Redeeming Islam: Constructing the Good Muslim Subject in the Contemporary Study of Religion
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Published
Dec 31, 2013
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Abstract
This paper provides a perspective and analysis of the notion of ‘redeeming
Islam’ - Islam as the subject of attempts by others to save it. The paper
challenges the contemporary scholarship undertaken in the academy in
respect of the Study of Islam whereby such scholarship operates within a
context that endorses the agenda of Empire, particularly in regard to the
construction of the ‘good Muslim’ who is consistent with contemporary
notions of human rights, pluralism, non-violence and Western modes of
thought and being. The ‘bad Muslim’ is one who does not endorse or support
this project. The consequence of this type of scholarship is that it is uncritical
and unaware of the context in which it operates as well as the historicopolitical
legacy of Muslim societies in relation to colonialism and Western
violence. In addition, it ignores the pertinent questions of poverty,
sustainable development, and the voices of the marginalised – important
questions for much of the Muslim and Two Third World – while
concentrating on questions that are framed by a Northern context.
Islam’ - Islam as the subject of attempts by others to save it. The paper
challenges the contemporary scholarship undertaken in the academy in
respect of the Study of Islam whereby such scholarship operates within a
context that endorses the agenda of Empire, particularly in regard to the
construction of the ‘good Muslim’ who is consistent with contemporary
notions of human rights, pluralism, non-violence and Western modes of
thought and being. The ‘bad Muslim’ is one who does not endorse or support
this project. The consequence of this type of scholarship is that it is uncritical
and unaware of the context in which it operates as well as the historicopolitical
legacy of Muslim societies in relation to colonialism and Western
violence. In addition, it ignores the pertinent questions of poverty,
sustainable development, and the voices of the marginalised – important
questions for much of the Muslim and Two Third World – while
concentrating on questions that are framed by a Northern context.
Article Details
How to Cite
Esack, F. (2013). Redeeming Islam: Constructing the Good Muslim Subject in the Contemporary Study of Religion. Alternation Journal, (11), 36-60. Retrieved from https://journals.ukzn.ac.za/index.php/soa/article/view/402
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Personal Reflection. Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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Nixon Center Conference Report 2004. Understanding Sufism and its
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RAND Corporation 2007. Building Moderate Muslim Networks. Washington
DC: 2007 Reader. London and New York: Cassell.
Rippin, Andrew 2005. Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. New
York: Routledge.
Rorty, Richard 1979. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Sachedina, Abdelaziz 2001. Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Said, Edward W 2003. Orientalism. 25th Anniversary Edition. New York:
Vintage Books.
Salem, Paul 2003. A Critique of Western Conflict Resolution from a Non-
Western Perspective. Negotiation Journal 9/4.
Segundo, Juan Luis SJ 1991. The Liberation of Theology. New York: Orbis.
Sheppard, William 2009. Introducing Islam. New York: Routledge.
Söderström, Ola 2005. Representation. In Sibley, David, Peter Jackson,
David Atkinson & Neil Washbourne (eds): Cultural Geography: A
Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts. London: IB Taurus.
Sikand, Yoginder 2007. ‘Civic, Democratic Islam’: America’s Desperate
Search for the ‘Liberal’ Muslim’. The American Muslim. Available at:
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/tam/categories/C41/.
(Accessed 29th July 2012.)
Smart, Ninian 1999. Foreword in Connolly, Peter (ed) Approaches to the
Study of Religion. London: Continuum.
Waines, David 2005. An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Wolf, Michael (ed) 2002. Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim
their Faith. Rodale Inc.
Žižek, Slavoj 2004. Passion in The Era of Decaffeinated Belief. The
Symptom 5: 2004.
Gellner, Ernest 1993. The Mightier Pen? Edward Said and the Double
Standards of Inside-out Colonialism. Revision of Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said. Times Literary Supplement 19 February: 3
- 4.
Proudman, Mark F 2005. Disraeli as an Orientalist: The Polemical Errors of
Edward Said. Journal of the Historical Society 5 December.
Lewis, Bernard 1993. Islam and the West. London: Oxford University Press.
Irwin, Robert 2006. For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their
Enemies. London: Allen Lane.
Hopwood, Derek 2003. Albert Hourani: Islam, Christianity and Orientalism,
in Saint Anthony College Record. Available at: http://www.sant.ox.
ac.uk/antonians/ record2003.pdf. (Accessed 29 July 2012.)
Extremists. San Francisco: Harper.
Ali, Kecia 2006. Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an,
Hadith and Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oneworld.
Ali, Tariq 2003. The Clash of Fundamentalism: Crusades, Jihads and
Modernity. London: Verso.
Asad, Talal 1993. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power
in Christianity and Islam. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Asad, Talal 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam and
Modernity. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Aslan, Reza 2005. No god, but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of
Islam. New York: Random House.
Bhaba, Homi 2005. Adagio. In Bhaba, Homi & WJT Mitchell (eds): Edward
Said: Continuing the Conversation. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Cox, James L 2003. Religion without God: Methodological Agnosticism and
the Future of Religious Studies. The Hibbert Lecture: Herriot Watt
University.
