I'm rather puzzled by the reaction to Amina Wadud's speech in Toronto last month. I'm not surprised, of course, that Muslim WakeUp (or Go To Sleep as our sister Umm Zaid memorably called it) has basically come out in support of Wadud's outrageous statements. What is really suprising is that a race issue has been made out of it.
Midway through her speech titled "The QurâÂÂan, Women and Interpretive Possibilities," Wadud waded into the minefield by addressing some difficult passages of the QurâÂÂan. Breaking the ultimate taboo in the Muslim narrative, she stated that despite the fact the QurâÂÂan explicitly asks for cutting off the hands of thieves, she did not agree with the QurâÂÂan. She said she understood that this was a very difficult subject to talk about, but she would be dishonest to herself if she did not express her views.
This understandably caused much anger in the "progressive mosque" in Toronto. She also presented four ways of dealing with "difficult" passages in the Qur'an (surprisingly, or perhaps not, the Sunnah is not mentioned), the fourth being "to say no to the Qur'an" (na'udhu billah). Somehow Prof. Wadud gets the impression that the Qur'an itself gives her the means to do this. I'm sure anyone who reads the Qur'an will agree with me that, in fact, it doesn't. (Not acting on ayats presenting abrogated rulings is a different matter, but that's why we follow the scholars, not our desires.)
Someone (whose race wasn't mentioned) took the mike into his hand and did an imitation of a rapper while attacking Wadud's speech. Wadud invited him to give his speech while she sat in the crowd, which he did. When someone apologised for the rudeness of some of the audience, "she responded that as a black woman, she knew what it is to have one's views rejected, she thundered to an applause that started with a few hesitant claps and then rolled across the hall". The grammatical error is theirs, but this victim mentality is compounded by her reply to an Indian man who said he knew racism. "No you don't understand. You are not Black; you don't know what it is to be Black."
For one thing, you don't have to be black, or female, to "have one's views rejected"; you could, for example, be someone of extreme views or someone with nothing constructive to contribute. In my experience, when discussions are held on a free-for-all basis, some people are excluded. The visually-impaired (and, needless to say, the deaf) are more vulnerable to this in today's society than black people. To say that the Indian man didn't know racism because he wasn't black can only come out of a total ignorance of that man's life. In the UK Indian people have faced quite a bit of racism over the years, and there has been much inter-communal trouble in India, as well as caste conflict. Caste is, in fact, race. The upper castes are mostly the descendents of "Aryan" invaders from the north, and tend to have lighter skin than people of lower castes.
The commentary calls it troubling that Wadud was the only African in the room, in a city whose Muslim population is one-quarter African. But surely that shows how much Amina Wadud means to African Muslims; this event must have been advertised, surely? If the "progressive" movement behind this mosque doesn't attract Toronto's African Muslim community, you'll have to ask them why.
Time after time, irrelevant race issues are brought up in this piece. One Indo-Canadian made this remark:
When a white person converts to Islam, we try to make him the Imam of the mosque. But when a Black woman converts to Islam, we expect her to run the mosque day care for children during Jum'a prayers. Amina should have worn the Hijab; people would have mistaken her for a dark Pakistani.
But the woman's race isn't the issue! What matters is that she is a woman, and thus cannot be an imam for men in prayer! If she wants to work for the mosque, whether by making tea or cooking or by running the mosque's website, fine. And it's not true that any white convert will get to any position of authority. It's quite likely that he will face suspicion (for example, have people accuse him of being a spy, which happened to me), and have considerable difficulty finding a wife if he intends to marry a born Muslim. I heard one story of a white convert who went to Dar al-Uloom and became a scholar, and learned Urdu (the language commonly spoken, at least until recently, in British Asian Islamic learning establishments), and ended up being a bus conductor, because he couldn't get a job as an imam.
It's undeniable that there are black-white race issues in the Muslim community, but someone who talks nonsense, as Wadud does, should not deflect criticism by bringing race into the matter. The community has been similarly hostile to people like Irshad Manji (of Indian origin) and others who call for radical, and un-Islamic, "reforms of Islam". On the other hand, the Ummah has a history of black orthodox scholars, who are held in high respect by traditional Arab Muslim scholars (although they may not be well-known, given the geographical barriers between the Arab world and west Africa in particular). It seems that her critics at this particular event didn't put their views across in the most appropriate way, but it's become fairly common for people to bring attention to someone's origins when criticising them. But no-one need think that we will show any more tenderness to someone spouting plainly anti-Islamic ideas in a mosque if they are white than was shown to Wadud in Toronto last month.
