For where the book is banned, censored, or difficult to access:
Reformist Quran
A progressive, 21st-century translation -- in English. The U.S. publisher bailed on it after the Prophet Muhammad cartoon riots. But fear didn't stop the translators.
February 11 marks the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Ten years after the revolution, its leader — the Ayatollah Khomeini — issued a death warrant against the novelist, Salman Rushdie.
I’m keeping both of these facts in mind as I begin to write a new chapter of my next book.
A bit of background: Recently, I announced an experiment called “Notes From My Next Book.” With this experiment, I’m giving you a sneak peak at ideas being explored in my next book and inviting you to comment on them. Click here to learn more.
This week, I’m starting to write a chapter tentatively entitled, “Culture is not sacred.” My point is that Arab tribal culture, emanating from the Middle East but exported far beyond, has corrupted the practice of Islam.
For all its nasty passages, the Qur’an still speaks of personal freedom, spiritual growth and social justice. If that version of Islam is ever to be realized, then Muslims have to tackle what’s holding us back from just doing it.
I’ll argue that we have to challenge — and change — an Arab cultural custom called “honor.” Click here to understand what “honor” means in the Arab-Islamic context.
In my next book, I’ll include little-known insights about “honor,” such as the eery parallels between the oppression of Blacks in the honor-based 19th-century American south and the repression of women in the honor-based Muslim world today.
But the custom of “honor” can produce hilarity, too. Here are some of my research notes, culled from an interview I’ve conducted with Salman Rushdie…
SALMAN:“I remember, in the early days of the Iranian Revolution, a number of bizarre issues were being debated by the Ayatollahs. Seriously, this is not a joke. One of the questions being asked was, if a woman is wearing a head-to-toe veil but she’s wearing Western clothes like a skirt underneath, is it ok? I mean, given that she is completely covered and all you can see is her eyes?
It was decreed that this was not ok. The reason it was not okay was that the friction of her thighs against each other inside the skirt would generate sexual heat and this heat would be transmitted through her eyes to men who might observe her and might inflame. And that was, of course, not acceptable.
The best of these arguments, actually, had to do with the limits of incest. Is it incestuous if you were to have relations with your aunt by marriage? It might be improper and a bit upsetting to your uncle, but is it actually incestuous? In the end, they [Iranian clerics] decided that it was and should not be allowed.
But there was an exception: If you were not able to control the entry into your bed of an aunt by marriage, what then followed was not your fault. And if your aunt by marriage lived upstairs and the floor collapsed and the aunt by marriage landed in your bed from above, no man could be expected to restrain himself.
Honor culture leads to these kinds of appalling aberrations and, at worst, to the phenomenon of honor killings.”
IRSHAD: “How should clear-thinking people address this?”
SALMAN:“Dishonorably. I think that honor culture is a very dangerous thing.”
After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab grilled his groin on Christmas Day, amateur satirists wasted no time in assigning him nicknames: the Jockstrap Jihadi, the Undie-Bomber and my personal favorite, Fruit of Ka-Boom.
Does all the giggling, chuckling and outright satirizing mean that we, as a society, are ready to laugh about terrorism? Before you answer, watch this video clip from “Four Lions,” a new British movie about radicalized Muslims plotting an attack:
When BBC Radio asked for my thoughts about the video clip, I replied, “Hilarious. But the brilliance of comedy, like anything, depends on how it’s delivered. This particular scene makes violent jihadists look like fools. More spoofing might — might! — lessen fear among some members of the public, showing that we can challenge Islamists rather than cower before them. My worry would be that such comedy makes more of the public complacent, as if all jihadists are buffoons. We should know by now that they’re not.”
So I return to my question: Are we, as a society, ready to laugh about terrorism? Join the discussion on my Facebook page.
Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century African-American visionary, had a warning: “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without the thunder and lightening; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters.” In the 21st century, those who seek equality without the honest and painful discussion that goes with it might well fall into this category.
On Martin Luther King’s birthday, MSNBC aired “Obama’s America,”a two-hour debate from Texas Southern University. It revolved around race relations in America.
Chris Matthews, the host, asked me point-blank why students voted overwhelmingly for President Obama. I reported what a number of students at New York University had told me: they supported Obama because he’s Black. As I questioned them further, students explained that they wanted to right a historic wrong by ensuring that the land of opportunity would finally have an African-American president.
