Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism (64 page)

politics. The Palestine issue was transformed from a human rights issue to a religious one instead. Today there are many who think that the Palestinian struggle is fundamentally a matter of religious conflict.

For the Palestinian struggle to succeed, one of the key objectives in the short term has to be the re-universalization of the Palestinian issue itself. Rather than presenting the case of Palestine as a religious issue, we need to see it as a conflict between governments and states over territory and sovereignty.

Here is where a non-dialectical understanding of the self and other comes into play: Muslims need to realize that they share a common plight with others (and vice versa) and also to problematize their own understanding of the Other. It remains a confounding mystery why so many Islamist groups have chosen to label the Jews as the enemies of Islam and Muslims
in toto
. Doing so robs Muslims of the opportunity of forming instrumental alliances with Jews who may well be on the side of the Palestinians – and they are not few in number, by the way. Some of the strongest critics of the Zionist regime have been Jews themselves, proving the point that Jews – just like some Muslims – are far from a homogeneous community. Just like some Muslims, there are some Jews that seek to locate justice on a more global level; and just like Muslims, there are some Jews who seek an “us first, over the others” agenda. It is incumbent for us to reach out to those who put global justice before exclusivist claims. What is more, such an approach has to be based on an understanding of human rights as universal concepts that are valid, relevant, and applicable to all. To simply assume that every single Jew in the world supports the Zionist regime in Israel would be a great injustice to those who have risked their lives and careers defending the rights of Palestinians and other oppressed peoples.

The same approach should be used by Muslims when dealing with other Others as well. A cursory study of contemporary Islamist literature would show that Muslims’ understanding of the West is as caricatured and stereotypical as the so-called “Western” view of Islam. Yet one cannot fight prejudice with prejudice, and racism remains obscene and evil even if it is done by Muslims. We need to remind ourselves continually of the fact that the Western world is far from uniform and that there exists a vast array of Western thinkers, leaders, activists, and citizens who care for Muslims as much as they do for their own. These are our real allies and friends, and we must never abandon or disregard them in our pursuit of justice and equity.

If we as Muslims are able to engage the world, we can help them see that the tragedies in Bosnia, in Palestine, in Gujarat, in Kashmir, and elsewhere are not just “Muslim issues,” but are human catastrophes and gross violations of universal human rights. Only if we can engage the Christian and the Jew and the Hindu and the agnostic who care about the well-being of all human beings will we get them to care about the well-being of all Muslims. That will only happen if Muslims reciprocate by being as concerned about the welfare of all as about that of Muslims. And yes, that requires Muslims – including Palestinians – to care as

much about loss of innocent civilian life on the Israeli side as on the Palestinian side. That means shedding a tear not only for the thousands of Palestinians who have buried their children killed by the aggressions of the Israeli military, but also for the Israeli mothers and fathers whose children have been killed by suicide bombers. The challenge is both for the world community and for Muslims: are we ready to confer full humanity to all the way we do to our own?

Gender

While talking about justice and equity, we in the Muslim world need to be honest about and cognizant of the injustice and inequalities within our midst as well. Thus far, the attempts on the part of several Muslim countries and communities to put forth a Muslim version and understanding of justice and equity have been hampered by the internal contradictions and double standards within our own community.

Recognizing the internal differences within the Muslim community means giving equal time to the subaltern voices within our midst, and granting them not only the right to speak, but also the right to profess and pronounce. This means granting the internal other within the same full subjectivity and rights that we demand for ourselves from others. Simply put, we Muslims cannot demand respect and equal treatment unless and until we show the same respect to those among us. The list of deserving recipients is a long one: workers, peasants, students, the subaltern classes, and, most obvious and evident of all, Muslim women.

Addressing the issue of gender in the Muslim world in turn opens up new avenues for political activism and action to take place.
7
By addressing gender as a serious and primary concern, we would be addressing the fundamental issues of power, inequality, and the production of such inequalities in our midst. By taking on board such concerns we pave the way for a critique of power that does not simply stop at the borders of the Muslim
umma
but which can also go beyond and thus tackle the related issue of power relations and power differentials between Muslims and non-Muslims in this lopsided and highly unjust new world order that we live in.

Gender, for me at least, has to be one of the primary starting blocks for such a critique, for the simple reason that the gender inequalities within the Muslim world remain one of the starkest indicators of the inertia and stasis that have blighted us for so long. Islam’s universal message of equality and egalitarianism was delivered to us fifteen centuries ago, but countless generations of Muslim women have yet to see the final and necessary culmination of that aspect of the Islamic project.

As long as we do not address the question of gender, gender relations, and power in the Muslim world, all our protestations and appeals to universal justice will seem hollow and mere lip-service. By addressing the inequality within us, we

perform the
Jihad Akbar
(greater struggle) of self-critique and self-questioning which has been at the heart of Islamic practice for so long. Only then can we commit ourselves to the other struggle to correct the wrongs of the world around us.

Globalization, the Environment, and the Future of us all

But here too, on the level of the global, we have failed dismally. Anyone who has been keeping up with the news will know that a number of truly global, transnational movements have emerged over the past few decades. The environmental movement, the pacifist movement against war and the trade of arms, the campaign for equal labor, the campaign against exploitation of children, and most recently the wave of anti-globalization have swept the world

– yet the Muslim world remains largely unmoved and untouched.

At none of the major anti-globalization, anti-war, and pro-environment rallies and meetings over the past few years have we seen a significant Muslim presence. One might even come to the mistaken conclusion that Muslims do not believe that environmental concerns affect them. Lest it be forgotten, problems like the destruction of the ozone layer, the spread of AIDS, the rising cost of living, the spread of wars, and the traffic of arms affects all of us, and Muslims are certainly far from immune.

