my islam My Islam?

Question

My Islam

By Mona Eltahawy
Thursday, January 3, 2002; Page A17

I am a Muslim. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 shook my faith to its foundation. I am angry and ashamed that Muslims will forever be remembered for such horror.

But being angry and ashamed is not enough. Muslims must ask ourselves, how did we get here? We are long overdue for a healthy dose of introspection. We've heard many times how the U.S. government must reexamine its foreign policy and about the list of corrupt dictators it calls friends. It is just as important for Muslims to do our own soul-searching.

For starters, liberal, moderate and progressive Muslims must speak out. We've been quiet too long, and I blame us for the sad state of affairs of the Muslim Umma (community) as much as I blame the clerics, whom, I must admit, I gave up on long ago.

It is no longer enough for the clerics to issue tired platitudes on how Islam means peace and surrender. Where were they when Osama bin Laden and his coalition of terrorists vowed to target every American man, woman and child?

We have to look inward and ask ourselves what in Islam, what in the way it is practiced today, allowed bin Laden to promote his murderous message? And, please, those of you out there penning letters to tell me Islam is nothing but a bloodthirsty religion of the sword or that the Sept. 11 attacks were a Zionist conspiracy that had nothing to do with Islam -- save your ink and close those e-mail messages. I have no time for either camp.

I belong to a third camp that refuses bin Laden's options of being on his side or with the "infidels." I am fed up with the self-pity and self-denial that for too long have paralyzed Muslim thinking. By constantly blaming Western conspiracies for our ills we fuel our own helplessness. Strength is the essence of introspection.

We must make that introspection public. We should not be ashamed to question out loud. Muslims love to remind the world that the Islamic empire at its height stretched from Morocco to China. That we gave the world Avicenna, Averroes and the concept of zero. That at its founding, Islam gave women more rights than any other religion or social system.

All that is true, and I have shared in that pride. But by pointing to our achievement and not to our shortcomings we give in to what I call the Pyramid curse. I am from Egypt, home to the Great Pyramids of Giza. When I lived in Cairo I would swell with pride whenever I saw those magnificent structures. But that pride was often tempered with sadness that their magnificence was a reminder of what Egypt used to be. They are three gauntlets thrown down nearly 5,000 years ago by a golden dynasty whose splendor we strain to understand, let alone better.

Some may question who I am to speak for Muslims. My answer is who is bin Laden? He received no formal religious education but took it upon himself to represent us. He does not represent me. I am a Muslim woman who is wrestling with her faith and questioning its meaning for me today. It is equally my right to speak out.

About 10 years ago, I went through a crisis of faith that swept away lazy answers and made me realize how much work it takes to keep my faith viable. For inspiration I turned to Muslim scholars whom I considered revolutionaries. They were reinterpreting Islam by looking at it squarely with modern eyes. They dared to utter the R-word -- reformation.

One of these books was "Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights, and International Law," by Abdullahi An-Na'im, an Emory University law professor. I recently turned once more to his book and wrote to Prof. An-Na'im to seek his advice.

He wrote back to tell me that he was about to oversee a new program that includes supporting nine fellows over the next three years to promote human rights in their own communities from an Islamic perspective.

Muslims in America are fortunate because we are free to debate without risking our lives. Prof. An-Na'im's book presents and builds upon ideas of Sudanese Muslim jurist Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. The Sudanese government publicly executed Taha in January 1985. Many Muslims consider Taha's ideas controversial because of their espousal of reform, but they offer a welcome alternative to the fundamentalists, whose ideas too often go unchallenged.

Kevin Hasson pointed out in his Dec. 27 op-ed article how religious freedom in America had influenced the Catholic Church. American Jewish friends have told me how their faith has evolved in America and given birth to the Reconstructionist movement. Muslims in America have the chance to lead the way for the Umma.

Washington Post

Mona Eltahawy Website

Answer 1

Hi ,
I'm so proud that some Moslims begin to write to make the whole world understand what Islam and to discuss their faith .If you may I want to give my oppenion as a Moslim .

