Comments on: Who Speaks for Islam?: A Debate

By: Nadia

Nadia — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:24:21 +0000

I found these very powerful videos for Dalia Mogahed. She’s amazing! It seems that she’s extremely respected in many serious professional circles.

Conference by US Army War College and Women in International Security.
rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter021207_college2.rm

Mogahed discuss her study on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.
http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9275&SectionName=&PlayMedia=Yes

Charlie Rose discussion with John Esposito & Dalia Mogahed
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/09/05/3/a-conversation-with-john-esposito-dalia-mogahed
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2108738710060181231:2378000:983000&hl=en

By: Fatemeh

Fatemeh — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:36:35 +0000

You make a good point, Sobia. I don’t want to exclude Manji, but I wanted to point out that I think she was thrown in there as a sensational pick rather than on her merits.

By: Sobia

Sobia — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:31:06 +0000

But Fatemeh, the problem is, no one and at the same time everyone can speak for Islam. If they really wanted to have a fair debate then they should have included Mogahed, Nomani, Wadud AND Manji. They all represent differing viewpoints. And even they will inevitable leave people out. But if they wanted two different perspectives, which are very different from each other, then this is what you’re going to get.

Although a lot of Muslims have a problem with Manji, including myself, I don’t think there is a need to exclude her from the discussion. She makes many valid points and questions the status quo. No doubt Wadud would have been better as she has Islamic scholarship (which btw many Muslims scoff at) as well, but I bet you that those who are opposed to Manji will ALSO be just as opposed to Wadud and/or Nomani. Damn, Nomani followed the prayer that Wadud lead WITHOUT a headscarf! Shock!* So there is no winning in this case. Nomani, Wadud, Manji are all the same to many Muslims.

* Sarcasm – I have no problem with this at all.

By: Fatemeh

Fatemeh — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:42:05 +0000

It occurs to me, after watching the debate again, that Mogahed is undoubtedly qualified to be in this debate, but it seems like Manji is only here so that there IS a debate. Like, they only chose her because she is such a polarizing figure in Muslim communities and they figured she’d put up a good fight. It’s as if the organizers were attempting a “good Muslim (Mogahed) vs. bad Muslim (Manji)”. Those aren’t my personal constructions, mind you, but what I think (reading from the above comments) many Muslims see when they look at Mogahed and Manji.

Who else could they have gotten? Dr. Amina Wadud, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Asra Nomani…but it seems like they went for Manji because they didn’t believe Mogahed and any of these other women would have anything to fight about (which I doubt is true).

While I think Manji’s views are legitimate (who can say what is legitimate and what isn’t?) no matter my views on them, I think her inclusion in this debate as someone who can speak for Islam isn’t. I would rather have seen any one of the other women I named in this debate.

By: Empty vessels make the loudest noise « Nuseiba

Empty vessels make the loudest noise « Nuseiba — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:11:52 +0000

[...] 4, 2008 Muslimah Media Watch recently covered a discussion between Senior analyst with Gallup and Director of Gallup and Muslim [...]

By: Sahar

Sahar — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:08:06 +0000

Response to this post and the discussion between Manji and Mogahed: http://nuseiba.wordpress.com/

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:52:40 +0000

@Sobia
i watched it again and yeah the attire + the classical understanding of ayats +hadiths that gave me that impression.

By: Sobia

Sobia — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:11:48 +0000

@ Philip:

It’s interesting that you think that Dalia Mogahed was speaking to traditional Muslims mainly. I found much of what she said to resonate with me, even though I am quite an un-traditional Muslim, and I would assume I am not the only one who felt this way.

Personally, I didn’t see her as speaking to traditional Muslims only (mainly – maybe), though yes, some of her comments about scholarship did fall into that realm. She did seem to “play it safe.”

Perhaps, it was the traditional/conservative attire that led to the belief that she would cater to traditional audiences, and not the other way around.

And the same for Manji.

By: Sobia

Sobia — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:06:07 +0000

@wileysnakeskin:

Interesting. Just curious. So you would say that the other prophets (Jesus, Moses, Abraham etc.) did not speak for Islam, I’m assuming.

By: wileysnakeskins

wileysnakeskins — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:51:59 +0000

Who speaks for islam? What kind of idiotic question is that? There is only one person who can and will ever speak for islam and that is mohammed, and each and every word of the quran/kuran and hadith each and every word coming from each of these examples are the direct, clear and concise words coming from the mouth of allah. So, who’s next, anyone have something to say, thought not, and so does allah.