Is Islam a Peaceful Religion? Posted by Shadi Hamid

I stumbled across this article, provocatively titled “Why I am not a Moderate Muslim.” It is yet another addition to the tired and bloated genre of Islamic apologetics. I sympathize with what the author (Asma Khalid) is trying to do here – reclaim Islamic discourse from extremists. But the article comes off as defensive, with the usual clichés about “Islam is peace,” and “jihad really means something other than holy war.” Yes, as a Muslim, I personally happen to think that Islam – in its original, revealed form, as God intended it – does not condone violence or the slaughtering of “infidels.” But Islam does not – and cannot – exist in a pure form. It exists only in its interpretive form, channeled through human understanding, an understanding that is, by definition, imperfect and compromised. (in other words, while Muslims believe that the Koran is perfect, this perfection cannot be realized by humans because once they begin to interact with the text, they invariably do so within their own limited prism, a prism which transforms the eternal into the ephemeral).

Therefore, there is no such thing as Islam as “pure” doctrine. Rather, there is only Islam as it has been constructed and re-constructed by human interaction and social context. To use social science terminology, then, Islam is a dependent, as opposed to an independent variable. Thus, to say that Islam is peace or Islam is violence, or Islam condones terrorism, is to say something which, in effect, has little meaning. Islam cannot be anything. Just the same, it can be everything. At the end of the day, because of the interpretive anarchy that has been a staple of modern Islam, it’s my word against Bin Laden’s. I can say all I want that the religious extremists are wrong, but I don’t suppose that’s much solace to the victims of religious extremists. When Muslims say that Islam is peace, they are (usually) making a sincere claim, but it is a doctrinal claim, not one that is necessarily grounded in a realistic appraisal of how Muslims behave. Whether Islam is peaceful from a doctrinal standpoint (what God intended when the Quran was revealed) is irrelevant to the question of whether Islam is peaceful from the practical standpoint (what actually happens in real life). So, yes, while Islam may be peaceful doctrinally (I think it is, although I can’t really prove it), it is not (now) peaceful as far as the daily practice of Muslims is concerned, and I think most non-Muslims would consider the latter to be more relevant. I hope that makes some amount of sense.

Coming back down to earth, the point Khalid is essentially making is that Islam is intrinsically moderate. So to be an orthodox Muslim is, then, to be a moderate Muslim. She defines “orthodoxy” as “the attempt to piously adhere to a religion’s tenets.” Well, again, who defines what these tenets are? She is correct to say that mainstream, traditional Islam does not condone violence and opposes suicide bombing, etc. But, leaving aside the question of violence and terrorism, there’s the other concern – just as important – of whether traditional “Orthodox” Islam is compatible with liberal, Western cultural life. This is what people are really asking about when they talk about Muslims in Europe. Can the way religious, observant Muslims choose to live be accommodated within a largely post-religious European environment (and, of course, vice-versa)?

I’ve made the following point in a previous post, but I’ll repeat it. If being orthodox means some or all of the following – not shaking hands with members of the opposite sex, not listening to music that uses string instruments, not entering eating establishments which serve alcohol, considering any negative statements about Prophet Muhammad as illegal speech – then, no, orthodox Islam is not compatible with Western liberalism. And that’s a problem. There is, in fact, a clash of cultures, and for us to deny what is right before our eyes is nothing less than irresponsible.

Comments

[Cal]

But, leaving aside the question of violence and terrorism, there’s the other concern – just as important – of whether traditional “Orthodox” Islam is compatible with liberal, Western cultural life....Can the way religious, observant Muslims choose to live be accommodated within a largely post-religious European environment...

To some degree, this is a universal problem among all the world's religions. Pat Robertson has called federal judges a greater threat than Al Qaeda, and said 9/11 was God's revenge for the ACLU. Pastor John Hagee and other conservative Christians are lobbying for war with Iran because they believe it will help bring on Armageddon.

As for Muslim violence, your post is far too abstract. Much of this terrorism -- while not justified -- has a context, and some of it has been encouraged by us:

In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation. The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books...

Sy hersh reported that even today we are supporting fundamentalist Sunnis in Lebanon to counter Hezbollah, in much the same way that Israel once helped Hamas so it would counter Fatah.

[Patrick S. O'Donnell]

There's much truth in what you say here. But your approach seems to leave our understanding of Islam at a purely descriptive level. I would think any critique should in the first instance be intra-traditional or else Muslims we may want to reach will ignore what we have to say. I see no reason why we cannot construct a normative definition of what is more or less 'correct' or orthodox (and orthopraxis) in Islam. Our normative conception may end up being far different than much of what comes under that rubric today, and in that sense closer to the 'truth' (as a regulative ideal in our inquiries). We then use the normative conception(s) to critique what Muslims actually do: some Muslim beliefs and practices will be more or less correct than others. And it is this normative conception which can engage in a true dialogue with other religions, can explain how Islamic beliefs are indeed (in theory, in principle) compatible with if not supportive of democratic principles and practices, even, perhaps, much of Liberalism as a political philosophy. Examples of folks doing this kind of normative work today would include Abdullah Saeed, Khaled Aboul El Fadl, Mohammed Arkoun, Farid Esack, Asma Barlas, Mohammad Fadel, among others.

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There is no "pure doctrine" for any religion. All religions, after all, have been concocted and promulgated by man.

There you go, dumping on Muslims again. How many countries have Muslims invaded? How many people have they genocided? How many atom bombs have they dropped on foreigners? How many lands have they taken over with brutal occupations? All of these are the crimes of "liberal, Western cultural life."

Yes, Muslims have a long way to go toward the equitable treatment of females and the tolerance of stringed instruments. But let's keep our perspective here. I contend that Christians and Jews have further to go along the road to a blameless life.

And there's that "suicide bombing" again. Hey--if poor Muslims had US-supplied F-16's and Apache helicopters I'm sure they'd use them.

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