This post is a part of the Series: Islam
Today in the 21st century, reform is quite prevalent in Islam and the question of how Islam fits in the West is on the forefront of minds. Reformers of Islam “reflect a broad diversity of orientation” because all Muslims want reform (Esposito 260). The question is just what kind of reform. The struggle for reform “in Islam today is religious, intellectual, political, social, spiritual, and moral” (Esposito 255). Reformers face many obstacles such as overcoming ultraconservatism often embodied in some of the Ulama, proper education of the next generation of Muslims in all facets of life, and “effectively discrediting militant jihadist ideas and ideologies” (Esposito 255). On top of reform, Muslims in the West “have increasingly sought to respond rather than simply react to life in” the West (Esposito 88). The media’s coverage of extremists often takes attention off of reform and wrongly groups all Muslims together in a negative light leading to a rise of Islamophobia.
Reformers seek to respond to how should tradition be used, who gets to decide on reform, and what will be decided. Conservatives see tradition embodied often in Sharia as the “perfect blueprint for society” (Esposito 258). Sharia did provide community cohesion at a time that was necessary, but it was “obtained at a cost – the tendency to forget the dynamism, diversity, and human creativity that had contributed to the development of Islam” (Esposito 259). Sharia was radical at the time of its creation, but because of closing the door to ijtihad, it is now more conservative. Who gets to decide is an issue because there have been abuses made in the name of Islam by political parties, authorities, and governments. An interesting factor in this is that most leaders of “mainstream Islamic movements are lay intellectuals” showing the rise of people on the ground wanting to be a heard voice in reform. As far as what will be decided, everyone agrees on the need for a “return” to Islam, but it is what “return” means to each group of reformers that will determine what will be decided.
Conservatives and traditionalist emphasize early Islam and feel that Islam has gone off the path and needs to go back to its roots. They do not feel that there is a significant change needed to Sharia because returning to tradition will guide them down the right path. However, they “fail to distinguish adequately between revealed, immutable principles and historically conditions laws and institutions produced by” fallible humans (Esposito 256). Another group, Islamic activists, advocate a return to Islam and Sharia. They represent a wide range of people and groups. They are political and social reformers. Finally, Islamic modernist reformers look to “early Islamic period as embodying a normative ideal” (Esposito 263). They view tradition as more of an anchor or foundation. This allows them to distinguish more clearly between “the principles and values of Islam’s immutable revelation and the historically and socially conditions institutions, laws, and practices” (Esposito 263). Out of the three groups, they are more open to “selective adoption and adaptation of Western knowledge institutions” (Esposito 264).
On the forefront of the reformers’ minds are the issues of discussing and dealing with what Muslims really want when it comes to democracy, Sharia reform, Muslim women rights, terrorism, and non-Muslim minorities living in the Muslim world. In Gallup surveys a majority of Muslims believe democracy and Islam can coexist and support Sharia. However, a majority of Muslims want “sharia as ‘a’ source but not ‘the’ sole source of legislation” (Esposito 274). Surveys also show that the majority of Muslim women and men “said that women deserve the same legal rights as men” (Esposito 275). Looking at places like United Arab Emirates and Iran “women make up the majority of university students” (Esposito 276). Women also played an important role throughout the history of Islam and women are trying to return to that rich history in Islam. Terror actions are denounced countless times by Muslims all over the world. However, this rarely reaches the news. Media’s attention on extremists overshadows “the extent to which the current generation of reformers are active in reinterpreting Islam” (Esposito 281). Finally, non-Muslim minorities living in the Muslim world is an internal issue dealing with pluralism. These people constitutionally are “entitled to equality of citizenship and religious freedom” but this often is compromised. The People of Scripture (Jews and Christians) had basically second-class citizenship. During the time the status was made, it was very progressive because non-Muslims were allowed to live in the empire which was not the norm for how other empires ran. But now, it is no longer progressive. Pluralism becomes an issue because some feel it is a Western ideal and do not want to delude Islam with Western ideology. But there is a push to look to the Quran, to go back to tradition, and find why people should be treated equally. Some reformers “maintain that pluralism is the essence of Islam as revealed in the Quran and practiced by Muhammad and early caliphs” (Esposito 284).
What is helping with reform is the internet because with access to the internet, now more than ever, Islam is accessible and open to communication. The Internet allows modern Muslims to bypass local mosques and to get teachings from anywhere. People can also watch and experience Islam’s form of tele-evangelists such as Amr Khaled, being thought of as the first, and Aa Gymnastiar. Aa Gymnastiar is even popular with some Christians because of “his emphasis on religious pluralism and belief that all religions ultimately preach the same message” (Esposito 266). It is now a two way “super-highway” with information flowing in to the Muslim world from the West and information flowing in to the West from the Muslim World.