My fellow panelists, Jeff Johnson of Black Entertainment Television and Tom Joyner, a renowned radio personality, flipped. I didn’t win any popularity contest by asking them a few questions of my own:
Later, I pointed out that in the United States, “non-whites” increasingly include Asian and Hispanic immigrants. Therefore, we’d better get serious about treating race relations as multi-layered:
But I have a feeling that for most Americans, it’s comfortable clinging to Black and White. It’s what they know — and it’s far from resolved. Hence the uproar over my remarks about Obama and the student vote.
For the past week, viewers have been weighing in through emails, Facebook posts and Tweets. Here’s a snapshot of U.S. racial politics in 2010:
*“Americans are thumb-suckers when it comes to race. There is nothing wrong with reporting what students said about why they voted for the President… If I had to put my finger on what made everyone feel uncomfortable, it was the moment you asked, ‘Are these students racist because they say they voted for President Obama because he is black?’ Even I was taken aback by the question. But scholars like you are supposed to ask the tough questions to spark candid debate… I would make no apology to the people who live in the angry corner or who act like children on these issues.” - Courtney
*“Why should you be asking people on a historic Inauguration Day who they voted for and why? It was not only a very Special Day for all African-Americans but ALL Americans whether you voted for him or not… African-Americans made extraordinary sacrifices to get American race relations to this point, which has ultimately paved the way for a Muslim girl like you to have these limitless opportunities in America. You should be grateful to all African-Americans [instead of] pushing your agenda of mass migration of Asians to the United States…
I hope and pray that the land of the free will never be swamped by those from the Indian sub-continent, as you have already swamped Great Britain.”- buzzmaster007
* “When [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder says that Americans are a ‘nation of cowards’ for how we discuss race, he is pounced on by both sides. The fact of the matter is, you are a professor who challenges students and brings their answers to a larger group. It is the group who fails to see the shades of color. Culture has indoctrinated them to see the world in black and white only.”- YB
*“I was embarrassed by [your] performance of overbearing arrogance as you attempted to defend the indefensible position that you had solved the question of Obama’s youth support on the basis that ‘he’s black.’ As one who has far more understanding of the black experience and white attitudes toward blacks both in the US and Canada than you can ever hope to have, I believe that any assertions you make in that regard should be proffered with far more modesty than you displayed…
[Your] insertion of immigration policy before an audience for whom the history of the US is all about Black/White relations was simply to have missed the point as you accused the audience of doing. To them it was you who missed the point.” - Howard
* “I was truly embarrassed by the arrogance of your co-panelist, who intolerantly attempted to dismiss your point, suggesting instead that Obama won the election because he ‘had swagger.’ I wonder what he thought of Bush’s swagger. It was saddening to see that you were the only panelist willing to ask the right questions.”- Steve
*“Race has been a deciding factor in every election. I know it was the reason that I voted for Obama. I promised myself, for this election only, I’ll be a bigot and vote for the black guy. And if Barack won the election, I’d never do that again. So that’s what I did… You said what I would have probably been too afraid to say in front of all those people! The Raw Truth. For you to voice the truth like that shows that YOU have SWAGGER.” - Antar
* “Your argument about why the youth voted for Obama was ridiculous. Unless you are a pollster, why would you present some unfounded data at such a public event?… Your biased statement may cost you something in the future.” - Asamnew
* “Truth be told, I was ecstatic that the Democratic candidate was going to be either a woman or a Black man. I couldn’t take one more old white guy. I look forward to a time when I can look ONLY at the content of the character, but we are not there yet. I would cast my vote for the same simple-minded (?) reason again.” - Lauren
* “I have two degrees from NYU and many years of teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level and I have never known students who were unaware of political issues or voted based on zero knowledge of a candidate except some external quality. And I teach in business schools. You teach in a graduate school of public service? What in the world are you teaching?”- Virginia, Ph.D., M.B.A
*“Your statement is correct. Some students, citing the body here at the University of Texas at San Antonio, did vote for Obama because he is Black.”- Thomas (student)
*“If some excruciatingly small minority of people do something for some silly reason, that doesn’t mean it needs to be pointed out by public figures such as yourself. If you think it’s that important, then fine – but you have to be self-aware enough to understand the impact of shining a light on those comments.”- Nathan
