Interview Shireen Qudosi: Muslims cry bias – but don’t try reform

by rawemotions Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:43 am

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-interviews-blog/trumps-right-islamic-fundamentalism-biggest-threat-us-has-intolerant-liberals-muslims-cry-bias-but-dont-try-reform/

Excerpts
There is religious fundamentalism in almost every society around the world. Even America has extremist Christian Right wing. Why are you focused on Muslim reform alone?
I focus on Muslim reform alone because I am a Muslim, both culturally and spiritually. This is what I know. This is what I grew up in and where I’m from. The same goes for anyone else. God puts us where He needs us to serve. This is where he put me.
Beyond that, Islamic fundamentalism is unlike any other extremism in that it is widespread and rapidly mutating and escalating, conflating already complicated geopolitical problems that are entangling global politics and security far beyond the pocket extremism of different faiths or social groups. Islamic fundamentalism is clearly the most violent and the biggest threat on the world stage right now.
And unlike Christian right wing extremism, Islamic extremism has a basis in Islam’s early wars and military campaigns, and through a regressive Arab culture that hasn’t evolved in a way that is expected of any demographic over time that has been in constant contact with new ideas and influences. I believe Islam is at a crossroads and all Muslims must wage a psychological war that annihilates old ideas to birth a new consciousness. The situation requires predatory focus on the real problem found in Islam’s origin story.
Many believe that Islamism around the world was a result of 1) colonialism 2) cold war 3) capitalism 4) American imperialism, hegemony and intervention. Do you agree?
Islamism around the world is a result of political Islam. It’s the result of a warring faith birthing a radical psyche that views itself as superior under Islam.
Islamism is not exactly the same as Radical Islam, which is also rooted in the faith. We’ve been killing each other long before the West even existed. The Ridda Wars, where Muslim tribes were slaughtered shortly after the prophet’s death because they rightly refused to recognize the authority of Abu Bakr, is a perfect example of that.
But failed American interventionism has played a hand in giving radical Muslims justification for jihad – a justification that we cannot forget is first and foremost offered through violence in the faith. Yet, in my opinion, radical Islam is still distinct from Islamism, which is the lesser seen but greater threat. This is all the more reason why it’s imperative that America starts getting it right on both radical Islam and Islamism. We cannot afford to keep losing on this front. Winning means first recognizing that we’re fighting on multiple fronts in a greater war.
My advice for dealing with Islamism alone includes a day one strategy for President Trump that underscores going after Muslim Brotherhood groups in the U.S. This includes involves passing H.R. 3892, the bill that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Group, and re-opening the Holy Land Foundation case, as well as looking into the financial activity of mosques in the U.S. If there’s a case where that mosque is involves in clandestine acts of shipping money overseas, you shut that mosque down and take legal action.
These aren’t going to be popular moves, but they’re necessary moves. We need a leader who is willing to be unpopular. Trump will and can do that. His career isn’t invested in politics which gives him the potential to be a powerful change agent in American politics.
What does Muslim reform entail?
Muslim reform is about reinitiating a philosophical questioning that died off in the last century. It is about continuing the tradition of scholarship that shaped Islam in its early years.
There are quite a few reformers now and not all of us will agree on what exactly is the best path forward for reform. In this sense, we’re as diverse in our views as Muslims are in the way they practice Islam. “Reform” is also a pigeon-holed term at the moment, used to describe just one set of people that have been necessarily aggressive in their campaign to highlight decrepit aspects of the faith. But reformers aren’t alone. There are many Muslims – liberal and conservative in practice – who whole heartedly agree that Islam both culturally and scripturally needs to be evaluated, and that Muslims need to do some deep soul searching to define what Islam is and what role it has in the 21st century.
And I speak for myself when I say that for me, reform is about all that and more. It’s about reconnecting Muslims with the source – with God. My goal is to look at Islam and the Prophet Muhammad with the same objectivity we have for other periods of history, to study Islam historically and scientifically, from a sociological and psychological perspective, cross-examined with thinkers and movements outside of Islam – but ultimately move past hadiths, sunnahs, the Quran and even the Prophet Muhammad to connect directly with God. Whatever the draw of Prophet Muhammad’s message was, it has become lost over time and diluted. We need to connect not just with the messenger, or the message, but with the source. That is the real work here.

by goodcitizn Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:45 am

There ought to be a survey where American Muslims honestly and anonymously respond to discern what % of them are against jihadists who (a) will report any suspicious activity to the police, (b) will not report but will discuss within their religious gathering hoping for someone else to report, (c) will do nothing for fear of repercussions, and what % support the jihadists.

Wishful thinking, of course.

Interview Shireen Qudosi: Muslims cry bias – but don’t try reform

Interview Shireen Qudosi: Muslims cry bias – but don’t try reform

Re: Interview Shireen Qudosi: Muslims cry bias – but don’t try reform