Liberal Muslim movements

For modernist reform movements in Islam, see Islamic Modernism.

World Muslim population by percentage (Pew Research Center, 2014).

Liberal movements within Islam involve professed Muslims who have produced a considerable body of liberal thought on the re-interpretation and reform of Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as "progressive Islam" (Arabic: الإسلام التقدمي‎‎ al-Islām at-taqaddumī ), although some regard progressive Islam and liberal Islam as two distinct movements.

The methodologies of liberal or progressive Islam rest on the interpretation and re-interpretation of traditional Islamic scripture (the Quran) and other texts (such as the Hadith), a process called ijtihad (see below). This can vary from the slight to the most liberal, where only the meaning of the Quran is considered to be a revelation, with its expression in words seen as the work of the Muhammad in his particular time and context. As a consequence, liberal/progressive Muslims may then interpret verses from the Quran allegorically or even set them aside.

Liberal Muslim intellectuals who have focused on religious reform include Muhammad Ali, Sayyid al-Qimni, Nasr Abu Zayd, Khalil Abdel-Karim, Abdolkarim Soroush, Mohammed Arkoun, Mohammed Shahrour, Ahmed Subhy Mansour, Edip Yuksel, Gamal al-Banna, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Ahmed Al-Gubbanchi, Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, and Faraj Foda. Taha was hanged in 1985 under the sharia regime of Jaafar al-Nimeiri and Foda was assassinated in 1992 by al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya .

Some liberal Muslims see themselves as returning to the principles of the early Ummah and to the ethical and pluralistic intent of their scripture, the Quran. They distance themselves from some traditional and less liberal interpretations of Islamic law which they regard as culturally based and without universal applicability. The reform movement uses monotheism (tawhid) "as an organizing principle for human society and the basis of religious knowledge, history, metaphysics, aesthetics, and ethics, as well as social, economic and world order".

Reform

See also: Reformism

The reform movements of Islam, like Reform Judaism, are movements within their parent religion, rather than an attempt at schism. They seek to adapt a traditional religion to liberal, human rights–oriented values, like Reform Judaism does with Judaism.

Reform Muslims, like their more orthodox peers, believe in the basic tenets of Islam, such as the Six Elements of Belief and the Five Pillars and they consider their views to be fully compatible with Islam. Their main differences with more conservative Islamic opinion are twofold. The first lies in differences of interpretation of how to apply the core Islamic values to modern life, the second a more reactionary dialectic which criticizes traditional narratives or even rejects them, thus denying any obligation to follow them while also allowing greater freedom in interpreting Quran regardless of the hadith.

Central tenets

Several generally accepted tenets have emerged:

• The autonomy of the individual in interpreting the Quran and Hadith. More liberal trends include rejecting Hadiths completely (like Quran Alone Muslims) or partially (including hadiths considered authentic (Sahih) by traditionalists) like Gamal Al-Banna.
• A more critical and diverse examination of religious texts, as well as traditional Islamic precedents.
• Complete gender equality in all aspects, including ritual prayer and observance.
• A more open view on modern culture in relation to customs, dress, and common practices. Certain rules on modesty amongst men and women are still self-enforced in response to the Quran's injunction against immodest dress.
• The individual use of ijtihad (interpretation) and fitrah (natural sense of right and wrong) is advocated.

Contemporary and controversial issues

Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, in accordance with their increasingly modern societies and outlooks, liberal Muslims have tended to reinterpret many aspects of the application of their religion in their life in an attempt to reconnect with the original message, untouched by harmful cultural influences. This is particularly true of Muslims who now find themselves living in non-Muslim countries.

Such people may describe themselves variously as liberal, progressive, or reformist (in application but not in the tenets of the faith); but rather than implying a specific agenda, these terms tend to incorporate a broad spectrum of views which contest conservative, traditional interpretations of Islam in many different ways. Although there is no full consensus amongst liberal Muslims on their views, they tend to agree on some or all of the following beliefs:

Reconstruction

In The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam one of Islam's greatest philosophers, Muhammad Iqbal called for a re-examination of the intellectual foundations of Islamic philosophy. The book is a major work of modern Islamic thought and it was a major influence on Ghulam Ahmed Pervez and the organization Tolu-e-Islam.

Ijtihad

Main article: Ijtihad

Critical ijtihad is the questioning of traditional interpretations of the Qur'an which reformist Muslims found to be intellectually stifling in the light of modern wisdom and scientific knowledge. Most liberal Muslims reject the derivation of Islamic laws from absolute literal readings of single Quranic verses. They generally claim a holistic view which takes into account the 7th-century Arabian cultural context and then allows deeper insight into the manner in which the commands of God (Allah) are carried out. Some scholars, however, say that this is a veiled form of "biddah", or innovation, and reject critical evaluation as a whole.

Human rights

Further information: Human rights in Islamic countries and Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam

Abdul Ghaffar Khan with Mahatma Gandhi.