Asalamu Aliakum Yusuf,
I like the new look...very breezy. Amina Wadud really made a fool out of herself behaving the way she did. Tarek Fatah, the decrepid Pakistani-Canadian charlatan wrote up quite the article about it, only to have Wadud take issue with him.
These people are so childish its embarassing to read their pathetic screeds. Based on the reception she got, I'm happy to see that the pro-regressives are not being entertained by the mainstream Muslim community.
Asalamu Aliakum Yusuf,
I like the new look...very breezy. Amina Wadud really made a fool out of herself behaving the way she did. Tarek Fatah, the decrepid Pakistani-Canadian charlatan wrote up quite the article about it, only to have Wadud take issue with him.
These people are so childish its embarassing to read their pathetic screeds. Based on the reception she got, I'm happy to see that the pro-regressives are not being entertained by the mainstream Muslim community.
Wow. I just posted my opinions on the same topic, then came to your site and found this! Great minds think alike;) Of course, you've made some very eloquent points. I agree with you completely regarding the verses. For someone to make shocking statements to the effect that she does not agree with the Quran - well, she has to be very naive to think she'll get a warm reception. And I really hate when people use the race card.
Nevertheless, I do think the comment about the lack of African-American support is unwarranted. I'm not sure we can jump to conclusions about the lack of African-Americans in the audience. And women participating by cooking? Making tea? You lost me there. The website idea's basis for redemption though!
Wow. I just posted my opinions on the same topic, then came to your site and found this! Great minds think alike;) Of course, you've made some very eloquent points. I agree with you completely regarding the verses. For someone to make shocking statements to the effect that she does not agree with the Quran - well, she has to be very naive to think she'll get a warm reception. And I really hate when people use the race card.
Nevertheless, I do think the comment about the lack of African-American support is unwarranted. I'm not sure we can jump to conclusions about the lack of African-Americans in the audience. And women participating by cooking? Making tea? You lost me there. The website idea's basis for redemption though!
Safiyya, the point is that a woman can't be imam. There's no problem with her working, even if it's the usual things like running the creche or cooking, or something more technical. The reason they don't make black women imams, unlike white men, is that black women are, well, women. And men cannot pray behind women.
Safiyya, the point is that a woman can't be imam. There's no problem with her working, even if it's the usual things like running the creche or cooking, or something more technical. The reason they don't make black women imams, unlike white men, is that black women are, well, women. And men cannot pray behind women.
The mavericks at MWU are organising a Jummah prayer in NYC to be lead by Amina Wadud.
Two problems spring to mind.
1.Can a person who openly states that she rejects a part of the Quran still be considered a Muslim?
2. Can a woman lead a mixed congregation in prayer?I know that the proggies quote a few Hadiths in support but Leading Ulema say they are spurious.
The other pretender Asra Nomani is also being accorded a lot of publicity on MWU.She is the agent provacateur in Morgantown and claims to be leading a fight for women's rights in Mosques.And this from a woman who has written a book on Tantric sex and has not expressed any remorse that she chose to have a child out of wedlock. And wait;visit her website.She has stated that women have the ISLAMIC RIGHT for exemption from punishment for consensual sex between adults.Astagfirullah!She plays with the words of Allah and his beloved Messenger(pbuh)And we have a few misguided souls who still look to her for guidance!
And these are the kind of people who are being raised on a pedestal.Some objected to my posting these thoughts on another website saying that none of us can pass judgement;that argument is specious for what they have done in their own way has been to clearly transgress the Shariah.And when they aspire to leadership they need to set their houses in order so that a good example is set to others.Otherwise they simply do not have any locus standi.
And yes DRM Tarek Fatah is not only a charlatan but an enemy of the community.He has gone on record stating that his mission is to oppose the use of Shariah in Voluntary arbitration and to ensure that the law pertaining to same sex marriages is passed.With muslims like these........
Suhail
The mavericks at MWU are organising a Jummah prayer in NYC to be lead by Amina Wadud.
