discrimination and, more recently, the perceived vilification of Islam.”
A UK Muslim convert writes:
We [Muslims] need a new agenda. And it is essential that this not be
defined as an Islamic liberalism. Liberalism in religion has a habit of
leading to the attenuation of faith. Instead, we need to turn again to our
tradition, and quarry it for resources that will enable us to regain the
Companions’ [of the Prophet] capacity for courteous conviviality.
It is no less evident that
da’wa [missionary work on behalf of Islam] is
impossible if we abandon tradition in order to insist on rigorist and narrow
readings of the Shari’a. Our neighbours will not heed our invitation unless
we can show that there is some common ground, that we have something
worth having, and, even more significantly, that we are worth joining.
Radical and literalist Islamic agendas frequently seem to be advocated by
unsmiling zealots, whose tension, arrogance and misery are all too legible
on their faces.
There are other heartening signs. Open up a Muslim website, such as the very
popular Islam Online, based in Qatar, and look at its question-and-answer
section. This website is associated with one of the most authoritative clerics of
all, the Shaykh Yusif al-Qaradawi.
One recent exchange went as follows:
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