Are American and European muslims more liberal?

[Ibn_kumuna]

Salaam Alaikum!

I will posit a two-way response.

Phatmonkey, I recommend that you read more Middle Eastern academic journals. There you’ll find pellucid and trenchant dialogues and debates on the interpretation of the Quran and Sharia.

Further, much of what you observe is less than an introspection. What’s being circulated by Western Muslims in general, liberal Muslims in particular is a regurgitation of liberalism with an Islamic spin; nothing novel or undaunted. What I would personally like to see from more Muslim intellectuals is a well articulated and pedantic response to liberalism by challenging some of it’s assumptions. Per se, pluralism? Equality? These have yet to go through the “mill” of Islamic scrutiny with a picaresque attitude. Such would allow Muslims to convey what’s truly unique and salubrious about Islam.

My next response is connected to the first. I agree with Muslimah that the principles of the texts (Quran) are understood for the event from which they were revealed. Most who argue (not efficiently I should add) that the Quran can have new contexts and new meanings for different times lack the vigorous training and sedulous understanding of textual dynamics. The Quran was written in classical Arabic (without the vowel dots), not modern Arabic. Therefore, to understand what Quran says and what the Quran “really means” one would need to master Arabic, classical Arabic (I would also say Aramaic) and Hadith scientific investigation to truly be able to put forth a “reinterpretation”. Much of what is written on liberal sites and in liberal books fall short of understanding philological and etymological examination for textual investigation.

The above doesn’t argue that the Quran is static. Far from it. I insist that liberal responses are less than compelling when put to the test.