The Problem with Reza Aslan and Irshad Manji

Both of the self professed public intellectuals are of the opinion that it is time to reform Islam to make it more compatible with modern moral and ethical sensibilities. Aslan sees the Quran as a historical document and a people's language of transcendence. I think this view legitimizes the way fundamentalists view and practice the religion, because by Aslan's standards you can argue that the fundies are justified in interpreting the Quran according to their own misguided, divisive cultural and social context. Furthermore, you cannot in good faith simultaneously think that the Quran is just a historical document and call yourself a Muslim. Aslan is an apostate, and won't admit it because his career depends on being a -Muslim- intellectual voice.

Manji sees the Quran as the word of God that should be reinterpreted in the tradition of ijtihad. She is of the opinion that the Quran should be released from the shackles bound by traditionalist Sheikhs who have no true understanding of the struggles of young Muslims living in the modern world. The problem with that position is this: the reason Islam is attractive to some people is that it looks backward to old traditions as a way of making sense of the rapidly changing modern world. When you strip Islam of its traditional roots, it loses its appeal. When that happens, you can no longer rally Muslims together towards the ideal of a unified ummah struggling together against a clearly visible evil other. Furthermore, it baffles me how Manji has made a career out of arguing that the Quran should be reinterpreted. It has already been done to death. There are already various schools of thoughts that interpret the Quran in milder more humane ways. The only angle that she's got going for her is homosexuality, which is about the only topic that all schools agree on – that it is wrong. Manji wants a new school of thought that says it is right. But the thing is, there are already thousands of Muslims that believe homosexuality is OK with God. The average Muslims are already doing their own reinterpreting. Manji wishes those reinterpreting average Muslims to have a more authoritative voice, but when you do that, like I pointed out earlier, Islam loses the sanctity that unites the Sunnis.

Aslan and Manji are irritating to me like the rest of the moderates because they are not intellectually honest people. They engage in a lot of mental gymnastics to hold on to and defend the faith. What they should be doing is admitting that there are only two choices that are rational: either you believe in the teachings of Islam and become fundamentalist, or you admit that Islam is ludicrous and leave it behind. Their struggle with Islam is the struggle of coming to a compromise between an identity in modern society and a place in their traditional Islamic community. In other words, they are cowards. They refuse to let go because they fear disapproval and abandonment. They are doing a disservice to the confused young Muslims by further confusing them with their suppressed and convoluted variety of cognitive dissonance.