Sheikh Jihad Hashim Brown | Jan 02 2010
(This post was originally published with a piece missing at the end. It has now been added)
A healthy dose of self-criticism is a good thing. God knows I’ve engaged in my fair share on these very pages. But scholars writing in Arabic have differentiated between self-criticism (naqd al-dhat) and self-flagellation (jald al-dhat).
A number of emboldened irreverent voices, frequently of second generation Arab and Asian émigrés to Western countries continue to vie for a hearing in Western periodicals and news media. Boldly telling fellow Muslims just “what they really had better start understanding,” and dispensing marching orders. Irreverently pronouncing on what Islam ought to be; usually some pale mimesis of Western liberal sensitivities.
It’s really beginning to get tiresome. Who are they talking to anyway? The Muslim public doesn’t read the periodicals they write in. Are they trying to save the integrity of a beloved heritage or merely carve out a place of inclusion for themselves at the head table?
For a group that never had time for more than a thin relationship with Islam before September Eleventh, they sure do have a lot to say now. As a Western convert to Islam this type of “self-loathing” really mystifies me. What is the motivation then to become the self-styled hero of offended Western sensibilities?
Is it an attempt to reconcile a passion for all things Western with an inescapable link – in name or ethnicity – to things “foreign”? Or does cashing in on this very affiliation promise a shot at relevancy as an “area expert” in the valley of the uninformed? Otherwise, were it not for the accident of ethnic circumstance, the Muslim social scientist would be relegating to competing with a vast and level playing field of his or her peers; a potential recipe for obscurity.
Or is it just that the incessant accusations of right-wing fear mongers has at long last begun to penetrate the insecure psyche of shallow self-awareness? Whatever it is, it’s weak, uninteresting, and borderline embarrassing. Well, maybe beyond borderline.
However, once these darlings of the cable media circuit or liberal information outlets have fulfilled their mission, establishing the utter banality of Islam and it’s being perfectly unexceptional, they too will be marginalized and forgotten.
But my challenge to these self-appointed spokespeople for Islam is as follows: You’ve told us everything that is wrong with Islam and Muslims, can you tell us now what is right and good about Islam? No, they cannot; because they themselves really know nothing of any depth about their own tradition.
But just you all wait and see. The end will be for those with confidence, hope, patience, and fortitude. For those who envision a reading and living of the ‘Way of Islam’ that adds value to the global conversation and contributes authentically and significantly to solving the dilemmas that challenge the human community as a whole.
Perhaps when Islam is understood and acknowledged as an indispensible member and necessary contributor to the wellness of our shared global mosaic, we will hear the echo of the poet Ibn al-Rayahi’s verse: “I am the son of renown, the scaler of mountains; when the day comes that I place my turban you will recognize me.”
Until then, perhaps our “less sure” colleagues should take a page from those who have traversed and successfully navigated the trials of suspicion, xenophobia, and racism. Those whose confidence and vision were captured in the verses of Langston Hughes when he said:
“I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh and eat well, and grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table when company comes. Nobody’ll dare say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ then. Besides, they’ll see how beautiful I am; and be ashamed.”
