Western Muslims and the Future of Islam

WESTERN MUSLIMS AND THE FUTURE OF ISLAM, by Tariq Ramadan. Oxford University Press. 2004. 272 pp.

Reviewed by Jack Kearney

Tariq Ramadan, the aptly named professor of philosophy at the College of Geneva and professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, has written a most enlightening and challenging book. One can only hope that it will have a wide readership and cause many to question and discard the all too prevalent stereotyped views of Islam.

Muslim spirituality, says Ramadan, requires the individual to be responsible, active and intelligent–qualities which are exemplified throughout his book–together with his profound and informed belief in the teachings of Islam.

At no point does his writing become propagandistic; his urbane intellectual sophistication cannot fail to impress even the most anti-Islamic reader. This combination of belief and mastery of discourse signifies his own achievement of what he advocates for Western Muslims.

He argues convincingly that the Qur’an has been misused to produce a ghetto mentality, as if there is a contradiction between this scriptural source and European or American society such that the notion of “Western Muslim” cannot be realised. Ramadan, however insists that most of its verses “containing legal judgements are open to analysis, commentary, and interpretation”. What is essential for a rapprochement and engagement is that Muslims never lose sight of the principle of justice, their fundamental religious criterion after faith in the one God.

This leads Ramadan to give special consideration to the Islamic concept of jihad, a term which causes a good deal of anxiety in the West. For him, the concept of jihad is closely related to active and responsible citizenship, not to the frenzied undertaking of a holy war. It is the kind of effort that should enable Muslims in fact, to “stand on the side of justice and human dignity in all circumstances, in relation to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

Ramadan admits openly that there is much confusion among Muslims over the issue of women and their status, and that at present Muslim practice is far from the Qur’anic ideal of equality before God. What he advocates then is a return to the scriptural sources in order to make a clear distinction between “customs that are culturally based and Islamic principles.” Indeed he notes that “numerous Arab and Asian features have been surreptitiously introduced” into the Muslim legal heritage. Thus, he emphasises that the liberation of women can be vindicated by “complete fidelity to the principles of Islam”.

However, Ramadan anticipates the model of a “modern, autonomous, Western and profoundly Muslim woman”, which is not the same as the classical model of the “Western woman”.

Curiously, while Ramadan lists fundamentalist intransigence among the deficits of present-day Islam, and mentions the atrocities of September 11 2001, he does not deal with the problem of Al-Qaeda (and similar groups) in relation to Islam generally. However, I should not wish to dwell on these minor limitations of a most impressive work.

My own interest was strongly aroused by Ramadan’s early revelation of what the term, “Islamic” means: “submissive to and at peace with the Living One (al-Hayy), the Eternal (al-Qayyum)”.

What a vastly different world ours would be if this were understood as the essential message of the Muslim religion!

I look forward, on the basis of the insights he so patiently and rigorously makes available, to the dialogue and debate between Muslim and non-Muslim that has become desperately necessary in our stereotype- and caricature-ridden society.

A book such as his will have played no small part, I am sure, in the creation of a new vision for humanity.