Two problems spring to mind.
1.Can a person who openly states that she rejects a part of the Quran still be considered a Muslim?
2. Can a woman lead a mixed congregation in prayer?I know that the proggies quote a few Hadiths in support but Leading Ulema say they are spurious.
The other pretender Asra Nomani is also being accorded a lot of publicity on MWU.She is the agent provacateur in Morgantown and claims to be leading a fight for women's rights in Mosques.And this from a woman who has written a book on Tantric sex and has not expressed any remorse that she chose to have a child out of wedlock. And wait;visit her website.She has stated that women have the ISLAMIC RIGHT for exemption from punishment for consensual sex between adults.Astagfirullah!She plays with the words of Allah and his beloved Messenger(pbuh)And we have a few misguided souls who still look to her for guidance!
And these are the kind of people who are being raised on a pedestal.Some objected to my posting these thoughts on another website saying that none of us can pass judgement;that argument is specious for what they have done in their own way has been to clearly transgress the Shariah.And when they aspire to leadership they need to set their houses in order so that a good example is set to others.Otherwise they simply do not have any locus standi.
And yes DRM Tarek Fatah is not only a charlatan but an enemy of the community.He has gone on record stating that his mission is to oppose the use of Shariah in Voluntary arbitration and to ensure that the law pertaining to same sex marriages is passed.With muslims like these........
Suhail
Salaam 'Alaikum
TF, to my memory, has quite a long history of attempting to play on -- or in some cases, exaggerate -- racial issues and biases (especially when the bias is on the part of a White or Arab) in order to push his agenda or points down people's throats.
In this case, the race card (which even Ms. Wudud is now saying did not occur quite as he claims it did) is being used to distract from another issue, IMO. Not that she will be leading a so-called mixed gender jama'at. Yawn. But that MWU / PMU have no relation to the Muslim community in NY (and elsewhere?) If you read about the so-called jumu'ah, it's not taking place in a masjid... just as their launch party did not (it took place at the US's most liberal Christian seminary instead).
Is it annoying? Yeah. But things without real substance fly away like dead leaves in autumn, and without a true anchor to the Diyn, so will "progressive" Islam.
Salaam 'Alaikum
TF, to my memory, has quite a long history of attempting to play on -- or in some cases, exaggerate -- racial issues and biases (especially when the bias is on the part of a White or Arab) in order to push his agenda or points down people's throats.
In this case, the race card (which even Ms. Wudud is now saying did not occur quite as he claims it did) is being used to distract from another issue, IMO. Not that she will be leading a so-called mixed gender jama'at. Yawn. But that MWU / PMU have no relation to the Muslim community in NY (and elsewhere?) If you read about the so-called jumu'ah, it's not taking place in a masjid... just as their launch party did not (it took place at the US's most liberal Christian seminary instead).
Is it annoying? Yeah. But things without real substance fly away like dead leaves in autumn, and without a true anchor to the Diyn, so will "progressive" Islam.
Assalamu alaikum, I'd noticed that the jumua to take place in NYC was not held in a masjid either.
Also, the fact that the "race card" was used in the article bothered me, and Amina Wadud use of the "n" word bothered me also. Some African-Americans say it's OK for * them * to use the word, becuase when * they * use it, it means something different than when * white people * use it. But I, myself, don't think * anyone *, black or white, should use that word. Every time I heard it, I have this very negative gutt reaction to it.
I think that Amina Wadud's use of the "n" word was a way of silencing people, or purposefully making people feel uncomfortable and / or on the defensive. I have a problem with people who purposefully try to push people's buttons or push envelopes, or just try to make a scene.
It would seem to me that Muslims who are striving to please Allah, and to live this deen of Islam as completely as possible would not do things like that. But mabye it's just me.
Assalamu alaikum, I'd noticed that the jumua to take place in NYC was not held in a masjid either.
Also, the fact that the "race card" was used in the article bothered me, and Amina Wadud use of the "n" word bothered me also. Some African-Americans say it's OK for * them * to use the word, becuase when * they * use it, it means something different than when * white people * use it. But I, myself, don't think * anyone *, black or white, should use that word. Every time I heard it, I have this very negative gutt reaction to it.
