish Congress withdrew as a partner in the Canadian Christian Jewish Consultation, which is composed of representatives of Canadian churches including the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Lutheran Churches, and representatives of the Canadian Jewish Congress. With the typical concern for social justice that is a hallmark of the United Church of Canada, they wrote in response that “It is our conviction that there will be no peaceful solution that does not guarantee both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, the right to exist in security and freedom in their own states. It is clear that no military solution can bring about peace. This means that any peaceful solution must be negotiated and built on the framework of international law. The resolution of the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel must be addressed in any movement towards peace.”
34

In the Qur’an, Muslims are continually reminded of their relationship with the “People of the Book”
(ahl al-kitab).
The People of the Book are those who have received an earlier revelation from God; the term is understood by most Muslims to refer to Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. The Qur’an allows Muslims and the People of the Book to eat together and to intermarry:

This day the good things are allowed to you; and the food of those who have been given the Book is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them; and the chaste from among the believing women and the chaste from among those who have been given the Book before you; when you have given them their dowries, taking [them] in marriage, not fornicating nor taking them for secret concubines.

(Qur’an 5:5)

There is an understanding in the Qur’an of a peaceful co-existence that comes from a common revelation and a common God: “And argue not with the People of the Book unless it be in [a way] that is better, except with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our God and your God is One, and to God do we surrender” (29:46).

Admittedly, there is a difference in dialogue and relationships with those other than Jews and Christians. As Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, Muslims believe that the most grievous sin is polytheism, or associating others with God. And Muslims have often had strained or hostile relationships with polytheists and atheists. However, there has also been co-existence as well. The country with the most number of Muslims is Indonesia, where the dominant religious traditions before Islam were Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as indigenous traditions and Dutch Christianity. There was no wholesale slaughter of “pagans” by the Muslims who spread Islam in Indonesia. Another country that has a large number of Muslims is India. There are political tensions both

within India and between India and Pakistan. “Communalism” is the name that is given to the politics of sectarian hatred in India. However, much of the violence between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians in India is an example of religion being used as a powerful political symbol and force. Much like in the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, demagogues and other power-hungry political figures use religion to incite people against each other. If one looks at the cultures of North India, one finds great similarities between Hindus and Muslims in terms of dance, music, food, movies, ritual, attachment to family, worship, and notions of a just civil life.

The Qur’an repeatedly uses the word
kufr
, which is often translated as “unbelief,” with
kafir
as the word for an unbeliever. While this term is often contrasted with belief in the Qur’an, it is also contrasted with the word shukr, or “thankfulness.” A
kafir
, then, is not simply one who does not believe, but also one who is not thankful to God. To be sure, some Muslims have often assumed the prerogative of God and presumed who is a
kafir
and who is not. But there is

nothing uniquely “Islamic” in this: Christians, for example, have killed those who were considered “heretics” or “pagans.” However, the stereotype still persists of Christianity being a religion of peace and love, while Islam is seen as a religion of war and violence – as if the term “holy war” were not used by Christians for centuries.

In many ways, North American Muslims are in a position to influence what happens in the rest of the Muslim world. In countries where Muslims are in the majority, there are often restrictions and sometimes persecutions of other religious traditions. One thinks, for example, of the Baha’is in Iran or the Christians in Pakistan. It is North American Muslims who can show their co-religionists an example of the religious tolerance that occurs in North America. One can exist safely and securely as a Muslim, free to practice as a Muslim, without having to convert or torment one’s non-Muslim neighbors (or, for that matter, those Muslims who aren’t “Muslim enough” for the self-righteous). In order to properly do interfaith dialogue, one must have not only a deep understanding of one’s own faith, but an understanding and appreciation of the faith of the dialogue partner. This can be done only in a pluralistic context, where it is possible to have a deep knowledge of more than one faith. Accepting pluralism is a sign of firm faith and confidence, not a sign of doubt. We North American Muslims need to commit ourselves to pluralism, not because we have to but because we should. It is part of the vision imparted to us by the Qur’an and the example of the Prophet.