Moderate Islamic political thought contends that the nurturing of the Muslim identity and the propagation of values such as democracy and human rights are not mutually exclusive, but rather should be promoted together.

Most liberal Muslims believe that Islam promotes the notion of absolute equality of all humanity, and that it is one of its central concepts. Therefore, a breach of human rights has become a source of great concern to most liberal Muslims. Though human rights is perceived to be of the utmost concern of all devoted adherents to the Islamic faith, liberal Muslims differ with their culturally conservative counterparts in that they believe that all humanity is represented under the umbrella of human rights. Many Muslim majority countries have signed international human rights treaties, but the impact of these largely remains to be seen in local legal systems – a point highlighted by the fact that most countries which impose conservative interpretations of Shariah law are amongst the most repressive countries in the world, while secular states are often the most open and tolerant.

Muslim liberals often reject traditional interpretations of Islamic law, which allows Ma malakat aymanukum and Slavery. They say that Slavery opposed Islamic principles which they believe to be based on justice and equality and some say that verses relating to slavery or "Ma malakat aymanukum" now can not be applied due to the fact that the world has changed, while others say that those verses are totally misinterpreted and twisted to legitimize slavery.

Within the framework of justice and equality for all, Muslim liberals include gay rights as a human right.

Feminism

Main article: Islamic feminism

See also: Women in Islam, Gender roles in Islam, and Islam and domestic violence

Islamic feminism symbol.

The place of women in Islam, correct gender roles in Islam and Islamic feminism are likewise major issues. For this reason, liberal Muslims are often critical of traditional Islamic law interpretations which allow polygyny for men but not polyandry for women, as well as the traditional Islamic law of inheritance under which daughters receive less than sons. Traditional Muslims believe this is balanced by the right of a woman to be taken care of by her brother(s) until her marriage, and the rights of a wife to her husband's money and her dowry (Mahr), whereas the husband does not have a right to his wife's money. In addition to paying for the younger sister's upkeep, the surviving sons need additional funds to pay dowries to their future wives, an expense women do not have to bear.

It is also accepted by most liberal Muslims that a woman may lead the state, and that women should not be segregated from men in society or in mosques. These views are generally rejected by traditional Muslim scholars, including scholars from the four schools of Islamic thought, as they have been in the past. Some liberal Muslims accept that a woman may lead a mixed group in prayers, despite the established custom for women to pray behind or in a separate space. However, this issue remains controversial; see women as imams. Some Muslim feminists are also opposed to the traditional dress requirements for women (commonly called hijab), claiming that any modest clothing is sufficiently Islamic for both men and women. Some of the groups, particularly the Quranists, reject hadiths.

Secularism

Main articles: Islam and secularism and Secularism in the Middle East

See also: Criticism of Sharia law and Application of sharia law by country

Some liberal Muslims favor the idea of modern secular democracy with separation of church and state, and thus oppose Islam as a political movement.

The existence or applicability of Islamic law is questioned by some liberals. Their argument often involves variants of the Mu'tazili theory that the Quran was created by God for the particular circumstances of the early Muslim community and that reason must be used to apply it in other contexts.

Tolerance and non-violence

Main article: Islam and violence

A map of major denominations and religions of the world.

Tolerance is another key tenet of liberal Muslims, who are generally open to interfaith dialogue and conflict resolution with such communities as Jews, Christians, Hindus and the numerous factions within Islam.

Liberal Muslims are more likely to reflect the idea of jihad in terms of the widely accepted "internal spiritual struggle" rather than an "armed struggle". The ideals of non-violence are prevalent in Liberal Muslim ideology and backed by Qu'ranic text; "permission to fight is given only to those who have been oppressed... who have been driven from their homes for saying, 'God is our Lord'" (22:39). This idea is however not exclusive to liberal Muslims but is also followed in traditional Islam. Most following Islam, liberal or otherwise, accept that jihad is more of the heart than with the sword. According to traditional Islamic scholars, the sword is only drawn under circumstances which oppress the Muslim community and even in those circumstances, the strict Islamic guidelines for war have to be followed. This includes not engaging in violence with non combatants, women, children and not to destroy even the crops of the enemy lands and not to attack the people engaged in combat within places of worship unless they attack first.

Reliance on secular scholarship

Liberal Muslims tend to be skeptical about the validity of Islamization of knowledge (including Islamic economics, Islamic science, Islamic history and Islamic philosophy) as separate from mainstream fields of inquiry. This is usually due to the often secular outlook of Muslim liberals, which makes them more disposed to trust mainstream secular scholarship. They may also regard the propagation of these fields as merely a propaganda move by Muslim conservatives.

Movements

Gülen movement

Main articles: Fethullah Gülen, Gülen movement, and Interfaith dialogue

Fethullah Gülen and Pope John Paul II.

