In watching THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a quintessentially American story of religious progress. In many ways, this country was born out of a desire to reshape existing religious traditions to fit changing realities and beliefs.
Indeed, there is little that is unique about Asra Nomani’s struggle to achieve equality of worship for herself and other women in the Muslim community of Morgantown, West Virginia. American Christians and Jews have been fighting similar struggles for well over a century as members of both faiths struggled to create a “positive historical” form of their religions based on a willingness to reexamine what were previously fundamental tenets of their faith on issues regarding the infallibility of religious texts, gender relations, relations with other faith communities and, most importantly, equality and justice within their communities. To quote one of the leaders of the mosque, Christine Arja, “I want [an Islam] that fits in with my culture too.”
Crucial to creating such an Islam is Nomani’s realization that much of what her fellow worshippers have assumed was inalterable doctrines of their faith, such as women praying separately from men, are in fact not mandated by the Qur’an and therefore could be challenged by women and men who want to pray and celebrate together inside the mosque. More difficult, but equally important, is the willingness by Nomani and her allies to confront verses in the Qur’an that have traditionally been interpreted as mandating the hitting of disobedient women, avoiding friendships with Jews and Christians, or violent holy war.
The conflicts within Morgantown’s Muslim community are not unique to American Islam — the same issues are behind attempts to re-imagine Islam in the Muslim majority world and Europe as well. They are part of the larger process whereby members of all the world’s major religions are slowly understanding, in the words of the Swiss Islamic theologian and philosopher Tariq Ramadan regarding his religion, that “in the global era, what’s good for Islam must be good for the world, and what’s not good for the world can no longer be considered good for Islam.”
Some of the particular issues of the debates within the Muslim community of Morgantown are particularly relevant to the larger issues of Islam’s relations with other cultures and faiths. The first is the supposed link, clearly espoused by Nomani, between the cultural and religious conservatism of many mosque members and political extremism. For her, there is a direct link between the unwillingness of the (largely) Arab-born leaders of the mosque to allow woman to worship next to men and the purportedly expressed views by these members in support of hate-filled rhetoric or even violence. Yet others in the mosque — both those who oppose her agenda and those who generally support her goals — disavow such a link.
There’s not enough evidence presented in the movie to determine which side is right, but here again it’s worth noting that conservative Christian and Jewish communities in the U.S. are similarly among the most antagonistic towards other faiths, and willing to sanction negative views and even violence towards others. Indeed, as I watched the film I couldn’t help wondering how many Christians and Jews in Evangelical or Orthodox congregations have been as willing to take on the patriarchal, xenophobic and even violent theology of their co-worshipers? Not enough, that’s for sure.
As Nomani put it, “It’s not just about women’s rights, it’s about a greater intolerance. We have to have zero tolerance for the kinds of words spewing out of our pulpit.” It’s hard not to say “Amen” to such a sentiment no matter what your religion. At the same, however, one can understand the misgivings and even anger of some of the more progressive members of the mosque towards her rabble-rousing tactics. More than one argued that much of what Nomani wanted could have been achieved even more quickly if she worked within the mosque rather than making her fight so public, using, in another member’s words, “silent persistent activism.”
I’m not sure I buy this argument, however. Communal change rarely happens without people willing to risk their position inside the community to force other members to confront injustice and oppression within it. As one of the more liberal members of the mosque, Ihtishaam, argued, “It might not be politically correct, but those laws are what make Islam, Islam.” But the point is that the vast majority of the laws Nomani and other progressives are fighting against are not from the Qur’an, but rather human interpretations that are historically grounded and can and should change with the times.
In fact, some members began this film vehemently disagreeing with her only to admit later that once they had looked at the sources themselves they realized she was right. While it’s true that the mosque gradually opened up during the several years covered by the film despite many members wanting to ban her, it’s hard for me to imagine these changes would have occurred anywhere near as quickly if Nomani hadn’t pushed the agenda and forced the community to confront its problems “from the outside,” as one of the other members of the mosque lamented. Rarely can groups or communities move forward enough unless some members are willing to go too far to, in Nomani’s words, “Push and push and push until we turn the corner and let the best of Islam shine through.”
THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN shows the struggles one small Muslim American community is going through to create a truly American Islam. It’s a story that should resonate with Christians and Jews who are still struggling, sometimes against great odds, to bring out the best in their religions.
Mark LeVine is Professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture and Islamic studies at UC Irvine and author or editor of more than half a dozen books, including Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, 2008), Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009) and Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld Publications, 2005).
Tags: Asra Nomani, Christine Arja, community, culture, Ihtishaam Qazi, interfaith parallels, social change methods, Tariq Ramadan
American Muslim Identity
Response to The Mosque in Morgantown
by Ali S. Asani
“This is Islam for you; it is not Islam for us”
— Sajdia Nomani in
THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN
RELIGIONS ARE LIKE RECIPES. Each tradition has its own ingredients but since these ingredients can be combined in different ways, the result is a variety of recipes, each distinctive in its own way. Over the centuries, on account of the diverse historical, political, social and economic contexts in which they have lived, Muslims have come to interpret the core components of their faith in different ways to support a wide spectrum of worldviews. For example, the Quran, the scripture that lies at the heart of the Islamic tradition, has been interpreted by Muslims to champion tolerance and intolerance, peace and war, feminism and anti-feminism. Since understandings of religion are essentially human constructions, it is hardly surprising that descriptions and characterizations of Islam, like those of other faiths, are contested. THE MOSQUE IN MORGANTOWN vividly captures some these contestations.