How can the Muslim world claim the right for universal recognition and a

global presence if it remains isolated from the rest of the world? Surely Islam, as a religion that is universal in its scope and concerns, can and must come up with a response to these issues?

Muslims need to realize the need to address such concerns that may not be entirely religious in character yet are vitally important nonetheless. We need to demonstrate an awareness of such problems and, more importantly, to act upon them. The outlook that keeps us confined within the borders of our own faith community will, in the end, be the death of us all. The degradation of the environment, exploitation of finite resources, and destruction of local economies aggravated by the rampant march of trade liberalization and globalization processes are all problems that affect the Muslim world today. Indeed, an overview of the Muslim world at the present will present us with the unattractive but undeniable conclusion that the Muslim world is the Third World. It is high time that we step beyond the narrow communitarian concerns of our faith community and work with others to tackle these problems that affect humanity and its destiny.

What progressive Muslims are calling for here is, in a sense, an
Islam bi la Hudud
– an Islam without borders – that locates itself in the present realities of the borderless, plural, multicultural, complex, unequal, and unjust world that we live in today. We call for the rejection of the narrow and exclusive mindset and siege mentality that have robbed us of the channels of communication and

cooperation that we desperately need. We call for the rejection of a dialectical approach to the Other which can only frame the other in negative terms as the enemy (or potential enemy) that has to be greeted with suspicion and fear. We also call for an introspection and self-critique that will help disabuse us of some of the myths of our own making, such as the myth of a “pure,” “authentic,” and “uncontaminated”
umma
that appears
ex nihilo
.

We need to forge a new chain of equivalences that equates universal concerns with Muslim concerns and universal problems with Muslim problems. The Muslim heart cannot bleed only when it sees Muslim tears. If we are not moved by the plight and suffering of others, if we cannot feel the pain and anxieties of others, if we cannot share the joy and aspirations of others, then we cannot claim the same rights and entitlements for ourselves. And we cannot claim that ours is a universal approach to Islam. The universal message of Islam cannot and will not become a reality until it is allowed to travel beyond the domain of
Dar al-Islam
. Justice does not stop at border crossings and it remains color-blind, gender-blind and blind, to the distinctions of class.

Universalism, which rests at the heart of Islam and the Islamic message, needs to be reactivated and made an article of faith among Muslims living in the world today. Our concerns for justice, equity, rights, and freedom need to be articulated in the context of a borderless world where our audience is not only ourselves but the world as a whole, both now and in the future. We need to take up, defend, and promote this form of universalism as part of our identity as Muslims. There has to come a time when being a Muslim means living not only for oneself but for a multitude of others as well. That time is now.

endnotes

1. The author would like to thank Ebrahim Moosa for some of the pointers and recommendations that went into the writing of this paper.
   

2. Ayatollah Mahmud Taleqani’s last sermon in 1979, in
   Majmu’eh-e goftar-e “Pedar Taleqani”
   [
   Collection of Speeches of “Father Taleqani”
   ], (Tehran: Mujahedin-e Khalq-e Iran, 1979), 53. The translation is from
   Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook,
   ed. Charles Kurzman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 48.
   

3. Steven Emerson,
   Jihad in America: The Terrorists Living among Us
   (New York: Free Press, 2002)
   .
   

4. Rohan Gunaratna,
   Inside al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror
   (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).
   

5. Mehdi Bazargan, “Din va Azadi” (
   Religion and Liberty
   ), trans. by Mahmoud Sadri, in
   Bazyabi-ye Arzesh’ha
   [
   The Recovery of Values
   ], (Tehran: Nehzat-e Azadi-ye Iran, 1983), 80; English translation is from
   Liberal Islam
   , ed. Charles Kurzman, 81.
   

6. Rachid Ghannouchi, “The Participation of Islamists in Non-Islamic Government,” trans. by Azzam Tamimi, in
   Power-Sharing Islam,
   ed. Azzam Tamimi (London: Liberty for the Muslim World, 1993), 59.
   

7. The essay by Sa‘diyya Shaikh in this volume specifically deals with the themes of gender justice, Islamic feminism, and women’s activism.
   

FURTHER READING

The task of identifying suitable reading materials on Islam can be a truly daunting one, especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001: the publishing market has been flooded with sensationalist titles which approach Islam almost exclusively through a lens of violence, conflict, terrorism, fundamentalism, and jihad.

In this section, we have attempted to make some alternative suggestions for those who wish to gain a deeper, more challenging, and nuanced understanding of Islam. The titles are generally ones that can be easily obtained. The list is by no means intended to be exhaustive. It is only a convenient place to begin further explorations. In each section, the titles marked with a bullet point are the most essential ones.

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Approaching the Qur’an: the Early Revelations
, introduced and trans. by Michael Sells (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 1999). Many Muslims and non-Muslims alike have stated that it can be difficult to access the oceans of meaning in the Qur’an. Michael Sells’s scholarly text is a powerful and accessible way to get a sense of the sound, power, intimacy, and majesty of the Qur’an.

Martin Lings,
Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
(Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1983). This is the best one-volume biography of the Prophet in English. Based directly on the description of the life of the Prophet in the earliest Arabic sources, it is a wonderful way to get a sense of why Muslims have had so much love and devotion for the Prophet. It is also an imaginative

method of approaching Qur’anic verses, studying them as they were revealed in the context of episodes in the Prophet’s life.

William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata,
The Vision of Islam
(St Paul, MN:

Paragon House, 1994). This is perhaps the best one-volume introduction to the profound nature of Islamic thought and its foundation in the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet. Highly rooted in a mystical and philosophical understanding of Islam.