Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism by Omid Safi Read Free Book Online

places in the Muslim world that suffer from an appalling lack of literacy, huge and ever-growing socio-economic gaps between the “haves” and the “have nots,” political tyranny, religious exclusivism, gender injustice, etc. In some cases, prognosticators have predicted that it may take decades, if not centuries, for the Muslim world to “catch up.” As progressive Muslims, we simply cannot wait. We do not have the luxury of sitting idly by in the vague hope that changes will take place before we start dealing with these difficult issues. In my reading of the Qur’anic call, we are all held accountable by God for the opportunities we are given in this life, and asked to answer for how we responded to them. Our responsibility of khilafa (vicegerency, stewardship) deals with the here and now, not twenty years from
    now, not two hundred years. We are children of this moment ( ibn al-waqt ), and have to work within the societies in which God has placed us.
    Having gone into some depth about the salient features of progressive Muslims, let me also take some time to describe what progressive Muslims are not about.

    PP RR OO BB LL EE MM SS WW II TT HH TT HH EE TT EE RR MM ““ PP RR OO GG RR EE SS SS II VV EE ””

    Since I know some are going to make this same criticism, let me beat them to the punch. All of us who have contributed to this volume realize that the term “progressive” Muslim is far from perfect. Let us be honest, and admit that it has been a very abused term.
    The real issue with “progressive,” of course, is that problematic “progress” embedded so deeply in it. Progress towards what, one may ask? Progress has all too often been conceived of as a Hegelian, unilateral march towards post- Enlightenment, rational, male, Euro-American civilization. Wasn’t the twentieth century allegedly the century of progress? While no doubt it witnessed the rise of many technological wonders, it also turned out to be among the most hateful and bloody in human history.
    In the past 150 years of Islamic thought, a number of people have called for a whole host of “reform”- and “progress”-oriented interpretations of Islam, but in many cases these have proven to be nothing more – nor less – than a simple aping of the most recent Western trends. Furthermore, the term “progressive,” at least in the minds of some people, has a slightly elitist connotation, implying that the “progressives” are somehow better, smarter, or more advanced than the alleged “non-progressives.”
    So why use the term? Can’t we find something better? Well, actually we tried.
    Unfortunately, none of the alternatives was totally problem-free.
    Some suggested the label “liberal Muslim.” It is certainly true that on many social issues most of us find ourselves on the “left,” so to speak. But many progressive Muslims also do not agree with the connotation of liberal as “loose, not strict,” as if progressives are only loosely Muslim, and they can be progressive only because they are not strictly following Islamic teachings. Furthermore, in
    our view many self-declared “liberal Muslims” have been too enamored with modernity, too eager to identify themselves wholeheartedly with European and American structures of power. In the end, they have proven unable and unwilling to adopt a critical stance against the injustices of both Muslim societies and Western hegemony. It is precisely such a critical stance that we have identified here as multiple critique.
    Another suggestion was “critical Muslims,” which has the great appeal of calling attention to the desperate need for critical thought. The problem is that in many non-academic circles, the term “critical” is taken to refer to those who criticize. It is certainly true that we critique many contemporary and historical
    Islamic practices and interpretations, but we always do so with an eye toward more just and pluralistic alternatives. “Critical Muslims”