* “So what? Lots of people voted for McCain because he was white. Welcome to America.” - Yusuf
* “A good number of people on my own campus cannot give one solid reason why they voted for Obama. They just did. They had no idea how Obama felt on a number of issues. For example, some in my college’s LGBT group believed that Obama was for gay marriage, which was simply not true…
Obama’s presidency will not heal race relations but rather begin the process of dealing with the bigger issues. Unfortunately, far too many from the previous generations do not really want to deal with these issues because it requires us to speak frankly and tear down 40+ years of politically correct speech and ‘acceptable’ behaviors, which honestly hurt everyone more than they help.”- Richard
* “I think it was stupid for you to say ‘Obama cause he’s Black’. It was the wrong thing for you to do. You should have left it out. Never should’ve come out of your mouth.”- Rumar
* “You were great in Houston. We Blacks can be hyper-sensitive. The Blk racism polizi went from identifying overt racism to hidden racism to imaginary racism. What’s next?”- BH007
*“There is a difference between truth and discretion.”- Nakia
*“You did the right thing to report what was told to you. However, often people want confirmation of what they already think and you going on there, talking the truth, made them feel really uncomfortable. Irshad, you’re not here to encourage people’s racial fantasies. I’m proud of you.”- Kosta
*“Why are you bent on creating a bad name for Muslims?… In this program, you managed to create ill feelings towards yourself (a Muslim) in all of BLACK America. Please note: only Blacks identify themselves with Muslims in their struggle to live in America. But in this program you have managed to alienate them also from Muslims. Please have mercy on us (Muslims of America).”- Haroon
* “Should you have said it? I think your whole message is that you should, whether it’s non-Muslims telling Muslims that some of their actions and culture don’t fly, or non-African Americans telling African Americans that racial preference is a form of prejudice even when they benefit from it…
Like Muslims, African Americans have a history of not brooking criticism of their community, believing their victimhood makes them immune. This is not intended to deny any of the African American community’s current and past suffering, but wrong is still wrong. Just think of the audience member who stood up after you and pointed out that African Americans were all survivors of slavery. On some level, true, but that doesn’t make them infallible.”- Mehdi
*“I am an African-American. You said one phrase that caught my attention and it was something like, ‘Every race wants to be recognized for their uniqueness but not reduced to it.’ It is the TRUTH! I feel like we African-Americans get enough recognition, especially compared to the other races. The problem is that some Black people abuse the benefits we get. I see it first hand and I personally know many African-Americans who do so.
My Father, who was born in Ghana, came to the USA with no citizenship and only $50 to his name. If he could become very well-off, send his four other siblings to college and live in a two-storey house, then anything is possible. We need to stop crying about our past and worry about our future or else we will never get over this thing called ‘RACE’! What you said at Texas Southern University inspired me. Unfortunately they cut you off because it was not what they wanted to hear.”- Nana
*“I am thankful for people like you who don’t make political correctness a higher standard than sincerity… BTW: I was in Ghana when Obama visited. He was celebrated as an outstanding hero for being the first ‘Black’ president of the US.” - Sonja
* “You weren’t trying to portray all of his supporters as people who voted for him only because he was black, you were trying to shed light on a particular group of people and a disquieting trend among them. That’s totally valid and is important in confronting race relations in the country. The men who responded to you were clearly partisans who seemed incapable of distinguishing the fact that your comment wasn’t actually about Obama, but the people you were talking about about.”- James
* “You played the role of the small child in The Emperor Has No Clothes parable – except it wasn’t the emperor that you pointed out was a nit wit. It was the the nit wits themselves. Instead of being outraged at the state of the world and their (and our) culpability, they are outraged about you reporting that some people made a serious political choice based on a superficial skin adaptation. No wonder we’re all in the shit, eh?”- Martin
*“Water can shape a dense rock – if but one drop at a time. Bring on the rain, Irshad.” - Phillip
Click here for Part One of this series on racial politics in the US today.
Documentary
Irshad's PBS Documentary: Faith Without Fear follows my journey around the world to reconcile Islam and freedom.
Irshad is pioneering efforts throughout the world to promote Muslim reform and moral courage. To join her mission, first get informed about all that she's doing.