Ernst, Carl W & Richard C Martin (eds) 2010. Rethinking Islamic Studies:
From Orientalism to Cosmopolitanism. Columbia, South Carolina:
University of South Carolina Press.
Feldman, Noah 2003. After Jihad – America and the Struggle for Islamic
Democracy. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Geertz, Clifford (May 27) 1982. Conjuring with Islam. In The New York
Review of Books 29/9.
Green, Gareth 2004. Theology, Hermeneutics, and Imagination: the Crisis of
Interpretation at the End of Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Gutierrez, Gustavo 1973. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and
Salvation. New York: Maryknoll and New York.
Hendrickson, Kenneth E. 2006. ‘The Big Problem with History: Christianity
and the Crisis of Meaning’. Historically Speaking March/April,7,4:25 –
27.
Henking, Susan 1996. The Open Secret: Dilemmas of Advocacy in the
(Religious Studies) Classroom. In Spacks, Patricia Meyers (ed):
Advocacy in the Classroom: Propaganda versus Engagement. New
York: St. Martin's Press.
Henking, Susan 2000. Who is the Public Intellectual? Identity, Marginality,
and the Religious Studies Scholar. ARC: Journal (Faculty of Religious
Studies, McGill University) 28:159 - 171.
Hughes, Aaron W 2007. Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an
Academic Discipline. London: Equinox.
Keppel, Gilles 2002. The War for Muslim Minds. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
Lewis, Bernard 2003. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.
Arizona: Phoenix.
Mackenzie, John M 1995. Orientalism: History, Theory and Arts.
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Majid, Anuoar 2000. Unveiling Traditions: Postcolonial Islam in a
Polycentric World. North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Mamdani, Mahmood 2005. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold
War, and the Roots of Terror. New York. Pantheon.
Martin, Richard C, Heather J. Empey, Mohammed Arkoun & Andrew Rippin
2009. Islamic Studies. In John Esposito (ed): The Oxford Encyclopedia
of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, Richard C (ed) 1985. Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies.
Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press.
Martin, Richard 2010. Islamic Studies in the American Academy: A
Personal Reflection. Journal of the American Academy of Religion
8:4896 - 4920.
Mashrabiyya.wordpress.com. Available at: http://mashrabiyya.wordpress.
com/2011/05/ 23/critical-examination-of-edward-saids-orientalism/.
(Accessed 29th July 2012).
McCutcheon, RT (ed) 1999. The Insider/ Outsider Problem in the Study of Religion. London and New York: Cassell.
Nandy, Ashis 1988. The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under
Colonialism. Delhi: Oxford UP.
Nixon Center Conference Report 2004. Understanding Sufism and its
Potential Role in US Foreign Policy.
RAND Corporation 2007. Building Moderate Muslim Networks. Washington
DC: 2007 Reader. London and New York: Cassell.
Rippin, Andrew 2005. Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. New
York: Routledge.
Rorty, Richard 1979. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Sachedina, Abdelaziz 2001. Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Said, Edward W 2003. Orientalism. 25th Anniversary Edition. New York:
Vintage Books.
Salem, Paul 2003. A Critique of Western Conflict Resolution from a Non-
Western Perspective. Negotiation Journal 9/4.
Segundo, Juan Luis SJ 1991. The Liberation of Theology. New York: Orbis.
Sheppard, William 2009. Introducing Islam. New York: Routledge.
Söderström, Ola 2005. Representation. In Sibley, David, Peter Jackson,
David Atkinson & Neil Washbourne (eds): Cultural Geography: A
Critical Dictionary of Key Concepts. London: IB Taurus.
Sikand, Yoginder 2007. ‘Civic, Democratic Islam’: America’s Desperate
Search for the ‘Liberal’ Muslim’. The American Muslim. Available at:
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/tam/categories/C41/.
(Accessed 29th July 2012.)
Smart, Ninian 1999. Foreword in Connolly, Peter (ed) Approaches to the
Study of Religion. London: Continuum.
Waines, David 2005. An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Wolf, Michael (ed) 2002. Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim
their Faith. Rodale Inc.
Žižek, Slavoj 2004. Passion in The Era of Decaffeinated Belief. The
Symptom 5: 2004.
Gellner, Ernest 1993. The Mightier Pen? Edward Said and the Double
Standards of Inside-out Colonialism. Revision of Culture and Imperialism by Edward Said. Times Literary Supplement 19 February: 3
- 4.
Proudman, Mark F 2005. Disraeli as an Orientalist: The Polemical Errors of
Edward Said. Journal of the Historical Society 5 December.
Lewis, Bernard 1993. Islam and the West. London: Oxford University Press.
Irwin, Robert 2006. For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their
Enemies. London: Allen Lane.
Hopwood, Derek 2003. Albert Hourani: Islam, Christianity and Orientalism,
in Saint Anthony College Record. Available at: http://www.sant.ox.
ac.uk/antonians/ record2003.pdf. (Accessed 29 July 2012.)