The Hizmet movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen in Turkey, Central Asia, and in other parts of the world is active in education with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as many American charter schools operated by followers. It has initiated forums for interfaith dialogue. The Cemaat movement's structure has been described as a flexible organizational network. Movement schools and businesses organize locally and link themselves into informal networks. Estimates of the number of schools and educational institutions vary widely; it appears there are about 300 Gülen movement schools in Turkey and over 1,000 schools worldwide.

Fethullah Gülen advocates cooperation between followers of different religions as well as those practicing different forms of Islam such as Alevi and Sunni in Turkey. Gülen movement participants have founded a number of institutions across the World that claim to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue activities. Among them the major ones are Istanbul based Journalists and Writers Foundation, Washington, D.C. based Rumi Forum, and New Delhi based Indialogue Foundation. In addition, London Centre for Social Studies (LCSS) was founded in 2004 by a diverse group of Gülen movement academics to generate thinking and debate amongst academics, activists, policy makers, practitioners, media and civil society organisations both at the national and international level. As a non-profit independent research organisation, LCSS uses social science research tools to address major social, political and economic issues such as migration, social cohesion, subjectivity, education, gender, human rights in a critical way.

Quranism

Main article: Quranism

See also: Criticism of Hadith

Quranists believe Muhammad himself was a Quranist and the founder of Quranism, and that his followers distorted the faith and split into schisms and factions such as Sunni, Shia, and Khawarij. Quranists reject the hadith and follow the Quran only. The extent to which Quranists reject the authenticity of the Sunnah varies, but the more established groups have thoroughly criticised the authenticity of the hadith and refused it for many reasons, the most prevalent being the Quranist claim that hadith is not mentioned in the Quran as a source of Islamic theology and practice, was not recorded in written form until more than two centuries after the death of the Muhammed, and contain perceived internal errors and contradictions.

Tolu-e-Islam

Main article: Tolu-e-Islam

The movement was initiated by Muhammad Iqbal, and later spearheaded by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez. Ghulam Ahmed Pervez did not reject all hadiths; however, he only accepted hadiths which "are in accordance with the Quran or do not stain the character of the Prophet or his companions". The organization publishes and distributes books, pamphlets, and recordings of Pervez's teachings.

Tolu-e-Islam does not belong to any political party, nor does it belong to any religious group or sect. It is strictly against sectarianism, because such acts of creating sects/divisions in Islam is equal in magnitude to "Shirk" i.e rejection of Monotheism.

North America

Main articles: Muslims for Progressive Values, Progressive Muslim Union, Muslim Canadian Congress, Canadian Muslim Union, and Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity

Europe

Main articles: Jadid and Ittifaq al-Muslimin

In Russia and CIS, Sufi orders movements within Islam (social Islam).

Further information: Progressive British Muslims

In Europe there are associations of progressive Muslims.

Asia

Main articles: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, Iranian Green Movement, and Green Party of Iran

PPP is the party with Liberal stance and Islam was official religion in Indonesia that established in 1973.

Challenges

At least one observer (Max Rodenbeck) has noted several challenges to "reform"—i.e. accommodation with the enlightenment, reason and science, the separation of religion and politics—that the other two Abrahamic faiths did not have to grapple with:

whereas Christian and Jewish reform evolved over centuries, in relatively organic and self-generated—albeit often bloody—fashion, the challenge to Islam of such concepts as empirical reasoning, the nation-state, the theory of evolution, and individualism arrived all in a heap and all too often at the point of a gun.

In addition traditional sharia law has been shaped in all its complexity by serving for centuries as "the backbone" of legal systems of Muslim states, while millions of Muslim now live in non-Muslim states. Islam also lacks a "widely recognized religious hierarchy to explain doctrinal changes or to enforce them" because it has no church.

Further reading

• Safi, Omid, Progressive Islam, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol. II, pp. 486–490. ISBN 1610691776
• Qur'an and Woman by Amina Wadud.
• American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom by M. A. Muqtedar Khan.
• Charles Kurzman, ed. (1998). Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-511622-4.
• Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, edited by Omid Safi.
• "Debating Moderate Islam", edited by M. A. Muqtedar Khan.
• Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism by Farid Esack.
• Revival and Reform in Islam by Fazlur Rahman Malik.
• The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought by Mohammed Arkoun.
• Unveiling Traditions: Postcolonial Islam in a Polycentric World by Anouar Majid.
• Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality by Pervez Hoodbhoy.
• The Viability of Islamic Science by S. Irfan Habib, Economic and Political Weekly, June 5, 2004.
• The Reformist Islamic Thinker Muhammad Shahrur: In the Footsteps of Averroes
• A Liberal Muslim Blog
• Vanessa Karam, Olivia Samad and Ani Zonneveld, eds. (2011). Progressive Muslim Identities. Oracle Releasing. ISBN 978-0-9837161-0-5.
• Charles Kurzman's Liberal Islam links, compiled by the author of Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook.
• Mustafa Akyol (2011). Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-07086-6.

See also

• Islam and modernity
• Islamism
• Islamic revival
• Islamic Modernism
• Modern Islamic philosophy