First of all , if you are wrestling with your faith , you have to determine what are the points that produce this wrestling , then you have to find a good resources that will give you the answers for these points ( you have to start with Quran and the books that explain Quran ( Tafseer) but you have to choose good books like Eben Kather , and you have to read Hadeeth ( try to read Saheh Moslim and Bekhri ) . By this way you will find very very adequet answers and it will stop the wrestling .

Second , I like your view , but do not make every thing about bin ladin for many reasons ,
1- Is bin ladin made Sep 11?, and give me one strong evidence.
2- is Bin Ladin still exist ? or he is dead ? Many poeople in deed can fack pictures and voices , so give me one evidence that he is really exist .
3- do Bin Ladin represent all Moslims ? I think no . and I believe that there is rules in Islam to fight , read the related books about (Jehad ) you will find that Moslims should not kill civilians, .

On conclusion , your faith should not depend on one person acts , because this person could act in wrong way . Your faith must be built on Quran and Hadeath rules

Answer 2

You have written a very intelligent, well thought out discussion. You ask excellent questions.

Most Muslims are peace loving people practicing a peaceful religion. Those who would use any religion as an excuse to torture or murder others, are not true followers of that faith, but are terrorists. No religion, Islam included, teaches to kill others in the name of God.

Keep promoting the good. It gives the rest of the world a more accurate picture of what Islam really is since the terrorists get most of the attention & subsequently tarnish the religion.

Answer 3

Is it a question or a statement?
I'm very happy with the drift.
I agree the Osama should pretend to speak for all Islam. And I agree that he should be denounced by Muslim preachers for what he is, a murderous villain. But I think that Muslims are not the only ones who need some introspection. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the other USA citizens joined the club?

Answer 4

THANK YOU for speaking out!! I personally don't hold the Islamic Religion at fault for the turmoil that we are in. But it is the individual that uses the Islamic Religion as a platform to launch the terrible act of violence against both Muslims and Americans by saying that this is a war of religions. I thought the religion wars were a thing of the past by about 300 yrs. ago. It is the individual that I hold responsible for the acts of terror, not the Islamic Religion. Yes, the USA needs to learn more tolerance with religions that we may not understand. Again, thank you for speaking out. O,yes what was the question??

Answer 5

Nicely said. I am a muslim and i agree with her. I wish all of us can end this terrorism and misery , my uncle was there in the WTC building and he was dead as well .he is a muslim and i am really sure he didn't ask to be killed in such a way the 9/11 is NOT Jihad ,Thats a murder ,same like what zionist are doing in leb now. Jihad is just for defensive purposes. If only everyone can understand that instead of bashing each other

Answer 6

WEll executed. I am catholic and I am proud that you stuck up. THe world needs people like you who dispell the myths that all muslim are evil cold hearted killers. I was an expat in Jakarta Indonesia since birth and the people there are not cold blooded killers. I am still living right. IF people just travelled and lived as an expat, lived the law of the land, and tolerated each other like the person who asked the question, you would not have idiots running around slandering other people's religion.

Answer 7

Certainly well spoken, I see hope in your words and am happy to here of those in your faith leading the way to a more peacful Muslum religon. (if that's the right phrase) I am christian in faith and believe that we can live in peace here on this rock and learn from each other. Maybe with the changes you discribed the old ways will be lost one day. We can only hope and pray about these things.

Answer 8

I agree with your opinion that muslim leaders should speak the truth and make clarification of others accusation.But I think our religion teachers/ulamas and our chief leader of muslim organizations select silent operation because silent is gold.They do not want insulting others.

Answer 9

I suspect the vast majoritiy of Muslims feel much as you do. It's a shame that extremists sully the entire faith.

However, I'm not sure if you are asking a question.

Answer 10

Now if only a whole bunch if not most of the Clerics would have come out and said things like that...