The series “Current Issues in the Islamic World” was conceived in a time of turmoil and anxiety, with the Islamic revival that began in the 1970s now bearing fruit in the form of atrocities by Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya (JI). Religious piety seems to find valid expression now in suicide bombings and mob violence, and the most recognizable image of Islam in the world today is probably that of angry demonstrators carrying placards and shouting slogans calling for bloodshed, as was seen in the aftermath first of the publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark, and then during the uproar surrounding the lecture on Faith and Reason by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg.
In Malaysia and Indonesia, the forces of religious conservatism have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to involve state authorities in their Islamist agendas. In 2005, the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) issued a fatwa (religious edict) declaring pluralism, secularism and liberalism to be heretical ideologies that have no place in Islam. In Malaysia, public forums organized in 2006 by the Article 11 Coalition to promote awareness of the Federal Constitution and the protections and guarantees provided by it as the supreme law of the land were met by public rallies and physical intimidation, staged by Islamist opponents of interfaith and intercultural dialogue. The Islamists claimed that the forums, by discussing freedom of religion, constituted a threat to Islam and Muslims. Instead of protecting the organizers of the Article 11 forums from intimidation and threats of violence, the government ordered a halt to the forums, thus granting the forces of Islamism a victory in their struggle against freedom of expression and the rule of law. Images of a human rights lawyer and leading member of the Article 11 Coalition, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, have been distributed with a message labelling him a traitor and calling for his death. There are Muslims in Malaysia who apparently regard instigation to murder as a pious act.
Just as the original versions of these tracts were being published, Malaysians were finding out that 18 books had been banned by the Internal Security Ministry, allegedly in the interest of ‘public order’. Include in the list of banned books were "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam" by John Esposito, and "The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam" by Karen Armstrong. The banning of these books has only succeeded in promoting a view of Islam as an intolerant and repressive religion.
The publication of this series is an attempt to highlight the enlightened aspects of religion, not least of which is its humanitarian dimension. At the same time, this work recognizes that religion as such is not truly responsible for the atrocities perpetrated in its name. For the ignorant and the cynical, religion is just a convenient instrument to promote a particular cause. Behind the hatred and violence that find expression in religious rhetoric can be identified social, political, and economic reasons for unrest and discontent.
While dialogue and cooperation between the developed and the undeveloped world must be continued if the tensions and fault lines in international relations are not to result in catastrophe, efforts must also be made to look inwards, and understand and evaluate one’s own traditions and assumptions, especially, in today’s climate, in the area of religious faith. It is this internal investigation that this series of tracts is attempting to engage in.
This work however does not aspire to provide absolute or comprehensive solutions to the issues involved. One of the assumptions of the series is that plurality of thought is a thing to be encouraged, and that any approach to these issues is merely one contribution to the complex but necessary task of understanding life, the world, and ultimately God. It is hoped that these discussions about freedom, democracy, human rights, and other matters that concern Muslims today such as banking interest and interfaith marriage, will foster a greater understanding of the multiplicity of Islamic views on a variety of questions. These issues are discussed in this work according to a religious perspective, but no claim is made that the perspective found here is the only possible one in Islam. Phrases such as ‘according to Islam’ are not used in this publication in a way that is meant to convey an authoritative and final judgment; there is no one ‘Islam’ and therefore no one interpretation of Islamic doctrine. Whenever one comes across the phrase, ‘according to Islam’, or ‘according to the Quran’, one should read it as ‘according to the writer’s own understanding of Islam’ or ‘according to the writer’s own interpretation of the Quran’. However, some of these expressions are still used here due to the constraints of space and for convenience. It is hoped that reader will understand that the views expressed in these tracts are merely the interpretations of the authors, as are all views anywhere about Islam.
The fact that this attempt to address issues concerning the Islamic world is being done in the form of brief tracts shows that the reader must not stop here. The search must continue beyond these brief explorations. It is in the best interest of the reader to refer to works by, among others, Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Frithjof Schoun, John Hick and Nurcholis Madjid to get a better understanding of pluralism and the importance of human dignity in Islam.
The publication of this series of tracts is inspired by a similar series, "Isu-isu Kontemporer dalam Perspektif Al-Quran dan Hadis", published by the Centre for Language and Culture at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Indonesia. The present series has kept from between ten to seventy percent of the contents of that publication, and therefore no longer represents the views of the authors of the Indonesian edition.
For the benefit of the readers, it is also important to mention that the translations of Quranic verses cited in these tracts are based in large part on the translations of Abdullah Yusuf Ali and A.J. Arberry.
Many people have contributed to the publication of these tracts. To all of them, and to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Malaysia, without whose support this project would not have seen the light of day, is owed a great debt of gratitude.
Al-Mustaqeem Mahmod Radhi
Executive Director,
Middle-Eastern Graduates Centre
Middle-Eastern Graduates Centre (MEGC) is a research and publications centre for the promotion of values of freedom and civil society that are grounded in religious tradition and modern thought. The main principles that are the focus of MEGC are individual freedom, openness, competition and independence.