ࡱ> SURq` G,bjbjqPqP .<::G$$ 1$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 0000000$2hh40] $ $ ] ] 0$ $ 0 ] $ $ 0 ] 0 RS)3,$  нq7' ^G*0001e*B5 .B5<3,3,B5/$ >b , $ $ $ $ 00 $ $ $ 1] ] ] ] |d| Charting the way ahead: Tariq Ramadan and the future of Western Islam By Auwais Rafudeen Muslim communities in the West are undergoing visible introspection in a post 9/11 world. Whether in America, Britain or elsewhere they are loudly talking among themselves about where they at and where they ought to be. One of the most prominent voices charting this territory is the acclaimed Islamic thinker Professor Tariq Ramadan. In his Western Muslims and the Future of Islam he describes the major challenges that face Muslims in the Western context and proposes a vision through which Muslim citizens of Western countries can become full, contributing members of their societies. We will touch upon some of his thoughts here given its palpable relevance for South African Muslims. Ramadan is adamant that Western Muslims must not see themselves as a minority, as on the margin of mainstream society. They must see themselves as part of the mainstream, as integrated, contributing members of the society. This implies a mind shift: a shift away from seeing the West as alien and having ones real roots located elsewhere to one where the West becomes a genuine home. And, consequently, Western Muslims should strive to be intellectually, politically and financially independent of Muslim homelands. As Ramadan puts it: Western citizens of the Muslim faith must think for themselves, develop theses appropriate to their situation, and put forward new and concrete ideas. They must refuse to remain dependent, either on the intellectual level or, more damagingly, on the political and financial levels. Ramadan is no free-ranging modernist. He shows fidelity to classical Islamic law and spirituality and believes that his ideas follow from a faithful, orthodox interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah. The Quran, he says, takes intelligence and reasoning capacity for granted. The majority of its verses demand real interpretative effort [ijtihad] on the bases of certain well worked out principles developed by the early scholars. In the area of societal affairs [economics, politics, culture] in particular it leaves a huge gap for the exercise of reason and creativity. There is ample scope to experiment and innovate as long as the boundary of the explicitly forbidden is not crossed. A Muslim community is not then tied to a particular type of political, economic or social model. They can adopt any model as long as the essential Islamic principles underlying all models are respected. In fact models are bound to change because time changes. Political and economic systems become more complex over time and the Muslim community is in fact duty bound to develop a model appropriate to their given context. Culture, too, is not static and monochrome. Ramadan points out that the revealed sources compel Muslims to integrate all that is acceptable in other cultures everything that is not against an established principle- and integrate it as part of their own. This principle has historically enabled Muslims to settle in and make their own all cultures in which they have established themselves as can clearly be seen in Asia and Africa. Similarly there should be no problem for Muslims in applying this principle to their interaction with the West. Applying the principle will give birth to a European or American Islamic culture: a culture imbibed with universal Islamic principles but sustained by the history, traditions, styles and tastes of Western countries. Muslims, Ramadan urges, need to go beyond the confines of the mosque, the Islamic bookshop and the Islamic association to recognize the good in Western culture, literature the arts. Islamic bookshops, for example, can offer customers new literary horizons- novels, short stories, as well as works in the humanities and philosophy. The same approach should be followed with regard to music, cinema and television Some may feel uneasy about such close interaction. Among other things, they may argue that there is a contradiction in fully belonging to the Umma and to a nation-state at the same time. Ramadan does not see a conflict. He says that we are talking about two different entities. Belonging to an ummah is primal [about ones deepest being] while belonging to a nation-state is spatial and relational [a relation to the constitution]. But, one may ask, what if the constitution clashes with Islamic values? Ramadan replies by making an important distinction between what the law allows one to and what the law compels one to do. We may read the following into what Ramadan says: the law allows many things, including a large space to fulfil ones Islamic requirements. Although it allows many things that are at variance with Islam, it does not compel one to adopt them. And for this reason he believes that it is illegitimate for a Muslim living in the West to act against the law. Ramadan is rather critical of Islamic schools in the West. He believes that these schools only cater for a small percentage of Muslim children. They become schools for the affluent if not subsidized. He asks: What about the others who cannot afford these schools? Further, he believes that these schools create an artificially Islamic environment closed off from the Western world they are surrounded by. There is no link to the society around it. Students do not know how to live an integrated life once they graduate from these schools. A scattering of Islamic teachings do not necessarily forge an intelligent, conscious Muslim. As an alternative Ramadan proposes a complementary between the standard education given in the West and the overall Islamic message. Thus he says to go with the adequate public school system already provided. Then a complementary religious education is correlated to the schools program and adapted to levels of understanding determined by patterns at school. In this way, the religious teaching becomes far more integrated with secular knowledge and students will experience an ongoing contextual understanding of their religion. As full citizens of a country, Ramadan believes that Muslims should develop a state of mind that thinks of responsibilities rather than rights. This starts at the individual level. They should also strive to respect and promote the rights of all- not only that of their own community. Besides legal rights, this should include social rights of disadvantaged social classes. This reaching out to beyond their own community should include creating partnerships with other religions to promote a shared ethics, as well as with groupings who have a shared commitment to human rights. Further, he thinks that Islamic organizations should develop associations that are not based simply on the Muslim identity of their founders reach beyond to be an encounter and dialogue with the other. In terms of political involvement Western Muslims must be principled but flexible. They should be focused in their political strategy on the social benefits that will accrue to the Muslim community of a particular course of action. In the less than ideal situations they will presumably often encounter that may have to choose the lesser of two evils. They should acknowledge the positive political features of their society, fight all forms of injustice as a priority and have a keen continuing awareness of the actors and the key points in the social and political dynamics of their situation. Their involvement in the political processes must always lead to greater justice. For this reason they cannot co-operate with a dictatorial government and their members must be wary of being used as pawns to get the minority vote. Economically, Western Muslims must be aware that the current system is fundamentally unjust. Everyone has become enmeshed in the global economic system with all its injustices, its new look colonialism and long distance slavery. There exists no space currently for an untainted Islamic economics. This does not mean that we should remove ourselves from the economic system. On the contrary, that is an unrealistic strategy and one should continue working in the system. But our intent should be to acquire the means to create a viable alternative to the dominant system while protecting the possessions and independence of Muslims in their society. Again, Muslims must not go it alone but get involved with groups seeking alternative economic frameworks. Ramadan has an interesting take on zakaah. He believes that an effective system of zakah- one which will establish a real system of social security and that frees the poor from their dependency can only come into being by wedding a thorough knowledge of the social context to the giving of the alms tax. What do we need to do to make the poor ultimately independent of the need for zakaah? This will involve employing zakaah giving strategies that lead to autonomy not continued dependence. It will mean, for example, using zakaah as a means to buy tools or rent land to create a sustainable income. Ramadans ideas may be somewhat contentious and they demand critical scrutiny. But whatever ones take on his views, I think the issues he raises need to be priritized as Muslim communities chart their course through the 21st century. 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