Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism by Omid Safi Page A

does. Interpretive communities do. I would argue that God does, through the text of the Qur’an. But in the case of texts, there are human beings who read them, interpret them, and expound their meanings. Even our encounter with the Prophet is driven by different (and competing) textual
    presentations of his life, teachings, and legacy. 25 In all cases, the dissemination of Divine teachings is achieved through human agency. Religion is always mediated. To drive this message home, I usually offer this intentionally irreverent comment to my students: “Islam” does not get up in the morning. Islam does not brush its teeth. Islam does not take a shower. Islam eats nothing. And perhaps most importantly for our consideration, Islam says nothing. Muslims do. Muslims get up in the morning, Muslims brush their teeth, Muslims shower, Muslims eat, and Muslims speak.
    Is this just semantics? I do not believe so. My experience, at the level of both devotional and academic communities, has been that many people simply ascribe their own (or their own community’s) interpretations of Islam to “Islam says. . .” They use such authoritative – and authoritarian – language as a way to close the door on discussion. And closing discussions is something that we cannot afford. 26

    No more “Pamphlet Islam”
    Walk into any Islamic center, and there is likely to be a table in the hallway or in the library that features a wide selection of pamphlets. The pamphlets bear titles like “The Status of Women in Islam,” “Concept of God in Islam,” “Concept of Worship in Islam.” Printed in pale yellow, pink, and green shades, they promise truth in black and white. I hate these pamphlets.
    I think we are in imminent danger – if we are not there already – of succumbing to “pamphlet Islam,” the serious intellectual and spiritual fallacy of thinking that complex issues can be handled in four or six glossy pages. They simply cannot. The issues involved are far too complicated, and the human beings who frame the issues are even more so. I recently saw a bumper sticker that proclaimed, “Islam is the answer.” If Islam is the answer, pray tell, what is the question? Modernity? Existence? God?
    A few years ago, when I started teaching at an undergraduate college in New York, I was the only Muslim faculty member there. I was predictably appointed as the advisor to the small group of Muslim students on campus. There were about six of them at that time, vastly outnumbered by the other students on campus whom the Muslim students (perhaps rightly) considered to be woefully ignorant of even the basics of Islam. As we went around introducing ourselves, one of the students in the group gushed: “What I love about Islam is that it is so simple!” That comment spurred a great debate, which we are still having four years later. To me, Islam has never been simple. I remember having worked my way through some of the most important Muslim primary sources such as
    Ghazzali’s Ihya’ and Rumi’s Masnavi , as well as the masterpieces of scholarship on Islam like Marshall Hodgson’s The Venture of Islam and Harry Wolfson’s The Philosophy of Kalam . “Simple” is not exactly a word that comes to mind in describing any of them.
    “Islam is simple” is a slogan used all too often as an excuse to avoid discussion, disputation, and even disagreement. After all, if Islam is simple, how can reasonable and intelligent people disagree over it? Do these disagreements occur because some are deluded away from the simple truth? Not so! Islam is not simple because Muslims are not simple. Surely our identities in these virulent and turbulent post-colonial times are far from simple. Muslims are every bit – not an ounce more, and not an ounce less – as complicated as all of the other members of humanity. We argue, we discuss, we disagree, we joke, we laugh, we walk away mad, we come back, we compromise. But we do not, have not ever, and will not ever