I think that Amina Wadud's use of the "n" word was a way of silencing people, or purposefully making people feel uncomfortable and / or on the defensive. I have a problem with people who purposefully try to push people's buttons or push envelopes, or just try to make a scene.
It would seem to me that Muslims who are striving to please Allah, and to live this deen of Islam as completely as possible would not do things like that. But mabye it's just me.
As a Black American, I can't stand the use of the "n" word. Especially by Muslims. It is soooo annoying. To me its akin to using a curse word. It really was kind of cheap for her to use it. Even though on some level I sympathize with her because yes there is racism in our Ummah but Dr. Wadud should realize it was what she was saying that caused the ruckus. Yes people assumed she didnt now Arabic but the point is you can't make statements like that and not get an angry reaction.
As a Black American, I can't stand the use of the "n" word. Especially by Muslims. It is soooo annoying. To me its akin to using a curse word. It really was kind of cheap for her to use it. Even though on some level I sympathize with her because yes there is racism in our Ummah but Dr. Wadud should realize it was what she was saying that caused the ruckus. Yes people assumed she didnt now Arabic but the point is you can't make statements like that and not get an angry reaction.
Its not ok for anyone to causally use racial slurs, especially to silence the opposition. Wadud pulled an "antisemite." South Africans never referred to each other as "kafirs," as the whites used to call them back in the days of apartheid. Why should it be ok for Africans Americans to use it ?
Its not ok for anyone to causally use racial slurs, especially to silence the opposition. Wadud pulled an "antisemite." South Africans never referred to each other as "kafirs," as the whites used to call them back in the days of apartheid. Why should it be ok for Africans Americans to use it ?
this new yorker can't wait to pray behind ms. wadud.
this new yorker can't wait to pray behind ms. wadud.
As Salaam Alaikum
This is a good case of smoke and mirrors. Instead of dealing with the fact that it's haram for her to be an Imam she tries to make it into a race issue. This is offensive to me on so many levels being a Muslim woman who is African-American. I'm not going to make it seem like there isn't a race issue at all but there are many Imams who are African-American. In my city alone there are 3 out of the 5 Masjids. Looking at the Masjids in cities I've been to spread among 10 states I'd say a good number had Imams who were african-american.
I think deep inside she knows she's wrong on the issue of being Imam so all she can do is point out the only tangible although still way off issue she could find. In a way she is hurting her own campaign by causing people to tie the two issues together. That being Lady who is African-American but wants to be an Imam. It really doesn't help to end any ill perceptions for those who have issue with african-americans.
I guess this insanity shouldn't be shocking coming from a a person who thinks it's ok to pick and chose from Qur'an.
As Salaam Alaikum
This is a good case of smoke and mirrors. Instead of dealing with the fact that it's haram for her to be an Imam she tries to make it into a race issue. This is offensive to me on so many levels being a Muslim woman who is African-American. I'm not going to make it seem like there isn't a race issue at all but there are many Imams who are African-American. In my city alone there are 3 out of the 5 Masjids. Looking at the Masjids in cities I've been to spread among 10 states I'd say a good number had Imams who were african-american.
I think deep inside she knows she's wrong on the issue of being Imam so all she can do is point out the only tangible although still way off issue she could find. In a way she is hurting her own campaign by causing people to tie the two issues together. That being Lady who is African-American but wants to be an Imam. It really doesn't help to end any ill perceptions for those who have issue with african-americans.
I guess this insanity shouldn't be shocking coming from a a person who thinks it's ok to pick and chose from Qur'an.
e-mail me at azmataziz93@bellsouth.net
e-mail me at azmataziz93@bellsouth.net
[...] Wadud’s prayer was not even held in a mosque - apparently it did not suit her to hold it in the “progressive mosque” in Toronto, where an earlier appearance by Wadud descended into a debate on race. Tarek Fatah called it “a telling indication of the profound divisions within the community” that Wadud was the only “African” in the room; the idea that the African Muslims of Toronto just were not interested did not seem to occur to him. [...]
[...] Wadud’s prayer was not even held in a mosque - apparently it did not suit her to hold it in the “progressive mosque” in Toronto, where an earlier appearance by Wadud descended into a debate on race. Tarek Fatah called it “a telling indication of the profound divisions within the community” that Wadud was the only “African” in the room; the idea that the African Muslims of Toronto just were not interested did not seem to occur to him. [...]