Us Muslims have a real problem. A huge one. And this problem does not exist in all of us, but it exists in enough of us that it has considerable consequences on the rest of humanity, Muslim or not. I woke up to three reports of terrorist attacks on three different places around the world just this morning alone. Not to mention the attacks that happen on a daily basis in ISIS and Al Qaeda controlled territories. Not to mention the growing movement towards radicalization and extremism that cannot be denied. This problem did not suddenly exist, but is rooted in the way many Muslims are taught Islam throughout their childhood and into adulthood.
I'll call this problem the fear of modernity and interpretive studies. Meaning as Muslims, we are so scared to offend our holy texts and our cultures that it has become extremely difficult for us to stand back, take a look at our community and offer constructive criticism lest we get accused of blasphemy. There is no doubt that the Quran has many violent verses. That is not something I am ashamed of nor is it something that should be erased from Islam and our history. There is also no doubt however, that those verses came down for a specific time and place and cannot be applied across the board unless those same exact situations are replicated today. These verses came down at times of war to set guidelines for the battleground and not to mercilessly and, excuse the harshness of the word, idiotically wage wars against our fellow human beings.
This is clear to many Muslims of course. But it also unclear to far way too many Muslims and that is exactly how terrorists use Islam to justify their political violence. Using verses that have been sent down for situations long gone or have been sent as guidelines for situations that do not currently exist in today's world. This does not only apply to verses about war, but to slavery, the taking in of concubines and other practices that existed in pre, and post, Islamic culture at the time of the Prophet Mohamed pbuh that do not and should not exist today.
But the problem does not stop only at verses relating to those three topics. This fear of looking at the Quran and Islamic culture critically in order to better ourselves and our communities exists with every controversial topic, verse and hadith (teachings of the prophet that have been recorded through word of mouth) that there is. I can tell you that there are Muslims reading this right now thinking that I'm an apostate, unworthy of the title "Muslim" because I dared point out that Muslims have a problem. I am probably being thought of as an innovator (which surprisingly is used as an insult meaning someone who tries to modernize Islam) and someone out there is wondering why I'm speaking out of line because I am not a scholar. Except Islam wasn't sent down for scholars. Islam was sent down for regular folk, and if us regular folk are not given the room to take a closer look at our own religion, then it is not a religion at all. It then becomes a tool of exploitation supported and rooted in hierarchy. If you are not an imam or a religious scholar, shut up and follow blindly. Right? Is that not what we are told basically? That because we are not scholars that we have no right to be critical? That we are in no place to make observations based on one of the obvious causations of terrorism within the Islamic context? Many Muslims today shy away from looking deeper into their religion in case they find something they don't like. That was me. I was so scared to read up on controversial topics because I knew, as a woman who does not accept illogical stances and backward practices, I would find many things in my religion that would raise important questions. Questions I did not have the answers to neither was I so sure I wanted to know the answers to in the first place. Why? Because then I might just want to take a critical look at the text I follow as a Muslim which, to many people, would be me overstepping my boundaries not just as a follower of the religion, but as a woman. We are told that the Quran is adaptable to all times and is relevant to all people, but at the same time told that the Quran cannot be interpreted to fit our lives today because then we are "modernizing" it. Except how can we shy away from modernity if we ourselves live in the modern world. No one here today was alive at the time of the prophet and we cannot recreate a world that existed a thousand plus years ago. Neither should we want to.
Many young Muslims stop practicing Islam, or leave Islam all together, because we have been taught to fear criticism. We go up in flames when non Muslims point out the obvious and when we ourselves do it we are accused of being non believers (which I've been accused of regularly). We are told that the Quran leaves no room for human interpretation while reading verses through which Allah, time after time, tells us to use our brains. To think. To reflect. To read. To educate ourselves. So which is it? Do we hold back our own questions and criticisms in fear that some Muslims will ostracize us, or do we do what Allah told us to do and use the brain He gave us? We do not have to change the Quran or throw away our cultures, but what we can do is stop shying away from asking questions and looking at different interpretations and contexts of controversial, and even non controversial, topics within Islam to further understand the religion we practice. Just as there is an obvious move towards radicalization, there has to be a move towards engaging in dialogues that include all Muslims regardless of background and sect, and not just scholars and imams. If we do not start taking a critical look at our current practices and interpretations we will never move forward. Terrorism is not something that can be fought through wars waged by non Muslims who do not know our culture, but through our own efforts to start a much needed discussion on how Islam has been taught to us and how it will be taught to future generations.