The West and Islam have experienced extremely rocky patches increasingly in more recent years with terror actions being committed such as 9/11. The negative media surrounding these events overshadows Islam’s efforts to separate itself from fringe groups and unfairly lumps together all Muslims which is causing a rise of Islamophobia in recent years. Two major responses to events such as 9/11 were the Amman Message and “A Common Word Between Us and You”. The Amman message outrightly “rejected extremism as a deviation from Islam beliefs and affirmed Islam’s message of tolerance” (Esposito 287). “A Common Word Between Us and You” is an open letter from leaders of Islam to the leaders of Christianity to band together and is an effort to show how Islam and Christianity agree in many aspects.
Even with these responses people will not find much of this in the media, but instead Islam, by the media, is “painted as a triple threat: political, civilizational, and demographic” (Esposito 290). Media often portrays Islam as the demonized “radical ‘other’… in political commentary and cartons, movie, and TV villains, and anti-Muslim social media websites” (Esposito 290). President Bush in his Presidential Address on September 20, 2001, “drew a sharp distinction between Islam and Muslim extremist” but this distinction is often overshadowed by statements from “prominent members of the American administration, Congress, the US Military, and especially by leaders of the hardline Christian Right” (Esposito 291). The media has a focus for “headline events” thus “emphasizing the negative sensational, and violent coverage of Islam and Muslims” (Esposito 295). According to polls done by Gallup of Americans in 2011 “one decade after the 9/11 attacks, 59 percent expressed a negative view of Islam” (Esposito 292). A dramatic shift of how the media portrays Islam can be seen by how in 2001, “2 percent of all news stories in Western media presented images of Muslim militants, while just over 0.1 percent presented stories of ordinary Muslims” and then in 2011, 25 percent showed militant images while again only 0.1 percent showed ordinary Muslims (Esposito 296).
Islam in America has a very diverse heritage that must be understood such as many of the slaves brought over to the US probably practiced Islam to begin with, the freed slave brought about the rise of Black Islam, and Muslim immigrants bringing their diverse background to the US. In Esposito’s book he quotes that about 20 percent of African slaves were Muslims, but that number is extremely low and is probably on the upwards of 80% (Esposito 77). There is no way of knowing for sure since no records would have been kept of this information. Slaves were forced to leave behind their practices, but once the slaves were free, many African Americans switched to Islam because Christianity was the religion of the oppressive white man. Many would want to associate with the religion that their abusers practiced. Islam also feels very similar to Christianity. These were all a subconscious factors in deciding to convert but played a major role in the emergence of Black Islam. Black Islam started off more fringe with Elijah Muhammad founding the most “prominent and lasting movement in 1930s” (Esposito 78). A well-known follower was Malcolm X. He went under a second conversion toward more mainstream Sunni Islam while on the Pilgrimage to Mecca. Overtime Black Islam had gone through phases and stages to more mainstream Islam where it is today. Muslims “come from more than 68 countries as well as African Americans” and Hispanic and Caucasian converts (Esposito 84). The question for Muslims is how American can I be and still be a Muslim? Muslims want to be good citizens, and they want to incorporate their religion. They want to integrate, becoming a part of the whole without losing self, instead of assimilating, losing all the past self. Today a majority of “American Muslims are in fact educationally, economically, and increasingly politically and religiously integrated in American society” (Esposito 85).
As American Muslims and Muslims in the West, Muslims face new issues of being a part of the Western culture. To deal with new issues, they have to look back to tradition and sources like the Quran for answers on how they should handle it. In this spirit, when Muslims look back at tradition “the dynamics of Islamic law, it historic ability to provide answers appropriate to changing and diverse sociohistorical context is preserved” (Esposito 86). The West and Islam still clash over the West mishandling things such as the women wearing the hijab and the rise of Islamophobia, all while Islam still is growing in the West. An “Islamic Revolution” is happening all over the world where Muslims can be found (Esposito 298). Islamic reform “is one of the pen, tongue and heart rather than the sword” and affects many societies and communities (Esposito 298). Media using flashy headlines based on fringe groups’ terror actions should not “obscure the lives and activities of most Muslims today” (Esposito 298).
Cited: Esposito, John L. Islam: The Straight Path. Oxford University Press, 2016.