North American Muslims can also be an example to other Muslims by taking the lead in dialogue among various Muslim groups. All too often, this is a neglected aspect of religious dialogue. In Toronto, I as a Sunni had the profound privilege of performing the Friday afternoon prayer side by side with a Shi‘i colleague, the prayers being led by a Bosnian imam, in a mosque built by Albanians. In other parts of the Muslim world, for example in Pakistan, there is

sometimes sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi‘is. North American Muslims can also take the lead in dialogue with Hindu or Jewish groups. In so doing, perhaps we can help toward resolving the conflicts in India and Pakistan and in Israel and Palestine.

It is important for progressive Muslims and Muslim communities in general to return to the pluralistic vision of the Qur’an, and establish cooperative relations with other religious communities, particularly at this time. There are a great many negative stereotypes about Islam and Muslims, and it is only through dialogue that these will, slowly, be dismantled. And of course dialogue is also necessary for Muslims to learn about the beliefs of those around them. It is easy to be taught to hate Christians or Jews (as for example tragically occurs in Saudi Arabia) if there are few actual Christians or Jews in one’s country. In the pluralistic context of North America, it is a very different matter. The stereotypes that one may have learned, for example that Christians worship three gods and are therefore polytheistic, fall away when one is invited to a Christian worship service and realizes that it is the same One God who is being praised and worshipped.

The Qur’an is clear that God could have created people with no differences among them, but that God chose not to do so: “If your Lord had so willed it, your Lord would have made humanity one people, but they will not cease to dispute” (11:118). God speaks to us in the Qur’an about God willing our differences and our disputes. Our differences (and ensuing disputes) are not to be feared, denied, or eradicated. God teaches us through our differences. It is through dialogue that we learn about ourselves, about others, and, in so doing, perhaps also about God:

We have made some of these messengers to excel the others; among them are they to whom God spoke, and some of them God exalted by rank. And We gave clear miracles to Jesus the son of Mary, and strengthened him with the holy spirit.

If God had pleased, those after them would not have fought one with another after clear arguments had come to them, but they disagreed; so there were some of them who believed and others who denied. And if God had pleased, they would not have fought one with another, but God brings about what God intends.

(Qur’an 2:253)

endnotes

1. For Patrice Brodeur and Farid Esack, my brothers in submission and dialogue. And to the blessed memories of my wife, Shannon L. Hamm, and my teacher, Professor Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who introduced me to interfaith dialogue in, respectively, my personal and professional life. Thanks to Michel Desjardins and Pat Nichelson for their comments
   

   on various drafts of this chapter, and for their continued attempts to teach me the craft of writing. My thanks also to the United Church of Canada and its members for showing me the true meaning of ecumenical: “of the inhabited earth.”
   

2. The above is based on Diana Eck,
   A New Religious America: How a Christian Country Has Now Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation
   (San Francisco: HarperSan- Francisco, 2001), 70–1.
   

3. For a recent assessment of the Muslim community in America, see Jane I. Smith,
   Islam in America
   (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
   

4. For a traditional Muslim understanding of this emigration, see Martin Lings,
   Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
   (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1983), 81–4. For an account of this story by a secular historian, see F.E. Peters,
   Muhammad and the Origins of Islam
   (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994), 173–6.
   

5. On this verse as it relates to the question of abrogation of verses from the Qur’an, see Jane Dammen McAuliffe,
   Qur’anic Christians: An Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis
   (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 254–9.
   

6. Translation from Michael Sells,
   Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations
   (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 2001), 124.
   

7. See his
   Qur’an: Liberation and Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity against Oppression
   (Oxford: Oneworld, 1997).
   

8. In a tongue-in-cheek comment, a historian friend has talked about the fallacy of this myth: owing to the Semitic notion of ritual purity, many Muslims do not hold the sacred scripture of the Qur’an with their left hand, since the left hand is reserved for cleansing oneself. If there were an army of Muslims with the Qur’an in one hand and a sword in another, they would all have had the Qur’an in the right hand and the sword in the left. No doubt the vision of an entire left-handed army is enough to give the lie to that myth. Furthermore, manuscripts of the Qur’an were far too rare (owing to the low rate of literacy) for every soldier to have had his own copy of the sacred text.
   

9. See Richard W. Bulliet,
   Islam: The View from the Edge
   (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 39. For a more detailed account see Richard W. Bulliet,
   Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative
   History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979), or Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi, eds,
   Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands, Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries
   (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1990).
   