Intra-Islamic pluralism — that is, diversity of religious beliefs amongst Muslim communities — is a subject which most contemporary Muslims are uncomfortable discussing and which some even regard as taboo. There are several reasons for this, perhaps the most significant being that many Muslims, living in contexts in which Muslim identities and cultures are being threatened by non-Muslim (Western) hegemonies, mistakenly perceive that acknowledging and accepting a plurality of religious beliefs and practices amongst themselves is a sign of disunity and hence weakness. They, therefore, respond to questions concerning diversity of interpretation and practice within Islam by vehemently denying that it exists. Differences among Muslims are cultural, not religious, they proclaim; there is only one true Islam, frequently meaning the one in which they believe. The Swiss Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan, points out that this conception of Islam as a uniform theological monolith, and the inability to recognize and engage with intra-Muslim religious diversity has resulted in the paradoxical situation in which Muslims, either as individuals or groups, will exclude one another, even go as far as to declare each other to be infidel, and yet claim to the outside world that “we are all brothers and sisters.”
Given deep historical wounds that have festered for centuries, the mutual demonization of groups, and the ongoing competition for religious and political hegemony, intra-Muslim dialogue may seem an impossibly difficult task. Dialogue with one’s nearest is emotionally fraught with many risks and fears. Grappling with points of view that are different from one’s own and respectfully agreeing to disagree can often be challenging, testing one’s patience and humility. But these obstacles should not, however, deter us from aggressively pursuing this as a worthwhile goal. As His Highness the Aga Khan, a Muslim leader who has dedicated his life to fostering dialogue between civilizations and religions, aptly puts it: “When our diversity divides us, the results can be tragic. But when we welcome diversity — and the debate and dissent that goes with it — we sow the seeds of stability and progress.”
According to a well-known saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, “Difference of opinion in my community is a blessing.” A rapidly globalizing world in which Muslims from diverse backgrounds are encountering each other in unprecedented ways requires a paradigm shift in the ways in which Muslims relate to their co-religionists. Key Muslim nation-states, particularly in the Middle East, have yet to recognize that the notion of a monoethnic, monolingual, monoreligious state is an idea that has outlived its usefulness, for it fails to come to terms with the fundamental aspect of humanity: its diversity. This failure poses a serious threat to the fabric of several Muslim societies, which are increasingly being torn by sectarian and ethnic conflicts. It is only by recognizing pluralism as an organizing principle that these societies will be able to embrace the religious and ethnic diversity among their Muslim (and non-Muslim) populations.
Among the world’s Muslim communities, Muslim Americans are uniquely poised to undertake the difficult task of engaging with pluralism. They are faced with an unusual set of challenges and opportunities, for no other country in the world has a Muslim population as culturally diverse as that of the United States. Belonging to over 60 different ethnicities and nationalities, Muslim Americans, in fact, mirror the diverse face of the United States itself. In addition, they are theologically diverse representing many different interpretations of Islam, ranging from ultra conservative to liberal. Thus, while in some Muslim American communities women assigned to pray at the back of the prayer hall, in others they pray side by side with the men. As we try to understand what it means to be a Muslim in the United States today, it is crucial that this plurality be recognized. We should also be careful not to make broad generalizations about Muslim Americans based solely on the interpretations of a minority that happen to catch the attention of the media.
As members of a religious minority, Muslim Americans are also engaged in the age-old struggle within the United States itself between those who want to define the nation in exclusivist (Christian) ways and those who want to uphold the pluralist ideals enshrined in the Constitution and in civic norms. Pluralism both within and outside their communities provides Muslim Americans with remarkable opportunities to think creatively and in innovative ways as they interpret their religious beliefs and practices within the framework of the American dream. No doubt in a couple of generations this engagement will lead to the emergence of distinctively American forms of Islam. Already, the imam or prayer leader is being increasingly referred to as a Muslim chaplain. And just as American forms of Catholicism and American forms of Judaism have had an enormous impact on their traditions globally, it is very likely that American forms of Islam will, in the future, be at the vanguard of dialogue on diversity in the greater Muslim world. In this sense, the United States is the crucible in which new principles of intra-Islamic pluralism are being forged, sometimes painfully, and one in which the Quranic injunction that God created diversity so that we may know each other is realized for all humans, regardless of religious affiliations.
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali S. Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard. After completing his high school education in Kenya, he attended Harvard College, with a concentration in the Comparative Study of Religion. He continued his graduate work at Harvard in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, receiving his Ph.D. in 1984. He currently holds a joint appointment between the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Study of Religion. He also serves on the faculty of the Departments of Sanskrit and Indian Studies and African and African-American Studies. A specialist of Islam in South Asia, Professor Asani’s research focuses on Shia and Sufi devotional traditions. He is interested in popular or folk forms of Muslim devotional life, and Muslim communities in the West. He teaches a variety of courses on the Islamic tradition at Harvard.
Tags: Aga Khan, American Muslim Identity, pluralism, Tariq Ramadan