10. For an excellent, succinct chapter on Baghdad as well as other key cities in Muslim civilization, see Kenneth Cragg and R. Marston Speight,
    The House of Islam
    , 3rd edn (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1988), 86–110.
    

11. For more on Al-Andalus, see Mar´ıa Rosa Menocal,
    The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
    (Boston: Little, Brown, 2002).
    

12. Norman Daniel,
    Islam and the West: The Making of an Image
    (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1960; reprint, Oxford: Oneworld, 1997).
    

13. For an image of this painting, and a further discussion of the link between Thomas Aquinas and Ibn Rushd, see Majid Fakhry, “Philosophy and History,” in
    The Genius of Arab Civilizations: Source of Renaissance,
    2nd edn (London: Eurabia, 1983), 55–76.
    

14. I use “Islams” in the plural rather than “Islam” in the singular as there are multiple ways of being Muslim in any given context.
    

15. Siddiq Osman Noormuhammad, “The Sufi Tradition in Toronto,” originally published in
    Message International
    , 19(6), 1995. This article was expanded and updated in 1999, and is available on the web at http://muslim-canada.org/sufi/toronto.htm
    

16. A short biography of him exists on the web at
    http://members.tripod.com/~wim canada/ aleem.html
    

17. http://muslim-canada.org/sufi/toronto.htm.
    

18. Zulf M. Khalfan, “Ottawa Muslims: Growing Pains,”
    Islamic Horizons
    , 24(3) 1995, 38.
    

19. Ibid.
    

20. For examples, see Susan L. Scott, ed.,
    Stories in my Neighbour’s Faith: Narratives from World Religions in Canada
    (Toronto: United Church, 1999);
    Faith in My Neighbour. World Religions in Canada: An Introduction
    (Toronto: United Church, 1994); and
    Stories of Interfaith Families: A Resource for Families and Congregations
    (Toronto: United Church, 1994).
    

21. For an example of this, see Amir Hussain, “Shannon’s Song,” in
    Stories in my Neighbour’s Faith
    , 101–6. Another example in the same collection is Zohra Husaini’s “The Tragedy of Karbala,” where on page 31 she connects Imam Hussain with Jesus and Karbala with
    

    Calvary.
    

22. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Wadi Z. Haddad, eds,
    Christian–Muslim Encounters
    

    (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1995).
    

23. John Hick, “On Wilfred Cantwell Smith: His Place in the Study of Religion,” in
    Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
    , 4 (1–2), 1992, 5.
    

24. Wilfred Cantwell Smith,
    Islam in Modern History
    (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), 146.
    

25. Wilfred Cantwell Smith,
    The Meaning and End of Religion
    (New York: Macmillan, 1963; reprinted, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 126.
    

26. See the commentary by Nicholas Kristof, “Bigotry in Islam – and Here,”
    New York Times
    , July 9, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/09/opinion/09KRIS.html.
    

27. An excellent web resource was created by Omid Safi, available at
    http://groups.colgate.edu/ aarislam/response.htm. All of us who teach Islam in North America are indebted to Omid for creating and maintaining this site.
    

28. For more information about these two studies and the controversy, see Teresa Watanabe, “Muslim Population Inflated, Studies Find,”
    Los Angeles Times
    , October 25, 2001, A23.
    

29. Frederick Denny,
    An Introduction to Islam
    , 2nd edn (New York: Macmillan, 1994), 364.
    

30. Yvonne Haddad and Jane I. Smith, “United States of America,” in
    The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World
    , ed. John L. Esposito (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), vol. 4, 277.
    

31. Council on American–Islamic Relations, “The Mosque in America,” http://www.cair- net.org/mosquereport/Masjid_Study_Project_2000_Report.pdf.
    

32. Quotes taken from Solomon Moore, “Fiery Words, Disputed Meaning,”
    Los Angeles Times
    , November 3, 2001, B20.
    

33. Abraham Verghese, “The Cowpath to America,”
    New Yorker
    , June 23–30, 1997, 74–7.
    

34. From the website of the United Church of Canada, at
    http://www.united-church.ca/news/ 2002/0410.htm.